First I have to disclose that I’ve been a fan of Nava Atlas since her first cookbook. I met Susan Voisin of fatfreevegan.com at Vida Vegan in August and she did all the beautiful photography for Vegan Holiday Kitchen. Her photos are amazing!

A few months ago Nava let me know that she was doing a reading for The Literary Ladies’ Guide to the Writing Life in Durham. It was one of those things that was just meant to be. Cheryl and I met her for coffee and we immediately hit it off. I’m starting to believe all vegan cookbook authors are just super nice people.

With all that said, I wouldn’t give this book a glowing review unless it deserves it and believe me it is a winner.

Three Sisters Stew - I made this for New Year’s day along side of my southern style greens and some black-eyed peas. My guests went nuts over this stew of corn, winter squash, and beans. (Yes, they liked it more than my black-eyed peas. But I’m not holding that against you Nava…) I even cheated and made it in the slow cooker so I made my beans from scratch and skipped the cans.

Smokey Cheddar Cheese Spread - This was made late one night when we needed a snack, so we ate it before it was chilled and it was still great. Yesterday it was my afternoon snack and it’s going to be a staple at my house. It’s very creamy from the cashews and I used liquid smoke in place of the mesquite seasoning because that’s what I had on hand.

This spread would be a great on a burger or as a bagel schmear. And I can’t wait to try it on a panini. Yum!

This is the Cranberry-Carrot cake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting. Susan’s photo is about a million times better than mine. (But I got to eat mine before and after this picture was taken!)

You should buy this book if only for this one gooey low-fat cake –  only 2 tablespoons of oil in the whole cake. But trust me, this cake doesn’t taste low-fat. It’s incredibly moist with bursts of cranberry, carrot, and spices all topped with a delicious vegan cream cheese frosting.

My verdict is that you need this book. Unfortunately, I don’t have one of these to give away, but you can buy a copy through Nava’s site, Veg Kitchen.

I have at least a dozen more recipes marked to try and I expect that each one will be as good as these were.