The Chubby Vegetarian: 100 Inspired Vegetable Recipes for the Modern Table

I've been a fan of the Chubby Vegetarian blog and its southern flair for a long time and loved the first cookbook. The Chubby Vegetarian takes things in a worldly direction with amazing dishes like Paella, Enchiladas, Asian-inspired tacos and Samosas. I find the Chubby Vegetarian recipes takes things beyond the vegetarian recipes you'll find on the web to produce dishes with amazing taste, color and presentation. Overall the cookbook is beautifully designed and well written with (always key) great photos. Note I do eat a bit more vegan than this book, which features some cheese and eggs, but so far most recipes have adapted easily and this book provides a lot of inspiration for taking your own cooking further.Looking forward to more from the Chubby Vegetarian.

Popular southern vegetarian bloggers Justin Fox Burks and Amy Lawrence have returned to the bookshelves with The Chubby Vegetarian, the follow-up to 2013’s popular The Southern Vegetarian. Where the first book focused on southern staples done up in a vegetarian fashion--think barbecue portobello mushroom sandwiches or butternut squash mac and cheese--the new book casts a wider net. Try the vegetarian shiitake ramen when you’re in the mood for a satisfying Asian soup without the meat. If you’re craving something with Indian spices, try the clever mulligatawny stew, which brims with cauliflower, lentils, and and coconut milk. I want to try the Ethoipian vegetable plate, which combines exotic tastes such as roasted beets with African spices and a tangy jalapeno and rosemary dressing.But southern cooking is never far from the table for these two Mississippi-born authors. My favorite is the spaghetti squash ribs, covered in barbecue sauce and served with a side of cabbage slaw. There’s also a take on Nashville hot chicken that uses hen of the woods mushrooms in place of ol’ clucky.If you’re familiar with the Chubby Vegetarian blog, you won’t be surprised to know that this new book is full of eye-popping photographs of the food, courtesy of Justin Fox Burks himself. The text is quirky and fun without becoming pretentious, and the recipes themselves run from simple (chickpea energy salad) to rather involved (cauliflower steak with confit mushroom pilaf). There’s a surprise waiting on every page, so why not order yourself a copy already?

I'm not a vegetarian and neither is my husband- been there and tried that in my youth. Love veggies, but always seemed to cook them the same boring way (like a side dish with a stick of butter), which led to my eating a loaf of bread after and a bunch of cheese to "fill up". Finally, I found a book that actually shows me how to cook full veggie meals for my family that aren't super complicated and are filling and healthy. This was the perfect book to inspire me to cook more veggie meals and helps me feel like I am WINNING as a Mom. The kids even loved it- the charred grilled carrots were a huge hit!I The photos are so pretty, too, so I may need another copy to use as a coffee table book. I recommend this book!

The Chubby Vegetarian blog is why I have been successful as a vegetarian for the past four years. This cookbook, their second, is a compilation of some of their best recipes and I highly recommend it both for those of us who follow a vegetarian diet (I am recently returning to a pescatarian diet due to some specific health issues - full disclosure) as well as for anyone who has the desire to have delicious plant based options available in an omnivore diet. The food is amazing. A delight for the senses.

While this cookbook has some inspired ideas, it has too many recipes in it that have mistakes or simply don’t work. I am a seasoned cook and many small details are missing. For instance, the Ethiopian split pea recipe is riddled with errors, like not adding salt at the beginning of cooking, too little water and incorrect time it takes to cook split peas (underestimated by more than half an hour!). Not recommended except as idea generation.