I am honored to share a post and recipe from the utterly talented and prolific vegan cookbook author, Robin Robertson. I have been a huge fan of hers for years as her recipes are easy, delicious, and never disappoint. The recipe below is low fat, nutrient-dense, and flavor-filled and comes from her latest book, Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker: Something for Everyone, which just hit the shelves. Robin is giving one of you lucky readers a FREE copy! To enter the giveaway, leave a comment at the end of this post telling me why you’d like to win a copy of Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker: Something for Everyone.
To increase your chances of winning you can also do any or all of the following, and leave a separate comment for each that you do:
- Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/PlantDietitian
- Follow Robin on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/GlobalVegan
- Spread the word about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, and/or your blog
- Subscribe to this blog (on the bottom of my home page here)
- Subscribe to Robin’s blog: www.robinrobertson.com
- “Like” my Plant-Based Dietitian Facebook page to find out the winner (see below): https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plant-Based-Dietitian/378985915313?ref=ts
Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker: Something for Everyone
A guest post by Robin Robertson, author of Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker (The Harvard Common Press, 2012)
Just as slow cookers now come in all shapes and sizes, so do people’s preferences vary in their food preparation. One of my goals in writing Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker was to make the recipes accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of any dietary restrictions.
To that end, many of the recipes are naturally low-fat or even fat-free. Some recipes call for a small amount of oil (usually 2 teaspoons) for advance sautéing of some ingredients. In most cases, however, the option is given to eliminate the oil by simply water-sauteing the ingredients. Even many of the desserts in this book contain no added oil. For those that do, in most cases, you can substitute ground flaxseed mixed with water or unsweetened applesauce for the oil. Many of the recipes are also either gluten-free, soy-free, or both, and are listed as such.
Slow cookers can be used to prepare a variety of dishes, from soups, stews, and chili, to vegetables, appetizers, condiments, and even breads and desserts. One of my favorite slow-cooker recipes is this Cuban Black Bean Soup. It assembles quickly, cooks for several hours unattended, and has a rich depth of flavor. A refreshing garnish of fresh tomato, avocado, and cilantro adds texture and color.
Recipe: Cuban Black Bean Soup
Serves 4 to 6
Slow Cooker Size: 6-quart
Cook Time: 6 hours on Low
Gluten-free, Soy-free
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 cups vegetable broth or water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cups cooked black beans or 4 (15-ounce) cans beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 ripe Hass avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced, for garnish
- 1 large ripe tomato, chopped, for garnish
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Directions
1. Combine the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, and garlic in the slow cooker. Add the broth, bay leaves, oregano, cumin, salt, paprika, chili powder, and black pepper. Add the beans, stirring to mix well. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours.
2. Remove and discard the bay leaves and stir in the sherry (if using), vinegar, and liquid smoke. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt if needed.
3. Ladle 2 cups (or as much as half of the soup) into a blender or food processor, puree, and stir it back into the rest of the soup in the cooker. Alternatively, use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup right in the cooker.
4. Serve hot, topped with the avocado, tomato, and cilantro.
Recipe © 2012 by Robin Robertson and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press.
This Post Has 136 Comments
I would love to win the book since I am a new vegan and would love the help with new recipes! I'm on a juice detox right now and cant wait to start exploring new foods 🙂
I would love to win a copy of your book! I am a vegan raw foodist but I live with a semi-vegetarian (I'm working on getting him to become fully vegetarian and hopefully vegan). Anyways for dinner he only eats vegan or raw because I am preparing the food. Because I mainly eat raw food, I need more vegan cooked recipes to keep him interested.
I follow you on Twitter. 🙂
And I like your facebook page! This cookbook looks awesome.
I'd love to have a copy of this! I have a slow cooker and need to use it more often. I love Robin's work!
While our slow cooker gets a good amount of use, it sure could use an amazing vegan cookbook to add some spice/variety to its life! Would love to win a copy of the book! (This recipe looks especially delicious.)
I am the only vegan in the family, and a slowcooker vegan cookbook would be VERY helpful to me!
Go raw! SLow cook kills everything.
Food, that is!
I've liked shared twitted & followed 🙂
I'd love a copy 🙂
Since I went vegan my crock pot has had a sad life in the back corner of my cupboard. This recipe book would revive it 🙂
I would love to receive a copy! I am converting to vegan and a practical and complet cookbook will be a magic for me now!
I follow you on Twitter!
I would like to win a copy of your book because good health is the base and we can all reach greater levels if our nutrition is optimised.
I follow Robin on Twitter!
I subscribe to your blog!
I subscribe to Robin's blog!
We are a new vegan family of four. I used to use the freezer/slow cooker for nearly all of our meals since I"m a full time college student (and mother of two little ones), however now I"m finding that's not so vegan/plant-based diet friendly. We would LOVE to try out each and every recipe!
I would love to win this cookbook. I just brought out my slow cooker this weekend!
I love my slow-cooker and I love being vegan!
Hi there! I definitely feel that I should win Fresh From The Vegan Slow Cooker! I have a passion for cooking and we are constantly having friends and others over for meals. Everyone wants to come to dinner at the Miller's house because I am well known for serving the most delicious food…and it's pretty! I am known for my 2 huge book shelves in my dining area filled with every cookbook you can imagine. I collected them over the last 15 years. Many guests have sat down and read cookbooks because "foodieism" lol has always been a huge topic in our home. We make it fun!
My husband and I both dove into the vegan lifestyle almost a year ago and haven't looked back. We have both lost over 40 lbs and we feel absolutely like new people. We had some major health issues that have 100% disappeared since the change in lifestyle. I'll never diet again. I always watched others jog-run from the sidelines, never thinking I could do something like that. I now run 6-8 miles 4 times a week. I'm so proud of myself! 🙂 I'm training for a half marathon and can't wait!
So here's the deal, I took over 150 cookbooks to half price books about a month ago and let them go. It wasn't easy but I knew it was time. I have 6 vegan cookbooks so far to replace the 150…it's going to take a while.
I would love to cook the meals in this cookbook and show them off. We have many friends that just don't get the choice to become vegan, but I love showing them that food without animal products can taste better than they ever imagined. Please choose me, you will be glad you did! And….my name is Robin. That's good juju!
Please choose my sister Robin! She is not kidding! Everything she said is true. Everyone loves her cooking, especially because she pours her heart and soul into the food she makes. She is so creative and talented. I've been her guinea pig and I can tell you Robin can make dirt delicious!! She will cherish your cookbook. Thanks!
Jenny, you are the best! Thank you sweet sis!
I have 2 facebook pages, I will post your link to both. 🙂 I don't do twitter, but if I did I would follow you!
I want to win because I need more vegan cookbooks. I only own one currently and the rest I just get out from the library or browse recipes on the web 🙂
I'd like a copy because I don't own this book. I am an owner of her Quick Fix Vegan Cookbook.
I follow robin on twitter.
I already follow julieanna on twitter.
I already subscribe to your blog.
I already liked the plant based dietician… that's how I found out about this contest!
I tweeted about the giveaway! thanks!
Her recipes sound so delicious & easy to prepare!
I woul dlove to resurrect the slow cooker…this looks perfect!
Thanks to becoming vegan I was finally able to get my blood pressure under control. I had been battling high blood pressure since high school and although had lost a significant amount of weight (150 pounds!) I STILL had to take medication…well, after becoming vegan my blood pressure is in the 114/70 range and I am FINALLY off the meds! I have been vegan for almost 2 years now, and recently had a complete physical and it was the best I've ever had! My Dr. of 20 years is amazed at the transformation in my health, she says I have the blood work of a 20 year old and I will be 46 in December, the SAME age my father was when he died of a heart attack. My mother has also since passed of cancer. The only person that can take control of my health is me. At this age now, I am the healthiest I have ever been and chalk it up to my plant-based diet. I am always looking for new ways to cook vegan and this cook book would be a real welcome treat for me! : ).
Thanks to becoming vegan I was finally able to get my blood pressure under control. I had been battling high blood pressure since high school and although had lost a significant amount of weight (150 pounds!) I STILL had to take medication…well, after becoming vegan my blood pressure is in the 114/70 range and I am FINALLY off the meds! I have been vegan for almost 2 years now, and recently had a complete physical and it was the best I've ever had! My Dr. of 20 years is amazed at the transformation in my health, she says I have the blood work of a 20 year old and I will be 46 in December, the SAME age my father was when he died of a heart attack. My mother has also since passed of cancer. The only person that can take control of my health is me. At this age now, I am the healthiest I have ever been and chalk it up to my plant-based diet. I am always looking for new ways to cook vegan and this cook book would be a real welcome treat for me! : ).
I would love to receive a copy! I am newly vegan, and a busy mother of three. It is so nice to come home and have dinner ready in the crockpot!
Vegan? Since when? What made you make that decision?
My doctor had to put me on blood pressure meds last year and when I went this summer, he highly recommended a plant based, whole foods lifestyle. Nothing processed or from an animal. He suggested watching Forks Over Knives. Hopefully this lifestyle change will allow me to come off of meds completely.
I am a super-busy single vegetarian mom with two type-1 diabetic kids and a slow-cooker that gathers dust due to a lack of veggie-friendly healthy recipes. I would love to win a copy of this beautiful book!
I would love to win a copy of Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker: Something for Everyone because I have been wanting to purchase a good Vegan slow cooker cookbook. I haven't found one I have really liked and I KNOW Robins' recipes are great. I work full time so this would be a huge lifesaver =).
Inspired by Forks Over Knives and armed with the indispensable Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, my partner and I have now gone whole foods plant based with no SOS (sugar oil salt). We are loving it. Due to my disability, we are desperate for easy to prepare one pot meals that fit with our fabulous new lifestyle. This wonderful new slowcooker cookbook looks as though it will fit the bill beautifully, especially as the colder weather sets in.
I love Robins cookbooks. This book s a must have addition for my slow cooker!
I would love to win a copy so that I can start my road to recovery… I'm a cookbook-a-holic and I think staying out of the bookstore is the first step and winning an awesome cookbook instead of buying it is the second. Thank you in advance!
I love Robins cookbooks. This book is a must have for my slower cooker!
I would love to make lots of delicious vegan meals in my crockpot!
Thanks!
I like Plant-Based Dietitian on Facebook.
I have recently begun my foray into slow cooking and I would SO LOVE to win this book! It would make my month, and just in time for Vegan MoFo 2012!
I subscribe to your blog.
I'd love a great resource for vegan dishes and the fact that the book features slow cooking is a bonus! Pick me! 🙂
Win- win!!!!!
I'm a high school junior who is a music student, so I don't have a lot of time to cook… I'm very health concerned (I definitely want cooking and nutrition to be part of my future career) and I'm always looking for delicious recipes that I can actually eat! This would be such an amazing book to have!
I would loooove a copy of this! I am the only Vegan in our home of 5, I cook for myself, and this would be great for cooking many meals ahead… my Omni hubs might even be able to take a day off from cooking, himself! Thanks for the contest! Go Veg!
I would LOVE to win this cookbook! I am a crockpot fan and am converting to vegan after viewing Forks Over Knives. The Black Bean Soup recipe sounds delicious! I need more vegan recipes for the crockpot! Thank you for this contest!
good for you, been vegatarian for 35 years but can not live without cheese, local cheese of course 🙂
Well, it might be a slow conversion, Beth, but we're making some changes 🙂 I love cheese, too.
I am a huge RR fan…she has changed my life (and my husband's) with her amazing recipes! Would love to have this latest cookbook.
liquid smoke, an interesting sounding ingredient. I would have no idea where to pick it up, but I know you *will* figure out a way : )
Followed you on twitter!
Followed Robin on twitter!
Posted on twitter!
Subscribed to this blog!
Subscribed to Robin's blog!
Liked the page on facebook!
I would love to win a copy to have new ideas for cooking in my slow cooker!
I follow you on Twitter
I follow Robin on Twitter
I subscribe to Robin's blog
I like your page on Facebook
I've been a vegetarian for 14 years and now I'm working my way to vegan! I'd love to win a copy because I'm not very good in the kitchen and I can't cook anything unless I have recipes to follow step by step.
I follow you on Twitter.
I follow Robin on Twitter.
I shared your post on my fb page.
I subscribed to your blog.
I subscribed to Robin's blog.
I had already liked your fb page.
I would love to win Robin's new cookbook, because I have her other cookbooks and love love them so very much…..food smudges on lots of pages. I also love Robin's new orange kitty. My third cat is a little orange wild guy too! Thanks for the chance to win. Peace!
I follow you on Pinterest.
I follow you on Google+.
I would love to have this cookbook! I've not used my slow cooker in forever. It would be great to bring it back out!
I would love to win this because at our school bookfair today I was looking at Deborah Schneider's new cookbook the Mexican Slow Cooker book and trying to figure out if I could plant base all the yummy recipes! Save me from buying the other book!
My daughter feeds her children a Vegan diet. The children need a full diet. The debate goes on…
Plant based eating is not a diet Sue… it's a way of life and you can totally get a full "diet" from plants. It's awesome (and that last dinner Scott and I made at Pete's was totally vegan, yummy Pad Thai)
I would love a copy. I've been a vegan for 2 months and love my slow cooker in the winter. Plus I have a few of Robin's books and they are AMAZING!
ive got a bunch of recipes i can send you
I love plant based recipes and what could be better but to cook them in a slow cooker! I'd love a copy!
I am a busy mom of three & a full time student so this cookbook would be really handy!
I would love to receive a copy of this book! Actually, I just pulled out me slow cooker tonight to start making preparations for butternut squash soup for dinner tomorrow.
I am always looking for new yummy plant-based recipes to make for my family of six. With much of my time spent running back and forth to school and baseball practice, I could especially use recipes where I can throw everything in a slow cooker and have dinner ready by the time we get home!
I would love to win this book. transitioning to a plant based diet here at our house. love using my slow cooker. this book looks great!
chance #2 followed you on twitter!
chance #3 followed robin on twitter!
I like your facebook page! Thank you!!
chance #4 subscribed to robin's blog via facebook.
chance #5 liked your facebook page!
chance #6 shared this giveaway on my facebook!
unfortunately, I could not figure out how to subscribe to your blog easily. I don't use rss and could not find a way to subscribe via email.
To celebrate 25 years of being vegetarian I have decided to increase my vegan days per week. This would be a good way to make it easy as I make these changes. I have only a handful of recipes for my hand-me-down slow cooker but I am always looking for good ones. Thanks!
Amy…we just recently changed our diet to mostly vegetarian (once a month-ish humane/sustainable meat is all we can really afford) and I'm sort of struggling with family friendly ideas…do you have any favorite recipes you would be willing to share?
would love to have a copy…love slow cooker recipes…xoxoxoxoxo.
This the season to use my slow cooker. I would live this cookbook, because I actually stopped using my slow-cooker when I converted to a plant-based way of life.
I have been a vegan for a little over 2 years now. I am a fifth grade teacher, wife, Zumba instructor, and I'm training for a half marathon. I don't have alot of time on my hands and I recently started to prepare weekly meals. I would love to have your cookbook to help me prepare vegan meals without the added modifications to vegetarian crockpot receipes. I keep a photo journal on my facebook page of the vegan meals that I prepare. It's exciting sharing this food option to my non-vegan friends. They are curious about what all this vegan stuff is about and I enjoy sharing with them helpful/healthy information. If I win your cookbook I'll be sure to make your receipes, post the pictures, promote your book, and share the food. 🙂 Thank you!
I follow you on Twitter!
I followed Robin on Twitter!
I Liked you on Facebook.
I tweeted about the giveaway.
I subscribe to this blog via Google Reader…does that count?
I subscribed to Robin's blog via Google Reader as well.
Your cookbook sounds amazing. I love using my crockpot but lack healthy recipes except McDougall's refried beans.
I'd love to win this to add healthy recipes to my repertoire.
gkuroda at gmail dot com.
I'd love a copy of the book! I like you on FB! 🙂
I just became a vegan about three months ago and I would love to win a copy of this book 🙂
veg since 1974 and just learning to cook… hoping for your cookbook!
I would love a copy of this cookbook! This recipe looks great and it might get me to start using my slow cooker again for the approaching autumn weather.
I would love to win a copy of Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker: Something for Everyone! I really like Robin her books and find her recipes very pure and tasteful.
I started to follow you on twitter of course.
I used to love slow cooking and still do so for my son and his wife. I stopped using mine for anything except for beans. I would love the chance to explore vegan options. Thank you for your generosity!
crockpot vegan would help us eat better!
I have 6 slow cookers. I even volunteered to be a recipe tester for this book but (sadly) wasn't chosen. I like both you and Robin on Facebook and subscribe to both of your blogs
I LOVE my slow cooker and use it all the time! I would love to win a copy of this cookbook to add more variety to my favorites.
I "like" the facebook page.
I subscribe to Robin's blog.
OMG I would love to win a copy of this bok. I am a massage therapist and don't get home til late, often. It would be so nice to have my slowcooker filled with deliciousness and ready to eat……
My crockpot is collecting dust and as a busy student, I'd like to start putting it to work again!
I would love to have this cookbook because I've not used my slow cooker in forever! Thanks!
This book is very intriguing!
I'm following Robin on Twitter.
And @PlantDietitian 🙂 @catinaweb.
I'm a vegan with a slow cooker that is gathering dust because I don't have many recipes that use it.
I would love to win this cookbook. I used to cook all of the time in my slow cooker before going plant based. I occasionally use it now but would love to have some amazing plant based recipes to try. Thanks!
I am following you on Twitter.
I am following Robin on Twitter.
I am following your facebook page.
I shared the link on Facebook.
Would LOVE a copy! I'm a single mom & full-time teacher. Meals are hectic to say the least. We do crockpot vegan chili every Thursday since my son has soccer & karate immediately after I leave work…he would tell you that my slow cooker repertoire could use some variety 🙂
I am a new Plant based follower and need new ideas to convert hubby. I was inspired by Forks over Knives and Engine2… Great way of life! I would love the cookbook giveaway for my limited collection of plant based cook books…
Don't know if you have a Kindle or not, but they occasionally offer free cookbooks on a variety of subjects. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can download the software free on your computer, then download the cookbooks. Great site to check daily for free books: http://ereadernewstoday.com/