Showing posts with label sustainability and nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability and nutrition. Show all posts

Friday, August 17, 2012

Save 60% Off: The Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook: More Than 100 Healthy Recipes for Everyday Snacking Review & Ratings

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The Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook: More Than 100 Healthy Recipes for Everyday Snacking Review

I pre-ordered the cookbook, and was pleased when it arrived from Amazon a day before the official release date. Having worked on projects as a freelance website copywriter for Laura Trice's healthy cookie company, I was eager to see what kind of healthy snack recipes she would create. Although I consider myself a good cook, I generally don't have time for lengthy, complicated recipes, so I was happy to see that most of the selections had few ingredients and a short prep and bake time. I also found the beautiful color photos to be very enticing.
I decided to try the Whoopie Pies made with the One Pan Eggless Chocolate Cake recipe. I couldn't decide if I would rather use the Fluffy Marshmallow Frosting as suggested underneath the photo, or make the Natural Whipped Cream, so I did both. The recipes were easy to follow and came out well. I did have to adjust the bake time slightly on the cake- not a big deal. Everything tasted great! The cake had a moist, chocolaty texture that was sweet, but not overly so like traditional cake. The Fluffy Marshmallow Frosting was light with a nice maple taste, and the Natural Whipped Cream was creamy and sweet without being overbearing. I also tried Grandma's Gingerbread Cake and topped it with the Natural Whipped Cream. It, too, was easy to make, and had a rich flavor that reminded me of spice cake. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and wished the cake was a little sweeter, but I found it was a wonderful complement to my morning cup of coffee and much better than a doughnut.

The Wholesome Junk Food Cookbook: More Than 100 Healthy Recipes for Everyday Snacking Overview



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Monday, May 14, 2012

The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes Review & Ratings

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The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes Review

This is the quinoa book I've been looking for!
I've been wanting to cook with quinoa after seeing a couple of good-sounding recipes demonstrated on TV shows. In addition, some members of my family have food allergies, and others are sensitive to certain foods, so I'm always looking for ingredients that are both healthy and generally non-allergenic.
Quinoa seemed to meet my requirements, but... well, even my favorite "healthy" cookbooks didn't offer many recipes. The recipes that I could find included ingredients that were a little too healthy to be popular in my home (meaning: did not resemble junk food in any way).
So, when I found this cookbook, I was very pleased. There's something for everyone -- including picky eaters -- in these recipes.
The recipes are simple and most ingredients are very normal. They don't require a trip to several gourmet, health food or ethnic grocers. (I don't have time for that.)
This cookbook's recipe measurements are in teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc., as well as in grams and litres. So, I can recommend this cookbook to friends in America and in Europe. I like that.
I especially like the section that explains a variety of ways to cook quinoa. It's not one of those grains or seeds that require overnight preparations or complicated/gourmet cooking methods. That's another big plus, with my busy schedule.
In general, this cookbook takes the mystery and anxiety out of quinoa. In today's economy, I'm careful to buy only groceries that I'll actually cook and my family will enjoy. This cookbook showed me that quinoa is a basic staple for most kitchens, and can be used in many ways and a wide range of cooking and baking styles.
Like another reviewer, I wish this book had more photos. I respond very visually to the world around me, so I want to see a dish that makes me say, "Ooh, that looks yummy!" The pictures in the book are very appealing... I just wanted more of them.
On the other hand, the recipes are so straightforward, my mouth was watering even without lots of photos. So, the illustrations aren't a big issue; I'm only mentioning this because I wouldn't want someone to dismiss this book because it's mostly text. (But, within a few minutes of skimming the many delicious-sounding recipes, I think you'll be pleased with this book, too.)
The health information about quinoa is especially motivating. My initial interest in quinoa has been... well, from seeing Emeril cook with it on "Planet Green" TV shows. However, after reading quinoa's history, health-related information, and the many ways to use quinoa, I'm amazed this isn't considered a basic ingredient in all kitchens.
(I predict that it will be, when more people learn how to cook with quinoa. It's healthy, affordable, delicious, and easy to cook with.)
This book provides far more interesting information and ready-to-use recipes than most "health food" cookbooks, and it's very well written.
If you've had any interest in cooking with quinoa, this cookbook is probably all you'll need to become a quinoa enthusiast.

The Quinoa Cookbook: Over 70 Great Quinoa Recipes Overview



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Monday, March 26, 2012

Save 26% Off: Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen Review & Ratings

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Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen Review

I've read several of Kate Heyhoe's previous books and was eagerly looking forward to this one. Kate Heyhoe's Cooking Green comes highly praised by some of the nation's top food environmentalists, and with good reason. There's a practical strategy on every page to "shrink your cookprint," and, she notes that by saving fuel and water you'll save money, too. Her sources are solid, and she draws on them to cover the entire food chain: EPA, USDA, Institute of Food Technologists, FDA, Michael Pollan, Harold McGee, U.S. Geological Survey (which measures land-water use), and the Department of Energy, to name a few.
For instance: Ovens waste as much as 94% of their fuel, according to the Department of Energy (worse fuel-efficiency than a Humvee). Solutions: scale back on oven-cooking, multitask your oven, and power down before the dish is done to make use of the residual heat (she starts her lasagna recipe in a cold oven and "passively" finishes it by turning off the heat 15 minutes early and leaving the door closed; her recipe is great and shows how to adapt others to the same fuel-saving process). Or, use your cooktop or toaster oven instead of a full oven. Avoiding beef drastically shrinks your cookprint, but if meat's your thing, her her rare roast beef recipe uses 20 minutes of high heat, then passively roasts for an hour with the fuel turned off (traditional recipes use 2 hours of fuel).
Many cooks don't realize that with water, it takes nearly as much energy to jump from "almost boiling" to actual boiling, and that boiling water is the same temperature whether it's boiling fast or gently; so fast-boiling actually wastes fuel. And water takes a long time to cool down, so you can turn off the heat early and use slowly cooling water to gently cook lots of foods, including pasta, lentils, potatoes, green beans, and more. This saves fuel and cuts down on carbon emissions.
She also covers the entire "cookprint" by tackling topics that include avoiding BPA (it's in some bottles and most can liners, but good news: it's not in aseptic paperboard packages, like the ones used for chicken broth and tomatoes); which cookware and small appliances to buy; making perishables last longer so there's less waste and fewer grocery trips; and how to pick greener foods when local and organic aren't options.
This is a great book for anyone wanting to take control of their life and really make a difference. As the author says, going green is all about making choices, and this book is a good choice for anyone who eats.

Cooking Green: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen Overview



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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Save 39% Off: Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats Review & Ratings

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Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats Review

I was seeing references to this book in other books that I found helpful: The Metabolic Typing Diet and Life Without Bread. But I delayed more than a year before buying Nourishing Traditions. I figured if I knew what to eat, I didn't need a cookbook too.
I was wrong. This is a textbook as much as a cookbook. I liken it to Joy of Cooking. You can learn a lot from it about food and nutrition even if you never use its recipes. I have used recipes from both, though, and can attest to their deliciousness. But I must admit, for me the best thing about reading Nourishing Traditions is learning about nutrition, not learning new recipes.
The authors criticize the "Diet Dictocrats" who propound the "politically correct" low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. I find the epithet of "politically correct" rather grating and would hope they drop it in later editions.
The book's thesis is a Rousseauian one: industrial food production yields a product unsuited to our body's nature. To find out what is suited to our nature, we ought to rely on research of what preindustrial societies consumed. Thus, as another reviewer pointed out, they view themselves as continuators of the program initiated by the dentist Weston Price (author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration).
I had spent years eating in accordance with the low-fat dietary dogma and my health suffered because of it. I give the authors credit for recognizing a wide spectrum of ideal diets depending on one's genetic makeup. What is more problematic is how one draws the line between natural and unnatural. Is the line to be drawn between industrial and nonindustrial societies, or is it more basic than that? The book NeanderThin, for example sees humanity making a wrong turn with the advent of civilization. Civilization brings cultivation of grain and the domestication of dairy animals. Nourishing Traditions embraces dairy and grain as long as they are prepared in ways consistent with nonindustrial societies.
Despite these controversies, Nourishing Traditions is a treasure trove of valuable information. Just one small tidbit: there is a concern that beef in the USA has an unfavorable fat profile--there is an unsatisfactory omega 6/omega 3 fatty acid ratio. I just learned from Nourishing Traditions that this problem is not present with lamb in the USA because lamb is virtually all pasture-raised. Since I live in a small apartment and have no place to hang a side of pasture-fed beef, this was very helpful information.
OK, OK, one more tidbit. Everyone by now should know that people who eat nuts live longer. I love the taste of nuts but they always were hard for me to digest. Nourishing Traditions explains why and told me how to eat nuts without the digestive upset. These people know their stuff.
I've seen five stars on a lot of books, that were, frankly, pretty lightweight. This book is a keeper. It's not someone's brilliant marketing concept turned into a book. It's clearly the product of much, much, hard work. It's not the final word. But it's a comprehensive presentation of a coherent worldview on healthy nutrition.

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats Overview



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