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.June Cool Shops! Vegie Smugglers.

I know that you are going to LOVE this week’s Cool Shop – Vegie Smugglers…

Wendy Blume is the extremely talented author of Vegie Smugglers – a self-published cookbook aimed toward busy families who still want to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Like most Aussie Mums, Wendy found it a daily struggle in the kitchen trying to come up with healthy meals that would satisfy her two fussy eaters. Out of her desperation – and I’m sure after hearing many other Mothers complaining about the same problem – Vegie Smugglers was born.

Not only did Wendy come up with 60 + delicious recipes to feed your family, she was also responsible for the photography and graphic design of this beautifully presented book. What a clever Mum! Vegie Smugglers is bright and colourful, filled with gorgeous mouth-watering photographs – in this case, self-published does not mean tacky. The book is top quality.

I own a heap of cookbooks, but for the majority of them there are only a handful of recipes that I might actually cook. When I first received a copy of Vegie Smugglers I flicked through it and gave pretty much every recipe the “thumbs up” – not just for me, but I also thought that I could coax my children into trying most of them too. (In our house, the “trying” part is always the hardest, once they’ve had a taste usually they like it!)

Vegie Smugglers is broken up into convenient sections from quick dinner fixes to freezable meals to sweet treats.

The introduction of the book includes handy information about the nutritional components of vegetables (see picture below) and essential kitchen tools and skills.

I love the thoughtful details that Wendy has incorporated into her book – a “Rate It” and “Comments” section for you to jot down your thoughts or perhaps variations for next time. She also includes a “For the Adults” variation for each recipe – a simple extra addition to make the meal a little more special for the adults you are feeding. I have friends who cook two dinners a night – one for the kids and one for the parents, a waste of time and energy to me, so it’s good to have recipes on hand that will please everyone.

In short, this book gets the big tick of approval from me! We have tried a few recipes so far (although none of them have been photographed because I never seem to have time to pull out the camera during that busy evening meal time!) and they have all been delicious. Next up, I’m looking foward to trying the Beetroot Tzatziki – it looks delicious and I have some fresh beetroot waiting to be used up. Vegie Smugglers retails at $24.95 and can be purchased here. (Word on the street is that Vegie Smugglers 2 is in the making – go Wendy!)

Wendy is genrously giving one lucky Make It Perfect reader a chance to win a free copy of Vegie Smugglers! Simply “like” Vegie Smugglers on Facebook and leave a comment on this post.
(Winner will be randomly chosen on Sunday 12th June.)