The Colorful Family Table: Seasonal Plant-Based Recipes for the Whole Family comes out on December 3, 2019.
Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.
Author Irene runs The Colorful Kitchen blog from her home near NYC/NJ. She specializes in vegan recipes that are “colorful, not complicated.” Stop by her beautiful Colorful Kitchen Instagram feed, and The Colorful Kitchen on Facebook too.
I am particularly drawn to this book after my experiences raising poorly fed foster kids who grew up on a diet of beige food (chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, corn dogs) and balked at tasting anything healthy or colorful. Tomatoes, peas and lettuce were a big challenge to get them to even try! I’ve been consciously trying to add colorful foods to my dishes as often as possible. I’m so lucky my boyfriend loves vegetables and wants to eat beets, broccoli, veggies and fruits with me. (We both still struggle to eat and enjoy kale, I must confess).
There are no vegans in my house – my boyfriend will eat anything (except the aforementioned kale!) and I’m a lifelong vegetarian. However, it can’t hurt from a caloric perspective to reduce some of the dairy we use. I throw a lot of parties, and want to be a better hostess to my many vegan friends. And I figure if I like a recipe here, I can always sneak in some butter, sour cream or cheese for meals I’m making for my immediate household.
I love that the chapters are divided into seasons, starting with Fall. I try to live my life as seasonally as possible, living in the moment and not rushing into the next season. I’m celebrating Fall, autumn and Halloween right now, and not rushing towards Thanksgiving or Christmas.
The Fall chapter, as one would expect, includes lots of pumpkin-based comfort foods, squashes and foods made with apples. There are kid-friendly recipes like Cauli-Broc Tots, plus hearty meals such as chili, stew and soup. Dessert recipes include Sweet Potato Pie (which sounds delicious), almond apple cookies, and Butternut Squash “Pop-Tarts” which don’t seem very appealing to me personally.
Winter recipes start bringing in the ginger and cinnamon, with more vegan soup and stew recipes, vegan versions of burgers and “fried chicken,” and a few chocolate-based desserts.
Moving into Spring, the Colorful Family Table cookbook introduces Sweet Beet Fries, Sweet and Sour Beetballs, a veggie quiche recipe I want to try out as soon as tonight, and chickpea artichoke “crab” cakes I’m sure my boyfriend will balk at and insist on real crab instead.
Summer seems the easiest season to find and serve colorful foods. This chapter of the cookbook suggests gazpacho pops, a Summer Market polenta casserole, tempeh tacos with peach salsa, and cookies and “cheesecake” bites for vegan desserts.
A short page on Family Travel Trips seems out of place in a kitchen cookbook, but does provide useful info on what vegan snacks to carry for your family. There’s also a helpful page called The Family Lunchbox, one on Freezer Favorites and one on vegan Party Time. I find those inserted pages a little distracting but it only takes a second to flip the page and keep going.
The final chapter is super helpful: Kitchen Staples. Rather than a list of pantry ingredients you should keep on hand, it’s a quick list of easy to prepare vegan foods you can whip up in a flash: Lentils, brown rice, baked pumpkin, homemade almond milk, coconut whipped cream, and baked tofu.
Interspersed with the gorgeous food photography closeups (colorful and mostly flat-lay) of the dishes are photos of the author and her adorable children. Often the oldest kiddo is seen helping out in the kitchen. You really feel like you’re getting a true glimpse into her colorful kitchen (albeit probably unrealistically cleaned up quickly for the photo shoot!)
If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, you’ll likely really enjoy this book. I also would recommend it for omnivores and people trying to eat less meat and dairy for whatever reason. Due to the many carb-heavy dishes and pasta recipes, I don’t recommend this book for keto people or gluten-free folks (although the latter could sub-in gluten-free pastas).
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