Thrive Foods Preview and Tasty Portobello Patties

You’ve probably noticed that I recommend the Thrive Diet book constantly. The simple fact is that it really helped me take my vegan nutrition to another level as an active, athletic female.  For years I have been using the Thrive Diet book as a cookbook so I am thrilled to finally have a legitimate Thrive cookbook! The Thrive Foods cookbook was recently released and wow is it a gem! There are so many good cookbooks coming out right now, I can hardly contain my excitement. If you are like me, you will not be leaving the kitchen for a long time.

Thrive Foods opens much like it’s predecessors – with a thorough description of the type of optimal nutrition advocated by Brendan Brazier (author,  Ironman triathlete, creator of Vega) and exactly what that means to your health, the environment and of course the animals. Brendan also goes into great detail about the health impacts of all the key ingredients he uses and the part that micro-nutrients play. This aspect of the book is fundamental to those learning about different “health foods”. It slightly irks me when someone eats a certain type of food because it is “healthy” but they have no idea why it is healthy or even if it is something that would be beneficial for them as an individual.

My absolute favorite part of the book  is something I have never seen so clearly laid out before.  Brendan goes into great detail about nutrition vs. resource depletion and environmental effects. Within this chapter you get simple mathematical equations, and easy to understand diagrams which without a doubt help us understand that abstaining from animal products really is the ay to go if you care about momma earth.  If anyone ever argues with you about the environmental concerns of eating meat, just take this book and let it do the ‘splainin for you.

There are over 200 recipes in this cookbook and they range from super easy to slightly time consuming. Many recipes have raw or cooked options for preparation, which is a relief when you see a recipe you really like but you don’t have time to make it raw (or cooked). All are made from nutrient-dense whole foods and involve minimal cooking. There are a lot of recipes included from popular vegan restaurants and chefs. I almost peed my pants when I saw that Blossoming Lotus‘ raw falafel wrap was included. It is like pure heaven and I can’t wait to be able to make it for myself.

The other night I made some Portobello Patties from Thrive Foods and they were so good I just needed to share. I put them on a simple bed of spinach and used some mustard vinaigrette, sliced avocado and sprinkled some hemp seeds on top. It was delish! You can also put these patties on a burger bun, wrap in a collard, or all by it’s lonesome.  You can also made a raw version of these, which seem pretty simple but require a little bit of forethought.

If this sounds like your bag, get your copy of Thrive Foods on Amazon.

**Oh, and if you are a huge fan of Brendan and his work you can enter to win a trip for two to meet Brendan at the Alive! Green Expo Lounge, surrounding the 63^rd Annual Emmy’s over at his Facebook fan page!**