Deliciously Ella: 100+ Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Plant-Based, Gluten-Free Recipes (1) by null

Deliciously Ella: 100+ Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Plant-Based, Gluten-Free Recipes (1) Reviews

• 
  m and j

  I have already reviewed this cookbook, but I have now made just about every recipe. I have some helpful hints! When Ella calls for buckwheat, it is the light buckwheat, not the Bob's red mill variety. My children laughed for quite sometime when instructed to take out ( the buckwheat focaccia ) when golden brown. It was mud brown to begin with. So it is going to lighten in the oven? ;). Most of the recipes work with half the recommended dates. The girl has a serious sweet tooth. The quinoa pizza crust , almond chia bites ( with less dates),spicy roasted chickpeas, berry scones with coconut cream , quinoa fritters, sweet potato brownies, zucchini noodles with alvocado pesto, lentil bolognese, all work pretty close to directions. The majority of the recipes in the book do not. From poor seasoning ( 3 tbsp dried herbs in bread.:( to bland and fall apart ( oat bars) it's a very frustrating cookbook. Most of the recipes are done better on other blogs. i was also disappointed in recipes for date pure ( dates and cinnamon actually it is much better with lemon juice and vanilla powder) , Nutella, roasted veg, baked apples, hummus, polenta, quinoa.snore. I wish she would have added a little creativity to them if added. As is, I use it primarily as ideas to create my own recipes, which is not a bad thing. Inspiration is worth a few dollars! Overall, I applaud her simple cooking style and primarily healthy ingredients. I hope that her next book has recipe testers so that I can have success with it.
• 
  BirdNest

  I cooked exclusively from this book for a week to try it out and it was awful. First, I love vegan food. I eat it all the time. I am not going to whine about missing meat.
  
  My problem with this book started at the grocery store. It is INSANELY expensive to cook from. Vegan cooking is usually less expensive, but the amount of nuts Ella uses is ridiculous. My bill was bigger than it is on the weeks that I buy meat and fish. But I could have gotten over all of that if the recipes were good. And they were not. The scones were heavy bricks, the granola uninspired, the baked beans were tasteless, the giant hash brown gross, the pea and mint soup was awful, the lentil, zucchini, and mint salad elaborate and unrewarding, and the hazelnut spread wasweird. The sweet potato brownies were inedible. And the portion sizes were all out of whack. Sometimes, as with the Mexican quinoa bowl, there was a huge amount of food that I could not finish. And sometimes the portions were nothing. I literally did not like one thing I cooked from this book and that is extremely rare for me.
  
  I am donating this book. I have not picked it up in a year and I do not think I will. Nothing in the book worked for me. Not a thing. I am highly skeptical about the rate Ella pumps out books. I do not think there is any rigor to her testing or methods. The lifestyle she promotes is beautiful, but there is no substance to it, in my opinion.
• 
  Zen*Yogi*Girl

  There are a handful of food / lifestyle blogs I follow and the Deliciously Ella Blog is one of my favorites! As a brief back story, the author, Ella Woodward was diagnosed with a rare condition called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome at the age of 19 which left her bed ridden, exhausted, with heart palpitations and when no relief was found through convention medications; she looked to changing her diet to be a whole food, plants based diet which did indeed alleviate her symptoms.
  
  The good:
  
  The great thing about all this is Ella is self taught, so, if like me you are not the world's best cook no worries as these recipes are largely uncomplicated and easy to follow. You do not need to go wild and buy a bunch of kitchen gadgets though honestly a good blender and good processor do lend well to many of these recipes. Also a lot of her recipes use basic foods that are easily found, and though there are some ingredients the average cook may not have in their pantry (Nutritional Yeast, Maca, Cacao, Baobab powder to name but a few ) there are often substitution or the ability to omit such ingredients. The beginning of the book features a pretty comprehensive guide to building your pantry as well as a guide to the properties of many of these ingredients; and this follows through in each section.
  
  Though I have tried many of her recipes from the blog., it was great to finally have her recipes accessible in one spot. The book is organized into sections that highlight the ingredients : Grains, nuts and seeds, beans and legumes, vegetables , fruit followed by a smoothie / juice section and a guide to her eating mantra along with resources. I also liked the fact that she added personalization to the book detailing her story at the beginning.
  
  There were a lot of new recipes here that I had not previously seen on the blog ; so I was happy to get so many new recipe ideas. That said, I spotted several dishes I have made in the past such as the Chia breakfast pudding, the coconut porridge (which is delicious and great pre workout) the spicy roasted chickpeas and the raw brownies. All were simple and tasted great! The steps are simple and minimal and do not require precise cooking skills; and its really easy to follow.
  
  The bad:
  
  The only issue I have found consistently with the recipes, is sometimes they lack seasoning or a depth in taste. This could be due to the fact that she is not a professional chef or it could be a Brit thingI am British and growing up there found beyond curries (which oddly British people enjoy very spicy and bold) people tend to hold back on seasoning and spice. This came through in many of the things I have made such as the cannellini soup and the black bean chili which was too obscured in taste by tomato paste ; and I found myself having to add of the given seasonings, or add different types of spice / herb to give it any flavor at all. So far my husband has not been impressed with any dish so if you have someone with a bold palette you might want to taste carefully before you serve and adjust seasoning to taste.
  
  The other thing to note is this dish is rather dessert /snack heavy but missing balance with enough main dishes that contain a protein element. For example chick peas, potato wedges or cucumber rolls are sides or snacks but not really a main dish; there are a lot of breakfast choices, or sweet snacks along with smoothies, sides, dips etc. I personally really liked the mix of recipes but it's worth nothing to top heavy sweet element if you are looking for in the way of savory or main dishes.
  
  Finally for those that like their cookbooks traditional: Breakfast then lunch, dinner and snacks, you might struggle with this as with the recipes being sorted by ingredient type there is little rhyme or reason what to expect , for example turmeric fritters and risotto are followed by porridge which is then followed by scones and cookies. It is honestly a little hard to follow and hence my reason for 4 stars not 5.
  
  That said, as a fan of the blog, I am excited to finally have this cookbook. Like her blog, the pictures are stunning and plentiful ; and there are a lot of new recipes in here I am excited to try! From a home cook to the home cook makes these recipes attainable for us all , bringing healthy, sometimes, raw, always plant based, recipes to the masses; and yes as a parent, I can attest to the fact that the kids will enjoy many of these recipes too and with their simplicity, can even join in making them! A great book, just wish it was a tad organized!
• 
  Harrietf

  Some of the recipes taste nice. Some taste absolutely gross. A lot include some really expensive ingredients. It doesn't help that Ms mills has filled the pages with mumbo jumbo pseudoscience. This book is for a certain class of people, with a large disposable income and propensity for fad foods. If you're one of those people you'll probably tell yourselves you like the less tasty recipes anyway because they're 'doing you good'.
• 
  sasha

  Ella and i clearly live in different worlds.
  her world is full of insanely amazing and totally inspiringly awesome adjectives.
  (i counted the word "amazing" 12 times on one page.)
  she has a superpower of speed, because nothing takes than a few minutes to throw together
  and she's clearly wealthy because nothing she cooks works out to be expensive. (apparently nut butter is cheap to buy at the supermarket. as are avocados, coconut oil and maple syrup. good luck.)
  if you are 27 and have piles of cash and loads of time and a limited vocabulary, and are not too picky about how things taste (carrot cake was really stodgy and tasteless) , you'll love this book.
  i really do appreciate the story and the spirit behind the book. being healthy, etc. but i think Ella needs a bit experience in the field and a wider grasp of reality.
• 
  jazzyjo

  I was really excited to get this book but found it to be pretty disappointing. It's mainly comprised of sweet treats and snacks, many of which use the same base ingredients (not too bad for beginner cooks but if you're used to cooking varied meals, it could get very samey).
  
  I've been cooking veggie and vegan food for some years now and know the value of flavorsome food (vegetables don;t have to be boring!!), which made some of the recipes a bit of a let down (no herbs in the bolognese recipe?). If you follow the recipe exactly then the dishes turn out quite bland, so you really need to use your initiative and add herbs and spices to make them palatable.
  
  All in all the recipes are OK, they're just missing some dimension. it's a shame because I really love her story and appreciate the message she's trying to get out there about eating well to feel well but the recipes are in need of a bit thought and brought nothing new to the table (pardon the pun!).
• 
  Pauline Colley

  I have tried 3 recipes so far, the results were very mixed, one turned out well, one was salvable and the third a waste of time and money.
  The measurements were completely wrong for the superfood bread, approximately twice the amount of water required and when I checked on other sites I could see how the bread didn't set. Ella talks in grams and mugs! What is a mug measurement supposed to be, nothing like a cup.
  All in all, pretty book to look at but not very practical for main meal ideas and check the measurements before wasting your money, I am astonished this got through the proof readers!
  I haven't tried any of Ella's other books, my daughter has one which she said was very good, sadly not this one.
• 
  Kindle Customer

  I’m a bit late to the Delicously Ella party but better late than never.
  Why did I not buy this book before? I absolutely love the simplicity of it. I love the recipes and have already tried three of them.
  The book is a nice size, beautifully photographed with plenty of helpful advice on this way of eating.
  A great addition to my library of cookery books and because I’m now a fan I’ve just ordered Ella’s latest book which I look forward to receiving tomorrow.