Healthy Cookbook Suggestions

Now this can be tricky territory. It seems that everybody and their brother has different ideas about what is healthy. I do think we can all agree that minimally processed, fresh, whole foods are the cornerstone of good nutrition. It's up to you if you add grass-fed meats, sustainably harvested fish, raw dairy, or go vegan. Then come coffee, alcohol and refined sugars all the way down to gluten and grains. Personally I'm for the first two in moderation while minimizing the sugar, cutting out gluten and also minimizing grains (the later mostly an experiment). We are continuously looking at our diets and searching for optimal nutrition. I imagine we all fit somewhere on that spectrum so this week I wanted to share a couple of cookbooks from our shelf that might pique your interest.

The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman
In a word - he gets it (and really I would almost be surprised if Mark Bittman is a stranger to of our dear members.) What qualifies as it? Well, no refined sugar, processed junk, factory produced meat etc. The focus is on high quality, fresh food with meat treated almost as a side note or accent instead of the main feature, tons of veg, whole grains and legumes.
See here for some of his recipes such as Spicy No-Mayo Coleslaw, Vegetable Pancakes and Tomato Cobbler.

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
This book is on the reading list of all non-vegetarian farm apprentices. This book may appear a little radical and meat centric to some but the overall principal is actually not that different from Mark Bittman's, I'd say.  The focus here is on the health aspects of traditional meats, fermented vegetables, fermented dairy products (yogurt, kefir, cultured butter), and soaked whole grains. Quality reigns supreme here as well as nutrient density - bone broths, non-homogizined and raw milk, that sort of thing. Worth checking out for sure. And this may even send you down the very interesting path to find out more about Dr. Weston Price and the Weston Price Foundation. Alas, I've lent out my copy and don't have it on hand to share recipes but you can find loads of recipes from the Nourishing Cook, a woman who is cooking all the recipes a la Julie & Julia. Here are recipes for Swiss Chard and for Green Beans with Bacon and Carmelized Onions

There are a couple other great recipes this month from Bon Appetit:
Tuscan Kale Caesar Slaw
Charred Green Beans with Harissa and Almonds