Cookbook Review & Giveway - The Supermarket Vegan by Donna Klein

Note: The giveaway is closed! Congratulations to Mary who said... I would love to have this. I would love to add more vegan meals to our diet.  Please check your email Mary to claim your win!

Being a meat loving southern cook, you might find it odd that I chose to review a vegan cookbook, but really, despite all of the rumors, we actually do eat vegetables down here too!

Seriously though, I always find myself having a natural craving for more vegetables in the new year, probably, I figure, because of all the imbalance that occurs between Thanksgiving and Christmas - not that there's anything wrong with that! I love all the goodies and treats that are classic holiday foods, but I'm the first to admit, well, there's probably not a whole lot of balance there. Heavy on carbs and sugars and not a lot of vegetables. So we buckle down our belts come January 1 and resolve to eat a little bit better, which no matter where you live is a good thing.

The problem with eating vegetarian dishes - or eating pure vegan - is that for most of us who don't have experience with it, well, we are at a loss.  Or like me, maybe you're totally clueless. So, you grab a cookbook from the bookstore, get home and begin to dig into it, only to discover that before you can make anything, you'll have to make a run to the health food store or to a specialty market to pick up all kinds of odd ingredients that you've never even heard of before!

The newly released Supermarket Vegan to the rescue! A quick flip through this cookbook's 225 recipes and you'll see that they all use common and simple ingredients that are found on just about any regular supermarket shelf - and possibly even pantry staples already in your own house. And these recipes are not time consuming or complicated either.

Let's see... recipes that use common ingredients and no specialty items, convenient, easy to prepare dishes, variety, flavor. It's the perfect way to balance out your diet with more meat free meals. Sounds like a plan.

The author, Donna Klein, not only makes eating vegan uncomplicated, but delicious too, with recipes from appetizers to desserts and everything in between. Here are a few of the recipes you'll find:

• Spicy Red Bean Dip

• Greek Style Spinach Puffs

• Butternut Squash and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• Three Bean Barley Chili

• Tuscan-Style Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

• Artichoke Garlic Bread

• Baked Beans and Macaroni Casserole with Crunchy Fried Onions

• Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers with Black Bean Guacamole Sauce

• Quick Pasta Puttanesca

• Orange-Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes

• Cajun Style Rice and Corn with Kidney Beans 

• Raspberry Pinwheels with Lemon Sorbet

• Pumpkin Strudel

• Apple-Pumpkin Gratin

• Blackberry Crisp

                and many others!

If you've had a family member recently declare to be meat-free, or if you are just looking to put a few meat-free meals into your menu rotation, be sure to check out THE SUPERMARKET VEGAN: Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes for Real People in the Real World by Donna Klein.

One lucky reader will receive a FREE copy of the Supermarket Vegan cookbook!

Your comment is your entry, but please leave me a way to contact you to qualify. Simply tell me why you'd love to win a copy of this cookbook and that's it!

Spread the word about this giveaway on your Facebook page, on Twitter, or in a blog post at your blog. Come back here, leave a separate post with the link to let me know! That's it!  Here's some sample text you can use on Facebook or Twitter: 

Comment for a chance to win a FREE copy of 'Supermarket Vegan' cookbook http://tinyurl.com/yzxvsxo

Giveaway closes on  Wednesday, January 13th, 2009, at 12:00 noon CST.  Good luck!!