The Friendly Vegan Cookbook by Michelle Cehn & Toni Okamoto & Garlicky-Ginger Tofu Triangles Recipe + GIVEAWAY

One of my favorite things about being vegan is the amazing community that goes along with the lifestyle. In my travels I have met some amazing people many of which have become friends. I met both Michelle Cehn and Toni Okamoto back in 2013 at a vegan blogger meet-up in the Bay Area and our (vegan) paths have crossed many times since!

Today I’m excited to share Michelle and Toni’s new e-cookbook, The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, with all of you. This dynamic duo are longtime animal advocates, vegans and content creators and their latest collaboration just happens to be in the form of a beautiful e-book! If you’re looking to make eating vegan simple and delicious, this book is for you! Plus, the drool-worthy food photos will draw in food lovers of every kind. The e-cookbook includes 14 fully plant based recipes that include, breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and dessert. All recipes are budget-friendly and the electronic cookbook can be yours for only $6!

Michelle and Toni were kind enough to allow me to share one recipe from the book today. Here’s their Garlicky-Ginger Tofu Triangles which make a hardy protein-rich side that can be added to any meal.

Ingredients:

• 12-oz. extra firm tofu, drained
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 stalks of green onions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1-½ tsp fresh ginger, grated
• ¾ cup water

Directions:

Cut tofu into ½-inch thick triangular slices, place in a large casserole dish, and set aside.

To create the marinade, thoroughly mix together the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl and pour over the tofu. Allow tofu to sit for a minimum of two hours, or overnight for a richer taste. Flip tofu halfway through marinating time.

Once tofu is marinated, place a large sauté pan over high heat. Add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add as many tofu slices as will fit in one layer. Cook until tofu is browned on the bottom: 2-3 minutes. Flip the pieces and brown on the other side, about 2 minutes. Pour in the marinade mixture and cook until tofu darkens slightly, about 45 seconds. Flip tofu and repeat.

Plate, garnish with remaining thinly sliced green onion, and enjoy!

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Still have more questions about the book? I had a few questions for the authors…

What prompted you both to write a vegan cookbook? Was the idea in the works for a long time?

I (Michelle) have been planning to write a vegan recipe e-book for several years now, but I kept putting the idea on the back burner because of all the other projects and videos that filled my plate.

When Toni and I connected and became close friends, it was a perfect fit! We are both a little obsessed with being productive, so whenever we hang out, we like to create—and we like to eat! We’ve made tons of vegan videos together, including many recipe videos, and The Friendly Vegan Cookbook was a natural evolution of that.

Toni is a recipe crafting master—whenever she comes over to my place, she scrounges around whatever limited ingredients I have in my kitchen and cooks up something incredible. She has a lot of raw natural talent in the kitchen—plus she’s an expert on cooking affordably, which she’s been doing for her website Plant Based on a Budget for years!

Meanwhile, as a photographer, I had been doing some food photography for other cookbooks, and I was eager to focus my efforts on creating a recipe resource of my own. This is the cookbook that I wish had existed when I first went vegan! I don’t know about you, but I’m never inspired enough to cook a dish unless I see a mouth-watering photo of it first. That’s why every single recipe in the book has a beautiful photo to entice you to actually strap on your apron and get cookin’!

Why an e-book rather than a hard copy?

Toni and I both have passionate online audiences that are hungry for plant-powered recipes and support along their vegan journeys. We wanted to be able to offer our World of Vegan and Plant Based on a Budget communities something that they could easily afford to purchase, immediately download, and start cooking from instantly.

Plus, by making our cookbook an e-book we were able to retain total control over the design, style, and recipes within! But you never know…it may become a hard copy book packed with even more of our recipe favorites one day!

Can you share where some of the recipes were inspired from?

Toni and I have both been vegan for many years, and over that time we’ve played around with countless plant-based recipes. For The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, we each picked some of our go-to home-cooking recipes that we have long loved, as well as a couple fresh and new ones that were sure to become staples. We tried to include something for everyone by including recipes that are quick and easy (like our Picnic Perfect Pasta Salad), ultra-affordable (like our Tofu Scramble³), super-unique (like our Herbed Polenta Fries), ultra-healthy (like our Hella Healthy Mac ‘n’ Cheese), comforting (like our 2-way cookie dough), and fun (like our Jalapeño poppers).

I have dozens of vegan cookbooks on my shelf, but I rarely turn to them. And when I do pick one up and flip through it, I feel so overwhelmed by all the options that it often lands right back on the shelf. I always wish that cookbook authors would mark their top picks, or most-often cooked go-to dishes! That’s why I wanted The Friendly Vegan Cookbook to be home to only our favorites. Dishes that we make often, and that we hope others will not just make once, but will incorporate into their regular routine.

Thanks so much for having us on the blog, Kayle! We’re long time fans of your work, and really hope you love the book!

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Want to see more? Check out this short video that details a bit more about the e-cookbook and its delicious offerings:

With Small Business Saturday taking place this weekend and the holiday season officially in full swing, now is a great time to consider buying a copy of The Friendly Vegan Cookbook for yourself or as a gift! Michelle and Toni have kindly offered my readers a 25% discount– just enter the code “COWGIRL” at check out. You can get your very own copy here.

If you’d like to try your hand at luck, I’m also hosting a giveaway for TWO copies! You can enter to win by sharing a comment below (make sure you’re signed up to receive my blog posts first!) about what excites you most about about vegan cooking. Giveaway is open worldwide; two winners will be selected randomly and contacted via email. Contest ends at 12pm PST on 11/26/16.

As always, thanks for tuning in and may each of you enjoy a cruelty free holiday this week!

xo, Kayle