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The 30 Day Vegan Challenge | Book Review

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of vegan activist, author and speaker Colleen Patrick-Goudeau. I discovered her Food For Thought podcast about a year ago and have been addicted since. Her approach is all about compassion: for non-human animals and for humans alike. So when I found out her book, The 30 Day Vegan Challenge, had been improved and republished, I bought the book right away to support her work.

From her official website, JoyfulVegan.com, The 30 Day Vegan Challenge is recommended “Whether you want to improve your overall health, shed a few pounds, demonstrate your compassion for animals, or help the environment, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau holds your hand every step of the way, giving you the tools you need to make the vegan transition—healthfully, joyfully, and deliciously.”

The 30 Day Vegan Challenge Video Book Review

If this looks familiar, that’s because this video was originally published on April 20, 2015.

 
Seeing as I’ve been vegan for nearly four years now, I wasn’t sure if I’d get much out of the book. But I imagined that, if anything, I would enjoy the recipes included in this vegan transition guide.

When I first downloaded the book for Kindle, I skipped right to the recipe index. And started salivating. The first recipe I picked to try was the Pasta Alfredo with Walnut Parmesan. I chose it mostly because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.

The base of the creamy alfredo sauce recipe is cashews. Raw cashews have a very mild flavour and produce rich, silky cream with blended smooth with water. They are also one of the softest nuts and therefore easier to blend smooth than most other nuts in my cheap blender. I loved that the recipe was so simple; all you do is put everything in the blender and let it whirl!

vegan Macaroni Pasta Alfredo with spinach and mushrooms

I didn’t add much salt to the sauce so after folding in the pasta, the flavour was still fairly mild but luxuriously rich in texture. The salt would come in the form of Walnut Parm; fatty walnuts, salt, and some seasonings. The combination was a taste explosion and the additional salt pulled out more flavour from the alfredo sauce. When I first published the video review, I had to keep you guessing about the recipe. Lucky for everyone, Colleen generously posted her recipe and process in a couple videos on her own YouTube channel.

Vegan pasta alfredo with walnut parmesan baked

Needless to say, I loved the Pasta Alfredo with Walnut Parmesan and had it multiple times since. Mix in any kind of vegetables, bake it if you wish, or keep it simple.

The next recipe I tried were Roasted Chickpeas. I had roasted chickpeas in the oven before and like them, but I wanted to try Colleen’s version. This recipe was super simple, just mix drained canned chickpeas with spices and roast. The flavour combination was a little spicy, a little salty and really addictive. A fantastic healthy snack that doesn’t taste like a typical “healthy” snack.

Roasted Chickpea Snack

The last recipe that I tried for this review was for a tofu scramble. Most tofu scrambles that I’ve tried, either in restaurants or from recipes, aren’t flavourful enough my my taste. They usually try to season the tofu with nutritional yeast and spices but the flavours don’t sink into the tofu. This scramble was nothing like those others. Colleen has conquered the tofu scramble and has turned it into a symphony of sensational flavour explosions.

Delicious Tofu Scramble

There are over 40 recipes in this book but it’s not a cookbook, it’s a guide to help people make animal-friendly, compassionate choices. I read it cover to cover and wished that I had this book when I first transitioned. So many common questions are answered in first few chapters alone! So many headaches I could have avoided. Especially with social situations and dealing with questions from well-intentioned friends and family. I already have the Kindle edition of this book, but I will be buying the hardcover for my personal library in order to lend it to friends who want to transition.

You don’t always have to buy books in order to enjoy them. Find this book at your local library or, if they don’t have it, request it!

Buy The 30 Day Vegan Challenge from Amazon.com

The 30 Day Vegan Challenge Official Site

Showing 8 comments
  • mary
    Reply

    Will you review Happy Healthy Vegan cookbook?

    • Mary
      Reply

      Hi mary! Did you mean the Healthy Happy Vegan Kitchen by Kathy Patalsky? Or did you mean the cookbook by Anji Bee of Healthy Happy Vegan (the youtube channel)?

  • Veganopoulous
    Reply

    What a great book and great review– this is something I would certainly get for friends and family!

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thank you! I hope you/they enjoy it too 🙂

  • Kim
    Reply

    Great job Mary! I also love this book and will hopefully do a review of it myself eventually. Also thanks for your tip on the alfredo recipe. I probably wouldn’t have tried it because I’ve never liked mac ‘n cheese. This one however, was spot on!!

    -kim

    • Mary
      Reply

      Thank you, Kim! I appreciate the kind words 🙂

  • Joann
    Reply

    I have given this book to at 5 or 6 friends who have made the jump to vegan. Some are still working on the process but all of them said this book is a bible.

    • Mary
      Reply

      That is AMAZING! Thank you for being such a wonderful vegan advocate and supportive friend to new vegans <3 This book is just fantastic and it's so nice to hear about how it's helping people out there. 🙂

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