Recipes for Good Health

Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Ready to take the ancient Greek physician’s advice? These five new cookbooks will help.

Amy Chaplin’s beautiful cookbook, At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen should be a staple in every pantry—vegetarian or not. The former executive chef of New York City’s most famous vegan restaurant, Angelica Kitchen, demystifies exotic ingredients from kombu to kraut. Recipes are 90 percent vegan; those that include butter, cheese, or eggs reference appropriate substitutes. Read the book cover to cover for superb, sophisticated recipes and on-point suggestions for everything from food storage to water filtration. Chaplin’s explanation of soaking beans and grains to remove phytic acid is among the most cogent I’ve found. Standout recipes: soft polenta with nettles, peas, and goat cheese; shaved fennel and beet salad with crushed hazelnuts; and perfect pie crusts. The chapter on tarts is worth the price of the book.

Plant-Powered for Life by Sharon Palmer is another winner, packed with 125 vegan recipes. Palmer introduces readers to a wide range of vegetables, grains, legumes, and spices with recipes that hail from culinary landscapes as diverse as Morocco, Scandinavia, and the American South. She lists nutritional details for each menu item. Her savory steel-cut oat risotto is a revelation.  Click HERE to continue