Book Report: Protein Ninja

I just got my copy of Terry Hope Romero’s new book Protein Ninja! Terry is one of my vegan heroes and, as always, she delivers new and clever ways to make sure we get enough protein. According to Terry’s website…

“My year of the salad [see Salad Samurai] was also a year of hitting the gym with new-found purpose: free weights three times a week made my workout routine at long last give me results. I felt the boost in both my yoga practice and scaling the seemingly infinite staircases of the New York City subway system. And with weighty workout soon came adding vegan protein powders into my diet. But instead of just tossing these powders–unflavored, simple hemp, pea, and brown rice–into a blender, my chef-brain saw “hey, new ingredient here!” and many months later, the recipes of Protein Ninja came to life.”

And what a great book it is. I have been studying it like the good vegan student that I am trying to full understand the concepts. The recipes are creative, flavorful and easy to follow. As usual with Terry’s style, the recipes are not too long or full of crazy hard to come by ingredients. And the little intros to each one are fun to read! Also, let me say that the photos are absolutely stunning.

Terry offers breakfast smoothie bowls packed with protein powders, avocados, and superfoods. Pancakes and biscuits have their own chapters. Toasts get their own chapter – which is really the “make really yummy spreads that are a good excuse to toast up some bread and eat” chapter. And there are burgers, bowls and sweets like navy bean blondies!

In just a week, I have already made a bunch of recipes. This is the Chikdate Spread which is like a pumped up vegan Nutella made with chickpeas, dates and hazelnuts. It is great on toast or just as a pudding with fruit on top.

But I think the breakthrough really might be in the burger category. I made the Super Hemp Protein Beet Burgers and the hemp protein adds a certain texture that keeps the burgers together in a way that flour doesn’t. They came out delicious and didn’t fall apart on the first bite.

So, this is cookbook that should be on your kitchen bookshelf. It is fun, different and a great answer to the age old question, but how do you get your protein?