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Try
these classic healthful cookbooks
May 24, 2007
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
After
“healthy,” what most readers want in their cookbooks
is “easy.”
That’s what many of you tell me when you ask for recommendations
for recipes you can make from scratch at home. “Vegetarian”
is also a common request.
“By easy, I mean easy to prepare,” one reader
said. “I would like to substitute some vegetarian meals
in our diet but do not want to spend a day shopping and another
day preparing.
Here’s my advice.
First – and I’ve mentioned this in past columns
– one of the easiest ways to save time fixing meals
is to skip recipes altogether. With practice, you can get
very good at combining ingredients to make simple meals using
the staples you have on hand. You can create endless combinations
of beans, rice, onions, garlic, peppers, other vegetables,
herbs and spices, whole wheat pasta and fresh fruits.
That said, most of us like to follow recipes at least some
of the time. They provide guidance for good-tasting ingredient
mixtures we might not have thought of without help.
Cookbooks I recommend and those I use most frequently have
several features in common. Ingredient lists are short, and
most of the ingredients are staples I already have in my cupboard.
Recipes call for minimal or no eggs, butter, cheese and sour
cream. If those artery-cloggers are included in the recipe,
I replace them with a suitable substitute. For example, I
use EnerG Egg Replacer, available at natural foods stores,
instead of eggs as a binder, and I use nonfat yogurt in place
of sour cream.
My favorite cookbooks don’t have more than two or three
recipes that I love and make often. Most of my favorite cookbooks
are old. Many are out of print but still available used from
online book retailers and used books stores, some for under
one dollar. Among my favorites:
* Bean Banquets from Boston to Bombay by Patricia Gregory
(Woodbridge Press, 1984). I’ve used the Hummos bi Tahini
(Middle Eastern Chick Pea Dip) and the Chick-Pea Salad recipes
for more than twenty years.
* Fast Vegetarian Feasts by Martha Rose Shulman (Dial Press,
1982). The recipe for Pasta with Uncooked Tomatoes and Cheese
is made with chopped walnuts and fresh basil, too. Use whole
wheat pasta and a couple handfuls of part-skim mozzarella
cheese. It’s a good summertime meal.
* Any of Bobbie Hinman’s cookbooks, including The Meatless
Gourmet: Favorite Recipes from Around the World (Prima Publishing,
1995.) The Sweet Pineapple-Bean Salad is delicious); the Meatless
Gourmet: Easy Lowfat Favorites (Prima, 1997); and Lean and
Luscious and Meatless by Bobbie Hinman and Millie Snyder (Prima,
1992). A more recent book is The Vegetarian Gourmet’s
Easy Low-Fat Favorites, also by Bobbie Hinman (Surrey Books,
2002).
* Vegetarian Cooking by the Editors of Sunset Books and Sunset
Magazine (Lane Publishing, 1981). Two all-time favorites:
recipes for Layered Chili and Quick Artichoke Pasta Salad.
The book includes big, full-color photos.
Two more favorites that are still in print:
* The Peaceful Palate by Jennifer Raymond. It’s a beautiful
book with simple recipes printed in bold type on big pages,
self-published by Heart & Soul Publications, 1992. The
Berry Cobbler is wonderful and is a good-for-you dessert.
* The New Laurel’s Kitchen by Laurel Robertson, Carol
Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal (Ten Speed Press, 1986). Some
of the recipes require tweaking to rid them of butter and
high-fat dairy products. I’ve made the banana bread
recipe for as long as I can remember, though, and it’s
made with whole wheat flour and no eggs or butter.
Enjoy these classics of good – and healthful –
cooking and eating.
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