Ginny Kay McMeans - The Make Ahead Vegan Cookbook 125 Freezer-Friendly Recipe

Yes, everyone, not just vegans. Nothing is more satisfying to me than to have people marveling over a Moist and Extravagant Carrot Bundt Cake or a very easy Slow Cooker Mushrooms and Rice recipe where the word vegan is never spoken. The recipes are just that good. Cooking has always been one of my passions. I used to joke that I have made 3,000 different recipesnowadays I think I actually have. It felt like a different meal every night and I loved it! When I first became vegan, I bought some cookbooks and did not realize that I had obtained some down-and-dirty, no-nonsense, hardcore vegan cookbooks that took no prisoners.

There were lots of recipes that I wanted to re-create, but I literally had no idea what some of the ingredients were. With some Googling, I learned a lot of things and one of them is that I had to go to specialized grocery stores to source the products. Right away it was fun finding new foods to cook with and also learning how important it is to make sure I was getting all the vitamins and nutrition that I needed. More knowledge was gained as I continued experimenting. And one of the big lessons I learned is that you really do not need many hard-to-find or specialty ingredients (or, at least, not very often). Grocery stores have come a long way since my first vegan days and I can find almost everything I need right here in my own small town.

Chia seeds and coconut oil are sitting right there on the shelf. There are still some things that I need from specialty stores, such as full-fat coconut milk to make vegan ice cream, or nutritional yeast because it is such a great addition to so many recipes. Most of the basics for my recipes are fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains obtained at the regular grocery store and local farmers market. There seems to be organic everything, everywhere. You will also be amazed how many vegan products are already at your grocers. A few of my recipes contain all-around, well-loved packaged items that are popular with everyone, everywhere.

For the purist at heart, I often offer alternatives in the recipe for people who dont want to use the store-bought brands. Instead of empanada disks, you can make your own homemade vegan dough. Take your choice. It is all vegan and freezer-friendly. A growing trend that I am seeing is that many people would like to make their own food from scratch, so that what they eat is as clean and natural as possible. My Italian Cannellini Soup is made with fresh ingredients and is to die for.

No preservatives or additives, not ever. And did I also say: its freezable! An important factor that I think a lot of people miss is freezing their food. Everything I have mentioned can be frozen. It isnt hard. Freezing food is just something that needs to be pointed out and brought to the front of peoples minds. When you freeze food, nothing is wasted.

Freezing food is a daily routine in my life. Either things are going in or things are coming out. This cookbook will explain how you can easily make dishes, sides, and snacks that are delicious and also easy to freeze. Quality and nutrition will be preserved and you will have wonderful food at your fingertips. Freezing recipes is not labor intensive as some might think and my recipes are tried and true. I want people to understand this and also reap the benefits.

If you want to save time in the kitchen, you can turn that one meal into two by just doubling your ingredients and packaging some for the freezer. That is such a satisfying feeling! Breakfast, lunch, or dinnerthere can always be something in the freezer that will defrost in no time or that you can zap in the microwave. You dont need a large freezer or an extra full-size freezer in the garage to cook this wayalthough that would be fun. I have one of those white refrigerators with the freezer on topyou know the kindand it is not even full. Sometimes it fills up, but when it gets there I am reminded to kick back and eat some of those delicious and nutritious meals inside, such as the Panini Chili Bean Cakes, American Tetrazzini, or those Five-Spice Comfort Pita Sandwiches. Wow! I think to myself, I just got a few days off.

Here is something else that I tackled when I became a vegan: How could I turn my most beloved recipes into their vegan cousins, and still keep intact the flavors I loved? My experimenting began by exchanging a nonvegan ingredient for a vegan one, and new recipes were born. I discovered you can make a deep, rich French onion soup with no beef stock. And, did you know that most raw fruit balls or date balls and cookie dough treats can all be frozen? They can even be eaten right out of the freezer. That was a pleasant discovery! Exciting flavors are abundant throughout this book. It has been my goal to create the most flavorful recipes possible that can be enjoyed not only by the vegan community but also by nonvegans everywhere.