Weekend Cooking: The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook

Title: The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook
Author: Melissa Costello
Publisher: Health Communications
Release date: October, 2012
Length: 264 pages
I got this book: For review through NetGalley

Summary:
From Goodreads:
"The more than 7 million vegetarians and 3 million vegans in the United States alone are proving that chowing down on planet-friendly fare not only helps them look and feel better, but it can be delicious, too. In her debut cookbook, Karma Chow creator and celebrity chef Melissa Costello shares an exciting collection of 125+ recipes that will be a welcome addition for anyone already following a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle or for the growing number of people embracing more plant-based meals.

With her "keep it simple" and "make it tasty" approach, she offers a smorgasbord of dairy- and animal-free appetizers and desserts, breakfasts, and dinners, as well as holiday- and company-worthy menus. The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook shows anyone how to reconnect with their food and honor it as Earth's source for keeping us alive all while finding it easier to rock their workouts and sculpt a well-defined physique. It's a winning recipe for success for anyone looking to transition to a healthier way of life."

Personal opinion:
Basically when a vegetarian or vegan cookbook appears on NetGalley, I always pick it up. I wouldn't want to miss the oppertunity to try and review any of these! Personally I am not really sensitive to the focus on getting more healthy, because I already know that I am. So to me that is nothing new on the horizon. But I am sensitive to fast, easy and tasty recipes. I really like the "keep it simple" approach because then I know that I will actually cook from a book. All the extra's are all nice and good, but I buy a cookbook for it's recipes. Luckily there is plenty of good stuff in this book that I wanted to try and I was creating a lot of bookmarks! Mainly in the spread, burger and soup department, which are my favorite things to try. Including: Kickin' edamame dip, Indian spiced coconut yam soup, veggie seed roll ups and dreamy avocado mayo.

One thing I can't tell much about are the pictures. My version didn't include the real pictures yet, but I did see that there were full pages reserved for them. The recipes are indeed easy and so far tasty. I tried the Greek Tomato Burgers from this book, which did fall apart but tasted good. And the latter could also be clumsyness from my side. I also tried another recipe that I will share below with you. I like this book because it is easy for people who are just beginning on their vegan path, but also offers recipes that are original enough for the people who are vegan for a while already.

Purchase links: The Book Depository
Challenges: Foodies Reading Challenge, Cookbook Challenge.
Other reviews: None yet.
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)

As always a cookbook review isn't complete without a recipe. I was looking for a spread or dip for last weeks' readathon, so I choose to make the Garnet Hummus from this book. But I couldn't get garnet yams, so I just used the ones we had here. It was totally delicious! Of course my version is adapted slightly from the original recipe.

Sweet Potato Hummus (makes about 2 cups)
- 500 gr yams, cleaned, with peel
- 425 gr canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- juice from 1 large lemon
- 1-2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (original had agave nectar, but I had this at hand)
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- dash of cayenne pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil

Place some parchment paper on an oven tray. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees (400F). Make plenty of holes in the yams with a fork and put in the oven for about 40-60 minutes. (this really depends on your oven, I found out). Leave it to cool. (I sliced the yams in half for faster cooling). Scoop the flesh out into the food processor. Add all the other ingredients except for the oil. Mix it up well and make sure to scrape down the sides so you will mix in all the ingredients. Add the oil and keep mixing until you have a smooth mixture. Add more oil or a bit of water if needed, but in my case it wasn't.

This post is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Please hop over to get inspired by all kinds of yummy food.

And also part of the Cookbook Challenge, hosted by myself. Where we cook from book that we have on our (virtual) shelves that we never used much. It is a great way to pick up those neglected cookbooks or to go through your stack of books for review, like I do now.

Pin It

Tweet