I discovered the “Love Real Food” cookbook before I’d heard of the incredibly popular Cookie + Kate blog that it’s based on. I was (once again) on a mission to find some vegetarian/whole foods-based meals that my kids would actually eat without a fuss. My family isn’t vegetarian per se, but in the interest of health and the environment, I’m trying to work up to at least 2 or 3 meatless meals per week.
I’m so happy to report that this cookbook, “Love Real Food: More than 100 Feel-Good Vegetarian Favorites to Delight the Sense and Nourish the Body,” delivers on great flavors, well-written instructions and reliable results. Taylor has a down-to-earth voice and practical recipe design sensibility (no need to order exotic ingredients from the internet) and I can tell she really loves food because her recipes are good tasting, good looking and she conveys a sense of fun in writing about them.
The book’s seven chapters cover breakfast foods, salads, soups, appetizers and cocktails, main dishes, desserts and “extras” (salad dressings, a pesto recipe, pickled onions, cashew sour cream, etc.). Every recipe gets a full-page, full-color photo which is my cookbook gold standard. Taylor offers enough detail in her instructions that I think even cooking newbies could execute these recipes successfully.
The first recipe I tried was The Best Waffles Ever. I made it gluten-free with oat flour which I ground in my food processor as suggested in the book. I used almond milk and coconut oil to make it dairy-free, and my kids LOVED IT. The texture of my first batch was a little delicate as I slightly undercooked them – they take a little longer in the press than my usual waffle recipe.
I also made Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies. These were so yummy! They were simple and a hit with the whole family. They’re sweetened with 1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup, no refined sugar, and easily converted to GF. The recipe uses 1-1/2 pounds of carrots and a cup of nuts which keeps it on the side of “breakfast” instead of “treat” in my mind.
My favorite recipe was the Kale and Quinoa Salad with Crisp Celery, Plumped Cranberries and Lemon Dressing. It’s so simple that it’s surprising how good it is. I can attest to it lasting well in the refrigerator – I had it for lunch several times over 5 days and it was delicious to the end.
Because it’s tomato season, I made the Heirloom Tomato Pizza on Easiest Whole Wheat Pizza Dough. The pizza dough was very easy to put together in the food processor. It made a dense but really tasty crust. I was SHOCKED that my 10-year old really enjoyed this pesto-based pizza. He took the tomatoes off his piece <sigh> but now I know that pesto can come back into circulation at our house.
Fresh Greek Nachos with Herbed Tahini Sauce were a hit for me and my husband, and a miss for my kids. My husband and I thought it was a solid take on a Greek Salad. It was really messy, but tasty. I thought small pitas would be “fun” to use instead of the 7” pitas called for in the recipe. That was silly. The itty bitty pita chips that I ended up with were too small to scoop up the salad. Oops!
Finally, I tested the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe which is gluten free and dairy free, but contains 2 cups of coconut sugar which is the only ingredient that I bought “special” for this cookbook. The coconut sugar made the cookies very dark, and I overbaked the bottoms of the cookies in the first batch. These are funny looking little cookies, but they are really chewy and chocolatey. My kids loved them, too.
Oh, and I have to say – the Liquid Gold Salad Dressing is my new favorite. Bonus: the ingredients are things that I always have on hand!
Double bonus points to Taylor for including a little breakdown at the end of each recipe that tells you how to adapt it to be gluten free, dairy free, vegan, or nut free. I recommend this cookbook!
What I’m reading: Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly.
What my 10-year old is reading: My Life as a Book by Jake Tashjian.