Celebrate Vegan Review and Giveaway

Happy New Year! A new beginning, and a year full of opportunities to show your family and friends just how delicious eating vegan can be! Unbelievably, there are still folks out there who still think that eating vegan is tantamount to some sort of deprivation, when in fact, eating vegan is truly a celebration of taste, texture, and color! To my burgeoning collection of fabulous vegan cookbooks that illustrate this point, I recently added Dynise Balcavage's new book, Celebrate Vegan, a spectacular collection of the most delicious, celebratory vegan recipes you'll find anywhere! 

With 200 sumptuous, recipes for every occasion, Dynise invites readers to "use holidays—both our own and those of other cultures, as a conduit to affirming life and to savoring and sharing its pleasures." She writes, "Life, after all, should be a celebration. And vegan food certainly celebrates life in every sense of the word." I couldn't agree more!

Check out the Table of Contents, and you'll find some fascinating holidays represented! There are recipes for Diwali (the "festival of lights" in India), Barbados Independence Day, Eid al-Fitr (an Islamic feast that marks the end of a month-long period of fasting called Ramadan), Earth Day, and even Festivus! Some of the yummy recipes for the aforementioned holidays are respectively, Clementine-Sweet Potato Halwah, Farfalle with Shallots and Chard, "Conkies" (a mildly sweet cornmeal-based pudding), Muhammara (a lovely sweet and spicy dip), and Prismatic Wild Rice Salad. Of course, the book is filled with dishes for more familiar holidays and celebrations like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Passover, and St. Patrick's Day. But I can't tell you how much fun it was learning about international celebrations with names like Vesak and Timkat! 

While I received this book just before the winter holidays, I wanted to sample a wide variety of dishes, so I didn't limit myself to recipes designated to Hanukkah, Christmas, and the New Year. One dish that was a part of our Christmas eve dinner, was EZ Tzimmes. While this sweet side dish is normally associated with the the Jewish New Year (celebrated in September), it paired fabulously with the Celebration Roast, stuffing, and gravy I served on Christmas eve. As Dynise points, out, there are as many recipes for tzimmes as there are cooks. But I love her citrusy-sweet medley of carrots, parsnips, sweet potato and fruit, which brought back some very warm family memories.

I like to include greens with our holiday dinners, because they are usually pretty heavily laden with starchy foods. Sicilian-Inspired Kale (for Columbus Day), is a brilliant fusion of garlic-infused olive oil, raisins, and pine nuts which cling lovingly to gently wilted kale. This tasty dish gave our dinner just the right balance. 

It was really chilly here just before the holidays, and I had a hankering for soup. (Did I mention the recipes for tailgate parties, slumber parties, and snow days you'll find in Celebrate Vegan?) Dynise's Minimal Pastina with Spinach Soup sounded like just the ticket to warm my cold bones. (It gets awfully chilly inside our house when it's cold, wet, and gloomily grey outdoors.) This tasty soup made with itsy-bitsy pasta and a hint of lemon was a snap to prepare, and was satisfying, warming, and nourishing—just the kind of dish you'd enjoy, even when you're not feeling well!

Since I've talked to so many people lately who are feeling a bit under the weather, here is the recipe for Minimal Pastina with Spinach Soup from Celebrate Vegan reprinted with the kind permission of Dynise Balcavage ©2011. 


Ingredients:


4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup pastina (or any small pasta like orzo or ditalini)
1 cup spinach, shredded or cut (frozen is fine, too)
Nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper to taste
Splash of lemon juice (optional, but I highly recommend it!)


Directions:


In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add pasta, lemon juice if desired, and spinach. Cook according to pasta package directions. Adjust seasonings, and serve. Yields 4 (very yummy!) servings.

When Kwanzaa rolled around, I was still craving soup, and the recipe for Tanzanian Curried Chickpea-Banana Soup sounded intriguing. Boy, were we ever in for a treat! Coconut, tomatoes, chickpeas, and bananas came together to create a happy dance of flavors right there in our bowls! I was so glad that I made a huge pot, because I ate this soup for lunch every day for a week, and with each new slurp, I fell ever more deeply in love with it!

Back in November, I visited Palm Beach County, Florida. As some of you know, for very personal reasons, it wasn't a fun trip. But while I was there visiting with family, my nephew and I dined at a vegan restaurant called Darbster. My nephew's favorite dish there is the Hearts of Palm Cakes, and he urged me to try it. I never ate crab cakes, which is what they are reminiscent of, but holy WOW these were great! So when I spotted Dynise's recipe for Old Bay Cakes (think 4th of July picnic!), I couldn't wait to try them. Made with tofu, instead of hearts of palm, these babies were every bit as tasty as the cakes at Darbster!

Dynise's recipe for Thai-Centric Cheezy Mac takes a classic American comfort food dish and infuses it with my very favorite ethnic cuisine! Made with red bell pepper, carrots, So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer, and just the right amount of nooch, this is the cheesiest, creamiest, most delicately spiced mac 'n cheese ever to cross my lips. It's so good, I almost feel like licking the screen when I look at this photo:

As you can see from the book's beautiful cover, you'll also find lots of taste-tempting dessert recipes in Celebrate Vegan—from Mexican Wedding Cookies to Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Crust! You can bet I'll be delving into all of them!

Now, you can certainly wait for the next holiday to roll around to start celebrating vegan, but I say that everyday is the perfect day to celebrate eating compassionately and deliciously. So, get yourself a copy of Celebrate Vegan, and make every meal a festive occasion and every day a holiday!


Update: Congratulations to Ashley! She won a copy of Celebrate Vegan! Ashley, please send me an email with your postal address so I can send you your book! Thank you to everyone who made this giveaway such a great one! Stay tuned for more great giveaways in 2012!

Would you like to win a copy of Celebrate Vegan? All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what your favorite holiday is.* (Please make sure I have your email address to contact you when you win!) If you'd like to earn additional entries, please do any or all of the following, and leave a comment for each item you complete:

1. Follow this blog by clicking the "follow" link in the upper left-hand corner of this page, subscribing via email, or through NetworkedBlogs.

2. Tweet the following message: Win a copy of @theurbanvegan's Celebrate Vegan via @Vegiegail and make everyday a holiday! http://bit.ly/tJBteh #vegan #cookbook #giveaway
3. Like The Urban Vegan on Facebook.
4. Follow @Vegiegail on Twitter!
5. Follow @theurbanvegan on Twitter!

Good luck!


*Sorry international friends. Giveaway is only open to readers with a valid US postal address.