Anupy, I realize you’re actually offering me a plate of spices… but I assume you are just showing them to me because you’re about to make the food that you’re offering to me.  So heck yeah!

One moment please; I must wipe the drool from my keyboard before I continue.

…

I’m back, thanks!

In any case, I hope more authors will start offering me food right on the cover because I somehow hope to buy more cookbooks (as if I didn’t have too many already), as well as have some secret desire if pictures do come to life… Anupy’s making me curry and Isa’s providing the waffles.

This rambly post brings me to my first cookbook evaluation, one that I was afraid to purchase (because I was told, and rightly so, that it isn’t a low calorie book), but one I wanted to get because I was told it had some pretty cook recipes, including a kick-ass guac recipe.

What won me over?  Not one, but two people on the cover offering me food.

The book:  How It All Vegan!  by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

Why do you have it?  It was mentioned above, but an additional reason was that this was an updated version of an older book; I was hoping to find recipes without an over-reliance on the abundance of vegan processed foods that exist today.

Well, why hadn’t you cooked from it yet?  This one was a more recent purchase (4 months ago, maybe, when I finally caved).  I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

Did you have difficulty deciding on a recipe?  I did, but for good reasons in this case.  There were actually a few that I wanted to make, but some I felt were too simple or just overlapped with items I wanted to make from other books I’m doing this month.

What did you make?  Since this was my first offering to the VMF, and all about beginnings, I “vegan” with breakfast:  Apple-Cinnamon Cornmeal Pancakes.

How did the cook go?  These weren’t my first pancakes, nor my first cornmeal pancakes or even apple pancakes.  This all being said, I wanted to stay as true to the recipe as possible and, as a result, the batter was a bit runny.  I wasn’t sure if this would turn out the way it needed to.  Or even circular.  That being said, instructions were pretty clear and everything came together quickly.

Did you modify?  Because we know you can’t help yourself.  I did add a little apple cider vinegar.  I am pretty much a fan of doing so for the pancakes and quick breads that use baking powder.  This was not the cause of the runny-ness before you get any ideas…

How did the eat go?  Well, the pancakes were not circular (very much) nor as high/puffy as I’d normally expect, but they were very flavorful!  They did retain a moistness, a little crunch from the cornmeal, bursts of apple and cinnamon… high marks for deliciousness!  

And The Husband?  At first I didn’t think he liked them, because he was silent.  It may be because they were a little different than the usual.  After a while, I got the grunted, “Mmm” that usually indicates good-to-very good approval rating.  He even spoke actual words, “These are real good.”  At the end, he sighed and wondered where his pancakes had gone.

Will you cook from this book again?  Absolutely!  There are many recipes I want to try (or at least be inspired by).  The book (prior to the recipes… I did actually read it) was actually quite a fun read, and … well, I have to make that killer guac that I’ve heard about!

So, can you tell us where it vegan for you?  This I’ve always found to be a hard question.  There was (in my mind at least) a lot of little bit of this and that which nudged me toward this direction, but it was a remark by Portia de Rossi made in an issue of VegNews magazine (which I had because I was vegetarian at the time and checking out many vegetarian and vegan recipe sources) that got me thinking.  She remarked upon how people didn’t think about how cows have to be pregnant all the time to provide milk (and it really struck me as I realized i was one of those people).  Her remark finally gave me the courage to read a book that I had my eye on for some time due to the cover…

I spent the majority of the book thinking that this wasn’t at all convincing whatsoever… yet by the end, I decided to go vegan.

I mean, if she’s going to offer me food and all, who am I to refuse?