Book Review: La Dolce Vegan! Vegan Livin' Made Easy by Sarah Kramer - Page 2

The second cookbook in the trilogy is The Garden of Vegan, also co-written with Tanya Barnard. Its recipes are geared towards entertaining. The third, written without Barnard, is for quick and healthy meals. Although Kramer is cited as the sole author, La Dolce Vegan is another collaboration, this time with the loyal readers of her website and message board at Go Vegan.

I like several things about this cookbook: the attitude, the photos, the index, and, of course, the recipes. First, I love to read cookbooks and this one is entertaining. The author’s quirkiness and humor shine through in her writing. Second, the photos of this quite photogenic woman show her in various 1950s-ish poses and couture, tattoos and all. Third, I especially like the index. I am one of those people who will look in the fridge or cupboard and wonder, “Hmmm... I have a bag of blueberries. What to do with them?” The index is set up for people like me, with entries for types of food, rather than recipe names alone. (By the way, I made the Blueberry Dilip, a sort-of blueberry crumble that was quite yummy.)

The first recipe I tried was Emily’s “Meat” Loaf, contributed by reader Wolffie (a woman who contributed over thirty recipes and, according to Kramer, doesn’t want to write her own cookbook).
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Emily’s “Meat” Loaf

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 slices bread, roughly chopped
1 cup walnuts
5 – 6 veggie burgers or 1 ½ cups mock ground “beef,” crumbled
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp tahini or nut butter (your choice)
1 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 cup vegan “cheese,” finely grated
¼ - ½ cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly oil an 8-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a large saucepan on medium-high heat, sauté the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic in oil until onions are translucent. Set aside to cool. In a food processor, blend the bread and walnuts and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sautéed vegetables, bread mixture, “beef,” salt, pepper, oregano, basil, nutritional yeast, tahini, tamari, Worcestershire sauce, and “cheese.” Mix together until well blended. Press firmly into loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Pour ketchup evenly over top of loaf and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before serving. Makes 4-6 servings.

Article Author: gette

Georgette Nicolaides is a writer, musician, and visual artist. She plays noisy violin in the ambient/psychedelic project Atlantic Drone and is currently reading about eight different books. &#@%$ ADD! …

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