Review of Minimalist Baker’s Vegetarian Pad Thai and Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

Jul 6, 2015Minimalist Baker Challenge0 comments

It has been a great start to the Minimalist Baker 21 Day challenge, I have already LOVED both recipes I have tried.  Fast, tasty and minimal clean up, it is the perfect challenge for me for summer time! I loved reviewing/challenging myself with My New Roots, but I have to say, it is nice not to have to search far and wide at every grocery store to get the optimal ingredients.  That being said, these recipes are a lot more simple, so if you really want to impress someone with foodie flair, this may not be the way to go.  However, I do believe both recipes I’m sharing with you today are crowd pleasers.

Today, I will be reviewing the Vegetarian Pad Thai (found in 31 Meals Cookbook), and the Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie.  I was so ecstatic to try both recipes, cheesecake and pad thai are both my weaknesses.  If I was stranded on a desert island with nothing to eat but two recipes, I think these would be the two I would take!IMG_6965

IMG_7045First off, the Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie.  I really enjoyed this recipe for several reasons.  In these hot summer months (we are currently on the craziest of dry/heat spells here in Victoria, Canada), smoothies have been my go-to every morning.  If you noticed from my meal plan posted this morning, I have picked two smoothies for this week, and every other week of the challenge.  They are so quick and easy! The other main thing I loved about this recipe, is that the flavour is super unique.  My dear friend Joanne texted me the other day wondering how to fix her ‘healthy smoothie’ of kale, bok choy and carrots…. haha.  I feel her pain, I have been trying to be creative with smoothies as of late and can’t seem to push past berries, spinach, almond milk and hemp seed.  Well alas, something new and packed with healthy proteins!

IMG_7046This recipe is vegetarian, gluten free, and refined sugar free, takes 20 minutes to prepare, and has only 5 ingredients!

On to the more nitty gritty review….

  • Ingredients, Preparation & Cost – loved the ingredients, simple and easy to find in the grocery store!  The cost wasn’t bad either, cottage cheese is on the less expensive end, but I could imagine goat cheese being heavenly!
  • Time – I was a bit annoyed at the beginning to roast the strawberries, and contemplated just throwing the raw ones in the blender.  I really think it enhanced the flavour, so I suggest baking them! Because it’s so hot where I am right now, I doubled the batch, so that I could use the second half the next day.  Both versions tasted the same so try that! You won’t regret making double 🙂
  • Appearance – beautiful, rich light pink colour, which is rare to find in my smoothies these days (see note above, they almost always turn grey haha).
  • Taste, Texture & Satiety Level – Absolutely lovely taste, with a hint of cheese but not overpowering…and was quite filling with the cottage cheese.  I’m sure protein powder would make it even more filling
  • Longevity – Smoothies in my opinion are best made fresh, so I would try to make just enough for one at a time, but like I said you can do the strawberries in advance.

IMG_7044Overall score? 36 out of 40 (A+++)!
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Next up, the Vegetarian Pad Thai.  This is in a purchase only e-book, but what a great collection it is! I would love to print it out though, we will see if I get around to it! This recipe was good, but not one I really was anticipating having as many ingredients! For minimalist baker, it had a bit more than the usual recipe, with 17 ingredients.  However, it is another quick meal, with 30 minutes to prepare, and just a bit of cooking (which is great for a warm apartment).

IMG_7036This meal can be made vegan, and gluten free.  I can tell this recipe is super adaptable as well to what you have on hand! My grocery store was out of bean sprouts, so I threw in a handful of kale and it tasted really nice!

IMG_7038For the detailed review:

  • Ingredients, Preparation & Cost – A little more ingredients than usual, but easy preparation and fairly low cost (peanut butter and gluten free noodles were a bit more expensive).  I kept it vegan and didn’t even add tofu, wasn’t really needed.
  • Time – For a recipe that i’ve made time and time before, I was shocked by how time efficient they made it!
  • Appearance – I liked the appearance of this one, however I think depending on the noodles and types of vegetables you add, it would be more appealing.
  • Taste, Texture & Satiety Level – Great overall taste, texture was nice, however I didn’t care for the noodles I picked (sweet potato rice noodles).  Next time I will use regular rice noodles.  I also think the bean sprouts would have added a freshness that this was missing, a bit dense. I was full the entire day after eating some for lunch!
  • Longevity – This keeps really well, I had it both today and yesterday and could probably eat it again tomorrow!

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Screen Shot 2015-07-05 at 7.23.02 PMAll in all, another great recipe!

Okay that is all for now folks, I got to hit the hay for another productive cooking/blogging day tomorrow!

xoxo Hannah