Clearly this trip to the library involved a lot of vegetarian bowl cookbooks. I am a simple human.

This one is too fussy and too "healthful", though. Totally passable cookbook, but uninspired (I could just read your blog, hon), and it's SO CLEAR that this husband is a photographer because there are entirely too many 1. landscapes 2. macro vegetable shots in this book. ( )

This cookbook was the inspired from Sara Forte’s website The Sprouted Kitchen. The photography in this book is exceptional as is the photography on her blog. Her husband Hugh Forte is a very good photographer in my humble opinion. When I ordered this book I expected soups, salads and deconstructed casserole type dishes such as beans, rice and a protein. That’s what one eats from a bowl, right?

I was surprised to see the number of meals that, in my opinion, would be better suited on a plate. Salmon, roasted carrots and stuffed peppers come to mind. Sure, you can put anything in a bowl and no one said it had to be traditional fare.

Pros: The recipes are divided up by category. Morning Bowls, Side Bowls, Big Bowls, Sweet Bowls and Dressings. The beginning or introduction gives good tips on organizing a kitchen and suggestions on what items to stock in your pantry.
Very health oriented ingredients although the use of cheese and dairy can be excessive.

For my sample dish I choose the Cocoa Banana Cup. Yes, I know I ought to have gone with a dinner bowl but my sweet tooth was intrigued.
The Haricot vert salad is one I want to make this week and Chickpea Deli Salad I may make this weekend.


Cons: Some of the breakfast bowls or morning bowls as she calls them would take too much time for me on a workday. Also, some of the choices for breakfast do not appeal to my palate. Black beans, arugula and spinach (Popeye Protein Bowl) is indeed a great source of protein and screams “healthy ingredients” – but I couldn’t abide it for breakfast. The same goes for salmon and apple fennel slaw. Nope, not for breakfast. 5:30 a.m. is too early for those food items. Again, this is my personal preference.


I have so many cookbooks in my collection causing the poor shelves to groan under the weight of them. Because I can’t justify taking up more room by adding another shelving unit, I have been very selective about the books I like to keep. The ones I use repeated obviously have a permanent home but ones such as Bowl and Spoon won’t be staying. It’s a pretty book. It has wonderful photography. There are just too few recipes that I will prepare. ( )