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Quick Review

• Gena discusses macro-nutrient balance of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, but does not actually lay out any guidelines. She just states that ideally all three should be present in each meal.
• Promotes a spirit of experimentation and customization with the cooking, ingredients, and recipes, which I did appreciate.
• Focuses on pre/advanced preparation to make preparing meals easier and faster the day of and explains how to do this with all of the meal staples such as grains, beans, and legumes.
• The meals do appear to be easy to prepare and most of the ingredients would be easy to acquire, save for a few.
• Uses many traditional and pantry style ingredients that you may already have on hand.
• This cookbook does not have very many pages of actual text (maybe 30) but is instead filled with beautiful photographs and the recipes themselves.

If I had to describe this book in two words: nutritious and vegan.

NOTE: I found that after reviewing the recipes, these are not my preferred ingredients or flavors, and many of the recipes were not gluten free as well. In the end I did find a handful of recipes that I want to try (with variations, I’m a picky eater to be fair).

NOTE: Not in any way a gluten free cookbook, in fact most of the grains mentioned are not gluten-free or celiac friendly.

In Depth Review

This is a vegan cookbook that focuses on including healthy carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in each of the 100 recipes. The book is sectioned into six chapters: breakfast, salads, soups, bowls, skillets and stovetop, and bakes. The recipes in this book rely heavily on grains such as quinoa, rice, barley, and millet and also beans, tofu, tempeh, and a variety of vegetables.

I would not consider most of these recipes “traditional” by any means but instead they explore many different cultures including the Middle Eastern, Indian, Asian, African, and more. I liked the high flavor level and amount of spices and sauces used in each recipes. While I appreciated all of this, the recipes feature flavors, ingredients, textures or combinations thereof that I know I am not fond of, or have found others that I prefer. I also have an issue with claiming the recipes are macro-balanced but then offering no nutritional values for each. I would have liked to know how each meal was intended to be balanced and what the nutrients were without having to figure it out myself.

Cookbook Look

• What I would consider a standard sized cookbook, a bit shorter and fatter than a piece of standard sized paper.
• The cover is a very sturdy and thick cardboard covered in paper with clean and crisp photography on both the back and front cover.
• The pages are a very nice and sturdy semi-gloss stock that would withstand splashes and spills well.
• The font is a rather small san-serif font that despite it’s size is still fairly easy to read.
• The chapters are titled with a full-page photograph followed by a single page of text that describes the intention of the recipes.
• Each recipe contains a descriptive paragraph, serving size, ingredients, and directions.
• Unlike some other cookbooks, every recipe in this book is accompanied by a full page photograph that beautifully illustrates the end results. There are no process photos.

NOTE: I read a hardcover copy of the book that I checked out at my local library.

Favorite Quote

Musical Suggestions

I enjoyed this book while listening to the playlist “gardens in winter / instrumentals” on Spotify by Ling Meiying.

Learn More About Power Plates

• Find my short review on Goodreads.
• View all my reviews on Goodreads.