Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook

Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook

Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook

Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook

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Overview

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • 100+ big, bold, sock-you-sideways plant-based vegan recipes from the breakout star of The Game Changers

“Charity is taking a practical approach to a plant-based diet. . . . She provides support and encouragement as she guides you through this exploration.”—Venus Williams, from the foreword

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED COOKBOOKS OF 2022—Delish, Food52


Whether you’re new to plant-based eating or already a convert, when you cook vegan with Charity Morgan, private chef to elite athletes and rock stars, you may be leaving out the meat, dairy, and eggs, but you won’t be missing out on the flavor and indulgence of all your favorite comfort foods.

In her highly anticipated first cookbook, Charity lays out a plan for anyone who wants to eat less meat—whether they are looking to go completely vegan or just be a little bit more meat-free. Pulling inspiration from her Puerto Rican and Creole heritage as well as from the American South, where she lives with her family, Charity’s recipes are full of flavor. Think Smoky Jambalaya; hearty Jerk-Spiced Lentils with Coconut Rice & Mango Salsa; Jalapeño-Bae’con Corn Cakes with Chili-Lime Maple Syrup; and a molten, decadent Salted Caramel Apple Crisp.

Unbelievably Vegan offers more than 100 recipes for living a meat-free life without giving up your favorite comfort foods. Charity guides readers on how to use oyster mushrooms to stand in for chicken and how to spice walnuts to taste like chorizo! She proves that vegan food can be fun, filling, healthy, and above all else unbelievably delicious.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780593232989
Publisher: Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date: 01/18/2022
Edition description: Illustrated
Pages: 288
Sales rank: 89,532
Product dimensions: 10.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Charity Morgan is a plant-based chef and author. She has worked with celebrities and top athletes and was featured in the documentary The Game Changers. She grew up on a farm near Sacramento, California, eating dishes from her mother’s Puerto Rican heritage, like pasteles and arroz con gandules, as well as Creole dishes her grandma made, such as jambalaya and gumbo. Charity studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu College of the Culinary Arts and now lives in Nashville with her husband, former Tennessee Titans linebacker Derrick Morgan, and their two children.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction


Most people know me from The Game Changers, the documentary in which I transformed everyday comforting favorites into delicious plant-based meals. I was cooking for NFL players in the film, but in real life I cook for all kinds of clients from athletes to musicians and just regular people looking to change the way they eat.

Let me tell you, though, it was a journey to get here. I went plant-based— or “Plegan” as I call it (more about that on page 22)—in 2017. Shortly after, I made a grocery run and looked like a total madwoman—I loaded my cart with every vegetable you could imagine—you’d have burst out laughing if you’d seen it! When I got home that afternoon, my toddler daughter signed to me, “Eat, eat!” (one of her few toddler sign language words). I looked at my garden haul and I swear, I had a full nervous breakdown. I had bought tons of food . . . but what were we going to eat? What was my plan? I didn’t have anything that she’d want, and I had no idea what to quickly toss together. I was so overwhelmed that I put my head down on my kitchen counter and prayed for encouragement. Then, it came to me, in a divine voice:

“Make everything you love—just change the ingredients!”

Call it God, call it the universe, call it a stroke of genius—it was exactly what I needed to hear.

Suddenly I found myself halfway through my jambalaya recipe, but this time, there was no diced chicken, andouille sausage, or shrimp. Instead, I added smoked tofu and spicy blackened veggies for kick and flavor. That’s when I found my mojo. I learned that I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I could still rely on my favorite flavors, like traditional Puerto Rican and Creole spices and jerk seasoning, and make the foods I loved, now with plant-based ingredients swapped into the same dishes. I realized that I’d put up mental barriers about what could and couldn’t go in certain recipes, what was traditional, what was authentic, and what the “rules” of the kitchen were.

And you know what? Everybody loved what I was cooking because I was still building layers of flavor like I learned in culinary school (don’t worry, I will teach you how). Transitioning from meat to plant-based cooking for me was a mental shift. Rather than being limited by not eating certain things, being plant-based brought forward new and exciting ways to be creative, and taught me how to take my favorite dishes and make them brand-new. But make no mistake, eating plants doesn’t mean eating rabbit food! One flip through these pages proves that.

This book is a collection of my favorite recipes, my family’s favorites, and my clients’ favorite recipes, too. I’ve come up with quite the arsenal—and they’re all unbelievably flavorful. I use all kinds of amazing spices, surprising hits of acid, and lots of heat to make sure you don’t feel as if you’re missing out. Just try my Fried Chik’n with Spicy Maple Syrup (page 206) or a platter of Buffalo Cheezy Sweet Potato Fries (page 179) and tell me you’re not satisfied!

If you want to jump into a fully plant-based way of eating, go right ahead. If you want to ease into it, that’s fine by me, too—maybe you do meatless Mondays, meatless weekdays, or start with just one plant-based meal a day. It’s all good. Maybe you just want some ideas of how to spice up your day-to-day and eat less meat—I’m here for it. Start slow: try a few recipes at first, learn some new techniques, and work them into your weekly meals. Maybe start with Papas & Walnut Chorizo Breakfast Tacos (page 103) for breakfast one day. Try a next-level Garbage Salad with Creamy LemonPeppercorn Dressing (page 144) for lunch. Make your family a Gochujang Jackfruit Noodle Bowl (page 215) with a side of Sesame Avocado Kale NoEgg Rolls (page 161) for dinner. Eventually, when you’re comfortable, do what I did—try out one of your family favorites and just switch up the meat, fish, and dairy for plant-based alternatives. It really is that easy.

This book was curated with love. I love what I do, I love people, I love our earth, and I love sharing. I look at recipes as a guide, not something written in stone, and mine are no different. I hope this book will gently nudge you out of your normal routine, help break down barriers in the kitchen, and encourage you to explore your culinary creativity. Learn to be flexible, adventurous, and make everything just the way you like. If you don’t like black beans, that’s cool; use pinto or red beans instead. Not a fan of kale? Use spinach or arugula. The world has hundreds of thousands of grains, beans, vegetables, and edible plants to explore. Have a field day!

No matter how you decide to use this book, I’m here to support you, inspire you, and empower you. Because, as I’m hoping you’ll learn, I haven’t lost meat—I’ve gained life.

Charity

Table of Contents

Foreword 10

Introduction 13

My Story 16

Going Plant-Based 18

Feeding a Team 20

Why Plegan? 22

Transitioning: How to Go Plegan 26

The Plegan Kitchen 34

Fundamentals

Chik'n Broth 50

Mayonnaise 53

Béchamel 54

Cashew Heavy Cream 55

Cream Cheeze 56

Brazil Nut Sour Cream 57

Hemp Parm 58

Chipotle BBQ Sauce 60

Rojo Sauce 61

Creamy Buffalo Sauce 63

Quick Stir-Fry Sauce 64

Fyshy Sauce 65

Ranch Dressings 66

Classic Herby Ranch 66

Avocado-Lime Ranch 67

Harissa-Tahini Dressing 68

Citrus-Miso Dressing 71

Roasted Red Pepper, Chipotle Lime Dressing 72

The Marinade 73

Puerto Rican Sofrito 74

Pickle It! 76

Pickled Red Onions 77

Escabeche 78

Vietnamese Pickled Vegetables 79

Kimchi 80

BBQ Seasoning 83

Creole-Cajun Seasoning 85

Taco Seasoning 86

Smoke Signal 87

Shiitake Bae'con 88

Savory Brown Gravy 91

Kickoff Breakfasts & Brunches

Butta Biscuits 94

Spicy Maple Breakfast Sausage 96

Spinach & Roasted Tofu Benny 98

Papas & Walnut Chorizo Breakfast Tacos 103

Walnut Chorizo 105

Eggz 106

Chickpea Omelets 106

Tofu Scramble 108

Cheezy Grits Bowls with Kale, Chickpea Scramble & Grilled Avocado 111

Chilaquiles with Tofu Scramble 113

Jalapeño-Bae'con Corn Cakes with Chili-Lime Maple Syrup 114

Eggless French Toast 117

Fluffy Vanilla Pancakes (or Waffles) 119

Overnight Oats Trio 120

Cinnamon-Matcha 120

Cacao-Nut Butter 121

Tropical (Mango-Pineapple-Coconut) Oatmeal 121

Soup'or Bowl

Immune-Boosting Soup 124

Sopa Azteca (Vegetable Tortilla Soup) 127

Cream of Broccoli Chedda' Soup 128

French Onion Soup with Cheezy Crostini 131

Lobzter Bisque 132

Pumpkin Red Curry Rice Bowl 135

Chili con Chili 136

Lemon Parm-y Kale Salad 139

Caesar Salad Three Ways 140

The Classic Caesar 140

Fiesta Caesar Salad with Crunchy Tortilla Strips 141

Kick'n Cajun Caesar Salad with Crispy Black-Eyed Peas & Cornbread Croutons 143

Garbage Salad with Creamy Lemon-Peppercorn Dressing 144

Taco Salad in Baked Tortilla Bowls 147

Cold Soba Noodles with Citrus-Miso Dressing 148

Toona Poke Bowl with Spicy Aïoli 150

Pro-Bowl 152

Crowd-Pleasers

Caribbean Ceviche 157

Sriracha Cauliflower Walnut Lettuce Cups 158

Sesame Avocado Kale No-Egg Rolls 161

Spinach-Artichoke Dip 163

Hot Krabby Dip 164

Nacho Average Nachos 167

Buffalo Chik'n Tacos with Kale & Avocado-Lime Ranch Slaw 168

Lemon-Pepper Wingz 171

Pastelillos with Saffron Aïoli 173

Southern Poutine with Whiskey Caramelized Onions 178

Buffalo Cheezy Sweet Potato Fries 179

Play Making Mains

Vegetable Pho 183

Chickpea Tikka Masala 185

Veggies & Dumplings 189

Cauliflower Marbeila 190

Mac & Cheezy Three Ways 192

Truffle Mac & Cheezy 193

Bae'con Mac & Cheezy 194

Buffalo Mac & Cheezy 194

Beer-Battered Fysh & Chips with Tartar Sauce 195

Lobzter Penne alla Vodka 198

Creole Krab Cakes with Tarragon Remoulade 201

Pay Azteca (Enchilada Casserole) 205

Fried Chik'n with Spicy Maple Syrup 206

Grandma Duplechan's Creole Gumbo 209

Smoky Jambalaya 212

Gochujang Jackfruit Noodle Bowl 215

Unbelievably Vegan Protein Burger 217

Sideline Sides

Smoky Hold-the-Ham Collards 222

Truffle Cream'd Corn 225

Creamy Mashed Potatoes 226

Cheezy Sweet Potato Grits 227

Chipotle-Lime Potato Salad 228

Sweet Potato Casserole 231

Jerk-Spiced Lentils with Coconut Rice & Mango Salsa 232

Red Beans & Rice 234

Arroz con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice & Peas) 237

Garlic Ramen Noodles 238

Skillet Cornbread 241

Sweet Victories

Vanilla Coco Whip 244

Salted Caramel Sauce 245

Chocolate Ganache 247

Salted Caramel Apple Crisp 248

Childhood Chocolate Chip Cookies 250

Flaky Pie Dough 253

Hand Pies 255

Mixed Berry Filling 256

Peach Cobbler Filling 256

Pecan Sticky Buns 257

Strawberry-Orange Shortcakes 261

Homemade Vanilla Wafers 262

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread 263

Banana Pudding with Homemade Vanilla Wafers 266

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cheezecake 268

Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze 271

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheeze Frosting 273

Baked Cheezecakes 276

Cookies N' Cream 276

Sweet Potato 278

Key Players 280

Index 282

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