Beautiful book with nutritious recipes and gorgeous photography!

I wanted to read this book because it was both plant based and gluten free. We are not 100% plant based but we are trying to eat less meat, but just like any other time I try to look for a plant based book, I am just not all that interested in most of the recipes. I would still be willing to give them a try because we are newly gluten free and exploring new flavors, even the ones that sound like we wouldn't love them. I love the beautiful cover of this book and the whole idea behind it and I am glad there is another book out there with some healthy options for my family.

YumUniverse Pantry to Plate by Heather Crosby is a vegan/vegetarian cookbook. I am always on the lookout for good vegetarian recipes. Unfortunately I did not find many that I could convince my family to try. I had a couple of problems with this book. The author includes a wide variety of recipes for homemade basics such as enchilada sauce. I was disappointed that a recipe for corn tortillas was not included. They are easy to make at home. If I am making enchilada sauce, I would want a great tortilla to pair with it. My second problem is with the subtitle: Improvise Meals You Love - From What You Have! The latter part is where the author lost me. Maybe all vegetarians have the ingredients she uses, but I do not. Pysllium husk (whole and ground), garbanzo bean flour, and rapadura are not commonly found in my pantry. I feel that healthy recipes should not be so complicated. This book missed the mark for me.

The book explains about the different pantry ingredients and their use in cooking and serving in the plate......

Easy to read recipe book. Really attractive presentation with lots of hints and tips. The basic cooking techniques are useful. Really creative twists of traditional recipes. Particularly love the pancake ones! :-)

I own Heather;s previous cookbook and love it. Pantry to Plate does not disappoint. Heather has great ideas and guidelines on how to create simple and delicious dishes 'freestyle'.
If you're a more adventurous cook and like to trial new things and mix up recipes - you will really like this.
If you're a beginner and follow recipes to the T this might be a nice intro into trying to make it on your own in the kitchen!
Would definitely recommend

I am seriously impressed with this book. The tips and tricks in this book are even better then the recipes themselves. I learned so much from the first part of this book. The part on Aromatics was awesome and I will be using this section a lot. Just by adding a few ingredients to any foods can give it a taste of Italy, China, and more. The book is written with tons of mouth watering recipes as well. Who knew Gluten Free plant based foods could look and taste so great. Some recipes are so simple I was thinking now why hadn't I ever thought of that, others are more advanced but well worth that extra few steps. I as liked the re-purposing section. I never thought of if a broth or soup ended up being to salty or I had a lot of left overs, just freeze them in ice cube trays and add the to other dishes as a seasoning or as a base to work off of. I also never thought to use one of these cubes for sauteing other foods at a later time.

Whether you eat gluten free of plant based foods or not this book is a great addition to any kitchen.

I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.

Simple recipes and wonderful illustrations. I enjoyed some of the non-dairy sauces, such as the Chipotle Cream made with pureed cashews.. but didn't have much respect for an enchilada sauce made without dried and soaked chilis. The cover implies a book that relies heavily on pantry items, but this is more focused on fresh foods put together with the expected grains and flavorings. I appreciated that many of the recipes are springboards to lead the cook into experimenting with flavors and textures. I think this book is particularly useful for cooks either new to cooking, or new to gluten free diets. The sections on baking gluten free muffins and breakfast cookies, crackers, and flavored balls are particularly good for moms trying to cook for kids with celiac or allergies, although since many of these recipes rely on nuts, those with allergies need to be watchful.. I was delighted to find the recipe for gluten free lasagna, but had to scratch that recipe because in addition to a kid with celiac, my nut allergic grandson was at the table.--we ended up with using gluten free lasagna noodles and a classic tomato and veggie recipe.. The next day, some delicious veggie tacos highlighted lunch, and one of the creative "'Banzo Bake" casseroles shone at supper.

Healthy recipes for those who want to be live what they eat. I really enjoyed making a lot of the recipes and feeding them to friends and family.

In Pantry to Plate, Crosby, keeps mealtime real by providing a basic foundation to cooking according to a traditional recipe structure but allowing readers freedom to play around by substituting with ingredients for a variety of impromptu, customized meals.

Set up in parts of: Good Morning, Munch & Lunch, Main Meals, and Sweet Tooth, the text is easy to pick through to find something to suit your needs. Also included in a handy section on Measurements and Conversions and index.

The recipes are fairly original and the photography is complimentary. Altogether Crosby has delivered a wonderful resource to have in any kitchen.

The forward explains that the author, Heather Crosby, was told while in her 20s that she would be required to take medication for the rest of her life. Not loving that, she decided instead to improve her eating habits. To help home cooks to eat more healthily, her book is filled with easy instructions on cooking techniques for a variety of ingredients, and methods for planning meals and working with what ingredients that you have on hand.

And, because she was 'not good at following recipes,' she has invented her own, using trial and error and (what seems to me to be) good natural instincts about flavor and texture. She encourages cooks to trust their own instincts when encountering new recipes, and at the same time to be flexible. Do not rely solely on expensive ingredients, spend excessive time on preparation, or deprive yourself. Use clean, fresh, whole food. Think outside the box. These are all perspectives that I can agree with, and that make the recipes accessible and attractive to almost every home cook.

I love that the first food photograph in the book features a tray of muffins, with each one being different from the others! Cooking for one or for a family allows for (and often demands) individuality and variety; factory-like precision is not always best.

To widen the possibilities for expanding your home cooking, Crosby includes helpful tips on building flavor profiles for Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Latin, Middle Eastern and Thai cuisines.

'Templates' throughout the book provide guidance for building dishes to different specifications, and help cooks learn to cook without restrictive recipes. They range from soups, veggie burgers, salads and cookies, to maki, veggie tots and hand pies.

Going past the inspiration behind her cooking philosophy, I was really impressed by the recipes! And the templates! To explain the templates more, I will use my favorite template (for pancakes and waffles) as an example.

First, she breaks down the staple ingredients which you:
*'Need No Matter What.' Think baking powder, salt, etc.

Then, you have a choice of:
*flours (brown rice flour, chickpea flour).
*binders (banana, psyllium husk)

Next, and optional, are:
*flavors (cinnamon, ginger, citrus juice)
*fold-ins (herbs, coconut, squash)

and lastly:
*oils (avocado, sunflower)

Quantities and cooking times are provided, as well as suggestions for marrying flavors successfully. The other templates in the book follow the same general composition. And, if you would like a more structured recipe, more defined recipes are provided (Beet Pancakes with Roasted Apples, Meyer Lemon Waffles with Maple-Blackberry Compote).

Other standout recipes include Cashew-Coconut Buttercream, Apricot & Salted Sunflower Seed Amazeballs, Probiotic Cream Cheese, and Neapolitan Nice Crispy Bars.

The recipes in the book are vegan, excepting the ones that call for honey (suggested substitutions are provided).

I loved this cookbook! It is full of excellent advice, and the recipes and templates look healthy, delicious and achievable. Five stars, because of the variety and quality of the templates.

Highly Recommended.

This cookbook was very comprehensive! I appreciated that the author included information on the ingredients, measurement terms and spices at the beginning of the book. This book has healthy alternatives to the processed foods we all typically purchase; muffins, crackers, soups and even homemade cream cheese. I found the granola section especially useful as that is something simple you can make yourself instead of buying it from the store.

The drawback to this book is it is for a very niche market. Most consumers will find some of the recipes labor intensive (sauces and soaking beans) and that some of the ingredients are not readily available. I think the title might be deceiving since a lot of the ingredients required are specialty flours, nuts and veggies that most people do not store in their pantries. I liked the mix of photos and drawings throughout the book. However, the photos shown of the finished products all looked similar and unappetizing. The photos where the author was included seemed a bit off. I'm not sure if it was due to the lighting or the quality of camera used, but they just didn't seem bright and natural.

Overall, I think this would be a great cookbook for those who have the time and resources to put into eating cleanly. As for the average working parent, I can't see them choosing this book over one from a celebrity chef who advertises simple dishes in 30 minutes.

YumUniverse Pantry to Plate by Heather Crosby lives up to its name as you will find plenty of plant-based recipes to tempt your palate. The recipes will encourage creativity as her recipes are geared for using what you may have in the refrigerator or pantry.

I loved the flexibility as the author writes her recipes were geared towards being gluten-free and veg inspired, but you could easily add animal or gluten products to her recipes, if desired. Crosby also writes the recipes could be vegan except for the recipes using honey. She does suggest some vegan friendly honey alternatives.

The color photos really add a bit of pizzaz while showing how the recipes are supposed to look as the finished product.

Some of the recipes you'll find include:

Chew-Almond Cheese Crumbles
Warm Tuscan Kale & Artichoke Dip
Massaged Kale & Mango Salad with Creamy Chipotle Dressing
Black Bean Sliders
Strawberry-Oat Hand Pies

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

YumUniverse Pantry To Plate was SO informative and enjoyable!
I loved the layout - each recipe had a basic guideline to follow, then you were given several ingredient options to add in - so great! Everything was presented beautifully, both in photographs and delightful little illustrations throughout. This wasn't your typical vegan cookbook - all the recipes aren't too complicated, and they actually look delicious!

I look forward to seeing this title in print and purchasing for myself and family members. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"YumUniverse Pantry to Plate" is a vegan (no meat, dairy, or eggs), gluten-free cookbook. The author provides 30 recipe templates that you can customize based on what you like (or have on hand). She also provided 100 recipes based off of those templates so you can see some of the possibilities. Most of the recipes take between 15-40 minutes to create.

These recipes look fairly simple in terms of cooking skill required. However, the author didn't spend much time explaining how to cook or what the different ingredients can bring to the overall taste, so it may be hit or miss in terms of the resulting taste of the dish. Also, many of the recipes had a lot of added sweetening and/or oil, though these were usually optional additions.

The templates: For breakfast, a veggie and grain stir-fry, granola, pancakes and waffles, muffins, warm cereals, or breakfast cookies. In addition to some recipes for sauces and creams, she provided templates for compotes and fruit butters, coconut yogurt, and dairy-free milk. For lunch and snacks, it's gluten-free crackers, amazeballs, dairy-free fermented cream cheese, dips and spreads, crunchies, fermented veggies, bites and tots, veggie fries, and soups. For main meals, it's cheesy comfort food, epic salads, veggie sushi makis, tacos and wraps, 'banza bakes, veggie burgers, and hand pies. For sweets, it's cookies, crispy bars, brownies, coconut-based ice cream, and crisps and crumbles.

Dark chocolate, cherry, and brazil nut granola? Yes please! I like the base recipes followed by the possible flavor add ins. I'm one of those that often get in a rut and rely on the same old flavor profiles. This is great for expanding tastes and flavors from a basic recipe.