Super Natural Cooking

Everyone knows that whole foods are much healthier than refined ingredients, but few know how to cook with them in uncomplicated, delicious ways. Using a palette of natural ingredients now widely available in supermarkets, SUPER NATURAL COOKING offers globally inspired, nutritionally packed cuisine that is both gratifying and flavorful. With her weeknight-friendly dishes, real-foodie Heidi Swanson teaches home cooks how to become confident in a whole-foods kitchen by experimenting with alternative flours, fats, grains, sweeteners, and more. Including innovative twists on familiar dishes from polenta to chocolate chip cookies, SUPER NATURAL COOKING is the new wholesome way to eat, using real-world ingredients to get out-of-this-world results.



Product Details:

*Format: Size: 7 x 10
*Pages: 224
*Illustration: Full-color photographs
*ISBN-13: 9781587612756
*Publication Date: 2/2007
*Imprint: Celestial Arts

Heidi Swanson is a San Francisco based photographer, cookbook author, designer - and creator of 101 Cookbooks. Her writing and photographs have been featured in The Washington Post, Vegetarian Times, Whole Foods Markets, and on NPR. Projects (past and present) have been highlighted in many national and local publications including the Wall Street Journal, LIFE, Shape Magazine, Vegetarian Times, USA Today, Fast Company, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

PURCHASING:

*Available in bookstores nationwide.
*Ten Speed Press

Success Through Play™ comments:

In the recipe book Super Natural Cooking, the multi-talented Heidi Swanson encourages readers to open their minds and explore super foods like quinoa, teff and amaranth, choose alternatives to refined sweeteners and to eat from a colorful plate. This book features over 100 of Heidi's own photographs which will tempt you into creating them. This recipe book resembles a "high fashion magazine" with its elegant layout, high quality pages and stunning images.

In chapter one, Heidi sheds light on how you can create your own natural foods pantry which will enable you to cook from scratch with great ease. Heidi lists various flours and meals that may be new to you and explains how they can be used in recipes in terms of their texture, taste and properties. Next on the list are oils and fat, and Heidi sheds light on some lesser known varieties which are less processed and how they are best used. Sweeteners follow and readers will learn which ones to use and which ones to avoid. This section concludes with a brief discussion about fermented staples and the interesting health benefit which they provide you with. Heidi goes on to share her favorite whole grains, lists the origins of the grains, health benefits and offers insights into how each can be used given their unique texture and flavor.

One of the most helpful sections in the book is a section at the rear called "Basic Recipes and Techniques," where Heidi shares how to make vegan mayonnaise, cashew cream, sauces, syrups, all natural baking power, vegetable stock, beans and some additional items. We often need a basic broth on hand for recipes and cooking it from scratch used to be so time consuming that we tended to buy store bought broth, which is costly, high in sodium and anything but fresh. Heidi shares a super fast vegetable stock recipe that we tried and were delighted with the delicious results.

We will never buy store bought broth again and our lives are truly transformed! A short resource section is included at the back of the book. Next up are the recipes which are primarily ovo-lacto vegetarian in nature. Vegans will have less recipes to select from, particularly with regard to the baked goods, breakfast and dessert items as Heidi does use dairy and eggs frequently.

We selected to make the Grain-ola which was super quick and easy to make. The zesty citrus flavor and dried fruit pieces complemented the toasted oats, coconut, nuts and seeds and our test panel enjoyed this delicious granola with plain yogurt or soymilk. Store bought granola is packed with highly processed oils and refined sweeteners. After making this granola recipe, you will never buy store bought granola again!

A few days later we made the Risotto-Style Barley. This recipe calls for good quality dry white wine and citrus zests among other things which culminated in a gourmet dish which impressed even the most critical palates who commented that this could be served up in a 5 star restaurant.

Perfect for summer, we made the Acai Power Popsicles which are a super healthy alternative to store bought popsicles which usually contain refined sugars and every artificial coloring under the sun.

Heidi's passion for healthy cooking without sacrificing taste is clearly palpable. Readers will be inspired by the wide variety of recipes which are influenced by many cultures and the stunning photographs which speak volumes.

Heidi runs a popular website called "101 Cookbooks" and shares that she reached a pivotal moment in her life when she realized that she had accumulated so many cookbooks and continued to buy more, yet cooked the same meals over and over again. I am sure that we can all relate to this. She decided to break open the cookbooks and start experimenting which was the inspiration behind the site. Heidi shares recipes complete with tips and anecdotes.

*Visit 101cookbooks to learn more.

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