Reviewed for Wit and Sin

Eating Vegan is a great starter cookbook for anyone looking to incorporate vegan meals into their lifestyle. If you’re worried about an author coming across as preachy, then Dianne Wenz is here to set you at ease. She’s got an easy, non-judgmental way of writing and a touch of humor when it comes to preconceived notions about vegans.

There are no hard-to-find, high-end, or artificial ingredients in Eating Vegan, which I really appreciated. Instead you’ll find plant-based alternatives to classic recipes that will please the palates of dedicated vegans and non-vegans looking to diversify their meals. There are a lot of meals I couldn’t try because of specific food allergies I have, but everything in here looks simple and easy. This cookbook won’t blow you out of the water, but it’s useful, practical, easy to follow, has good tips and quick allergy information, and the recipes I’ve tried taste good. For me that’s everything I need for a cookbook to be a staple in my kitchen.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Reviewed for Wit and Sin

Plant-Based Meal Prep is a simple, easy to use cookbook with good tips and information for people new to eating vegan and/or plant-based meals. The tags were great and they make it easy for people to find stuff that fits their diet. As someone who is admittedly terrible at meal prepping, I really enjoyed Stephanie Tornatore and Adam Bannon’s tips on how to make meal prepping quicker and easier. The recipes I’ve tried so far (flexible fried tofu, sautéed broccoli with garlic, veggie stir fry, and mango salsa) have turned out well and all of the ingredients are easy to find. For me personally, the biggest downside is the book is heavier on grains, potatoes, and pasta than I would like (though I do appreciate that everything was gluten-free). Even taking that into consideration, I think this is a helpful, practical book that is useful to have on-hand.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Although I really don't mind the winter,a sprinkling of sun in the kitchen is a welcome present.

And both the recipes and the photographs (mind you not all the recipes have photographs but most of them...)bring a bit of sunshine in your daily diet. 

The problem with a lot of "international " cookbooks are the ingredients. How does anyone expect you to find some obscure vegetable or an unheard of spice blend? Well,the author gives you alternatives . For instance certain Turkish cheeses are replaced by feta,cheddar and even mozzarella! Those alternatives and the fact that most recipes are not overly complicated make this a very pleasant introduction to the Turkish cuisine.

Where to begin... this was a Christmas gift from a friend here in Oz; a very thoughtful gift, as she saw it and thought, as a Southerner myself, it might be a touch of home for me while I am here on the bottom of the world.

This is what I'd call a 50/50 split of lifestyle and recipe book.  I'm mostly not a fan of lifestyle books, mostly because I'm pretty hopeless with the 'style' part, and I can't be bothered to care about my shortcomings.  I do enjoy a good recipe book though. 

I also know very little about Reece Witherspoon, except that for reasons I cannot explain even to myself, Sweet Home Alabama is a movie that has stayed with me over the years.  The smattering I do know about her seems admirable and anyone who uses their fame to start people reading is winning, as far as I'm concerned.

So, I went into this book with no clear expectation of what I'd think when I was done.  I'm done, and mostly, I feel meh.  But only because I'm certain I'm not the true target audience.  This feels like a book that was written almost exclusively for her fanbase.  Maybe.  Or maybe I just missed something. 

What I did enjoy was the reminder of all the ways being a Southerner is a wonderful thing.  I spent a lot of time yelling "Yes! This!" in my head about things such as, in no particular order, the kind of manners that were drummed into my head (I still use ma'am and sir, which does not fly here in Aus, let me tell you); frog catching; playing outdoors until the streetlights came on; how to carry on a phone conversation; how you introduce yourself.  I loved the section about accents, which made me laugh, because I still use a lot of those idioms and pronunciations.

The recipes look good too - there are a few I'd love to try, though MT has been shoved kicking and screaming onto the gluten free bandwagon for the foreseeable future to try to curb his inflammation levels (which, sadly for my love of all things gluten, might be working really well).  Since all the ones that sound best to me (chilli pie with cornbread topping) are not gluten free, they'll have to wait a bit.

All in all, not a book I'd have bought myself, but one I'll be happy to keep on the shelves. This one may connect much more with readers who are actively fans of Witherspoon's, as she comes across as genuine, honest, and sincere.

What a great cookbook! I have started to buy more cookbooks these days because I love to just make something to eat at home. It seems every winter like clockwork I go into hibernation mode (due to the weather) and I want to be able to make something that is filling, that is not going to have 1,000 ingredients, and that for the most part I can get done in an hour or less. 

"Together: Our Community Cookbook" is pretty great. I loved all of the color photos that accompanied the recipes, the foreword by HRH The Duchess of Sussex, and also the community members who added little personal anecdote before getting into the recipes. It made it seem as if a friend is sharing a recipe with you. 

This cookbook is divided into the following: Foreword; Introduction; Breakfasts; Snacks, Sharing Plates and Dips; Lunches and Dinners; Salads and Sides; Desserts and Drinks; Index; The Royal Foundation; Cooking in the Community/Recipe Notes; and Acknowledgements. 

Not going to lie, I don't recall one cookbook I currently own that gets into breakfasts. That is seriously my favorite meal of the day. Most of the recipes I have for breakfasts I just find on Pinterest. I do own Martha Stewart's one cookbook that gets into the type of meals that you can make depending on your cookware (crockpot, dutch oven, cast iron skillet, etc.)  The first thing I am going to try though is the simple chocolate cake recipe. I really want something like this to enjoy over winter with a nice cup of coffee.