As I waxed on about on Wednesday, How Sweet It Is has been a favorite blog of mine for a while and I was pumped when I heard it’s creator, Jessica Merchant, was gracing the bookshelves with a cook book, Seriously Delish.

Upon receiving the book, it was really everything a fan of the website could want, and hopefully, the every day consumer would enjoy as well. The book has tons and tons of personality and stories from Jessica, which is what I think makes her blog so successful. She’s just her. And her cookbook is her. And it works!

And the recipes are fun! Roasted cherry, coconut and quinoa breakfast bowl? How delicious does that sound?? Prosecco-Cider Spiced Punch? Can it be fall now? Pumpkin Banilla Bread? Yeap, Banilla. She made up her own word in here. You will not be bored with this book.

Every recipe starts off with a little blurb from Jessica and almost every recipe has a picture, which is excellent! This is how I like my cookbooks.  My nerd side may be on display by admitting this but I like to sit down and read cook books and look at all the pretty pictures before I start tackling the recipes. I may also really like putting colored tabs on all the recipes I want to try buuuut that may just be an excuse to hit up Target during the back to school sale.

For this book, I made notes of the recipes I wanted to try and what I needed to do to make it vegan, if it wasn’t already. Surprisingly, for a cook book whose focus is NOT on vegetarian/vegan cooking, I did not feel like I lacked options.  This book is filled with recipes that are easily adaptable to a vegetarian and vegan life style. Some recipes that are already vegan- Coconut Almond Milk, Grilled Fruit Salsa and 3-bean crispy quinoa skillet are literally  begging for me to make them this weekend. Other recipes like thai chicken lettuce wraps (sub out chicken for tofu or tempeh), jalapeno-pineapple pizza with bourbon BBQ drizzle (leave off cheese or sub in vegan cheese. Also, this sounds amazing!) and White Cheddar Apple Crisp (Earth Balance for butter and leave out cheese) are easily changeable. Of course, you have your meat recipes which there is just nothing that can be done to make it vegan (I’m looking at you Cinnamon Sugar Bacon and Slow Cooker Short Rib Breakfast Hash) but I know a lot of my readers do eat meat so you guys will enjoy it! And, even though those were in the book, I in no way felt limited.

NOW. Let me share my favorite recipe that I have made so far.

Zucchini Tacos with Grilled Corn Salsa
from Seriously Delish by Jessica Merchant

serves 2 to 4

Time: 30 minutes

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups cubed zucchini
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Corn Salsa

• 2 ears of grilled corn, kernels cut from the cob
• 1 jalapeno chili pepper, seeded and diced (I used 1/2 pepper because the one I bought was huged!)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Chipotle Crema

• 1 tablespoons plin full-fat or low-fat Greek Yogurt (I used 3 tablespoons silken tofu)
• 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

For Serving

• 8 (4-inch) flour tortillas, warmed

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallots and garlic and, stirring, cook until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cubed zucchini, salt, and pepper and stir. Cook, stirring, until the zucchini becomes slightly tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside.

2. For the corn salsa, combine the corn, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss it together.

3. For the crema, whisk together the yogurt (or silken tofu), adobo sauce, lime juice, salt, and pepper. (I put it in a blender. It was a little runny that evening put it thickened over night)

4. To assemble the tacos, add some of the zucchini mixture to each warm tortilla and cover it with corn salsa. Drizzle the crema on top.

I loved these. They were fresh and tasted oh-so-summery. You could easily add more veggies or beans if you wanted to bulk it up, swap corn tortillas for the flours if you want to make them gluten-free or make the corn salsa separately if you wanted to use it as an appetizer with chips. So good!

Now, let’s talk contest deets. It has come to my attention that a few people wanted to wait to submit their contest entry because they wanted to hear more about the book. Fair enough. I think I was just SUPER excited to give you guys something. So, the contest will end this Sunday, Sept 7 (this Sunday) at 11:59 pm. I will announce the winner Monday morning. Cool? Cool. Now go Tell All Your Friends (Taking Back Sunday- style) about this book and leave your comments about wanting to win over at this post .