The First Mess Cookbook: Vibrant Plant-Based Recipes to Eat Well Through the Seasons Hardcover – Illustrated, March 7, 2017

First mess is my go to resource when I want creative meal ideas. They never fail to amaze. Simple vegan options, creative seasonings compared to other, bland suggestions. First on my shelf!

My first judgment of a cookbook comes from the # of dog-eared pages I have after a first pass (Yes, I’m one of those people that “reads” a cookbook cover to cover). After a first pass of The First Mess, it doubled in thickness from all the recipes I marked. We’ve had the book for a couple weeks now, and here’s my experience:PROS:1. Gorgeous full page photos! I love seeing what the finished product should look like, as well as many close up photos2. Recipes are all on one page, no annoying flipping while cooking.3. Fairly simple, easy to follow recipes with helpful tips, i.e. “should appear jammy in texture.”4. Standard recipes that can be modified to your local veggies, such as Small Batch Roasted Soup.5. There is a pretty elaborate desserts section!6. “Stocking Your Pantry for Success” section explains the different fats, acids, sweeteners and proteins she keeps on hand. I knew a lot of salad dressing recipes call for grapeseed or sunflower oil, but I didn’t know this was because it stays liquid in the fridge. Great tip!7. High-quality printing. No annoying dust jacket, and the paper is a thick with a matte finish. This book is a tactile pleasure to flip through.CONS:1. Unless you are already a dedicated gluten-free vegan, you might not have all these ingredients on hand, and you’ll need them quite often: chia seeds, flaxseed, hulled hempseed, dates, multitudes of different flours (whole spelt, millet, oat), arrowroot, buckwheat groats and cups and cups of almond milk.2. Organization is a bit weird. For example, she has some drinks in the morning section, but there is an “Energizing Drinks” section (which is combined with “Small Bites”?). There are “Salads and Dressings,” Hearty Meals” and “Vegetables and Grains” sections, but the whole book is veggies, so these don’t feel all that different. My guess is that when you write a vegan book, organization is hard because everything is a veggie recipe. My guess is I will be using the table of contents more often for this book than most others.In terms of specific recipes: Taking Laura’s advice, “I would recommend this one the most,” we started with her Cozy Lentil Soup. It was a solid entry point, but I’m not a tarragon lover. Instead, I recommend you start with the one-pot Root Vegetable Dal, with tempered spices stirred in at the end (which makes it not-quite “one pot” but the pan fried spices are worth the extra effort! As a spice blender, I’m obviously bias, but you’ll soon be a convert to tempered spices, too!). The non-dairy creamy Winter Stew was creamy, that even the kids liked it. For sides, I particularly liked the Caramelized Onion Potato Salad and the Master Cleanse Kale Salad; both had great dressings. The most inventive side I tried was the Smoky Eggplant Bacon, which tastes nothing like bacon, but it’s smoky-salty-deliciousness (and, gasp, it was an excellent to burger topping). The super clumpy granola recipe is perfect. The baby loved the Peanut Butter No Bakes. I'm left excited for all the recipes I have yet to try. The First Mess would be a good compliment for veggie sides when you do your next Whole30, as even though you are eating meat—you can't have gluten, sugar or dairy.If you’re not familiar with Wright’s blog, there is a nice introduction explaining her progression to vegan eating and cooking. Personally, I am not vegan, but we are trying to cut down on our dairy consumption. I’ve found, changing our favorite recipes into gluten-free, vegan versions takes a lot of trail and error. I don’t have the time for that, so unless I have confidence that the recipe I’m about to make will come out great, it’s not high on my priority list (there are just too many great things to cook!). The First Mess (and The Minimalist Baker) are my to go-to ladies when I want something dairy and gluten-free. I know I can pick up one of their recipes, and they have done all the trial and error to arrive at the best tasting / simplest version possible.To make all the recipes in this book, you will need:• Arrowroot• Bay Leaf• Black Salt (Indian Kala Namak) – for “eggy” flavor• Caraway (seeds)• Cayenne• Cinnamon (ground)• Chili (flakes)• Chili (powder seasoning)• Coriander (ground and seeds)• Cumin (ground and seeds)• Curry (powder)• Garlic (powder)• Ginger (ground)• Mustard (seeds and powder)• Nutmeg (ground)• Nutritional Yeast• Old Bay (seafood seasoning)• Oregano• Paprika (smoky)• Paprika (sweet)• Pepper (ground)• Peppercorns• Saffron• Sesame (seeds)• Sea Salt (flaky)• Sumac (ground)• Tandoori• Tarragon• Thyme• Turmeric (ground)• Za’atarLaura encourages people to use whole spices and grind them when needed, and to buy small amounts of spice to use up within 6 months. And, of course I blush when, “once I started placing my bulk bin items in dedicated containers that I kept in my line of sight, I started cooking with them more,” as this is literally the foundation of our spice jar company,  Gneiss Spice Everything Spice Kit: 24 Magnetic Jars Filled with Standard Organic Spices / Hanging Magnetic Spice Rack (Small Jars, Silver Lids) . It’s what keeps our customers from having three open jars of ground cumin. Thanks, Laura!In general, Laura lets the seasonal veggies shine, and only uses spices when needed to enhance the dish, not compensate for the lack of something else (as many other vegan recipes do). Of the few things I made, next time I might make them a bit spicier (or in the Tofu Broccoli, less spicy!) and I will experiment more with the exotic seasonings.As a final note, she lists “A Vegetable Garden” under kitchen equipment, commenting, “We eat well because of my vegetable garden, but it makes me a better person.” I love this!

The recipes are healthy, but good. Some I won’t bother with, but I book marked a good handful to try. Photos are pretty too.Do try the pancake recipe with some strawberries, they are surprisingly so very good. I think a good nutritional breakfast option. You won’t feel like you ate cake with loads of sugar for breakfast.*You may need some extra ingredients, so do read through the book before hand. Bookmark recipes you think you will like.Update: I tried 5 recipes so far and they are all great. I followed most to the exact and they were tasty and also healthy. I did have to change 1-2 things with the granola bar recipe. I do recommend this book. She doesn’t use bs processed vegan ingredients, she uses real food. Which is what I like about it. I cut down on the oil suggestions for my personal health. That is most of the the changes I make, since I try not to eat too much oil. So I cut that down by a lot! She does use mostly coconut oil and I don’t use coconut oil at all (because of some bad past experience with my cholesterol and ahhh yes with the so called “superfood” coconut oil, eye roll). But I am able to leave it out or use something else and if I use oil it’s way less!!! I do recommend this book to everyone who likes tasty healthy foods (even my mother who is not vegan loved the “eggplant bolognese pasta” and you should try if you like eggplant and olives!). Also I loved the cracker recipe and the immune boosting soup (with less red pepper, as it’s spicy with the ginger).Anyway so far these are good recipes and not difficult actually as it may seem to some. I am an avid home vegan cook for about 10 yrs. Lately I’ve been picky with food, as I crave real fresh food. Best-Update one last time: 5 stars, so far my favorite cookbook right now. Made a good handful of these recipes and I’m loving most of everything I made (only one I would pass on so far is, the breakfast chickpea scramble, as it wasn’t my favorite). Do try the popcorn recipe!-the photo i took is not great as I didn’t have good light.

Every recipe that I have tried from this book has been FANTASTIC. Not just "ok for vegan," but absolutely delicious! The ingredients are pretty common, especially if you already eat a lot of fruits and veggies. I would suggest growing a small herb garden for the fresh herbs in the recipes. Anyway, I would recommend to everyone.

It’s good for a range of vegan recipes. Flavor profiles are pretty bland for my tastes; I like to start a recipe as written before I modify it. Lots of stews and bowls. Was hoping for variety beyond that. Solid cookbook otherwise.

i love this cookbook so much, i checked it out from my local library a few years ago and immediately bought it :) i wouldnt consider myself as someone who cooks but this book really changed my life and i have 6 or so recipes i make on the regular :)) this is my 4th time gifting it to a friend

El libro viene en un papel de alta calidad, el contenido es muy bueno y original. Algunos ingredientes son difíciles de conseguir en México, pero se puede improvisar. Vale mucho la pena si te interesa la cocina vegana.

This is a lovely book that’s well written and not preachy at all which I love. I’m vegan and love trying new books and recipes, but I unfortunately can’t eat onion or garlic as it gives me severe stomach pains so I usually omit them from recipes that call and amp up the spices for more flavour. Laura includes a lot of onion and garlic in nearly all of her savoury recipes which can prove disappointing if they lack in flavour without them.Also, I think a major flaw in the cookbook is that it’s not organised by season, so although it’s using seasonal food, I can’t actually tell which ones are meant for which season. She organised in breakfast, lunch, snacks, mains and desserts but I would have preferred if these were sub categories within the 4 seasons. For people who shop at local markets this wouldn’t be an issue really as you're used to what foods are available when, but I live in London and don’t have access to these kinds of markets so wouldn’t really know when I go to the supermarket if the food I’m getting is in season or if it’s just shipped from Spain for my convenience.A lot of the recipes do look really good, but this isn’t the book for you (yet) if you’re not already used to eating a healthy diet because I think a lot of the food and grains she uses are what’s common in the diets of bloggers and writers who eat healthy vegan diets with no unprocessed foods. I’m used to these kinds of foods as well so most of the food looks amazing to me, but my boyfriend for example who still eats some meat and cheese and is used to more “normal food” like wraps and sandwiches for lunch would probably not find most of these recipes appetising.Hope this helps!

Laura Wright is a food genius: every recipe I've tried so far has been quick and easy to prepare, using ingredients which are easy to source, and magically, everything has been indescribably delicious. I've looked at many, many vegan cookery books, and most have been seriously disappointing: either the food is worthy but dull, or the ingredients listed aren't easily available in the UK. By contrast, the dishes I've made from The First Mess have been inventive but not weird, full of flavour, and can be prepared quickly, which means I'm going to cook myself something delicious and healthy when I get home instead of ordering takeaway or eating rubbish. The recipes are also healthy - no heavy dependence on carbs, which is refreshing. And it's food I'd be delighted to serve to guests as well. I'm really, really hoping that this is the first of many cookery books from Laura.

If you're thinking of going 'plant based' and fearful of what food will be like, you must try this book. We went vegetarian (rather than vegan) and relied on the recipes in this book to give us variety and healthy tasty meals everyday. It was fantastic. Yes some of the ingredients were more easily found in the US than the UK, but it wan't a big deal.We ate incredibly well for a month, which was our first foray into long term pant based diet, and it has given us the confidence to consider a longer period, say 3 months, and maybe longer.Well worth the money, and surprisingly tasty food that didn't leave us feeling we were missing 'meat'.

I am a cookbook addict and this is one of my faves. As you will know if you have followed her blog, Laura's recipes are always innovative (not the same rehashing of the same thing which many other bloggers seem guilty of) and very very well tested and delicious. She has a knack of getting great flavours into her food. Everything I have cooked so far has been amazing. I especially loved the Roasted chilli basil and lime tofu bowl... great flavour combinations. I wholeheartedly recommend this book!