review: blissful bites

one of my many spoilings this holiday season that i received was the gorgeous cookbook blissful bites: vegan meals that nourish mind, body, and planet, the first {of hopefully many!} from the blissful chef herself, christy morgan. 
{thanks grandpa for this gift! xo}

this colourful cookbook is full of plant-based recipes that focus on whole foods with plenty of raw & oil-free options.  after a thorough flip through the book i had no idea where to start.  the book itself is stunning {amazing, glossy food photos galore} and so well organized.  each chapter of recipes is devided by dishes or courses {eg. breakfast and brunch of champions, compassionate proteins} and each section is further grouped by season & coordinating colour-coding for easy reference.  you see, i simply wanted to make everything.  in the end, i closed the book and set it down.  upon doing so i made my decision.

i had to make the amazing rolls gracing the cover.  i've been seeing that cover {and those rolls} now for weeks as i coveted this book from afar so that seemed the natural place to start.  i made the soba noodle sushi with apricot-ginger dipping sacue with just a few tweaks based on what veggies i had on hand and they were awesome.  love, love, loved them up!

{switching sushi up with soba}

did i mention christy has an entire chapter dedicated to sea vegetables?  it's true.  and it's amazing because she explains them so well and provides such straightforward recipes to try them that it helped me conquor my 'only a nori girl' fears.  so much so, that the next dish i tried was the sea and land soba salad.  i made mine with arame and it was another winner.  great textures & great flavours.

{adventures in arame}

the easy cheezy broccoli soup was both easy and oh-so cheezy.  a great wintery soup to warm you up on a cold winter's day.  i went all out and swirled on some cashew-garlic aioli as suggested too.  mmmm, so rich and creamy.

{soup's on}

not pictured, but we i also made the sage-infused polenta fries which. were. amazing.  seriously - m could not get enough of them, especially dipped in what was left of the cashew-garlic aioli {hence the lack of a photo}.  i know we'll be making these again soon.

there are so many more recipes i'm eager to try.  but in the mean time i'm happily reading through and bookmarking my next moves.  {i still want to make everything in this book!}

thank you christy for sharing your bliss!