Most of my readers know that I am a vegan of over 25 years. I turned vegetarian at the age of 10 against my parents wishes. I love to cook and whenever a new vegan cookbook comes out, of course, I want it! Especially if it is a cookbook by Chloe Coscarelli! Chloe did us vegans proud by being the first vegan chef to win a competition on the Food Network!
Book Description:
Popular vegan chef and winner of the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars Chloe Coscarelli digs into her Italian roots to create more than 150 recipes inspired by the most popular cuisine in the world.
If you think a healthy vegan diet means giving up pasta in creamy sauce, cheesy pizza, and luscious tiramisu, think again! Following her hit cookbooks Chloe’s Kitchen and Chloe’s Vegan Desserts, Chef Chloe goes to her family’s homeland to veganize its time-honored delicacies—and add some distinctively delicious twists.
Sumptuous mains like Butternut Ravioli with Brown Sugar and Crispy Sage and Red Wine Seitan on Ciabatta let you show off your kitchen skills, and her inventive pizza creations include Crumbled “Sausage” and “Mozzarella” Pizza as well as Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion, and Apple Pizza. And vegans can once again enjoy comfort favorites with Chloe’s Potato Gnocchi, Lasagna Bolognese, and Eggplant Parmesan. Known for her surprising twists on favorite desserts, Chloe’s got your classics covered with Chocolate-Dipped Almond Biscotti and Italian Wedding Cake, and she turns up the dial with new delights like Mint Chip Gelato Sandwiches, Banana Coffee Cupcakes, and Pomegranate Mint Italian Soda—sure to win over omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans alike. Chloe also includes directions for making her recipes allergy- and gluten-free so that you can feast on all your favorite foods, no matter your diet.
With fresh vegan takes on classic Italian cuisine illustrated by gorgeous full-color photographs throughout, and her bright and lively personality on every page, Chloe takes you on a delectable trip to Italy—one you’ll want to go on again and again! Buon appetito!
My Thoughts:
I have tried several recipes in the book and have taken photos of how they turned out for me. Please note, I am a good cook but not a professional chef. I am much slower in the kitchen then professionals and my presentation could definitely use some work. The following photos are just to give you an idea of how some of the recipes turned out. The book itself has a lot of beautiful photos of many of the recipes within.
Since Bill and I are both over 50, our metabolisms have slowed down, luckily our appetites have slowed down as well. We will always be vegan foodies but it doesn’t take as much to fill us up. In fact, when we go out to eat, most of the time we share an entrée. By contrast, in our younger years we called ourselves “vegan vacuums”. LOL! So, soup and salad makes a nice winter meal for us.
The following are the soup recipes I made:
I love tomato soup and this recipe is my new favourite! It was very easy to prepare and along with a basic salad, made a nice lighter meal for Bill and I. It is also a very inexpensive soup to make for those on a budget and it sure beats the leading name brand of canned tomato soup, by a mile!
Here’s another soup that clearly beat out canned soup. Actually, I won’t eat canned soup. Soup is one of the easiest things to cook and is so much better home made! Okay, so I know the picture doesn’t do it justice but beleive me when I say it was divine!
This time of year is perfect for squash soups! When Bill and I first started dating, he told me he loved pumpkin but hated Brussels sprouts. Well, it turned out that he had only had the frozen over cooked variety. LOL! When they are fresh and roasted, he agrees, they are delicious. This soup recipe is another keeper.
I also made the Cauliflower Soup With Pesto and Shells, except I didn’t make the pesto. It’s hard to get nice looking fresh basil this time of year and it was not in good shape at the store. We both loved this soup as well.
So, Bill and I give all 4 of the soups that I mae from this cookbook a 5 out of 5!
Now for the Pastas’ of which I made two.
First I made the ‘Mama’s Spaghetti and Meatballs. I have to say that the meatballs were a bit difficult to get right. I followed the directions exactly but they turned out mushy on the inside. I had leftovers that I hadn’t cooked, so the next time I made them, the “batter” had been refrigerated. After I fried them, I put them in an oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes and they turned out much better.
The pasta sauce is from a jar which she has you doctor up a bit. Overall, this was a good dish and I would make it again.
This pasta was delicious! I am glad I could find some fresh enough basil to make the Ricotta because it really made our taste buds pop! Bill is the salad maker in our house and I just served it with his salad.
Another nice winter dish we enjoy is polenta. Like soup, polenta feels like a warm hug to me.
Chef Chloe’s recipe is by far the creamiest I have ever made and along with the roasted veggies made it such a treat!
There are some things that I like to keep a lot of in my pantry and that includes a variety of pastas and risotto. If I don’t know what to cook one day, I can always come with with a pasta or risotto dish. We really enjoyed this one. Bill said that it was my best ever. Though the recipe called for fresh shitake mushrooms, I used dried that I reconstituted and it turned out fine. Neither one of us felt like making a special trip to the grocery store we knew carried fresh. We usually only go to that store when we have other things planned in that neighbourhood as well. We try to be as environmentally friendly with our car as possible.
Desserts:
Our friends invited us over for dinner and as usual, I offered to make dessert.
I had been wanting to try out this recipe and decided it would be a good time to try.
So, the recipes called for fresh or frozen cherries, which I didn’t have. However, during berry season I buy fresh berries and freeze them to have all year long. I decided to use blueberries. The recipe also called for chocolate chips and in hindsight, I would have preferred to use raspberries or omit the chocolate chips. You couldn’t taste the blueberries in it because the chocolate was too dominant.
Okay, so we actually had these pancakes twice. Once for a Sunday brunch with hash browns and vegan sausage and once as a dessert. Both times they were delicious!
Overall, this cookbook is a winner. I just have a couple small complaints. It assumes that you have a pasta maker and an ice cream maker. I have a lot of appliances and gadgets in my kitchen. However, I don’t have an industrial sized kitchen and there are a few things I don’t have. I have contemplated getting both an ice cream maker and pasta maker but have weighed how often I think I would actually use them versus, how much room they would take up. I would have loved to make the raviolli but it requires a pasta maker. I would also caution that while most of the recipes are easy to prepare, there are a few that are not for beginners.
I think that this cookbook has great recipes that are sure too please anyone’s palette, even meat eaters. Most of the recipes are easy to prepare and use readily available ingredients. Above all, they are wonderful! With the holiday season upon us, I have to say that Chloe’s vegan Italian Kitchen would make an excellent gift for anyone who love to cook and eat great meals!
I am giving it a 4.5/5 just because the meatballs have a bit of room for improvement. Otherwise it would have been a perfect score!
Buy ‘Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen’:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Book Depository
Those recipes you made look really yummy to me! This looks like an awesome cookbook! Great review, Teddy!
Thanks Freda! It is awesome!
Those pictures are making me hungry again!
The mushroom soup and the pumpkin soup look decadent. I like the garnish on the pumpkin soup.
I know Denise, I would have never though of crisping up brussel sprout leaves but they were delicious!
The image of your Pasta Norma (and Bill’s salad of course) have awakened my appetite. I am planning a transition to vegetarianism, so vegan food that is delicious is of interest to me. Cheers, Kara K
If your transitioning to veggie, do you know about the book ‘Becoming Vegetarian’ by Vesanto Melina or “How It All Vegan’ by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer? Those are good for beginners. They have lots of great information and recipes. Chloe’s doesn’t have a lot of information but great recipes.
I’ll be looking for this cookbook! The recipes look delicious. My daughter and were vegetarians for years and transitioned to vegan last summer.
That’s great that you and your daughter went vegan! I know cheese is the hardest to give up for most but the substitutes are getting better and better. Also, when I transitioned from veggie to vegan, all I had to think of all the bad stuff that goes into most cheese and the calves that end up being veal, a bi-product of the dairy industry.
Okay I am completely curious about the meatballs! I can’t eat just any kind of meatless meat unfortunately. I’ve tried to do something with black beans because soy is bad for my thyroid. I’m going to have to look into a way to make meatless meatballs. I am a freak for soups and each of the ones you pictured looked great to me. I have never made my own tomato soup. I wonder if that one would compare to my favorite creamy tomato soup from Trader Joes (not canned but it is boxed). Thanks for sharing the review. I’m going to look Chloe up.
Kelly, the meatballs are soy free and can be made gluten free, if needed. However, some of the other recipes do have soy in them, like the ‘ricotta’.
I’m trying to eat better. I don’t even want to have meat with every meal. Sounds like a good book.
I’m not vegan but do try to eat less meat. The photos that are shown in the review make me hungry. I probably would like this cookbook since I like Italian.
Were the marmalade pancakes very sweet? I love trying different pancake recipes.
Yes they were but not overly. However, I only used half of the chocolate chips the recipe called for because I thought it would get to sweet. I have made it since and always just use half the chocolate chips.
I love polenta.The one with the roasted vegetable ragu looks really delicious.
I’m not vegan, but I do eat a lot of vegetables. It looks like you try different ways to cook something.