Cookbook & Book Reviews

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It was a day of books in the mail earlier this week.

I received these two books from Book Pubco

The 4 Ingredient Vegan and Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness books

First up, The 4-Ingredient Vegan

The 4 ingredient Vegan Book cover

A great book because it only uses four ingredients in most of the recipes.

Backside of The 4 Ingredient Vegan book

You know I am a sucker for one-pot meals and fast, easy, uncomplicated recipes.  I have a post dedicated to my one-pot meals and recipes.

This would be a great book for someone who is either a novice cook and needs help pairing common ingredients to make sauces, entrees, or easy desserts, or for anyone who wants to keep ingredient lists short but still enjoy tasty vegan food.

Chapter contents in book

Next up, Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness by Robert Cheeke

Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness Book Cover

A wonderful book and I have wanted a copy of it for quite some time!

This says it all:

“Renown for his passion, dedication and determination, Robert Cheeke has inspired athletes, trainers and anyone interested in a strong, healthy body. He has been at the forefront in ushering in a different way to fuel and nourish bodybuilders in an industry riddled with animal-derived body-enhancing supplements. Being one of the most prominent figures in vegan bodybuilding, his advice on diet, training, and other facets of the lifestyle make this book a fantastic resource for beginners and experienced athletes alike.”

Table of contents inside book

These pictures of Robert should inspire anyone and illustrate that you can have mass, i.e. not look like a string-bean, and thrive on a vegan diet.  

Page in oak with man doing a fitness pose

Page in book showing transformation of one mans body

When I did my fitness competition and was new to lifting and training, I read everything I could by Robert Cheeke on the internet.  His insights were invaluable in helping me stay true to my plant-based dietary convictions.  And I placed second in my first show.

And he covers one of my favorite topics in the book:

Chapter 8 in book Where Do you Get Your Protein?

I covered it too.  My Protein FAQs Post is chock full of my ideas about protein, where to get vegan protein, and meal ideas.

Thanks, Book Pub Co for the books!

I have previously reviewed many cookbooks and books in many other posts:

Another Book PubCo Review Here

Asian Fusion book

A Book PubCo review Here

Simple Treats Book

Other Vegan Cookbooks Here

Color Me Vegan Book

Ani’s latest book Here

Ani's Raw Food Essentials Book

Matthew Kenney’s books Here

Entertaining in the Raw and Everyday Raw books

Melisser Elliott’s book Here

The Vegan Girl's Guid to Life book

Go Diary Free.  Such a great book and reference!

Go Dairy Free Book

My Sweet Vegan here

My Sweet Vegan Book

The Thrive Diet Here

Thrive The Vegan Nutrition Guide book

Natural Vegan Kitchen Here

The Natural Vegan Kitchen Book

And a Massive Cookbook Review Here

Shelf full of books

Stacked books on shelves

Stacked Vegan Books up close
Close up of Vegan Books on shelf

Massive Cookbook Review Here

Food Styling & Food Photography Books

Food Styling, i.e. The Bible of everything you’d ever want to know about food styling

Food Styling book

Food Styling For Photographers

Food Styling for Photographers book

Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Everyday

Super Natural Every Day bookAn amazing cookbook with both outstanding recipes and photography.

On A Stick! by Matt Amermendariz

On a stick bookAll recipes and food in the book is on a stick from pizza and tofu on a stick to caramel popcorn and desserts on a stick.  Matt is amazing and I attended a Real Food Styling & Photography Workshop with him that changed my life!

Helene Dujardin’s Plate to Pixel

Plate to Pixel Digital Food Photography & Styling BookIf you are only going to buy one book, period, on food styling and photography, and on photography in general, THIS is the book to buy.  See my review.  5 stars, amazing, the best.

The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando as reviewed here

The book contains recipes for 50 popular cookies.  Although it’s always possible to Google for recipes, read blogs and find recipes, use the online recipe websites, or use your Grandmother’s top secret recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, it’s nice to have 50 popular yet diverse recipes all in one book.

The Cookiepedia Book

Momofuku Milk Bar

This is a mind-blowing dessert cookbook that is not for the faint of heart; either in tasetbuds or ability to devote oneself to time in the kitchen to create masterful desserts. Complete review in this post. I highly recommend this book.

The Momofuku Milk Bar book

The book contains recipes for 50 popular cookies.  Although it’s always possible to Google for recipes, read blogs and find recipes, use the online recipe websites, or use your Grandmother’s top secret recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, it’s nice to have 50 popular yet diverse recipes all in one book.

So yes, I have quite a few books.  More books than time.  And more books than appetite unless I want to adopt a football team. But it’s fun to read, learn, and be inspired!

1. What are your favorite cookbook(s) of all time? Rattle off a few titles that come to mind.   Any genre, not just food/cooking. Any cookbooks you’re dying to own?

What books do you get the most use out of or refer back to time and time again?

I always refer back to Ani Phyo’s books for real-life, practical “I will probably make this or can actually see myself making this” type inspiration.  (Book review here).

And I refer back to Matthew Kenney or Sarma’s books for “I will likely never make this but it’s fun to dream and be impressed” type inspiration. (Book reviews here).

I believe that most all books have some hidden gem in them, and something that is useful, thought-provoking, and inspiring.  That’s why I love books.

 

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Comments

  1. I was so frustrated beacuse I couldn`t resolve this issue. Then I found your site in google and problem is solved. Thanks!

  2. Really cool blog you have. Let the Force be with you or like say my friend from Khazahstan “great success”!

  3. I keep listening to the news speak about getting free online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one.

  4. I peruse a lot of recipes online, but I would love to get my hands on some good cookbooks! One of my favorite books of all time is “The Thief of Always” by Clive Barker. Not epically long like some of his stuff, and just a good read.

  5. One of my favorite all time books is Dr Joel Furman’s Eat to Live – one of the main reasons I became vegetarian as well as Skinny Bitch :)

    I refer back to The Kind Life by Alicia Silverstone often & there are a lot of books I would love to own, including Peas and Thank you :)

  6. I want both those cookbooks. I find that I have a ton of cookbooks, but I rarely use them. More as inspiration/looking at the photos. That’s why I have to have pictures in mine!

    I love reading, but that shouldn’t surprise you. I have 3 books to pick up at the library today. :) Maybe I’ll see if they have either of these there too.

    1. yes and unfort many of the books I have reviewed on the blog are very weak/light on pictures. Compared to blogs, books have so few! We get spoiled reading blogs :)

  7. I just got color me vegan over Christmas! I love Ani’s books. I try to refer to them a lot. I own SO many cookbooks…but not as many as you haha. I am trying to figure out what to do with ALL my books when the baby comes. I have like 2 huge book cases worth and a 950 sq ft condo! Yikes!

    I have to look into that childrens book. My husband is Jewish, so Ella will be half. Is Skylar half Jewish too???

  8. Maybe you should get an unpaid “intern” and have them organize all of your recipes into a cookbook on lulu.com…..then you could add your cookbook to the list!
    The reason I say get an intern……the right one could benefit from the experience, and it sounds like you don’t have time!
    I love cookbooks…and books in general. But I’m too busy right now to read much for fun. I am in the middle of Shaman, Healer, Sage…and it’s a real thought provoking look at how we do/can approach our health/healing. A little bit of the psychic stuff mixed in…and that always hooks me :)
    Happy Friday!

  9. that is quite the collection you’ve racked up for yourself! Next week I’m actually going to (try) following a more holistic diet (less processed foods. bahhh) and am looking for a good cookbook to help me out. Your suggestions are very helpful :)

    though I’m an English major, I’m not much of a reader. When I was younger though I used to love the Lemony Snicket “series of unfortunate events” books. Looking back now I realize how depressing those were. Hmph.

    Happy Friday lovely!!!

  10. Those books look awesome!! I love children’s books, they’re so fun and comforting to look at the cute illustrations.

    That vegan bodybuilding book looks wonderful. I, too, believe that you can thrive on a plant-based diet. People like you, Averie, are proof of that!! :D

    As far as fiction goes I like the Twilight saga, LOL. Only half-kidding. :shock: Robinson Crusoe is one of my favorites, as is the Great Gatsby, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Nonfiction, I’d have to say The Blue Zones is my favorite in the past year or so.

  11. I am super jealous of your cookbook collection! I especially love cookbooks that are 4-5 ingredients per recipe. I don’t think you need a million ingredients to make meals taste good (which is why I like your simple recipes, they taste great but aren’t a ton of hassle!)

    Any cookbooks I”m dying to own? I’m not sure — usually I find recipes online.

    Favorite books: Me Talk Pretty One Day, The Secret, The Magic of Thinking Big, The Five Love Languages (Those are books I have read multiple times and love!)

  12. I’m dying to read Ani’s. Everytime I got to the library to check it out, it already is!

    I think one of my favorite cookbooks to date is either the Vegan Table or The Kind Diet.

  13. Fave books: Mother Earth, Father Sky and The Stand.

    My grandmother got me a GF, DF cookbook called Cooking for Isaiah. I keep opening it to try it, but everything just seems so darn complicated. I found that it’s easier to modify the regular recipes in my standard Betty Crocker cookbook than to tackle Isaiah’s. But when I really want something easy, I come here! :)