Whole Bowls: Complete Gluten-Free and Vegetarian Meals to Power Your Day Hardcover – April 5, 2016

I had never heard of Allison Day but I was interested in more plant based meals and one dish meals and meals I could prep ahead of time and this appeared to fit the bill. I have purchased a lot of vegetarian cookbooks and they always leave me disappointed. I don't want a thirteen ingredient recipe to turn soy into bacon. I don't know what kind of sadist thinks I am going to put a winter squash casserole with toasted Pepitas in front of my kids and call it dinner. I want veggies, beautiful seasonal veggies. Whole grains. I want simple dressings. I want a belly filling meal I can get on the table on a weeknight that leaves no one asking where's the meat?Allison you are my new hero!Every. Single. Recipe. In the book is fresh, gorgeous, filling, and thoughtful. Foodie enough but not precious.I never use breakfast recipes because I don't generally care for sweets in the morning. Not to worry she has included savory recipes that put your brain onto a new way of thinking about breakfast and the yogurt with cherry pesto recipe has me rethinking the way I feel about sweets in the morning.I don't know if other moms have discovered this 'bowl' way of getting everyone excited about dinner but it's a true Revelation. Don't like chickpeas? More for me. Help yourself to my roasted peppers. Even the pickiest eater will find something to put in their bowl.Thank you, for keeping the animals off our table and giving me the opportunity to show my kids what real vegetarian food looks like every day of the week!

This is the first cookbook that I have cooked more then one or two recipes out of. My family is not vegetarian or vegan so I will add just a little meat on the side, at my husbands request.Things I like about this book:Instructions are clear and easy to follow.Has a make ahead section to every recipe. So if you have your week of meals are planned you can cook certain ingredients ahead of time. i.e. I'll roast my chickpeas all at once that we will be eating for the next few days.Beautiful pictures of almost every recipe.Easy to switch out different ingredient for foods that accommodate my families tastes. i.e. Spring Rice Bowls with Chive Oil, we don't like fava beans so I switched it out for colored string beans. I also roasted the chickpeas and vegetables together and sprinkled a little shredded Parmesan cheese for the last 5 minutes of roasting.The sauces are the right amount for all the food that is prepared. I don't have to worry about a lot being left over or going to waste.The sauces complete the meals. There have only been one or two that I haven't really enjoyed but they are easy to spice up or change. Such as the curry I prefer spicy curry and peanut sauce, so I spice those up to be more mild.Great way to introduce new foods to my family. My kids love the beans, rice and different greens.I love that each recipe is a complete meal. I don't have to try to think about what sides would go well together.Things I didn't like:Amount of time spent cooking. I am already use to spending about an hour a night cooking and was hoping these meals would shorten the time. It didn't unfortunately. But it has been worth the healthier variety of food we are eating.If you plan on using these recipes on a daily bases you do have to keep a lot of ingredients on hand. It did increase our food bill a bit.I defiantly would recommend this book to all my friends vegetarian or not.

I've had this book for two days and cooked two dinners from it, and both have been judged winners by the whole family - including my 9 year old son who can be hard to please when it comes to vegetarian recipes. The recipes are not difficult to follow and the flavors are outstanding.The first recipe I tried was the Three-Bean Garden Salad w/ Asparagus and Coconut Dressing. Simple and so good! I couldn't find wax beans, so I skipped them. I also forgot to add the peas, and no one thought any less of the dish. I used light coconut milk for the dressing, so it was thin, but very tasty. There was plenty of dressing left over - perfect to dress up a plate of steamed rice and vegetables the next day. The toasted hazelnuts also added a nice touch and crunch, and the extras were good on cereal the next morning.The second recipe I tried was the Spice route Bowls w/ Sweet Potato Coins, Millet Couscous, and Golden Curry Pecan Sauce. I was worried it wouldn't live up to the previous recipe, but...yum. Each component tasted great on its own, and the sauce pulled it all together and made it a pretty special dish for a weeknight dinner.If I were to change something about the book, it would be to provide some alternatives to the dairy in dishes that call for it - there is cheese in a number of dishes, and a few with cream. The recipes I've made have also called for more salt than I like, but I've just gone with my gut and used what felt right and it's worked great.I like the fact that there's not much call for obscure ingredients that require trips to specialty stores. The most exotic seem to be things like black rice and garbanzo flour, both of which were easily available at Whole Foods. It's unfortunate that there is no Look Inside for this book. Here are some of the recipes I'm looking forward to making:Black Rice Coconut Porridge w/ Toasted Coconut and PineappleBrunch Bowls w/ Chickpea Turnip Hash, Asparagus, Eggs, and Homemade KetchupTunisian Parsley Salad w/ Kabocha Squash, Dukkah, and Spiced YogurtWarm Lentil Salad w/ Roasted PeppersSouth of the Border Bowls w/ Walnut Meat and Grilled AvocadoTuscan Bean StewRoasted Fennel and Pea Tri-Grain Penne w/ HazelnutsDouble Grain Wild Mushroom RisottoCarrot Cake w/Cream Cheese Dollop and Candied CarrotsMint Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato (my son's request)Coconut Dreamy WhipWould recommend this book to anyone who wants to eat tasty, healthy vegetarian meals at home and is willing to spend 45 - 60 minutes cooking.

Too many vegan recipes, way too much tofu, too many unusual ingredients (It is an American book but...) and a recipe called Mac & cheese containing no cheese whatsoever but tofu yet again. I eat vegetarian more than 50% of the time but I only found about half a dozen recipes that looked easy to get the ingredients, easy to make and nice to eat. The breakfasts and desserts looked much better than the lunch or dinner recipes. I was disappointed.

Find it useful to have all of the meal in a bowl

I make many of the recipes time and time again. Lovely sauces that can be mixed and matched.

I am impressed with this book, gorgeous pictures and so very tasty recipes that actually can be replicated without having a chef background. I have sent pics of my meals to friends and family and got them drooling. There are ample breakfast, lunch, supper and dessert recipes along with glazes, sauces and instructional info on how to create whole bowls, different grains, roasting nuts, pressing tofu and so on. I have already started mixing and matching all to my delight, as Allison Day has gratefully included what can be made in advance and how long things can last. A super book and a must in your library if healthy, interesting and delicious eating is important to you.

I have a large vegetarian cookbook collection and have had this for more than a year. It's my go to book. I am so glad I took a chance on it and even bought the author's second book (despite not being a huge pumpkin fan, I knew those would be really good pumpkin recipes). The recipes aren't tough and most things are already in your pantry. It's the first recipe for miso soup that stands up to authentic miso soup made with dashi (but no fish here). A wide variety of cuisines to choose from, too, so you can travel anywhere you want in the comfort of your own home.