Introduction Well, here we are again, my friends. I really couldn’t do this without you and your enthusiasm for hot for food and the vegan food I make. In fact, it’s SO moving that I wanted to put myself through the madness of making a second cookbook because of it. Thanks for waiting, and thank you for supporting my endeavors in a way that makes me want to ugly cry on the floor!
This cookbook is a companion piece to
Vegan Comfort Classics in that I want you to treat my cookbooks like your vegan bibles. Everything you could ever want and imagine and maybe didn’t even know you needed in your life is contained in the pages of these cookbooks. While the first book gave you a great foundation, this book is going to round out your arsenal of classic comfort foods. That means it is packed with some super simple go-to’s and easy everyday stuff that I whip up quick in my kitchen, including some things you can prep and plan in advance if you’re into that kind of thing. And don’t worry, there are still some stand-out, unique, V-hot for food kinds of recipes that you’ll definitely want to show off to your unconverted friends and fam.
One thing I focus on sharing more in this book is my knack for reusing, repurposing, and transforming leftovers and remnants of recipes into brand-new eats (’cause leftovers suck). That’s right: I found a way to bring the
RECIPE?! to life in print. If you’ve been following the hot for food journey thus far, ya already know what a
RECIPE?! is. But if you’re new here, I’ll give you the lowdown.
A
RECIPE?! isn’t really a formal recipe but a rough, adaptable blueprint. When testing and developing delicious stuff, I have to make things up as I go and then do it again to finesse the amounts and tweak things so they’re perfect. It’s all very intuitive, so I try to encourage this kind of thing for anyone because it’s how one really learns how to cook. And because I’m a recipe developer, I always have bits and pieces of recipes in my fridge including extra fillings, sauces, and so forth that I don’t want to throw out. So I use everything up and make up my own meals with whatever I have on hand when I’m hungry. I managed to document this ridiculous but highly entertaining and educational process on video and put it on my YouTube channel, which quickly became a hit! It was the realness and achievable nature of cooking that I guess everyone liked. It’s certainly how I like cooking on camera because I don’t need to perfect anything before shooting. I just waltz into the kitchen and take out stuff in my fridge and pantry, cook in real time, and pray it’ll turn out to be tasty. It usually is, thankfully!
In this cookbook you’ll see that I’ve taken some of those long-lost ideas and
RECIPE?! home runs and perfected them for you, giving you inspiration for using up whatever you have on hand. On top of that, I also figured out ways y’all are gonna level up your leftovers into brand-new meals using the stuff you make in this book. Throughout the cookbook, look for
LEVEL UP! in the top corner to identify the recipes that are made from leftovers. Before you can level up, ya gotta backtrack to the page where the master recipe lives. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.
You’ll also see throughout the chapters some fun menu plans of stuff to eat on various occasions, like stuff to bring to a BYOVD (bring your own vegan dish) event! There’s some inspo from stuff I eat when I’m busy, or when I’m Netflix-and-chillin’ on a Sunday. It’s endless food porn so you can stay hot for food all day! You’re going to gasp over my Sweet & Sour Rice Balls (page 186), Butter Chicken Nachos (page 159), and Stuffed Breakfast Danishes (page 24). I even concocted a new-and-improved vegan mac n’ cheese that’s made in one pot (page 110) PLUS there’re five ways to level up the flavor! Did someone say Thai Red Curry Mac n’ Cheese (page 116)? And as per usual, my love of baking took over for dessert stuff. I’ve got luscious loaf cake recipes x 3 (page 214), some easy ways to use more frozen vegan puff pastry (page 230) in your life, and an incredible No-Churn Salted Caramel Tahini Ice Cream (page 226) to share with you.
So with all that said, I’m just asking you to keep my
RECIPE?! ethos in mind at all times. You don’t have to follow the rules because there are none! Dive into this cookbook trusting that each and every meal you create for yourself is going to be delectable and delicious and just happens to be made from plants. I want you to take my ideas and try them but also use them as stepping-stones to start working your own wizardry. Tap into that kitchen intuition. Play around, mix and match, use what you have if you don’t have what I listed, and just make it work!
Copyright © 2021 by Lauren Toyota. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
