Super-simple plant-based recipe books
Make It Vegan is absolutely terrific! This has gorgeously innovative recipes, all beautifully photographed, and affordable for anyone to make. From ‘Wake Up’ and quick eats, to nibbles, sides and main dishes, there are also plenty of sweets and treats.
Maddie starts off telling her life story (a history of eating disorders and drinking at university), before she ‘fell into’ a healthy lifestyle after moving to Cornwall. She strongly believes that unless you run a restaurant (or are appearing on Masterchef), there’s no need to get stressed about cooking.
She suggests trying a few of her recipes each week, putting on some music (she likes Norah Jones) and chilling, while you learn to cook!
Read up on food safety for people and pets. For tinned ingredients, rinse/remove lids (or pop ring-pulls over holes) then step on upper cans to pinch rims together, to stop wildlife getting trapped.
Unless you have food waste bins, just bin pepper and allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallot, chives), citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps. To avoid acids harming compost creatures.
Recipes include:
- Pesto Potato Salad
- Cauliflower & Mushroom Burgers
- Maple Pancakes
- Spinach & Butter Bean Soup
- Sundried Tomato & Tahini Rigatoni
- Sticky Seitan Ribs
- One Pan Baked Scramble
- Butter No-Chicken Curry
- 10-Minute Mac & Cheese
- Vegan Paella
- Un-Sausage Rolls
- Beetroot Mushroom Wellington
Desserts include:
- Fluffy Lemon Elderflower Sponge Cake
- Chocolate Spread Cheesecake
- Pain au Chocolat
- Choc-a-choc Chocolate Cake!
Madeleine Olivia is a popular chef and influencer, who lives in the Cornish countryside with her husband (together they have released a lovely guide to making bread!)
She makes the mac and cheese recipe from this book at least once a week, served with roasted garlic broccoli. She also enjoys making dals and stir-fries.
Simply Plants (100 recipes to nourish body and soul)
Simply Plants is a lovely book of over 100 recipes to make cooking joyful, nourishing and effortless, from a poular food blogger. Designed to make plant-based eating accessible to everyone, these wholesome recipes are nutritious and simple to make.
Backed by evidence-based nutrition, they are quick to prepare and super-tasty. You’ll find appealing recipes for every meal of the day.
Recipes include:
- Banana chunk pancakes
- High protein peanut butter & jelly smoothie
- Butter bean shakshuka
- Blended tiramisu oats
- Spicy pulled mushroom tacos
- Sticky loaded tempeh flatbread
- Green summer rolls with peanut sauce
- Sesame Udon noodles with five-spice tofu crumble
- Creamy green macaroni
- Lemony tahini tagliatelle with burst cherry tomatoes
- Vegan butter ‘chicken’
- One-pot creamy tomato chickpea curry
- Eggplant (aubergine) lentil stew with hummus and pitta
- Upside down plum cake
Sadia Badiei is a creator at Pick Up Limes, one of the world’s most popular recipe blogs for vegans. With a background in clinical dietetics, her recipes also very nutritious. Originally from Canada, she now lives in The Netherlands.
Cooking with Nonna (vegan Italian recipes)
Cooking with Nonna is a fun and unique book to make the best Italian home cooking. Giuseppe is a second-generation British Italian where food and family have always been intertwined.
So when Giuseppe went vegan, he needed to find a way to cook the flavours of his family. There was only one person who could help; his nonna! Together they learned how to make the authentic Italian and Sicilian dishes that Nonna grew up with, using all plants.
Recipes include:
- Classic Lasagne with Homemade Mince
- Arancini (croquettes) Della Nonna!
- The Perfect Tomato Sauce
- Pasta Aglio Olio & Peperconico
- Homemade Focaccia
- Tiramisu
- Coffee Granita
- Biscotti
Giuseppe Federici comes from a long line of passionate foodies, and only at 15 did he realise that a British roast dinner did not begin with a full plate of pasta!
He has a huge fanbase of 440K Instagram followers and 300K on TikTok, and has hosted supper clubs and been crowned Digital Creator of the Year at Fortnum & Mason food and drinks awards.
