"My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season" by Sarah Britton

Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Nutritional Practitioner Sarah Britton has been blogging about healthy, whole foods on her blog, My New Roots, since 2007.  She has been inspiring others to make delicious, simple plant-based eating and now she is bringing 100 all-new recipes to her first cookbook, My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season.

The book is divided into 5 sections: Spring, Early Summer, Late Summer, Autumn, and Winter with, as you can guess, beautiful recipes crafted for foods that are at their peak.  The photos in the book are absolutely stunning and will have your mouth watering.  Sarah also shares her own journey to plant-based eating, includes essential techniques, and gives tips for stocking your pantry.

On my first go-through of this book, I picked out three recipes to try that I knew were easy enough for me and new to my recipe collection:

Sprouted Wild Rice with Pistachios and Spring Vegetables - I loved this recipe. I really liked the combination of the green peas and chickpeas with the spicy mustard.  I ended up making only half of the recipe because I didn’t think this was something my husband would try or enjoy.  He ended up going back for seconds and was upset that there wasn’t more.  Coming from a man who wants to be a vegetarian but “doesn’t like vegetarian food,” that is high praise.

Roasted Red Pepper Walnut Dip - this is the first time I have ever made a roasted red pepper dip.  It’s also the first time I have ever roasted red peppers. For this recipe I omitted the walnuts and added lentils for extra protein.  This is a great, light dip, and I enjoyed it very much after a day in the fridge.  I liked it better with cut up vegetables than I did with the pita bread, but overall, this will be something I make for get-togethers.

Salt ’N’ Pepper Chocolate Chip Cookies - I have to start this by saying that I am not a baker.  For some reason, even when I follow the recipe exactly, my baking never turns out the way that it is supposed to.  That being said, these worked and they are lovely.  I made them a little bit too big, but hey, a cookie can never be too big right?  I substituted maple syrup for brown rice syrup and it doesn’t seem like there would be a difference.  The salt and pepper are a very unique touch, though I will use less pepper than recommended the next time around.  I just felt like it overpowered the cookie.

There are so many recipes that I can’t wait to try in this book including Raw Key Lime Coconut Tarts, Pan Bagnat with Sunflower Seed “Tuna”, Heirloom Tomatoes with Oil-Cured Olives and Crusty Bread,  Chunky Banana Bread Granola, and Sundown Carrot and Grilled Corn Salad.

There is something in here for everyone.  In each section, Britton includes breakfast foods, drinks, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts.  Whether you are wanting to try more plant-based eating or are full-fledged vegan, you will find something in here to enjoy and love.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of Random House of Canada.  The opinions expressed above are my own.