Healthy Cooking

It’s that time of the year when New Year’s resolutions are fresh in our minds.  The first one is usually to eat better and lose those extra holiday pounds.  This great selection of cookbooks, each with a slightly different focus, will help you find the best dishes for your new and improved style of food preparation.  Find them in the New Non-fiction section on the main floor.

America the Cookbook by Gabrielle Langholtz (641.5973 LA) is a giant volume of recipes from the fifty United States – 3600 tasty dishes in all.  Within the chapters of Starters, Main Courses, Side Dishes, Desserts, etc., the recipes are presented alphabetically by state, with an image of the state at the top of the page.  If a particular recipe is also vegetarian, dairy-free, or grain-free, a symbol to indicate that attribute is included on the page – very visual.  This thick book with red, white, and blue on its cover offers many choices for healthy cooking.

David Tanis Market Cooking (641.5 TA) is subtitled “Recipes and Revelations Ingredient by Ingredient” because the recipes are basic and start with whole, fresh ingredients.  Every easy-to-prepare recipe is shown in a delicious-looking color photo.  There’s a section of kitchen essentials that provides instructions on how to clarify butter, make mayonnaise, culture yogurt, prepare pizza dough, and cook a basic broth – all from scratch.  Call it whole foods or back-to-basics, but this book is a new classic!

Guerrilla Tacos:  Recipes from the Streets of L.A. by Wesley Avila (641.84 AV) is Avila’s autobiography told through his soft taco creations and updates of other Mexican foods.  Each section of the book inspires a story from the author’s ongoing culinary journey.  Avila uses the humble corn tortilla as a “blank canvas” for flavorful taco toppings in many combinations which include some surprises, such as duck heart, octopus, and oxtail.  Join Avila on a unique cooking adventure, as he also puts a personal spin on traditional Mexican foods such as pozole, menudo, and quesadillas. 

Lake Fish:  Modern Cooking with Freshwater Fish by Keane Amdahl (641.392 AM) is a collection of recipes that boast fish as the main ingredient.  You won’t settle for a fried up batch of perch or sunfish anymore – unless you add some Pickled Onion and Chile Mayo on the side.  How about trying a Walleye Lettuce Wrap or Pecan-Crusted Catfish? These recipes are anything but traditional, bringing a bit of fun into the kitchen.  Most of the fish mentioned in these recipes can be caught locally.

The Pho Cookbook by Andrea Nguyen (641.5959 NG) is a cultural introduction to a Vietnamese noodle delicacy.  Traditionally made with flat rice noodles, broth, thinly sliced beef and chopped vegetables, pho can also be vegetarian or made with chicken in modern kitchens.  Nguyen expands on traditional preparation methods to include baked and fried pho, and throws in yummy side dishes such as Rice Paper Salad Rolls and Pho Pot Stickers.  Flavored coffees and drinks finish off the meal and the book.

The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley (641.5929 SH) is an overview of locally grown and harvested foods, along with delicious recipes for native dishes.  Although Sherman is most familiar with indigenous cuisine from Minnesota and the Dakotas, he has tasted his way throughout North America, discovering a variety of recipes and regional ingredients.  This book takes readers back to the basics of making your own flour and sweetener.  Many recipes feature the “three sisters” of corn, beans, and squash, along with other staples of wild rice and fresh herbs.  It’s an insight into a new cuisine emerging from the revitalization of Native American culture.

Zingerman's Bakehouse by Amy Emberling & Frank Carollo (641.815 EM) is full of wholesome recipes that may qualify as “healthy” when baked with whole grains and eaten sparingly.  However, recipes such as Sicilian Sesame Semolina Bread, Big O (for oatmeal) Cookies, or homemade Graham Crackers will complement dishes from the previous cookbooks and provide a treat to keep your healthy diet on track.  In addition to modern twists on traditional recipes, these tried and true pastries will delight all the diners at your table.

--Lynette Suckow, Reference Department