Recipe Round-Up: Bowls of Goodness

I first became away of Bowls of Goodness by Nina Olsson after seeing someone posting about it on Instagram, and the food looked really good. I can't resist a bowl! This book is not all vegan, it is vegetarian, but anything that is not vegan has a vegan sub suggested. I don't normally buy vegetarian cookbooks because they are very heavy on dairy and eggs, but this one is an exception. Plus I found it on sale at a bookstore, so it was fate! And I am glad I did, because the recipes are amazing. This is my first Recipe Round-Up post for this book, but I have posted about one recipe I made from it before, which you can see here.

Blueberry Acai Bowl: I have had some frozen acai packets in my freezer for so long, so this was a good change to use them up! This bowl uses acai, blueberries, banana, and avocado. I reduced the avocado because I am not a huge fan of it in smoothies, so I used 1/4 of a large avocado instead of a whole one. Even so, I would leave it out next time. It has almond butter in it as well, so you have something nice a fatty and thickening added regardless. I used frozen acai and blueberries, but my banana was just cold. I would use a frozen banana next time because I like my smoothie bowls THICK. It has a range of options for topping, but use whatever you want. I used coconut flakes, pepitas, and fresh blueberries.
Rating: :)



Overnight Oats: Always a classic! This recipe uses a blend of apple juice, oat milk, and yoghurt to soak. I didn't have plain apple juice, but instead used some Impressed Juice Co Jack Rose juice, which is apple, strawberry, and mint - so yum. The oats have chia in them, which I like to bulk it out a bit. The recipe here is fairly basic, with the option to stir-in or top with anything you like really. I mixed in some cinnamon, and topped mine with peanut butter and berries.
Rating: :)



Miso Happy: Described as miso woup with ginger, tofu, soba noodles, and shiitake mushrooms. It is also meant to have broccolini in it, but my broccolini was going bad so instead I just added some baby spinach. You make your own dashi, simply by soaking some water and kombu together and then simmering. I topped mine with fresh coriander and sesame seeds. You can't really go wrong with a good miso soup.
Rating: :)



Dhal Tadhka: A bit beyond your standard dhal, this one uses a homemade tadka spice mix to bring the flavour, which also includes lime, shallots, and almonds in it as well. I left out the chili, which is why I think I ultimately found it the be a bit bland. The flavour entirely relies on the spice mix, so if you are leaving out the chili I would double the spice mix next time. Topped with some natural yoghurt, a small reserved amount of the tadhka (as advised), and coriander, and served with some toasted naan.
Rating: :|



Smoked Tofu and Green Pea Salad: What a magnificent and giant salad! Described as 'faux fish', it isn't really fishy at all. More the smoked tofu is standing in for smoked fish, and it is also sauteed with some nori shreds. I left out the raw cabbage and rocket in the greens, using a higher mix of spinach and cos instead. I also roasted the zucchini rather than spiralising it raw because I don't like raw zucchini much. This also had avocado, apple, and pumpkin seeds and is topped with a horseradish cream. The cream calls for creme fraiche, and the book has a recipe for a cashew-based vegan version to use. This was a wonderful and refreshing salad.
Rating: :)



Beetroot Falafel, Dukkah, and Mint Salad: This is a wonderful falafel recipe, it is a bit sweet and earthy from the beetroot, and is fairy easy to make. It also has carrot in it! It said it makes 15 small falafels, I got 14 small ones and then I had enough left over to make a burger-patty sized one that I used to make a sandwich for work another day. The salad has a lot of fresh mint and parsley in it, as well as the greens. I halved the dukka, which was right for us for two serves. It too is very easy to make, and is based on whatever nut you have to hand. I left out the chili flakes in it, of course. I also left out the raw red onion from the salad. I served it with some toasted pita.
Rating: :)



Buddha Bowl: The subtitle for this recipe is spicy chickpeas, tofu, quinoa and sprouts with turmeric dressing, though it is a lot more than that! This bowl is a wonderful mix of flavour and texture. It also has melon, radishes, and spiralised carrots in it for a wonderful raw freshness, as well as sweet potato. I roasted the sweet potato rather than sauteed it. The chickpeas are sauteed with spices, though I left out the chili, and the tofu is sauteed and glazed with a soy, ginger, and maple mix that is just lovely. It is meant to have fresh sprouts, but I didn't have any so I used coriander instead. The dressing is quite thick, so I added some extra water to help mix it through everything. Lovely.
Rating: :)



Donburi: This is a Japanese-style rice bowl, which has a wonderful mix of sauteed eggplants and shiitake as the main event. It also has a lovely quick-pickled cabbage that marinates and pickles while you are cooking everything else. I only got three serves out of this, rather than four, and I served it with some sauteed spinach underneath the brown rice.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim had her recheck appointment on Thursday, and it went as well as we could expect. The tumour hasn't gotten bigger on ultrasound, and her blood work seems OK after starting the chemo. We carry on until her next appointment, week after next.