vegan mofo :: let them eat vegan! contest, review & recipe

All the recipes I want to make from "Let them Eat Vegan." [Incidentally Pablo, pictured in part, also gives it two paws up]

Tonight, I post with an air of nostalgia, harkening back to the early days of the Blogosphere, in keeping with my Vegan MoFo theme of Back to Basics. When I first became vegan and started my original blog in 2006, plant-based cookbooks and blogs were few and far in between, and pervasive social networking was just a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg's Ivy beleaguered eye. Back then, we just wrote about eating vegan and commented on each others' posts. Today just to keep pace, we blog, tweet our posts, take Instagram shots, add pins of all of the above on Pinterest, and then update our Facebook timelines. [Never mind sleep.]

Over the years, I've seen plant-based "flavors du jour" come and go. But Dreena Burton was here from the start, walking the walk and talking the talk. She was already a vegan superstar in 2006, and frankly, anyone who has written a vegan cookbook or hosted a blog since then has Dreena, and a few other women [notably Jo Stepniak, Bryanna Clark Grogan, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero] to thank for developing the foundation techniques and positivity that inventive new vegan chefs have built upon. 

Dreena and I become "blog friends' over the years. I've followed her work with interest, and she's always been amazingly encouraging and generous. My copies of her cookbooks are all dog-eared and full of notes. Since they are mainstays in my massive cookbook library [which I recently culled from almost 200 to about  100], you can imagine how tickled I was when Let Them Eat Vegan! recently came out, with gorgeous photos by the talented Hannah Kaminsky. To celebrate Dreena's fabulous 4th book, I'm hosting a giveaway contest. More on that after the review.

Let Them Eat Vegan! The Review

Triple-Threat Chocolate Coconut Macaroons. Easy to make. Easier to eat!

The first thing I do when I get a new cookbook is to bookmark all of the recipes I want to try first. As your can see from all the Post-Its, I had a hard time deciding what my fledgling recipe would be. I opted for Dreena's Triple-Threat Chocolate Coconut Macaroons. These were a breeze to make, are [mostly] healthy – and as a special-added bonus, they make your kitchen smell like a Yankee Candle store as they bake.

Chewy-gooey. What's not to love?

Smoked paprika sexies up your tahini

I usually like to have some sort of sauce on hand in the 'fridge to perk up salads and veggies. I knew I'd adore the Smoky Spiked Tahini Sauce; tahini is rather smoky on its own, but add the smoked red paprika and whoa mama! So much flavor for so little effort.

Walnut-Pecan Balls. I "smooshed" this one and ate it as a slider.

Next up were the Walnut-Pecan Balls. I made most of them as meatless meatballs, but decided to "smoosh" a few. These became cute little sliders. When you fry these, the nuts become toasted and brim with an impossibly complex woody aroma – divine! I also think mixing up a batch of this "un-balled" would make a fabulous ground beef sub in many recipes.

The verdict? This is Dreena's pivotal work, to date. I love the accessibility of her tasty recipes: genuine, down-to-earth, crafted from whole foods, using ingredients most of us already have on hand. Talk about Back to Basics! And if you are avoiding soy, wheat or nuts, take heart. Dreena went out of her way to include variations for many common allergens and irritants.

Try Dreena's recipe for Walnut-Pecan Balls...and scroll down to enter the contest. You NEED this book in your collection!

Here they are, a-frying on my kickass new stove.

Dreena Burton's Walnut-Pecan Balls

[Paraphrased. See her book for complete recipe with allergy notes and baking instructions]

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 3/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup raw pecans
• 3/4 cup raw walnuts
• 1 cup plus 2 T rolled or quick oats
• 2 T vegan Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 T tamari
• 1/2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp blackstrap molasses
• 1-2 T olive oil, for frying

Makes 17-20 balls

In a skillet over medium heat, combine 1 T of olive oil, celery, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 10-14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions and celery are nicely softened and golden brown, then transfer to a food processor with the remaining ingredients [except frying oil], and process until the mixture becomes crumbly. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Process again to incorporate any larger pieces, and just as mixture becomes sticky and/or forms a ball, stop the processor.

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Take small spoonfuls, about 1 T, and form into balls. Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high. Add balls. Fry 5-7 minutes (lower heat if burning), shifting pan to turn sides of balls every minute or two to form a golden crust evenly around the balls. Remove from the heat and serve.

The Contest! Closes at midnight on October 25.

I'll announce the winner by week's end. Just leave a comment. Extra chances for those who follow us on twitter: @dreenaburton and @theurbanvegan US and Canadian residents only. Sorry!

UPDATE: To be eligible, I need to also see your comment on my blog. I took down Rafflecopter it was not working correctly :)