I am very VERY excited to finally announce what I have been cooking up my sleeve: an Oh She Glows Every Day Party Challenge! This is the first ever challenge I am doing in which I got the cookbook before the release date. This has allowed me to give an honest and thorough review.
This cookbook is Oh She Glows Every Day, by Angela Liddon. This is the second cookbook from Angela, after a very popular blog and recent mobile and iPad app. If you have followed me from the beginning, you will know that my first challenge I did was Oh She Glows (you can see more here).
I will be starting my new Oh She Glows Every Day Party Challenge on September 6. It will be running for three weeks but will have a slightly different format from previous challenges. Instead of reviewing a recipe each day, I am going to host three separate foodie parties! I will still be posting a free downloadable e-guide each week. This one will include a menu plan, grocery list, nutritional content, and prep ideas. I will post these each Tuesday, and then be reviewing the dinner party at the end of the week. I am planning to host a brunch, a staff lunch potluck and a girls night dinner party. I also have some contests coming up during the challenge – so stay tuned!
If you like her work, I highly suggest you pre-order the cookbook online, so that you can snag the Oh She Glows Every Day Recipe Bundle! I was so so excited to get it, that I geeked out and printed it as a book so that I could have the recipes with me whenever I wanted them. It is like your own mini cookbook.
To get you excited about the challenge, today I am posting a ‘bonus’ party plan. This is based on three recipes that are found in the recipe bundle, not even in the new cookbook! These recipes together make a great date night meal, or dinner for two.
The three recipes I will be sharing with you today are:
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Massaged Kale with Warm Miso-Garlic Quinoa
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Sweet Potato, Chickpea, and Spinach Coconut Curry
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Deconstructed Key Lime Pie
I was excited to try the combination of the three recipes. This bundle (and cookbook to follow) are meant to be easier recipes, and ones that adhere to many dietary restrictions. All three recipes are gluten free, soy free, nut free and vegan. I recently started getting bad batches of rashes on my face, and so I have been eating quite restricted lately to see if it is caused by food. This meal plan was a bonus!
I also really like meals that are palatable to large audiences. My friends, family and workmates aren’t necessarily vegan, so finding meals that would be appealing to them is also important.
Well, let’s not drag this on further shall we! A review of the recipes…
Massaged Kale with Warm Miso-Garlic Quinoa
This recipe takes just under half an hour to make and has 12 ingredients. I found this recipe a great side, but could also be made as more of an entree salad with the addition of optional squash or sweet potato. Seasonally, this recipe is best suited for fall, where kale and sweet potato are abundant. However, late summer is also a great time, as this salad could be eaten cold.
I found the directions very easy to follow and simple. All the ingredients were easy enough to find in a conventional grocery store. I also found the time to make the recipe was accurate.
As far as taste and texture, this salad was flavourful, dense and chewy. I liked the acidity from the massaged dressing – rich with nutty tahini and citrus notes. The quinoa is mixed with chickpea miso and garlic. I think that because of the dressing, the quinoa almost didn’t need to be flavoured.
Massaged kale I find sits well overnight, but is best eaten fresh. You can also make the dressing and store it separately, to massage into the kale right before you eat it. I highly recommend this recipe!
Sweet Potato, Chickpea, and Spinach Coconut Curry
This recipe takes just under an hour to make and has 15 ingredients (with an optional 4 additional ingredients). I love me a good coconut curry, and the combination with sweet potato is just divine! What I liked about this recipe, is although it takes a while, most of it is spent simmering, so you can make the salad (above) while you wait.
Similar to the above kale recipe, this is a great late summer/ early fall recipe with lots of rich roots and warming spices. I also found this recipe easy to follow and loved the tips at the beginning of the recipe. I am starting to get in a better habit of prepping before I cook – so this was a very helpful tip. I also liked the tip of mashing the curry at the end. It was looking a little runny at the beginning but after mashing, it was a great consistency.
I think out of the three recipes for date night – this was both our favourite recipe. It was full of flavour, hearty and rich but also light enough for second servings. This does make a big batch (six servings to be exact) but is ‘freezer friendly’ which is an added bonus.
Let me know if you try this recipe out!
Deconstructed Key Lime Pie
As a dessert, I wanted something light, so opted for the Deconstructed Key Lime Pie. I actually have never had key lime pie before, so was excited to try this. It has nine ingredients, and only takes 10 minutes to make. It does however ask for some chilling time.
The key ingredient in this recipe is, avocado! Super cool to have that as a base, it made the recipe rich and creamy. I actually preferred this freshly whipped than after it was set a bit in the fridge, I found the consistency changed slightly (the coconut oil I think was solidifying).
I added some Annie’s graham bunnies instead of ground up graham wafers (and who could crumble bunnies). The taste of this pudding was so awesome! I found it very tart – however I used limes instead of key limes. But I love a tart pudding. You may wish to use less depending on your palette.
Well there you have it folks! I look forward to chatting with you next week and give you another sneak peak at what is to come from the challenge! Perhaps a contest… ahem ahem.
