Yum: Plant-Based Recipes for a Gluten-Free Diet

Refreshingly free of politics and polemics, Nicassio’s book strictly focuses on the food, offering thoughtful and practical recipes such as her Best No Meat-Meat, a combination of mushrooms, walnuts, onions, and herbs used to create shepherd’s pie, as well as spaghetti and veggie meatballs. Kid- and family-friendly food dominates the book, with vegan versions of mac and cheese, tacos, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies, as well as inventive riffs. She employs baked polenta as a substitute crust for pizza and collard greens as a stand-in for tortillas in wraps—all of which are simple and ingenious. A highlight are her chia chips, a crunchy snack full of healthy ingredients that work well with all manner of dips. Even carnivores will find dishes like Rho’s Giardiniera Pickled Vegetables and garlic-infused polenta hard to resist. Most recipes are as straightforward, though some, such as lemon cupcakes, call for a painfully specific ingredient (in this case, a quarter teaspoon of psyllium husk powder), which may be off-putting to initiates. That said, once readers have sorted out their preferences and tastes (particularly regarding which sugar substitute they’ll be using), they’re good to go. (BookLife)