thug kitchen cookbook + recipe!

This is Thug Kitchen, a cookbook that tells it like it is. Their premise is that cooking should be fun, and these guys break it down so that anyone can understand how to cook amazing food. It’s really fun to read (lots of young person slang) and makes a unique gift for the person in your life who loves food. It’s also a good teacher for the person who has no idea how to turn grocery items into meals.

Fun fact: it’s also vegan! Who knew! I was expecting lots of meat recipes but these thugs are vegan, y’all. If you’re a meat fan you can totally substitute meat into the recipes. But keep an open mind – they have a great section on how to properly season and cook tofu so it tastes just as bad-ass as meat!

As a treat, here’s a little recipe from the book that I made last night: “To-Go Breakfast Bars”. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and refined-sugar free.

2 cups rolled oats (get GF certified if you need).
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 and 1/4 cup chopped mixed nuts or seeds **
1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1tsp vanilla extract

**your choice. I did pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts, pecans….basically a bunch of things I had lying around.

Recipe:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13″ baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Heat large skillet over medium heat and pour in the oats and quinoa (uncooked!). Stir them around until they get a bit toasty – this took around 5 min.
3. Combine nuts and cranberries in large bowl, then add the toasted oats/quinoa. Stir all these dry ingredients together.
4. In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup, peanut butter, oil and vanilla and warm everything until it’s melted. Pour this all over the dry mix and stir until everything is coated.
5. Pour the mix into your baking dish and bake for about 25-30min (until golden). Let it cool, then put the pan in the fridge. Cut into bars once everything is cold.

From the back:

“We know you want to give a damn about what you eat, but it all seems too difficult or expensive. Well, we’re not buying that and you shouldn’t either. We’re not going to lecture you or complicate shit – we’re just here to help you eat your fucking vegetables. So if you’re ready to upgrade your cooking game, step into Thug Kitchen”.

$30 at Chapters, y’all 🙂
-Emily