March 7 2026

 For breakfast today, we had Midnight Chocolate Cherry from plantyou, p. 36.  I apologize for it being crammed into a small bowl.  My wife is taking a page from many of these cookbooks and trying to be deceptive in her presentation by putting not enough food into a small bowl to create the illusion of it being enough food.  I am opposed to this kind of manipulation.  We need to present things as they are.  I will try to make sure this doesn't happen again.

This dish was very tasty but weird.  Here's what I mean.  It has a very decadent, rich flavor to it and is sweeter than I expected.  My wife put more syrup in it than it was supposed to have because she judged it too bitter without an extra teaspoon of syrup.  She probably was right on the money about this, but I would have preferred that she reduce the coca powder instead.  It seemed very rich with coca powder and could have been fine with a bit less.  She also didn't have frozen cherries, so she had to use dried ones, which makes the sugar more concentrated and would change the recipe, too.  I would recommend less coca powder next time, frozen cherries, and also instead of doubling the recipe for two people, make three servings because two wasn't enough.  I was left hungry.  There just wasn't enough food here for one person, no matter what size dish you try to put it in.  Your stomach feels the difference.  Another thing that could be changed is to add some nuts, possibly.  Megan also told me that she used mini chips instead of regular chocolate chips.  That is probably a good idea as well.

To me, this tasted more like a dessert than a breakfast.  I think it could make a tasty, quick dessert.  I'm not sure if I'd want it for breakfast very often.  Rating:  4 out of 5 as is.  It might be higher with changes.  

Lunch today was Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwich from plantyou, p. 106.  It had a fair amount of flavor but was kind of sweet and sour at the same time.  I'm not sure if I'd want this again or not.  I think it needs some tweaks.  Current rating:  3 out of 5.