I started going through The Spunky Coconut Cookbook
and have had a mixed response to it. On the one hand, it does have some yummy recipes. I made the chocolate silk pie (the base is avocado!) and my darling husband is totally in love. We hadn't even finished it before he was asking when I was making it again. The recipe turned out creamy and delicious and I will definitely be making it again. There are some other great recipes that I am sure I will like as well for savory dishes like "Funa" fake tuna salad made with tempeh and a raw carrot cookie recipe that uses the leftover pulp from when you make carrot juice (I love that because I hate wasting all that fiber when I make carrot juice). In addition to these recipes, she has instructions on how to make your own nut milks and store them, which I think is really awesome.
However, I am a bit put off by the author's ideas about what constitutes "healthy" or "environmentalism." I have read again and again lately how big an environmental impact factory farmed meat has, yet she advocates the use of "beef gelatin" in her ice cream recipes. I know. I can skip those or substitute a plant-based gelling agent. So other than that one thing I guess I am okay with it. Also, there are recipes that use eggs and other meats (primarily chicken) that I am ignoring for now but might look at to veganize at some point. Mostly I think I was disappointed because it's not what I expected. I thought it was going to be all coconut recipes with coconut oil, coconut flour, coconut milk and shredded coconut featuring predominantly. This is not the case. Coconut oil is the preferred oil in these recipes, but is not present in all of them. I also thought it was a baking book, so I didn't realize that even though it didn't specify that it was meat free, I just figured it would be. I know what happens when I ass-u-me.
All in all, there are some good recipes, and if you do eat meat and/or eggs, you might love all the recipes. Lately I don't like a cookbook that I can't pick anything from and just make, but that's why I have Veganomicon
, Vegan Brunch
, The Complete Vegan Kitchen
, The Uncheese Cookbook
, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
, Vegan With a Vengeance
, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
, The Flying Apron's Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Book
, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch
, Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven
and This Crazy Vegan Life
. Wow, writing and linking that all out make me realize I have to stop coveting other cookbooks and start getting to business on the ones I have. I have thought about doing a Julie/Julia
project type blogging miniseries where I pick one of my books like Veganomicon or even one of the desert books and cook through the whole thing within a time frame and blog about my experiences. Might be fun.
I think that would be awesome! I'd read it! Also, I don't know what copyright laws are if you give credit to the original recipes, but it would be awesome to write your own cookbook of all the recipes you adapt to your lifestyle. I guess, really, no one has to know about the originals, but I think it adds to the fun. :)
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