Well I learned something, auto-save in Typepad may not always work at least on my computer. I wrote a long post yesterday on the wonders of this book "Whole Life Nutrition: Whole Foods Recipes for Personal and Planetary Health" by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre, MS, CN. and somehow my post disappeared into the ether. I thought I hit "Publish" but evidently not.
So here I am typing away early in the morning a day later trying to recall at least some of what I wrote. Hmm let's see. What I do remember writing is that I have told more friends about this cookbook than I can even count. I figure with all the talking I've been doing about the book, its high time I write about it here. You know use my blog to its potential and share this book with you. Let me just say, if you do not yet have a copy of "Whole Life Nutrition," do something nice for yourself and get one. See if your local library has as a copy or if possible order one.
The tag line on the cover reads "A complete nutritional and cooking guide for every stage of life including over 200 gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free recipes." While I have some wonderful cookbooks, I'd nothing like this one on my shelves until now. I was lucky enough to receive a copy as a gift from my wonderful neighbors. And as dramatic as this may sound, this book has changed my life. At least when it comes to eating, cooking, grocery-shopping and overall daily how I'm feeling.
My neighbors being the rock stars they are followed the author's elimination diet to try and get to the bottom of a few allergic reactions they'd been experiencing. Inspired by their dedication but not quite motivated to follow the 30 day plan, I took one small step and cut gluten and wheat from my diet. My impetus: an effort to clear my sinuses. Sparing you the details, let's just say, I tend toward the stuffy side of life in the early morning or later evening and sometimes in between. Through other friends who'd fled to a gluten-free life, I knew eating gluten-free might help me too. And it has. Am I 100% cured of my ear and sinus stuff? Not yet however I feel better, more clear, lighter, more energized and that works for me. I have been exercising regularly and I know that accounts for some of my energy boost but I don't feel nearly as tired and dragging as I had sometimes been feeling during the day.
I had been thinking about going gluten-free for the last year and moving my family in the same direction. I move slowly what can I say. I took a few steps like converting most of our pasta eating from wheat to rice. Tortillas for me and my girl from wheat to brown rice or corn or spelt. The Papa prefers straight wheat. Pasta, tortillas was about the extent of my gluten free ways. But come mid-August with book in hand, I packed my bags for the gluten-free world. And as of yet, I've not looked back. My girl is enjoying our gluten-free ways and the Papa seems to be too. My girl can eat wheat or gluten if she chooses but by the process of Mama doing most of the cooking around here, her intake of wheat and gluten has dramatically been reduced. The Papa still brings wheat in the house in the form of his treasured snacks but he is conscious of my efforts and that I appreciate.
Following recipes is something new for me. I love to pour through cookbooks for ideas and find ideas for meals on line but when it comes to cooking, I tended to use recipes as a jumping off point. Rather than follow the recipe closely, I read the ingredients and went to town in my own style. I was never one for measuring except in baking. A little splash of this and dash of that was my way to bring food to the table.
Well because I'm trying to learn a new way of cooking some of that has changed for me. I still feel creative in my cooking but now I am measuring and making sure I have all the ingredients on hand before I get to cooking. You know following recipes to a "t" has been a good thing for me. I am learning to combine spices and flavors that I may not have otherwise known to do. We are eating a more varied bunch of foods than before because quite simply this book has given me new ideas. "Whole Life Nutrition" is not only chock full of delectable and highly nutritional recipes but is also packed with essential information on whole food nutrition. Just like the tag line says.
I have built through this book a nice standard grocery list. There are some new ingredients up on our shelves that hadn't as of a few weeks ago made it to my kitchen. Coconut Oil is one example. For a a year, I coveted the jars of organic coconut oil at our local Food coop but never wanted the spend the money. Well I decided to spend the money when one of the brands went on sale. I use it in recipes as needed and in the little baking I do. I've not yet crunched any numbers on my grocery spending in the last month but I think over time I'll be spending less than say a year ago. I was never one to buy a lot of processed food but there was always a special sauce or can of beans in my cart at one point or another. Not now. I've returned to my ways of soaking and cooking beans from scratch. As far as sauces go, no more on the fly healthy as they may say they are sauces from Trader Joe's in my cart now.
I've literally made most every one of our dinner meals from this book in the last month and we've loved everything. I wanted to share a few standouts:
Creamy Cauliflower Soup: Guess what? The soup is dairy free. Who know blended cashews would make the cream in creamy. Not me that's for sure. The soup is out of this world, I harvested our one cauliflower from our garden and used it in this soup. I actually blended in broccoli too since our cauliflower was a little worse for wear and shrunk with my cutting away the bad parts.
Lentil-Brown Rice Casserole: One of my girl's all-time favorites. This is savory, comfort food pure and simple. Delicious.
Lentil-Spinach Dal: Simple, deep in flavor. Good for a quick dinner.
Vegetable Frittata: A weekend breakfast favorite especially for my girl. Shredded potatoes make the crispy crust in this delicious, hearty and quick-fix morning meal.
Roast Chicken Breasts with Figs: This called for Turkey Breast but frankly that cost too much so I used chicken. The marinade of Apricot jam and balsamic vinegar is delicious. The chicken is placed over Mission figs and onions and all of this combined create a spectacular taste sensation. I served the chicken with Wild Rice stuffed Acorn Squash a leftover from the previous night's all vegetarian dinner. Chicken, squash stuffed wild rice, a perfect meal on a chilly night.
Soy-Milk soaked Cornmeal Breaded Chicken Tenders: That's not the official name of the recipe but that's what it is. Quick, easy, healthy and tasty to kids. A great after soccer Saturday lunch.
Roast Chicken: My roast chicken prior to using "the book" was tasty for sure but I love finding new chicken recipes. You stuff the bird with a savory mixture of herbs, onion, celery, garlic and lemon and roast slowly. Tender, juicy and so yummy.
Cuban Black Bean and Yam Stew: Stop it right there. The flavors in these beans bring me back to my childhood days in Miami Florida. So lovely. We brought this to a potluck last week. Good reviews.
Chicken Verde Enchiladas: Time intensive and worth every step involved. The recipes makes a slew of enchiladas. We had one left. We and the gang we had over that night couldn't stop eating them.
There are more but that's what I can recall right now. While I'm thinking of it too, the recipes in this book make a generous bounty of food. Enough to save for leftovers or share with friends and neighbors. Another money-saving, time-saving and community building plus of eating well and from these recipes.
My girl grateful I am to say is a fairly adventurous eater. She doesn't like peas and never much like yams until she ate the Cuban Black Bean Yam soup. She never much liked Quinoa until I made it with sauteed onions, garlic and fresh herbs served under a mediterranean fish recipe.As for baking, I've not yet tried anything in this book. I can't seem to get my head out of the side dish and entree portion quite yet. I did bake a gluten-free banana bread this last Sunday using this recipe. I substituted Maple Syrup for the Brown Sugar and Coconut Oil for butter. The bread is super moist and tasty. No weird after tastes that can sometime come with wheat free/gluten free baked goods. Because I don't bake a lot I haven't yet invested in the slew of flours and baking additives one needs. Rather, I spend the money on a good gluten-free baking mix. My favorite of the two I've tried is Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix. This little bag of combined flours is expensive but down the road I'm hoping to go in on a bulk order with a couple of friends and save some money.
So there you have it, my rendition of what I wrote yesterday and my raves about "Whole life Nutrition." Nothing like a little kick-start to something new in the kitchen just in time for Fall. And before I hit Publish, I'll ask you....
What are you cooking these days?
