Thug Kitchen 21 Day Challenge: Blog overview

I hope you are as excited as I am for the Thug Kitchen 21 Day Challenge, which starts this Sunday July 10^th!  I have been finding some great Thug Kitchen fans on Instagram and it is so exciting to see what they have tested and made from the book.  It is giving me lots of ideas.  If you have any ideas of Thug Kitchen recipes to review, please send me a note!

I thought I would give you a bit more of an overview on what Thug Kitchen is about.  Please note: this challenge is not sponsored in any way shape or form.  I am doing this as a way to analyze my existing cookbooks and show fans what Thug Kitchen is really about.  I plan to share the good, bad and ugly about this blog (constructively of course!).

So who are the infamous authors of Thug Kitchen?? For a long time, the bloggers of Thug Kitchen were anonymous.  They were known only by their crude humor and tasty recipes.  However, in recent years they have shown their faces, Matt Holloway and Michelle Davis, who supposedly live in California.  They have over 200,000 fans on Instagram and two cookbooks, with a third on its way.  The blog started in 2012, and gained popularity quite quickly, even Gwyneth Paltrow knew who they were!

Their first cookbook, The Official Cookbook has been a New York Times Best Seller, and has over 100 recipes.  It is composed of meals, snacks, desserts, drinks and breakfasts.  What I really love about the first book is that it also contains tips for making a veggie bowl with leftover ingredients, as well as various toppings and marinades for tofu.  This is supremely helpful when you have a few ingredients on hand and merely want to mix and match recipes.  My other favorite part about this cookbook is their sections called “Dropping Knowledge” where they give you further information on vegan cooking, such as knife skills, the difference between tofu and tempeh, and making a veggie broth from scraps.  Where many plant based cookbooks have tips in the intro section, theirs are scattered throughout where they make more sense nestled between recipes where the techniques are used.

Their second cookbook, Party Grub is marketed more for planning a party, however don’t feel like if you don’t entertain much you won’t enjoy the recipes.  There are plenty that you could either half the portions or have extras as leftovers, which is one of my favourite things to do. This cookbook is full of different types of meals as well; brunches, small bites and things to throw in bowls, salads and sides, main meals, desserts and drinks.  My favorite part of this book is the intro section, where they have a whole list of tips on how to ‘deal with haters’ that don’t like plant-based recipes.  It’s funny but also breaks down some of the misconceptions with eating non-meat meals. They also have a great page on what types of oils/fats to use when, as certain fats, like olive oil are not best at high heats.

They have a third cookbook coming out, which I am pretty excited about, Thug Kitchen 101 which gives a bunch of quick and easy recipes for people with limited time.  This seems like a recurring theme lately in cookbooks, and I can see why as people have less and less time on their hands to do the things they want to.  I know I’m fairly unique in that I want to spend the majority of my spare time cooking, so I think this will be a good resource for many!

For the challenge that is beginning on Sunday, I have posted a downloadable PDF that contains the recipe list that I plan to make, the nutritional content and grocery list.  However, before we get started I thought I would share with you what is in my opinion the top ingredients Thug Kitchen seems to use in all of their recipes.  The cookbooks are great at having pantry lists in the back of each book, but I think these items go without saying as being must haves.  I suggest doing a pantry cleanse before this challenge too before you go out shopping to see what you have and what you need – and to substitute where accordingly.  What is a pantry cleanse, you may wonder?  You should sign up to my email list to find out (shameless marketing, I know!) but seriously, I have created a kick-A$$ pdf that explains what it is and how to conduct one, with a downloadable printout to post on your pantry.  Oh and the fancy recipe review and meal plan handout shown below!

Okay, so here is the top used ingredients I find that Thug Kitchen uses in the majority of their recipes:

Pantry:

• Rice vinegar

• Soy sauce

• Oil of some sort (olive oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil)

• Nutritional yeast

• Vegetable broth

• Assortment of common spices (paprika, dill, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, chili, oregano)

• Maple syrup/Agave

• Almonds

• Oats

• Cornstarch/Arrowroot powder

• Legumes

• Panko

• Peanut/almond butter

• Quinoa

• Brown rice

• Vanilla extract

Refrigerator Items:

• Non-dairy milk (almond is probably your best bet)

• Tofu/Tempeh

Produce:

• Peaches

• Mint

• Berries

• Lettuce

• Spinach

• Kale

• Chives

• Bananas

• Avocado

• Cauliflower/broccoli

• Oranges

• Leeks

• Garlic

• Lemons and Limes

Well there you have it!  Two more days until the Thug Kitchen 21 Day Challenge begins! On Saturday, I will post some prep tip ideas for the week ahead, and some common tools you may need for the challenge.  Looking forward to sharing more tasty recipes with you!