Reader sweepstakes & book review: Great Gluten-free Vegan Eats

Can you imagine my total joy at receiving this cookbook, an ENTIRE COOKBOOK OF RECIPES I CAN EAT? No renovating? Yum, yum, yum. So I asked the nice people who publish it if I could give away two copies, and they said yes. It’s Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats: Cut Out the Gluten and Enjoy an Even Healthier Vegan Diet with Recipes for Fabulous, Allergy-Free Fare. Also included in the giveaway is a prize package of essential gluten-free flours that Allyson uses in most of her recipes from my friends at Bob’s Red Mill.

What I liked about the book: Every single recipe is both gluten-free and vegan!  She opens with a primer on gluten-free flours and vegan ingredient substitutions, as well as some “basics” recipes like almond milk, white chocolate, and gluten-free pasta. I love that every single recipe has a full-color photograph, and Kramer’s friendly, chatty style makes it easy to see why her blog, Manifest Vegan, is so popular. She inspired me to try making pasta for the very first time, which was fun. The layout and look of the book is great, so approachable.

I wasn’t so keen on: I had some trouble with the recipes I tested, which was a little disappointing. I tried the Homemade Pasta recipe in order to make the Walnut Ravioli with Vodka Sauce. I didn’t have superfine brown rice flour (it’s on order) so I’m going to chalk up the trouble I had with the pasta to my flour choice and not the recipe. It did seem like the proportions were off in terms of how much filling to put in each ravioli. She called for 2 teaspoons and I think 1 teaspoon would work better. I assume it was a typo to roll out the dough to 1-1/8″ thick… so I rolled it to 1/8″ as best I could. Her filling was delicious and I will definitely try making pasta again.

I liked her Tofu Feta recipe, especially after 3 days of marinating, although I’m not sure that freezing the tofu added anything to the texture and added an extra step and more time. I made the Mediterranean Croquettes, which were good but mine seemed a little dry.

The recipe for the White Chocolate Baking Bar didn’t come out as pictured (mine separated), perhaps because I used powdered coconut sugar instead of powdered cane sugar.

I know you’ll find tons of yummy recipes to try in this cookbook, and am excited to be able to share it with two readers. The Bob’s package will ship separately.

The Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free prize package contains:

1 22 oz. bag of sweet white sorghum flour
1 24 oz. bag of whole grain brown rice flour
1 24 oz. bag of potato starch
1 24 oz. bag of tapioca flour
1 8 oz. bag of xanthan gum

Leave a comment answering this question to enter:
Have you ever made pasta from scratch? How did it turn out?

Sweepstakes Official Rules:

By leaving a comment below you are agreeing to the Official Rules, outlined here.

• NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
• Only U.S. residents over the age of 18 are eligible to enter.
• Duration: Friday September 28 through Thursday October 4, 2012 at 5 PM Pacific Daylight Time.
• Leave a comment answering the question to enter. You can receive up to 4 additional entries by doing the following and leaving one comment for each additional item. If you are already following me, you can tweet about the sweepstakes to earn additional entries.

1) Tweet about the sweepstakes on different days. You can tweet up to 4 times for 4 additional entries. (Leave a comment with your tweet link each time.)

For new followers/subscribers only:
2) Follow Recipe Renovator on Facebook
3) Follow Recipe Renovator on Twitter
4) Subscribe to my newsletter on the right sidebar

• The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
• Winner(s) will be selected by random number generator within one day of the sweepstakes closing. Winners have 48 hours to respond to their notification email to claim their prize. If they do not respond, another winner will be chosen by random number generator. All prizes will be awarded.
• We are not liable for technical failures or typographical errors, or resolving identity disputes related to the winner.
• We will obtain winners’ name and mailing addresses in the notification email. Once prize(s) have been mailed we will maintain that information for up to one year but will not use it for any other purpose.
• This sweepstakes is sponsored by Fair Winds Publishing, Bob’s Red Mill, and Recipe Renovator, P.O. Box 34054, San Diego, CA 92163-4054. (619) 365-5065.
  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
• Prize description: Two softcover copies of the book plus the Bob’s Red Mill prize package for a total value of $50 each.

Here is the book if you want to check it out in more detail…

Tagged as: Allyson Kramer, cookbook, Manifest Vegan, reader giveaway, sweepstakes