Cookbook reviews, ANZAC biscuits, & a giveaway

***THIS POST’S GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ENTERED!***
The winner is Maud of Food Feud!
Please email your mailing info to
almostveganchef AT gmail DOT com
within 48 hours. CONGRATS!

News & Notes

• I guest-posted this week on the Living Harvest blog with an article entitled Three Simple Diet-Based Changes for Your Health. If you made new year’s resolutions for 2012 – or if you didn’t! – you’ll want to check out my recommendations.
• I’m very thankful for all the comments that are still rolling in on my last post, a response to a very unfair and poorly-researched New York Times article portraying Kansas City, my home, as a vegetarian wasteland. Let me help illustrate a little further just how off-the-mark that is: I can point out 20+ vegan meal options available within a one-minute walk of each other in Midtown Kansas City. And that’s just off the top of my head!
• Russell James’ new DVD and e-course is now available! It’s like attending raw chef school, but in the comfort of your own home.

On to today’s post: three quick cookbook reviews, a recipe, and a giveaway.

The Vegan Slow Cooker: Simply Set It and Go with 150 Recipes for Intensely Flavorful, Fuss-Free Fare Everyone (Vegan or Not!) Will Devour by Kathy Hester

Since the weather in Kansas City has been so unseasonably warm the last couple months, I hadn’t yet delved into Kathy Hester’s all-vegan, all-slow-cooker cookbook…but the night before last, we got our first snow. Boo! Pulling out the crockpot suddenly sounds incredibly appealing.

Not only does Kathy’s book give you advice on which slow cooker to buy and how best to use it to cook simple staples like beans, grains, and broths, she provides us with dozens and dozens of truly creative slow cooker recipes. (The book also has full-color photos sprinkled throughout, which is always a plus.) Yes, there are the usual soups, stews, and sauces, but there are also curries, casseroles, pasta dishes, breakfasts, party snacks, jams, and even desserts (!) and BREADS (!!). First up for me will be the Butter Chick’n (mmm, I can almost smell it just thinking about it!) and Turkish Delight Tapioca Pudding. If you’re in the dregs of winter right now too, you better grab your own copy, cuz ya can’t borrow mine! 😛 (By the way, feel free to use this Williams Sonoma promotional code to help you save on some other great cookbooks.)

Another Fork in the Trail: Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes for the Backcountry by Laurie Ann March

I’m most assuredly not the target audience that Laurie Ann March had in mind when she wrote this unique cookbook. I’ve never camped in my life (nor do I want to!) and much prefer the comfort of my apartment to the great outdoors. Yet I still found lots to get excited about among Laurie’s recipes for trail-friendly (and thus travel-friendly) food. Packed with lightweight recipes for backcountry adventurers (or road-trip-travelers like me), Another Fork in the Trail focuses on easy-to-prepare meals and snacks.  Many of the recipes are prepped and dried at home, saving valuable time at camp or anywhere else you may travel. With recipes for desserts and baked goods in addition to the staples, the book covers menu planning and recipe creation and discusses other important considerations for vegetarian and vegan outdoor adventurers. Though you’ll find me in a motel, not a tent, on any given trip, I’m particularly loving Laurie’s recipes for hot cereal mixes, granolas, and energy bars.  I can only imagine how much I’d use this cookbook if I were an “outdoorswoman”!

World Vegan Feast: 200 Fabulous Recipes from Over 50 Countries by Bryanna Clark Grogan

This much-anticipated, globally-minded, and very ambitious cookbook from longtime vegan superstar Bryanna Clark Grogan might just be my current favorite. As you know, I’m a huge fan of ethnic flavors and international cuisines, so as soon as I heard Bryanna was coming out with a book called “World Vegan Feast,” I immediately placed it on my wish list and anxiously anticipated its release. It’s surely no surprise to Bryanna’s fans that this cookbook DELIVERS, in a big way.

I’m positively dazzled and stunned by the impressive array of dishes and cuisines represented in this book. Every recipe is labeled with its country of origin, and we’re not just talking the usual places like China, Mexico, and Italy, but truly exotic and fascinating locales like Bali, Tunisia, Peru, Iran, Sweden, New Zealand, Lebanon, and SO many more. No corner of the globe is passed over on Bryanna’s culinary adventures. All along the way, Bryanna offers numerous tips, tricks, and fun stories and tales about various dishes’ origins. When a book can make me feel like I’ve flown around the world without leaving my own kitchen, I know it’s worth calling a bible among cookbooks.

Best of all, I get to share a recipe with you today straight out of World Vegan Feast!

ANZAC cookies (or “biscuits”) originated in Australia and New Zealand as travel-friendly snacks for military men (ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), but are popular all across the region today. I decided to make them last week since I had the tail end of a jar of golden syrup to use up. If you don’t have golden syrup, you can easily sub in agave nectar.

ANZAC Biscuits

Recipe by Bryanna Clark Grogan

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or a gluten-free flour blend)
1 cup packed brown sugar (I used half xylitol, half Sucanat)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup melted vegan margarine (I used coconut oil)
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons golden syrup or agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar, coconut, and baking soda and stir to mix well. Add the margarine, water, and golden syrup or agave nectar. Stir well with a wooden spoon, mixing with your hands if necessary.

Form tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place them 2 inches apart on two parchment-paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten the balls with your hands or a flat-bottomed glass moistened with a bit of water.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes or until almost set. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: about 20 cookies
Per cookie: 104 calories, 4g fat (2g sat), 16.5g carbs, 2g fiber, 1.3g protein

I loved these! They’re super-chewy from the oats and coconut, a little bit caramelized from the sugar, and just sweet enough for my taste.

I bet you want to win a copy of World Vegan Feast for yourself, don’t you?

Giveaway: World Vegan Feast

The winner of this giveaway will receive a free copy of Bryanna Clark Grogan’s cookbook World Vegan Feast, mailed directly to your home.

There are six ways to win (please leave a separate comment below for each entry):

1) Comment below telling me your favorite slow cooker meal, on-the-go snack, or international food dish.

2) “Like” Almost Vegan on Facebook AND Vegan Heritage Press on Facebook and comment below confirming you’ve done so. (Bonus: “like” my FB post about the giveaway.)

3) Follow Almost Vegan on Twitter AND Bryanna Clark Grogan on Twitter and comment below confirming you’ve done so (include your handle).

4) Tweet the following message and comment below confirming you’ve done so:

I entered to win @VeganFeaster’s World Vegan Feast cookbook from @ChefAmberShea! #Giveaway here: http://wp.me/pYLdq-14D

5) “Like” World Vegan Feast AND Practically Raw on Amazon (you can find the “like” button beneath the title at the top of the page) and comment below confirming you’ve done so.

6) Subscribe to my blog by email (at the top of the right-hand sidebar), RSS feed, or Google reader and comment below confirming you’ve done so (or already are a subscriber).

This giveaway is open to the continental U.S. only.
The deadline for entries is next Thursday, January 19th, 2011, at 10:00am CST.
I’ll be choosing the winner at random. Good luck!

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