The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian Review

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(More customer reviews)A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. As a very recent convert to the vegan lifestyle (94 days) I have been feverously adding books to my vegan cookbook collection. This book is the best addition to my vegan cookbook collection so far.
I love the fact that the author does not rely heavily on white sugar and wheat flour to make vegan substitutes for old favorites. I did see a few recipes with white flour, but they are definitely in the minority.
The recipe section is subdivided as follows:
Starters and small plates
Salsas, sauces and gravies
Soups
Salads and dressings
Breads and spreads
Sandwiches
Side dishes
Daily spring entrees
Daily summer entrees
Daily autumn entrees
Daily winter entrees
RFD meal
Desserts
The directions provided for the recipes are very clearly written and easy to follow. I also like the beautiful photographs of many of the finished dishes.
As a recent vegan, the food that I miss the most has to be cheese. I was thrilled to see a number of cheese recipes included in this book. The author provides recipes for cashew and tofu cheddar as well as tofu ricotta.

The Bolivian samosa recipe that does not have a pastry outer wrapper fascinates me. This recipe is more a filled potato gnocchi, but is still good. This concept opens up a lot of possibilities for additional fillings. I also appreciate that it is baked, and not fried like a traditional Indian samosa.
Having recipes for pecan pie and chocolate chip cookies makes a vegan lifestyle much more palatable. Also, I will be trying both the carrot cake and cheesecake for the next celebratory occasion.
I have one minor criticism of the book. Locating some of the more unusual ingredients is easy in a major metropolitan area, however in more rural settings this could prove to be a problem. It would have been nice if the author had provided substitutes for some of these items. Some of the more unusual ingredients that the book relies on are as follows: Agar, Kombu, Nutritional Yeast, and Umeboshi. If you don't live near a Whole Foods, or Wegman's I would confirm that you have a source for these products before picking up this book. I would suggest trying Amazon's gourmet food area. I have found some very unusual food items there.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to serve healthy meals to their family, be it everyday or just occasionally.

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