My Favorite Vegan Cookbooks

I have been thinking back when I began my journey with vegan cooking and Cookbooks….Yes, it is true that I had pre-cancerous polyps removed and had GI problems.  BUT the OTHER reason I began vegan cooking is that I was beginning to have high cholesterol..not bad, borderline but my doctor wanted to place ME on medication to lower my cholesterol.  MY HUSBAND, on the other hand HAD been placed on Pravachol and Lipitor for high cholesterol and he felt very bad on the medication!  He wasn’t sure he would tolerate it lifelong.  So that prompted my desire to change from Vegetarian cooking to Vegan with the hope that I would not need medication and my husband would be able to lower his dose.  So my vegan cooking began in earnest about 8 years ago.

There were not many vegan cookbooks at the time I seriously began to cook vegan…at least up here in Alaska!       I don’t even recall that many vegan cookbooks available on Amazon at the time!!  The items used in vegan cooking are more available to us here in Alaska now also!  We have two wonderful health food stores in Anchorage but, truthfully, I drool when I visit my family in Oregon!!  OH to have a Whole Foods Store or Trader Joe’s close by!   For now, Fred Meyers and a few other stores do a pretty good job keeping us vegans in Alaska supplied. BUT I still have to order online for items that I cannot get here.

I got really serious with my vegan cooking a few years back after I ate at The Blossoming Lotus in Portland, OR.  I said if I EVER could learn to cook so food tasted like this!!   I had been cooking vegan for a few years already but oh my The Blossoming Lotus was … well I’d never had such good vegan food, ever!    My dream came true when the Chef from The Blossoming Lotus, Mark Reinfeld, offered a 10 day intensive cooking class in January in Hawaii no less!!    My friend Bobbi and I attended and our eyes have been opened!!   Thanks Mark, for offering these classes!!    So if you find yourself in Portland, Oregon…  GO eat at The Blossoming Lotus and if you ever get the chance to take one of his classes….indulge yourself!  It is well worth it.

NOW for a list of Vegan Cookbooks I like best, in no particular order:

Vegan Fusion World Cuisine by Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi

The 30-Day Vegan Challenge by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Best Gourmet Recipes from the Chefs of Five Loaves Deli & Bakery by Neva Brackett

How it all Vegan!  by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard

7 Secrets Cookbook by Neva & Jim Brackett

Vegan Cookies by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak

The Vegan Slow Cooker by Kathy Hester

Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero and Sara Quin (Oct 17, 2006)

So these are some of my vegan cookbooks I couldn’t live without!   If you have some favorite vegan cookbooks, I’d love for you to POST them here!