****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Finally!!! There's so much more to greens than sautéed kale and green smoothies, and this book has ways to incorporate those darned nutritious leafy greens that go beyond the mundane stuff in most cookbooks I've seen. Great photographs, easy recipes, just reading through them last night made my mouth water, and that's a huge positive! I'm one of those vegans who find it difficult to eat veggies - they look great in the store, but just rot in my fridge. I don't LIKE green smoothies and find greens in general to be BORING. This is the very first cookbook I've come across that actually makes me feel excited and eager to go shopping for these nourishing plants and EAT them, DAILY! With an international slant, Ms Nadel offers everything from soups, salads, appetizers, main dishes, desserts - Pesto Polenta Fries with Spicy Aioli, Bubble and Squeak, Zucchini Noodle Bolognese, Deconstructed Sushi Bowl, Rapini a la Puttanesca; Desserts: Secret Ingredient Brownies, Vanilla Mint Cheesecake; Drinks: Dandelion Mimosa Cocktails?...raw dishes, cooked dishes, they all look delicious. Easy to find ingredients, simple directions, and even the smoothies - Chocolate Superfood Smoothie, Green Juice Without a Juicer...and easy Breakfasts - Cinnamon Zucchini Waffles, Sweet Spinach Pancakes, Kale and Herb Cornbread Muffins!The first 16 pages cover the basics: Introduction, Green Fact Files, The Other Greens, The Other Ingredients, 'Typical Day' Greens Meal Plans...all with pics! Recipes provide nutrient breakdowns. Is it my imagination, or are the new vegan/vegetarian cookbook authors putting the previous authors out to pasture? There is so much repetition among previous cookbooks, the same old soups, salads, smoothies, etc. seem to rotate through all of the books. There are some old classics worth owning I suppose, but this new crop of "healthy eating" promoters bring the gourmet, the beginner, the newbie, the wannabe, the curious, and the old hand the latest information, the new eating styles, the international approaches, the cooking methods and equipment and ingredients available now to excite the palate and renew excitement about eating plants. "At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen" is another cookbook I highly recommend for people wanting to learn the how-to's and why-to's of properly preparing nuts and seeds, stocking a basic pantry, cookware recommendations that aren't strict "must-have's", concise information, beautiful photographs, easy easy recipes, etc.
