![Power Plates: 100 Nutritionally Balanced, One-Dish Vegan Meals [A Cookbook]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81kk1KfEejL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
I am not vegan.
I point this out because despite not being able to come up with a single thing about myself that places me in Angela Liddon's target market, this is still a contender for my most favorite cookbook in the whole world...and I've barely scratched the surface.
I first encountered Liddon courtesy of Google; I was hunting for a lentil loaf recipe and Liddon's blog popped up. I distinctly remember almost passing the ohsheglows result by entirely because of the blog's name, which - probably in no small part because I'm neither a she nor the least bit glowy - sounded a little too twee for me.
I made that recipe, and truly loved it - loved it enough that it joined the ranks of my all-time favorites - but it wasn't until I read a review for this very cookbook, accompanied by a different recipe (Thai peanut noodle bowl) that sounded fairly delicious, that I started to consider buying a cookbook new when then only cookbooks I buy ever are used and cheap. (They're hard to justify when the internet is right there, you know?)
I'm really, really glad I bought it. I consider a cookbook a win when I find maybe five recipes worth making more than once. This statement may be a tad premature, but I'm pretty good at judging how well I'll like a recipe, and I have a strong suspicion that this one is going to have a (much) higher success rate.
One thing I've always disliked about buying cookbooks online is how difficult it is to guess what you're going to end up with. You buy a perfectly normal-sounding vegetarian cookbook and end up with 60 recipes using shiitake mushrooms or three chapters of boring salads that are only slightly different from the salads you came up with on your own years ago. So in light of that, here is a breakdown of the recipes.
Breakfast - 10 recipes - including several that sound like they'd be pretty swell at any time of day.
Smoothies, Juice, and Tea - 11 recipes - probably the biggest disappointment for me in the book; I'm not big on smoothies, juice, or tea...and when I want something like that, I don't need a recipe to make it.
Appetizers - 8 recipes - including a nacho dip that sounds bizarre to this non-vegan. Not bad, necessarily, but...there's no cheese! That one's weirdness is offset by a strawberry-mango guacamole that may have possibly made me drool a bit.
Salads - 8 recipes - I'm good with the smaller number of salads included here; I've got salad recipes coming out the wazoo, and never mind that I'm usually pretty good at coming up with a salad all on my own. Some of them are pretty unique, though, and the "Long Weekend Grilled Salad" sounds outstanding.
Soup - 7 recipes - A couple of these sound a bit weird, but there are two for sure that I want to make as soon as I get to the grocery store again.
Entrees - 15 recipes (or 16, depending on your reckoning...the noodle bowl has two different dressings) - I've already been impressed by the two I've made, and several of the others sound really original and satisfyingly hearty.
Sides - 9 recipes - some of these feel a bit like cheating (baked fries needed a recipe?), and I admit, nothing here really spoke to me, but we'll see.
Power Snacks - 9 recipes - two roasted chickpea recipes is probably pushing it, but I possibly would have bought this book just for the peanut butter cookie dough bites. The chia pudding parfait is getting made forthwith, BTW.
Desserts - 11 recipes - some of these seem like an awful lot of work when I'm perfectly satisfied by boxed brownies, but every last one sounds delicious.
Homemade Staples - 27 recipes - this chapter almost made me knock the book down to four stars - it's totally cheating to call things like oat flour and roasted garlic "recipes," and by my count there's only 88 recipes before this chapter, not "over 100" - but I think the others made up for it.
You're no doubt getting as sick of reading this as I am of typing it, so just a few other random comments about the book: First, the photography is breathtaking. There are lots of pictures (possibly one for each recipe, I didn't keep track), and every last one is colorful and artful and makes the food look delicious. Second, there seems to be a minimum of weird ingredients. It's clear Liddon has a fondness for chia seeds (never tried them, but now I'm curious), but the fact that I can make a good number of these things without making a trip to a specialty store gets points from me. Third, the recipes I've made - and, from the way it looks, most of the ones I haven't - have a terrific balance of flavors. This stuff may be simple, some of it, but definitely not bland! Fourth, while there aren't any nutrition facts provided - a disappointment, since figuring it myself is so putzy - each recipe has notes in the header with things like "gluten free" and "nut free." And finally, each of these recipes is obviously easily adaptable. I already tweaked the lentil loaf recipe to one that's a bit less of a pain to make (but retaining the deliciousness), and since I'm not vegan, it's pretty clear how I can incorporate real dairy or whatever. (Sorry, but I shall never ever give up cheese. I would rather die. And I'm only being a little facetious.) At the same time, these recipes all look straightforward enough and flavorful enough that I may very well try some of them exactly as written.
Now that you've grown old reading this, I'll just summarize by saying that although I haven't made all the recipes in this book, the ones I've made all deserve five stars...and I'm looking forward to trying most of the rest of them. This book has inspired me to cook in a way that I haven't been inspired in a really long time.
TL;DR: Buy this. For real.
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Wonderful if you have the time!
No one living in my household is vegan. I'm pescatarian and my husband eats meat; however, there are a lot of dietary restrictions and food intolerances/allergies under our roof and vegan recipes usually work well for us.With that being said, most vegan recipes I've cooked tend to be bland, boring, or use weird and/or highly processed ingredients.I've made a handful of the recipes so far in this cookbook (sweet potato and black bean enchiladas, the veggie burgers, the vegetable curry, and I lived on the green smoothie during my pregnancy) and both myself, my husband, and my toddler have loved every single one!I knocked it down by one star only because most of the recipes are fairly labor intensive with a lot of prep so they are hard to do for weeknight dinners.
Top reviews from other countries
acontrario
une joyeuse découverte d'une autre cuisine que je recommande vivement
Reviewed in France on January 22, 2018