ExtraVeganZa.

EXTRAVEGANZA By Laura Matthias

Extra VeganZa--Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm offers a wide variety of unique vegan recipes. The author is a longtime vegan, an organic farmer, and a B&B owner and operator. She also worked in a vegan restaurant and has been a personal chef for individuals with dietary sensitivities. In fact, many of her baked recipes in this cookbook use alternative flours.

I especially found her pate recipes--including Shiitake Sake Pate, Jerusalem Artichoke Hazelnut Pate, and Pumpkin Seed Yam Pate--to be quite creative. Readers will also enjoy the Curried Squash Pear Soup, Strawberry Jalapeno Dressing, Vegan Pad Thai, Lemon Lavender Blueberry Muffins, Spelt Cinnamon Buns, Raspberry Mousse, Oatmeal Lemon Fig Cookies, and Vegan Baklava.

At the back of this wonderful book you'll find information on edible flowers and natural food dyes. The volume includes both black-and-white and color photos. Nutritional analyses are not provided; however, most recipes do not appear to be high in fat.

ExtraVeganZa (ISBN 0-86571-551-3) is published by New Society Publishers. This 288-page book retails for $4.95 and con be found in your local bookstore. Reviewed by Debra Wasserman.