Plant Strong Cooking

I admit I am not as plant strong as I could/should/would be if I were a better more resolute person. I certainly eat more vegetables than the average American, but that’s  a pretty low bar to clear. I would like to increase my vegetable consumption, and have mentioned my intentions to do so multiple times, on this blog and elsewhere. So when I was sent a copy of the new book by Ann Crile Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn to check out I was pretty enthusiastic to try out their recipes! 

The Esselstyns don’t add salt, sugar or oil, so they rely on other flavoring agents like mustard, vinegars, citrus zests, garlic and pepper, both black and capiscum. I don’t eat (much) processed food, but I still am salt reliant. I think many people assume that vegan and plant strong food styles are bland and boring, and I think this book is a great illustration of the opposite. This is a family cookbook compiled by a family who loves to eat! Ann is considered the Julia Child of the plant-based community! 

These plant-strong, plant based recipes are easy to follow, nothing is too complicated to make, and the photographs are beautiful. I think it would have been helpful to have a Vitamix-type blender to make the soup, I needed to add extra liquid to my old-school Waring Blendor, to get those beets started! Otherwise everything went smoothly and the results were tasty. In the coming weeks I will try more recipes from this book, and keep you posted.

You’ll find this book chock-full of recipes for soups, salads, salsas, and even lasagnas and desserts. Some of the recipes I’m planning on making are the Polenta Pie, the Mushroom Gravy, and I’ve heard the potato salad is wonderful.

 

Enter here to win a copy of this new cookbook!

 I started with three recipes, the Green Onion Hummus, which I then used in the Smoky Little Devils, and the Endothelium-Enhancing Beet Soup.

The hummus was very flavorful. I was concerned about the 1:1 ratio of hummus to green onions, but that was fine. I might use a bit less mustard as it was a little more mustard-y than I prefer (the recipe did offer that warning).

The Smoky Little Devils were lovely, and though I didn’t salt anything when I prepared them, I did add some salt when I ate them. They were yummy and very filling. We had them as a side dish, but they would make a great main dish.

The Beet soup was a bit problematic for me. Because I have a conventional blender I needed to ad some liquid, so I added the juice from the orange which added some nice flavor, but I’m not sure that was the authors’ intention. The soup is beautiful and thick, and the mint was a surprise I never would have thought of. 

All in the three recipes worked well, were clear and simple to follow and made for a great Sunday night meal.