I really love to cook and experiment with dishes. Cookbooks are my jam! I usually collect the ones I like, then swap or sell the ones I don’t like. I have recently been really vibing with vegan and vegetarian cookbooks. I am not a vegan or vegetarian. I don’t plan on ever having a solely plant-based diet, and sometimes when I make vegan meals they turn into vegetarian meals because the thought of making vegan mac and cheese makes me not want to cook. Plus, when I make vegan food it is usually a spur of the moment thing, so I use what’s in my pantry. Sometimes, it’s strictly vegan, and sometimes, not so much!

I am not a huge fan of really involved recipes; if it takes longer than 30 minutes to prep the food, I’m probably not making it! I also try to stick to items that I can easily find at my local grocers. I’m lucky enough to live near several grocery stores and an international market, but I know not every person has that luxury. So, most of these cookbooks are for plant-based beginners because 1) That’s what I am, and 2) That’s what I will always be because, again, the idea of trying to make my own cashew cheese sauce and sour cream gives me nightmares. Plus, I don’t have a food processor...I barely have a working blender!

This is one I’m perusing right now because I am breathtakingly bad at meal planning and meal prep. I just don’t have the stamina to come up with a menu of interesting things to eat on a daily basis, which is why I order a lot of food. This book takes the guesswork out of creating a grocery list and creating tasty meals on a daily basis.

This book is perfect for me because at the beginning of each week it gives a list of groceries, and then within each day/week it gives you meals you can make with all the ingredients you’ve cooked. It even guides you on how to cook your groceries. It’s pretty easy to substitute groceries and meals, which is what I generally do depending on my budget and taste buds. Most meals are pretty quick; however, it’s the batch cooking that will get you every time!

Most recipes are pretty simple to make. I actually started reading this for the author’s life story, and what led her to veganism/plant-based eating.

So, I enjoy this cookbook simply because it is genuinely for someone who is a beginner at making plant-based foods. I also like this cookbook because it was easy for me to swap out ingredients – probably the true reason I like the book. It didn’t make me feel like I had to use just those ingredients, which is a totally subjective statement, but it really matters when I’m cooking. I don’t like to feel tied down to a specific way of cooking, so I appreciate cookbooks that give flexibility.

I actually made many of these recipes while on a budget! I’ve collected several “budget-friendly” vegan cookbooks that made me wonder whose budget is it being friendly to, and this book was thankfully very clear it was made for newly cemented plant-based eaters. Most recipes weren’t terribly different from what I make anyway, so that was nice.