When I first expressed an interest in a vegetarian diet, my mother-in-law became quite concerned, convinced that if I ventured down this path I would be putting myself, her son, and her grandchildren at great risk.  She consulted a nutrition teacher,  seeking advice that would convince me to change my mind, or failing that, at least guide me in making sound nutritional choices.  That is how I ended up reading "Diet For a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappé. In the late 1970's, that was almost the only book available on the subject, and as complicated and technical as following a vegetarian diet seemed to be, the recipes still looked exotic and exciting.  This book only whetted my appetite for more information, and a longing for more vegetarian cookbooks. 

A shortage of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks is no longer the problem!  Today, I face quite the opposite dilemma.  Where I once thought I would soon exhaust the limited supply of vegetarian recipes out there, I now lament the fact that I will never in my lifetime begin to scratch the surface of the 1000's of books available.  I like projects that have a beginning and an end, so knowing I will never begin and end every vegan cookbook ever published does bother me just a little.  As a compromise, I decided to take on the book "1000 Vegan Recipes" by Robin Robertson as a personal challenge, committing myself to preparing every dish in the book.

Since I do my best to adhere to the McDougall approach of oil-free cooking, I further challenged myself to adapt each of the recipes in this book accordingly, and document my results on a blog.  I figured there would be others who could benefit from my efforts and if I could offer support and encouragement, so much the better.  To date, I have tested and blogged 119 recipes, and at my current rate, I should be done around the end of 2016.  That ought to keep me busy for a while. 

If you'd like to follow me through this great adventure, you can visit my 1000 Vegan Recipes blog at:  http://testing-1000vr.blogspot.com/

By the way - this is a great book, and a great addition (or beginning) to anyone's vegan cooking library! 

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