The Jazzy Vegetarian’s Deliciously Vegan Cookbook

( A winner has been chosen in the giveaway, but you can still make this recipe!)

It’s gonna be jazzy! If you haven’t seen the popular and long-running “Jazzy Vegetarian” on PBS, you might not know that there’s a jazz-singing vegan in the kitchen, and she’s got her own show. Laura Theodore’s Jazzy Vegetarian is launching a sixth season on TV, as well as a companion cookbook. You can even enter to win a copy at the bottom of this page.

Laura Theodore was born to have her own vegan cooking show. Theodore started out as a kid studying acting, grew into a singer fronting rock and jazz bands, and found her calling when she became vegan. All those performing chops came in handy when she was moved to spread the word about a compassionate way of living and eating.

Fast forward to this, the sixth season of her popular cooking show, where she continues to thrive in a media marketplace with stiff competition. Her passion for plant-based food is clear on the screen, and in the pages of her cookbooks. She’s a powerhouse, finding time for the Jazzy Vegetarian radio show, frequent guest appearances on TV, tons of social media and web activity, and of course, she still records music.

Somehow, along with all this, she is opening the Jazzy Vegetarian Vegan Restaurant in Hendersonville NC, in May. Check out her website to watch, listen, read, and find out more.

This is her fourth book, and like the others, it’s both fun and functional. This is food you will really make and serve to your family. Many of the recipes are breathtakingly quick and simple, but still packed with good, real, plant based ingredients.

The format is well organized and easy to use, with tons of photos so you can see what you are going to make. The chapters start with fundamentals and breakfast, and cover the gamut on up to desserts. Start the day with a plant based frittata or scramble, and you can end it with one of her cakes, crumbles, puddings or pies.

I couldn’t wait to try this banana bread. There are plenty of banana bread recipes out there, but vegan banana bread can come out rubbery, or even worse, gummy. Not this one, it has a lovely texture, and is chock full of walnuts for crunch. She clearly did a little engineering of the recipe, by changing the temperature midway. The result is that the bread gets lift from the first segment of time in a hot oven, then has time to bake through without burning in the second, cooler part of the oven time.

Very smart.

And very Jazzy, with a schmear of jam or vegan butter!

If you like this recipe, you can

US residents can enter by clicking the link below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Banana-Walnut Bread

MAKES 10 TO 12 SLICES

 

This delicious bread makes a wonderful snack, slathered with a bit of vegan margarine, nut butter or your favorite fruit preserves.

 

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon nondairy milk

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup vegan cane sugar

1/3 cup extra-light olive oil (see note)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

11/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)

1 cup chopped walnuts

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with vegan margarine. Line the lengthwise sides and  bottom of the pan with unbleached parchment paper, leaving an overhang of 2-inch “wings” on the two long sides of the pan.

Put the nondairy milk and lemon juice into a small bowl or pitcher, and stir to combine. Let stand at room temperature while preparing the batter.

Put the flour, baking soda and sugar in a large bowl, and stir with a dry whisk until combined. Add the nondairy milk/lemon juice mixture, oil, vanilla and mashed bananas, and stir with a large spoon until combined. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

Decrease the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Put the pan on a wire rack. Lift the bread out of the pan using the paper “wings.” Let cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator, leftover bread will keep for 3 days.

CHEF’S NOTE: If desired, you may use extra-virgin olive oil in place of the extra-light olive oil. The bread will be slightly denser in texture.

Recipe by Laura Theodore, from JazzyVegetarian’s Deliciously Vegan. Published by Scribe Publishing, ©2018, reprinted by permission.