Bingo 5: Games
The title girls of Girls Gone Veg: Plant-Based Recipes by Athletes for Everyone are Toni Presley and Ali Riley, both professional soccer players. I don’t really follow the sports ball, but at least at some point these two played for the Orlando Pride within the NWSL. Thus, while this is a cookbook, it’s also a book written by athletes with the physical demands of their game in mind. It shows up in the photos and occasionally in the headers. So it counts. If you don’t buy that reasoning, here’s another: I use recipe collections like this for athletic purposes like marathon training. Running is more of an individual and mental game to be sure, but still definitely athletic-related, and gaming in the sense of strategy is definitely a factor. Thirdly and lastly, one could also say I’ve started a game of “how many squares can I fill with cookbooks?”.
None of the recipes here are that surprising to someone who has read a few plant-based cookbooks before. None of the ingredients are going to scare anyone who has read a cookbook of any kind before. I found interesting some of the possibilities like adding buckwheat flour to a pancake mix, or protein powder in baked oatmeal. Normally I’d hesitate about adding protein powder as it usually doesn’t blend that well, but oatmeal with apples and cinnamon are likely going to overcome that issue. Naturally, there are some recipes I’m like to either ignore of modify in spite of the health notes. For example, there’s a beet hummus recipe that opens with the “Eat the rainbow” nutritional guideline, and the point that beets are recognized as lowering blood pressure, have anti-inflammatory properties, and have digestive benefits. The latter two things are relevant to runners (and soccer players, and other people too). I hate beets; this is probably the only veggie I have never been able to find a way to like.
One of the recipes I haven’t seen before I’m interested to try: seed crackers (gluten free and nut free, no less). Home-made crackers are tricky, but these look doable, and as the header points out, seeds are good for longer lasting energy (important to most physically active people). The use of chia and flax as the binder intrigues me; I have hopes for this.
I’m also looking forward to the carb-protein meal (Toni says this is a favored pre-game meal of hers for the carb/protein/fullness) butter chickpeas and potatoes (probably paired with rice). It’s Indian butter chicken with chickpeas instead, and coconut cream for the heavy cream. I’m also kind of intrigued by the “healthy hot chocolate” which involves dates and almond butter (along with cocoa powder, vanilla, and plant milk of choice).
I’ve also seen recipes for things like vegan lox, but it hasn’t looked convincing (and I don’t really like seafood anyways). But the carrot lox here actually looks promising. And as Ali points out, bagel plus cream cheese plus briny/smokey topper makes a good post-workout snack. Similar interest in the heart of palm cakes (heart of palm is a fish meat substitute I’ve seen before); the amount of veggie and hopefully the flavors will overtake the heart of palm. I’m not a huge fan of either heart of palm or artichoke in most cases, but again, I have some hope this might be the recipe that makes the heart of palm at least palatable.