Cookbook Review: Plant You

A few weeks before the New York Times-bestselling cookbook Plant You came out, I heard author Carleigh Bodrug on about a million vegan podcasts. The book sounded awesome, and I started following her on IG. I LOVE her "scrappy cooking" reels, where she makes delicious things out of food scraps (like coffee from date pits!). But when I went to order her book, it was already sold out. And it stayed sold out for weeks after its release. But in June, supply was finally restocked, and my book came in the mail! Yay!

Since then, I've been cooking my way through this photo-heavy, oil-free, whole food plant-based cookbook. And everything I've made so far has been a winner. Now, I'm not oil-free or even really low-oil anymore (The Blue Zones books convinced me to get back on the oil wagon). But I tend to use olive oil only as a topping or salad dressing, rather than cooking with it (due to its smoke point). And I still love a good oil-free recipe. I also try to eat whole foods — over processed ones — most of the time. 

One of the coolest things about this book are the photos. Every recipe has a photo, and Carlee includes photos of every ingredient as well. So it's almost like a picture book with recipes. The ingredients are shown in infographic style. I love things are visually appealing like that. 

So far, my favorite thing has been this Garden of Life Pizza with beet hummus, fresh-from-my-garden tomatoes, pickled onions, spinach, and walnuts. The recipe called for arugula, but I don't do that. Gross, ha! I loved this roasty beet hummus! This was like salad on bread.

I've made the Blueberry Lemon Pancakes twice now. They're made with whole wheat flour, and they're still really fluffy. 

The book has four recipes for breakfast cookies, which are basically like baked oatmeal cookies. I made the Nutrient Bomb Breakfast Cookies with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and chia seeds. These were a fun, on-the-go breakfast — though, since I work from home most days, I'm only going from my kitchen to my desk. :-)

The Cool Ranch Kale Salad was perfect on a hot summer day. The ranch was made with silken tofu, and it was really light and fluffy. And the chickpeas were seasoned and roasted. 

And finally, the Hoisin Broccoli Spicy Rice was a nice, easy dinner. This recipe didn't have any sort of added protein, which was different from how I typically eat. I always have tofu or beans or something for protein, but it was fun to just eat veggies and rice and dinner. Also, I love anything with hoisin sauce!