The Plantpower Way: Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes and Guidance for The Whole Family: A Cookbook Hardcover – Illustrated, April 28, 2015

This is THE BEST cook book ever! And it's not just a cook book. It's much more than that. Like the authors promised, it is a guidance to healthy living for the whole family.My two kids and I had been a pescatarian for over three years, but we didn't go vegan because I didn't know how. I didn't know what we could eat that also tasted good, and quick to make, if we gave up seafood and eggs. I had other vegan cook books, but the recipes all took too much effort to make. Being a full time artist, running my art business, and a mother of two little toddlers, I simply could not spend hours in the kitchen. I wanted every meal to be done in 30 minutes or less."The Plantpower Way" showed us the way! We've become completely plant-based since getting the book. And our meals have never been more delicious! Most of the recipes take less than 20 minutes to make, and taste so good! Perhaps you'll find this hard to believe? Well, then you have to get the book to try it for yourself. Since getting the book, I've fallen in love with cooking!The kids and I have the plant-based Lattes and Milks in the morning. I put a few of the chocolate balls and bars in their lunch boxes. After school, we drink a mug of the blends with veggies, seeds and fruits. We eat pastas and rice a lot for dinner, and now we have many more sauces to choose from, and they're all easy to make. Julie shows me the way to saute different vegetables that I never imagined. She even changed my mind about salads, I hated them and now I love making and eating them.Another aspect of the book I love is that it tells you what nutrients the recipes or the ingredients in the recipes provide. So you're not worried that you're missing something important, for yourself, or your kids or teenagers.We've never dined out, or ordered take-aways or deliveries since getting the book!This is a full-colored book, with beautiful photographs. And you can tell, from the pictures, and words between the lines, that Rich and Julie have put all their heart into the book.Thank you, Rich and Julie, for showing me the way to nurture my family and me. And for helping me to live more authentically by leaving the least harmful mark on the planet. Thank you!

I was hesitant to purchase yet another cookbook. But I love anything that Rich Roll and Julie Piatt produce, so I bought it anyway. I LOVE this book! It was worth every penny. It was a great price for a such a beautiful book, and I love leaving it out on the counter. I have used the book every day since its purchase. As a mother, I appreciate that Rich and Julie are also cooking plant based for their children, and I enjoy reading about which recipes their own kids love. My kids LOVE "Abuela' Glazed Banana's" and I have enjoyed "Monk's Blend" Smoothie every day since purchasing the book. What makes this book different from other cookbooks out there is the way they created different "paths" folks can take on a plant powered diet. We often hear that as long as its whole food plant based, you can eat as much as you want, but I have found this advice to be unhelpful. Every body needs a different set of requirements, and it all CAN be done on a plant based diet. Julie and Rich offer 3 different eating paths (which remind me of the Ayurvedic Dosha's, and understanding Julie's background in yoga and ayurveda, it makes sense to see it divided this way). These are as ways to organize your eating and offer more insight into the recipes. The Three paths: Vitality is a simple, almost spiritual way of eating, recipes not as dense but still nourishing. Performance is created for the person, like Rich, who needs to maximize their physical capacity with dense nutritious foods. The Transformation path is form someone coming off of a high fat and meat diet, someone who needs to loose weight and change their health, and have some serious transformation on the plant powered path. These paths are only recommendations. You can just use the scrumptious recipes without the paths, but if you are looking for transformation and a powerful way of eating that works specifically for your needs, each recipe has a "key" to help you understand how it fits within these models. I like the paths because it ends up being more than just another collection of recipes, it really is a whole way of life and a lifestyle. I highly recommend this book and think it should be on everyone's kitchen counter.

We've had this book for over a year when I preordered it last year. My husband and I just recently are trying again to get back into the whole-food, plant-based lifestyle. We always feel our best when we eat that way and we always beat ourselves up when we slip back into our old ways. My husband decided to try one of the recipes the other night, almond pesto with gluten-free pasta, and it was fantastic! So, since then, we've been cooking several other dishes. I made the beet soup because my husband had a cold, and it immediately cleared his sinuses, and it was super easy to make. Then I made the raspberry risotto with walnut Parmesan sprinkled on top, and that was excellent! The latest recipe we made was the lasagna that uses thinly sliced zucchini in place of lasagna noodles and it was SO GOOD! Everything we've had has been fairly simple to make and full of flavor. I also like that they don't use much soy. So many other plant-based cookbooks use a lot of soy in their recipes. Also, the recipes feed six, which is perfect for our family of six. We don't have to scale up any of the recipes.I could, however, see someone who doesn't own a lot of the kitchen tools, like a mandolin or food processor, finding some of the recipes to be a bit more difficult. They use a Vitamix every day, but we still don't own one yet. We've managed without one. They also use a lot of nuts, which can get expensive. I buy them in bulk at Costco and Wegman's. I also try to stick with the recipes that utilize what's in season to help reduce cost.Other than that, it's also an enjoyable book to read! The photography is great, as well! I find their approach incredibly inspiring. This is definitely going to be a regular go-to book for us. I highly recommend it!!!