Taste of Europe cookbook review

I was given the chance to review and write a post about Mark Reinfeld's new cookbook The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of Europe.

I was pretty excited to take a peek at this.

I love European food but since giving up on meat and almost all dairy I wasn't sure what delicacies I would be able to eat.

Mark's book though is chock full of choices separated out by various countries, instead of chapters.

I went straight to France first, as I have been to Paris a few times and have always thought their food was amazing.

He has recipes for:

French Onion Soup
Kermit's Relief (faux frog's legs)
Seitan Bourguignon
Quiche Monet

However to please my family I went with Italy and Greece for our first recipes to try.

I chose a spanikopita filling and instead put it in ravioli (I used wonton wrappers as a short cut) and topped it with Mark's Italian sun dried tomato sauce.

The picture isn't very good as the pasta was warm, and steaming, but I did the best I could with my amateur skills.

Oh my goodness the filling was wonderful.

It had tofu in it and my kids ate it right up...no idea that it was in there (to them that is a little bit of a "funny" ingredient).

The recipe was simple to follow and I never had a moment where I had to second guess the directions.

Mark puts variations for each recipe as well as a tips and trick section to make things a bit easier.

I found these sections answered any questions I had about the recipes I was reading.

This is a great cookbook for vegans, wannabe vegans, or vegan curious.

You will find tons of variety in the food choices and will surely find a meal that omnivores to vegans alike will enjoy.

Do you have any new cookbook that you have found?  Do you have any one your Christmas wish list?

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The Wrap Up

Happy Friday to you all!

The weather here in North Carolina is beautiful and just makes me happy to here.

The flowers are blooming and the stinky Cleveland pears are blooming, I think they have the most awful odor and there are tons of them in front of my office building.

Anywho I want to give you sort of a wrap up for the week as I have several small things I have been wanting to share.

For starters the post man has been busy at my house...which is always a good thing.

He brought me these two wonderful books to add to my ever growing collection

I was very excited to get Dreena's next book and so glad to see that there were some color photos in it (sometimes I just like to see what the finished product looks like according to the author). 

I have to confess I haven't made anything yet, mainly because I just can't decide where to start.  I am drawn to the sweets, because I am better at preparing those...BUT I crave more savory stuff.  When I finally do make something (probably this weekend) I will share the outcome.

The second book I received

As soon as I opened Chloe's book her cinnamon rolls spoke to me.  I know they will be on my breakfast table very soon.

I have to confess I love cookbooks.  Reading through them is just the most wonderful thing and I could sit down with a cup of tea and just enjoy the books...kind of strange to regular folks, but my foodie friends know exactly what I am talking about.

The next piece of mail I got is one I have been waiting not so patiently for:

See it had to come from across the pond (England)

I received these delicious raw chocolate treats from Sharon of Bit of the Good Stuff (I won't comment as to how many are left):

She sent her Raw Chocolate Coconut Cups and they are fantastic topped with nuts and goji berries.

These are not too sweet and just the perfect size when you need a little dessert. 

And look how beautiful they are once you take the wrapping off:

Ooops I took a little bite out of this one.  I wish I could share these with you all but have no fear Sharon has provided her recipe here do yourself a favor and give these a go.

Lastly I have a winner to announce AND another giveaway to start (I know when will all the giving stop...hopefully never because I love to share awesome products with you all).

First the winner of my Conscious Box giveaway is:  Laura from Sprint 2 The Table.  I have a serious love of Laura's blog and her fitness ability.  Seriously check out this post here.  She has some great workout suggestions and some very tasty recipes.  Also, shameless plug here, if you get a chance vote for her over at Fitness Magazine for Best Healthy Eating Blog.

My next giveaway is for Larabars, and seriously we all know how AWESOME Larabars are.

If you have happen to watch The Biggest Loser to watch Bob Harper be inspired you may know that trainer Dolvett Quince noted that Larabars were a great snack (here is the video).

To keep the inspiration going Larabar is giving one of my lucky readers 4 bars:

2 Peanut Butter Cookie
2 Cherry Pie

So if you would like to throw your name in the hat for this giveaway just leave me a comment (if you want to profess your love for Bob that is ok by me).

For additional entries:

1. Tweet the giveaway and mention @rachelkyle0402 and @larabar in the tweet (and then leave a comment)
2. Follow my blog (and then leave a comment letting me know that you do)

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday I have to say I am SUPER charged with energy and just feeling really good today.  So hopefully you can have some of that joy as well.

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