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More Peas, Thank You Review & Giveaway!

Did you know Harlequin offers more than Romance books? I know from growing up I thought they just offered fiction/romance books. I was very happy to have the opportunity to review a couple books from Harlequin that are not romance. Don't get me wrong I love romance books and that seems to be a lot of the books I have read as of late but I also love parenting/funny/non-fiction and of course food books!

Today I wanted to share a new cookbook I had the chance to take a look at called More Peas, Thank You by Sarah Matheny. This is a Vegetarian cookbook but you don't need to be vegetarian to enjoy the recipes in this book. As a mother I love to offer my children more fruits and veggies whenever possible, I also love to open up the food world to more than the regular meatloaf, spaghetti and mac & cheese world. Not that there is anything wrong with those dishes I like to have my kids to have a wide variety of food that they enjoy and so far so good. They are not that picky and will pretty much try anything once.

A bit about the author of More Peas, Thank You:

Sarah Matheny didn't always have a vegetarian-inclined diet. She used to eat meat and practice law. Then she became a mom. Sarah is the creator of the blog called Peas And Thank You.

"More Peas, Thank You deliciously pairs vegetarian recipes and stories from a mainstream family eating a not-so-mainstream diet. "Mama Pea" has lightened up family favorites like cinnamon rolls, tacos, lasagna and brownies, using fresh, nutritious ingredients. From hearty breakfasts to easy snacks and tempting desserts, there's something here for everyone to love."

Purchase More Peas, Thank You on Harlequin for $17.56. Also available in e-book format.

My thoughts:

I'm always a bit skeptical when I pick up a vegetarian cookbook as I try to keep our food budget low and always look for easy to find ingredients as we live in a small town and don't always have access to some more rare ingredients. Each recipe has mostly easy to find ingredients and are simple and quick to make.

I like that this book is more than just a cookbook, before each recipe the author gives a little story, something about when the author was growing up or about her family, etc. Each recipe has a nutritional value and little icons that tell you if the recipe is Freezable, Packable (lunches), Veg Value, Wannabe Recipea, and Pealightful.

With mouth watering photos I drooled looking through this cookbook. I am not a vegan and well my husband is very far from one but as we went through the book together we both saw TONS of recipes we would love to try out. We all enjoyed the recipe below.
Chocolate Cherry Cashew Bars
Makes 12 bars

INGREDIENTS
parchment paper, to line baking sheet
3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (or approximately 2 tablespoons whole flaxseeds before
grinding)
1⁄2 cup maple syrup or honey (or a mixture of the two)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole almonds, coarsely chopped
1⁄2 cup peanuts, coarsely chopped
1⁄2 cup cashew pieces
1⁄2 cup dried cherries
1⁄2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, combine ground flaxseed and sweetener. Mix well and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine salt, almonds, peanuts, cashews and cherries. Pour flaxseed-syrup mixture over nuts and cherries and stir until evenly coated.
4. Spread the nut mixture on the baking sheet evenly, from corner to corner.
5. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until nuts are slightly brown and edges are crisp. The nut layer will be soft but will harden upon cooling.
6. Melt chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave or over a double boiler. Drizzle chocolate over almost cooled nut layer. Chocolate will be wet but will set upon cooling.
7. When nut layer and chocolate have set, pull parchment paper from baking sheet and set bars on a flat cutting surface. Cut nut layer into twelve equal squares, and store in an airtight container. Bars will stay especially crunchy if you refrigerate them.

Nutrition information per serving: 210 calories, 12 g total fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, <5 mg
cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 17 g sugar, 5 g protein, vitamin A 0%, vitamin
C 0%, calcium 4%, iron 6%
Took a break from biking to have a yummy snack!
Enter to win a copy of More Peas, Thank You by Sarah Matheny by filling in the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Genuine Jenn on behalf of Harlequin. I received the above book for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~

22 comments:

  1. yes, we try to add more vegetable to our meal. We are considering to become vegetarian though.

    Narathip wall
    polo_wataga at yahoo dot com
    www.dealsandfree.blogspot.ca

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  2. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm not necessarily looking for more meatless meals, but to add more vegetables into my meals.

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  3. Im not a vegetarian but I so love veggies and always looking to add more to my daily intake!

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  4. I try to add more veggies to our menu, hope to be a vegetarian one day but in a family I need to convince everyone to be so.

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  5. I just like to add more veggies! Want the family to eat healthier any way I can, so this would be just FAB!

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  6. I am a former vegetarian working towards returning to a vegetarian diet. I felt so much better (and weighed so much less) eating a predominantly plant-based diet. Always looking for new and interesting recipes, so this book would be wonderful!

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    Replies
    1. dcontests at hot mail dot com ;)

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  7. i like meatless meal but i would love add more

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  8. I need to eat more vegetables, Doctors orders. Which is funny because I feel like all I do is eat vegetables :)

    Love the steel tumbler. Use one everyday but so do the kids.

    Thanks for posting to my open Facebook Giveaway Wall.

    Besos, Sarah
    Blogger at Journeys of The Zoo
    Finding Humour in Everyday Life
    journeysofthezoo at hotmail dot com

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  9. looking to add more meatless meals..

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  10. I was veggie for a long while....now I eat meat but I don't enjoy beef very much

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  11. Anonymous11:46 AM

    wanting to try more meatless meals thanks

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  12. Not Vegetarian but always on the lookout for a great meatless recipe.

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  13. i'm a vegetarian, have been for 8 years, i feel great.

    (stacey h)

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  14. I'm trying to add a few meatless meals to our meal plan. My family is used to having meat as a staple every meal so it's difficult.

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  15. Definitely not a vegetarian lol but on a budget so meatless meals would be good

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  16. We try to have meatless meals once a week
    Marla

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  17. I am not a Vegetarian, but I do try to mix some non-meat meals in sometimes.

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  18. I would love to provide my family with more meatless meals!

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  19. We are not vegetarian but we don't eat a lot of meat and we enjoy vegetarian cooking.
    angela mitchell

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  20. I am not a vegetarian, and i definetely need to eat more.

    ReplyDelete

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