Cooking & Baking with "Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan"

Even though I have quite a few cookbooks and "printed-from-the-internet" recipes on-hand, waiting to be used, I just can't seem to turn away from Dreena Burton's latest best-selling cookbook, Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan. Practically every single page in this cookbook is marked with a Post-It note, designating it as a "Must-Try-Recipe" - it is a bit overwhelming, actually, since I worry that I will not be able to make all of the recipes!! But, I have convinced myself to stop fretting, and to just share with all of you which recipes I have made so far, in Eat, Drink & Be Vegan (ED&BV):



Since I was having quite a difficult time deciding on what to make first (me? indecisive about what to cook or bake? surprise, surprise, haha), I enlisted the help of my mom, to see which recipe sounded pretty good to her, at that moment. When she came across a recipe for White Bean Spread, she requested it right away, for that night's dinner (it was already close to dinnertime when she decided on this recipe!). Luckily, I had all the necessary ingredients on-hand; and once everything was measured out and purèed in the food processor, the spread was ready to be served! My mom chose to enjoy this cashew-white-bean-based dip with some whole-grain pita and crudites, for dinner that night; and she enjoyed the rest of the White Bean Spread over the next few days, as a sandwich spread and/or as a dip for other meals. Recipe #1 from ED&BV? Definitely a success, and a sign of good (and delicious) things to come.



For Family Dinner Night just this past week, I actually knew right away which "Must-Try-Recipe" that I wanted to prepare - the Quinoa-Chickpea-Confetti Casserole dish. My parents and I have not eaten quinoa in a while (since we have been in the mood for pasta, couscous, and barley, recently), so I figured that this recipe would be the perfect way to "reintroduce" this high-protein, nutty grain into our meals; and since I have never made a casserole dish before, I wanted to try out this cooking-method/dish-type as well. After about an hour in the oven, this colorful, nutrient-packed casserole dish released such a lovely aroma of every single incorporated ingredient: red bell pepper, garlic, rosemary, basil, thyme, chickpeas, zucchini, and squash (the zucchini and squash were used instead of the fennel bulb - this was a suggested substitution, in the recipe). The infusion of such diverse flavors, smells, and textures all complemented each other quite well, creating one tantalizing, satisfying dish. My parents loved it (as did I), and were pleased to have quinoa again, after so long.



Since the Quinoa-Chickpea-Confetti Casserole recipe makes four servings, I was able to enjoy the leftover portion for lunch the following day. Although I thought that the dish was quite scrumptious when I had it for Family Dinner Night, I found that it tasted even better the next day (since the ingredients had time to blend together even more). Will I make this casserole dish recipe again? Absolutely! Another success from ED&BV!

After making the White Bean Spread, the Quinoa-Chickpea-Confetti Casserole, and the Popeye Pasta (you may recall that I made the pasta dish earlier this month), I really wanted to tackle the dessert/sweet-treat section (since I simply cannot go more than two days without baking something). Now I have already made a few of the ED&BV cookie recipes (about a month or so ago), but I hadn't tried any of the other incredibly decadent-sounding dessert-recipes yet. Once again, I did not hesitate/have to think twice about which recipe from ED&BV I would try next - I knew that I wanted to go for the one recipe in there that featured a baked good that I have never eaten before ever, in my entire life - so what is this treat that I have longed for my whole life, you may be wondering?



Why, it is a blondie! That's right, folks, VeggieGirl has never eaten a blondie before, ever, vegan or not - is this not a tragedy?! Thanks to ED&BV, however, I not only got to sample my first blondie, but I got to taste something so unbelievably rich and luscious that my head was spinning! Pictured above is a batch of the Maple-Pecan Sticky Blondies (fresh out of the oven!), from ED&BV. I made three substitutions in this recipe: I reduced the sugar from 3/4 cup to 1/4 cup; used carob chips instead of chocolate chips (obviously, haha), and omitted the oil. Despite the substitutions, I am thrilled to report that these blondies were still (if not, even more) delightfully sweet, moist, and an all-round gratifying experience for my taste-buds.



Now of course, I was not the only one who had the pleasure of enjoying these blondies - in fact, I almost didn't even get to try the blondies, since my family devoured the batch rather quickly (it got to the point where I had to portion out the blondies and distribute them to different family members, so that everyone would actually get to try them, haha). From the crunchy, maple-roasted pecan topping, to the moist, dense cake-part and "fudgy," melted carob, the Maple-Pecan Sticky Blondies received (in the words of my grandfather) a "triple A+" - another complete success from ED&BV (as if I should be surprised - this cookbook is fabulous)!!

All six of the recipes that I have made from ED&BV so far (three of them shown here - the other three are linked, earlier in this post) have been winners, and will definitely be made again and again - however, I still have several more recipes (basically, the rest of the cookbook) marked as "Must-Try-Recipes" that I am determined to get around to preparing. If for some reason you have not had the opportunity to try the recipes from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, then I suggest that you head on over to your local bookstore (or shop online), pick up a copy of the book, and start cooking and baking with ED&BV!! :0)