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Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published in Canada by Penguin Canada Books Inc, 2014
First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, 2015
Copyright © Glo Bakery Corporation, 2014
Cover image: Dave Biesse
Photographs on pages v, x, xviii, 28, 56, 78, 102, 128, 146, 190, 274 and 276 courtesy of Dave Biesse. Photographs on pages 214 and 258 courtesy of Eric Liddon; all other photographs courtesy of Angela Liddon.
This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author and is designed to provide useful information in regard to the subject matter covered. The author and publisher are not engaged in health or other professional services in this publication. This publication is not intended to provide a basis for action in particular circumstances without consideration by a competent professional. The author and publisher expressly disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-1-405-92162-6
introduction
about the author
about this book
my natural foods pantry
my favourite kitchen tools & equipment
breakfast
smoothies, juice & tea
appetizers
salads
soup
mains
sides
power snacks
desserts
homemade staples
basic cooking chart
acknowledgments
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When I made the switch to a whole foods vegan diet five years ago, I witnessed a powerful transformation in myself. After a decade of struggling with an eating disorder and subsisting on low-calorie, processed, ‘diet’ foods, I knew I needed to change my life – and my health – for the better. Gradually, I shifted my diet to focus on wholesome plant-based foods, and I was immediately struck by how amazing I felt eating this way. Vibrant vegetables and fruit, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds took the place of highly processed food from a box. Little by little, my skin started to glow, my energy levels soared and my chronic IBS lessened in severity. Those 100-calorie packs of processed cardboard suddenly didn’t seem so appealing.
In 2008, I started my blog, Oh She Glows, to spread the word about my journey to health and the powerful transformation that food can make in our lives. My goal was, and still is, to share my story openly and to hopefully inspire others who are struggling. To be honest, I didn’t know if I would stick with blogging for more than a couple of weeks, but this hobby unexpectedly turned into a full-blown passion, and I can confidently say that my blog changed my entire life. Within the first few months, my readership grew rapidly, and before long, I was connected with readers all over the world. One by one, comments and e-mails sharing stories of pain and triumph started to trickle in. Hearing from courageous women and men became a pivotal tool in my own recovery, as it motivated me to stay on a healthy path. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt fulfilled by the work that I was doing. Before long, I found myself spending countless hours in the kitchen transforming my favorite recipes using plant-based foods, then racing to the computer to share the pictures and recipes with my blog readers.
Five years later, Oh She Glows has grown beyond my wildest dreams, receiving millions of page views a month. Over the years, I’ve heard from readers all over the world who have experienced positive health changes after embracing my recipes. I feel so grateful to be able to share my passion with others, spreading my joy for healthy food around the world. For years, it’s been a personal dream to write a cookbook, a place where I could share my most treasured recipes, such as go-to breakfasts, protein-packed snacks, hearty mains and decadent desserts. I am simply delighted to finally share this collection of recipes that I’ve had to keep secret until now. The Oh She Glows Cookbook is packed with more than one hundred recipes that will have you glowing from the inside out, including seventy-five new and exclusive recipes plus a few dozen new-and-improved reader favourites. Whether you are a vegan or you simply want to incorporate a few vegan meals into your week, I’m confident the recipes in this cookbook will have a positive impact on your health and well-being, and hopefully renew your enthusiasm for simple, plant-based eating.
I wish I could begin my story with a romantic tale about growing up on a farm and learning to cook treasured family recipes from a grandparent. But the truth is my turbulent, on-again, off-again relationship with food has been fraught with challenges. For more than ten years, food was the enemy in my life. I struggled with the two extremes of self-starvation and binge eating, a vicious roller coaster that left me insecure, suspicious of food, and ultimately miserable in my own skin. At the time, I didn’t consider how the food I ate each day impacted on the way I felt, nor did I really care. Obsessing over calories and fat grams was indeed a mask for other issues in my life, but it also prevented me from truly appreciating the power of proper nutrition and its ability to impact my mood, my energy levels and even my self-esteem. Deep down, I knew I held the power to create a huge change in my life, but I didn’t quite know how to make the change.
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. – M. SCOTT PECK
In my twenties, I began the long road of recovery from my eating disorder. With a new sense of optimism, I allowed myself to look beyond the past and embark on a journey of personal healing. My goal was simple: learn to love real food again and eat wholesome foods that made me glow from the inside out. That meant ditching the 100-calorie snacks, artificially sweetened fat-free yogurt and chemical-laden zero-calorie butter spray for good! Instead, I started to blend leafy greens and other vegetables into my morning smoothies before work each day. You name it, I threw it into my blender – from kale and cucumbers to beets and carrots. My first attempts were a bit scary-looking (and -tasting) – hence the name Green Monsters (see pages 57, 59, and 67) – but eventually, I started blending up delicious concoctions and sharing the recipes on my blog. Much to my surprise, Green Monsters took the blog world by storm, and readers from all over the world began sending me pictures of their own Green Monster smoothies. Soon enough, my skin started to get its glow back and I reclaimed the energy I needed to power through my busy days. My husband, Eric, also reaped the rewards of plant-based foods by dropping twenty pounds and reducing his high cholesterol without any medication. These positive results motivated me to stick to this new lifestyle and not fall back into old negative patterns.
Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. – HIPPOCRATES
I started to bring more plants into my kitchen with the help of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable subscription and frequent trips to the farmer’s market. A couple of years later, I planted my own vegetable garden and grew oodles of kale and other veggies (I won’t tell you about all the herbs I killed, though!). Growing my own vegetable garden was the first time I truly felt connected to the food on my plate. I was simply amazed to see real vegetables growing in my garden, vegetables that I could pull from the soil and eat! Everything was flavourful and fresh, just like nature intended. For the first time in my life, I got busy in the kitchen, teaching myself how to cook food (and photograph it) from scratch. There were countless cooking disasters (many of which I documented on my blog), but also many successes, and these encouraged me to keep learning and improving my culinary talent.
As I fell in love with real food, I started to experiment with vegan recipes that I found online, but I was often disappointed with the results. Many recipes were hit-and-miss, lacked flavour, and were often highly processed or called for mock meat products. Discouraged by these initial recipe flops, I vowed to create my own reliable vegan recipe collection that could win over even the most devout meat-lover. If my recipes didn’t please my husband, they didn’t make the cut, so I made it my mission to teach myself how to create drool-worthy meals, often testing recipes multiple times before I shared them on my blog. Best of all, my recipes feature wholesome, plant-based foods that make me feel anything but deprived. Throughout this process, I’ve realized you don’t have to sacrifice flavour, variety, or nutrition to enjoy vegan recipes. When you use fresh ingredients, the food speaks for itself.
My transition to a vegan diet was made up of small and incremental changes; I didn’t throw everything out of my fridge one day or declare war on animal products and processed foods with the snap of a finger. It was a gradual process, and because of this it has been a long-lasting and sustainable lifestyle change. Initially, I purchased a lot of fake meat and other vegan products, but I quickly discovered that my energy and overall health fared better when I didn’t rely on these products. Because of this, you won’t find a lot of imitation vegan foods in this cookbook. My diet is made up primarily of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, legumes, seeds, and minimally processed soy products, so those are the predominant ingredients you’ll find in this cookbook. I used to think that vegan was a code word for weird, limited, or unappetizing food, but I’ve since proved myself wrong. If you are one of those sceptics, I hope to change your mind, too!
As I started to eat fewer animal products and more plants, I felt – and looked – like a new person. Perhaps this was a vain motivation in the beginning, but over time my motivation increased in so many other ways. After learning about the horrors of meat and dairy factory farming, I had to ask myself some hard questions. How could I, the lifelong animal lover, continue to support a system that brought so much pain and suffering to so many animals each year? The complete dichotomy of the food on my plate and my passion for animal welfare was, quite frankly, hard to digest. Wasn’t there another solution? Couldn’t I eat a healthy, well-rounded diet without contributing to a system that I didn’t believe in?
Yes, I certainly could. A vegan diet encouraged me to look outward for healing and to value all walks of life, including my own. Little by little, I found the growth that I so desperately needed – through food. A vegan diet is the way I aligned what’s in my heart with the food on my plate. My compassion for others – and, most surprising, for myself – grew in many ways. I finally realized that I’m worthy of happiness and deserving of nourishment no matter what the scale says – we all are.
It’s my hope that the recipes in this book will not only ignite your culinary fire, but also show you how easily you can incorporate healthy vegan recipes into your own diet. Feeling good starts with what we eat and from there spreads like wildfire to other areas in your life. So go out and chase your long-desired career change, run that 10k, and fall in love with kale. There’s no better time than now!
– Angela
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – MARGARET MEAD
The Oh She Glows Cookbook is divided into ten different chapters, from Breakfast to Homemade Staples. Many recipes naturally fall into more than one category (for example, the Oil-Free Baked Falafel Bites appetizer also make a satisfying main course, so feel free to pick and choose from the various chapters to build your own custom meals.
I encourage you to read the entire headnote and recipe before beginning a recipe. Some recipes require advance preparation (such as soaking nuts), so it helps to plan ahead whenever possible. Most recipes include one or more tips, so be sure to read those, too. Often I’ll provide a tip for advance preparation or a way to modify the recipe into something new. For example, my Chilled Chocolate-Espresso Torte can be transformed into freezer fudge very easily (see the Tip). I’ve got your back!
I’m aware of how many people are suffering with food allergies or sensitivities these days. Whenever possible, I make a note of possible ingredient substitutions. I’ll also let you know if the recipe is gluten-free, refined sugar-free or sugar-free, soy-free, nut-free, grain-free, and/or oil-free, for your convenience. Always be proactive, however, and check the labels of your ingredients to ensure the food is safe for you to consume.
My Natural Foods Pantry details the ingredients that I use most often in my cooking. While it’s not intended to encompass every ingredient you might use in your cooking, it does provide a good starting point for the ingredients most frequently used in this cookbook. I recommend reading through this chapter before beginning for an overview of the ingredients and to pick up some tips I’ve provided about each.
