The Blender Girl Cookbook Review

… Tess Masters Says “s’blended” and I Must Agree!

I am SO excited to share this book with you! I’m truly SO excited! I’ve been acquainted with Tess Masters (aka the Blender Girl), author of her debut book, the Blender Girl – super-easy, super-healthy meals, snacks, desserts & drinks, and have followed her blog, The Blender Girl, from the time I met her a couple of years ago. Her unique and eclectic approach to creating a food lifestyle that ultimately fits her needs of health, wellness, and food-as-preventative-medicine is empowering. She shares how and why she came to this philosophy, and why she encourages others to find their perfect combination of food practices.

While the Blender Girl takes the reader on a wildly exciting journey of all-things-possible with your blender, she states, “No, we don’t check our teeth at the door.” And this is so obviously true simply by flipping through the pages of the book. The photos that feed your eyes with tantalizing images of creative and colorful whole foods will have your mouth watering in anticipation of the recipe on each advancing page. I absolutely LOVE the photos – they make you hungry even if you’re not!

Every recipe incorporates the use of a blender at some step. Whether the blender is the main process in the recipe execution such as condiments, smoothies, festive and refreshing drinks, or it is a side implement to create a salad dressing, smooth out a soup, or whip up a sauce, Tess should be re-named the Magic Blender Girl. She is a wizard with her understanding of ingredients. She’s brilliant at flavor combinations, and creates food pairings for smoothies, juices, and tonics that can easily be considered medicinal and healing.

This book is so much more than a cookbook. It is a health and nutrition book. It is a how-to book. It is a food philosophy book. While the book offers 100 gluten-free, vegan recipes, many of the recipes are also ideal for raw, soy-, corn-, nut-, and sugar-free eaters. When sweeteners are used, they are the natural type. On page 39, a list of natural sweeteners can be found, with the best use for each type and how Tess decides which one, and when, each is best used.

In the Blender Girl, you’ll find recipe sections for smoothies & shakes, appetizers and such, salads, soups, main course dishes, desserts, drinks & juices, and condiments and the like. What you may not be expecting, but I’m sure you’ll be very excited to explore, are the areas discussing:

–       How-to properly use your blender to achieve the most from it.

–       Learning about alkalinity vs. acidity.

–       Understanding the benefits of raw and sprouted foods.

–       Soaking nuts, seeds, and grains for the best absorption.

I will be devouring these guidelines and tips repeatedly. These are lessons that I look forward to committing to memory.

Having read the book cover to cover, I didn’t come across a single recipe I just can’t wait to make in my own kitchen. But to highlight just a few recipes for you, here are some of my favorites:

–       green queen (salads, pg. 97) – a “fresh greens” salad of zucchini, broccoli, leafy greens and more, dressed in an avocado-almond-fresh herb dressing

–       i-love-veggies! Bake (the main event, pg. 144) – a layered vegetable and green bean baked casserole with an abundant amount of texture and flavors

–       butternut bliss (soups, pg. 111) – I absolutely love smooth and “creamy” soups

–       all-but-instant raw raspberry jam (appetizers …, pg. 83) – using the magic power of chia seeds instead of gelatin. I can’t wait to try this with fresh strawberries and raspberries from my garden this summer.

–       antioxidant avenger (smoothies & shakes, pg. 51) – bring on this acai and berry powerhouse blend Tess refers to as “field to shield”

–       the entire section of tonics (pgs. 186-193) – such as “beat-the-cold-and-flu blues”, “acid reflux be gone”, and “sleep spell”

–       chocolate truffles, of course (desserts, pg. 156-157) – there’s chocolate in the name so I couldn’t pass this up, but when it’s coated in some of the suggested embellishments like coconut, pistachios, lavender, or goji berries, these quickly hit my top recipes list

I hope I’ve enticed a least a bit of the excitement for this book that I’m experiencing.  I haven’t looked forward to exploring and re-creating recipes from a cookbook in a very long time, perhaps never to this extent. I truly believe that food is medicine and can change our lives when we know how to put healthful choices into our everyday practices. I’m hoping that in months and years to come this cookbook is smattered with stains, splotches, tattered pages, and handwritten comments in all the open spaces on the pages. This means I’ve loved it along the way as much as I anticipate. Keeping this book clean and in pristine condition would just be wrong!

Thanks, Tess, for sharing your insights, experiences, and passion for healthy food with us. This is whole food at its finest – with a blender to complement it!

P.S. Perhaps some of you might be wondering why I am reviewing a book with a vegan philosophy. I find that gluten-free, vegan recipes are a great place to start when we have to eliminate all dairy from our diets, as well as gluten. It very easy to add meat back into these recipes when and where we choose. At least I know the basic gluten-free, dairy-free recipe is going to work well and taste fantastic.

To learn more about the author, check out The Blender Girl.

You can learn more about her book, or purchase it, on Amazon.com.

In full disclosure, I did receive this book as a complimentary copy for review. The enthusiasm and words are entirely my own.

Safe food is a journey … Thrive!™