Book Review: Incredible Plant Based Desserts

I was generously offered a e-book copy ahead of release of Incredible Plant-Based Desserts by Anthea Cheng from the publisher for a honest review through Netgalley. My review also appears on Goodreads.

The book starts with some kitchen gadgets that may make your life easier. Then, even though it is called Incredible Plant-Based Desserts, the book starts with some breakfasts. Some of these may be  familiar or unfamiliar. I know I'm not a fan of ONOs or smoothies, so I didn't try some of these based upon that. There are some fun recipes, such as popsicles that people with kids would do well with. The snacks section was full of things I would consider desserts and not snacks, but that's probably my age showing.


Many of the recipes are sweetened by dates. Unfortunately, I do not care for dates - at all. Which means that any recipe that required dates would not be one I would try. I learned that even using dates for sweetening is not something I enjoy based on recipes I have made in the past. However, if you are looking for a less refined sweetener, dates is the way to go.

The layout is pretty. There are beautiful, vibrant color images, and little thought bubbles in painted swirls.

I only tried two recipes: the Chocolate Brownie Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies and the Cookie Dough Bars. I initially planned to try about six recipes. However, there are two big drawbacks to the recipes in this book: the ingredients can be expensive and hard to find (I paid $15 for just one ingredient for the cookie dough bars) and the resulting treats taste healthy or like non-vegans expect vegan food to taste. Unfortunately, for my family and I, those are deal breakers. My family asked me not to make any more of the planned recipes after two such duds.

I found the recipes to be very easy to make and not particularly time consuming. They also were very rich. So if you like rich treats, these will be right up your alley.

I would recommend this book to vegan families and parents who are trying to make healthier treats for the kids. Many of the recipes engage kids to participate with the decorating and are lunchbox ready.

Slow-cooker Moroccan Chili

It's still chili season, so here is another slow-cooker chili for you. Here's a hint, I have a few of these slow-cooker chili recipes and I hope to get them all up this fall.

Ingredients:
2 baking potatoes
1 onion, diced
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
4 carrots, sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced
2 cans (15-oz ea) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp Ras el Hanout
2 cans (14-oz) diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Throw everything except the potatoes together in a 6-8 quart crock pot.
2. Cook on low 6-8 hours until veggies are soft, the chili is warm and tasty.
3. Meanwhile, bake your potatoes.
4. Serve chili over potato.

Notes:

• Serves 4
• You can make this stove-top by sauteing the onion and garlic until translucent, adding the veggies and cooking until tender, stirring in spices to coast, then adding beans and tomatoes plus some water, cooking for about 20 minutes, stirring as needed, until warm and tasty.