You’ve likely come across, or like me own a few, of Insight Editions video game-themed cookbooks. Though some gaming titles lend themselves pretty easily to a collection of recipes, The Elder Scrolls for example, others have inspired author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel to get a bit creative on the books’ offerings. 

As an avid Overwatch player, the Overwatch Cookbook was an absolute must-buy for me, and delightfully so, the recipes are as diverse as the characters themselves. Each hero has multiple recipes representing either themselves or their country of origin. The recipes range from super simple drinks like Widow’s Kiss, iconic items from the games like Orisa’s sundae or Rikimaru Ramen, to more advanced creations like Tracer’s Sticky Toffee pudding. 

I decided to give the cookbook a full run-through and try my hand at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desserts. I will preface that I am lactose-intolerant so I made substitutions where necessary which I will account for when giving feedback for each dish. 

I’d say I’m an intermediate-level cook but decided to select recipes that seemed either easy or medium difficulty so that those of you not as comfortable in the kitchen could still feel like these are achievable dishes to try. 

Enough jabbering, let’s get cooking! 

What better way to enjoy a lazy Sunday morning than with classic buttermilk pancakes? For Part 1 - Breakfast of our Overwatch test kitchen I selected Soldier 76’s Buttermilk Flapjacks and Ashe’s Texas Fizz. Though the photograph and presentation of Texas Fizz is not very compelling, I assure you —looks aren’t everything. 

Of course someone lactose intolerant selected their first dish with the word milk and butter literally in the title but I was craving pancakes! I substituted the buttermilk with a coconut/almond-based creamer, found lactose-free butter (didn’t know such a thing existed) to replace the regular salted butter, and used good ole’ Cool Whip for whipped cream topping. 

The directions for this are super simple: Just mix all your ingredients together to create your batter. The recipe states the cinnamon and orange zest are optional but I highly recommend the addition. Both added a super lovely flavor to the pancakes that I feel helped the taste since I was missing the sweetness and richness of the buttermilk. 

If the batter is too thick, simply add a bit more milk to your mixture. I spray my non-stick pan between batches of pancakes with an olive oil spray. I find you get a cleaner flip this way. After running through all my batter I got about 12 medium size pancakes. 

Simply plate your pancakes, add your syrup of choice, and get that Solider 76 ‘Murrica look top with fresh blueberries and strawberries. I served up my flapjacks with turkey bacon and some hashbrowns because you either go big or go home with Sunday brunches. 

The pancakes were a little denser than I would have liked but I know I can attribute that to my ingredient substitutions. Also, as I mentioned, the orange zest and cinnamon really helped to perk up the flavor and add just the right amount of sweetness. 

To wash down our feast I indulged in Ashe’s Texas Fizz. I figured since this recipe called for champagne, it was basically like having a mimosa. That’s how that works, right? If future Mandie is reading this, drinking gin at 11 am will make sure your Sunday is super lazy. 

This is drink is delicious and powerful. I have a very sensitive sweet tooth so I avoided the full portion of grenadine. But even if you do have a sweet tooth I’m not sure it’s necessary considering you’re already getting sweetness from the champagne and orange juice. If anything the addition of grenadine is for color only. The flavors here are really refreshing however and this would make a great summer cocktail. 

Soldier 76's Buttermilk Flapjacks: 8/10 

Ashe's Texas Fizz: 7.5/10 

The pancakes were definitely the star here with an easy-to-follow recipe with delicious results. I’m docking some points on Ashe’s Texas Fizz because I feel it could have been slightly more creative and true to her character and the ratio of ingredients I feel needs a little tweaking. 

See you next time for lunch!