The Healthy Kitchen by Rosie Daley

The Peach And Blueberry Cobbler Is Worth The Price Of The Book...

In Eating Well for Optimum Health, one of Amazons bestselling health

books of 2000, alternative-medicine maverick Andrew Weil revealed his

version of the ideal diet (and backed it up with sci entific proof): a variety of

unprocessed, or whole foods; just-picked, organic vegetables; whole

grains; good fats, such as the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and nuts;

fresh herbs and spices instead of heavy sauces; and a minimum of meat

and dairy products. Eating this responsibly is certainly an admirable

pursuit, but home cooking of this caliber can be intimidating, requiring

much more energy than it would to pull up to the drive-through and order a

burger and fries. In The Healthy Kitchen, Weil successfully teams up with

Rosie Daley, formerly chef at the ritzy Cal-a-Vie Spa, to show how to cook with confidence within these dietary guidelines, creating dishes that are not

only good for you, but are also fun to prepare, beautiful to look at, and

delectable. For those of you predicting a tofu-fest, have no fear: Weil

stresses hes unwilling to eat food that is boring, artless, and devoid of

pleasure even if its somebody elses idea of healthful. Indeed, the gorgeous

color photography in The Healthy Kitchen will get you drooling over healthy

entrées like Warm Chicken and Asparagus Salad and desserts like Lemon

Yogurt Sorbet. You can be proud to serve these recipes to your family and

friends--many of the appetizers and entrées are perfect party foods, sized

to feed a dozen. Some recipes are notably more complicated than others--

Cold Vegetable Pasta Primavera involves grilling five different veggies;

baked Vegetable Wontons are time-consuming if youre not familiar with

the folding process. However, Daley and Weil advise working your way up

to these more complex dishes. Sprinkled throughout the book are witty

and wise health tips from Weil and cooking shortcuts from Daley. The two admit they dont agree on all cooking matters; Weil would substitute

cashew milk for coconut milk and adds his two cents on making the Thai

Shrimp and Papaya Salad spicier, for example. The Healthy Kitchen

seems to be influenced a bit by Martha Stewarts Healthy Quick Cook, with

Weils text shaded in that unmistakably Martha sage-green, and Daleys in

what Stewart might call bisque. Both books emphasize seasonal fresh

foods and boast sumptuous photography and tempting menu suggestions.

However, Weil and Daley outdo her with calorie and nutritional

breakdowns for each dish, shopping guides for easy meal planning, and

tips on encouraging children to help out in the kitchen (and develop lifelong

healthy eating habits in the process). --Erica Jorgensen

The Healthy Kitchen is as much a pleasure to read as it is to cook from.

Throughout the book there are helpful tips from Rosie and discussions on healthy eating from Dr. Weil. We learn that Rosie loves to shop at her local

farmers market and that Dr. Weil doesnt use butter. Some of the recipes

do call for butter and sugar but these are supposed to be for special

occasions. Dr Weil recommends using olive oil or grapeseed oil and gives

some substitution ideas for coconut milk (he likes cashew milk) and butter

(he prefers a natural spread called Spectrum Spread). I liked his ideas

about buying oil in smaller containers so that it doesnt go rancid. There is

also a discussion on whether eggs are good or bad. It is important to note

that this is not a diet book, but rather a book about healthy eating.

The recipes I tried include:

Honey Ginger Lemonade

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

Whole Wheat Baguettes with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Herbs Miso Soup

Dr. Weils Lebanese Salad

As Im typing Im sipping on the Honey Ginger Lemonade. After drinking it

for three days I notice that it is best on the third day. You may want to

make this well ahead of time as the ginger is very subtle and seems to

infuse the lemonade a little more each day. While the drink was fairly tart

to begin with I found that you can add in a few packets of Stevia (a natural

sweetener that tastes just like sugar) and it then tastes sweet without the

need to add more honey. I was actually surprised that the addition of ¼

cup fresh ginger did not make the lemonade taste overly gingery. This is

the perfect recipe for lemonade at a picnic in the summer.

The second recipe I tried was the Peach and Blueberry Cobbler. Right

from the start I could tell this was going to be delicious. You cook the

peaches and blueberries in an orange juice infused glaze. When making

the biscuits Id recommend mixing the sugar, baking powder and salt into

the flour before adding the butter. I also used a 13 x 9 x 2 -inch glass

baking dish and cut the biscuits with a small biscuit c utter so there were 24

small biscuits. The dough was soft enough that it could be patted out instead of rolled. Im thinking of doubling the filling ingredients (10 peaches

instead of 5) because then it might actually serve six people. This recipe

says it serves 10 but I highly doubt that everyone will resist seconds so Id

say it is more for four to six people.

The Whole Wheat Baguettes recipe is fairly straightforward except you

only need to use 2 cups of white flour instead of 2 ½. I instinctively knew

she was calling for too much flour so I left out half a cup to see if that

would work. I ended up adding a little more water and used sun-dried

tomatoes in oil instead of just dried tomatoes you soak in water. Id

recommend using a damp towel to cover the dough for the first rising but

dont see why you need a towel during the second rising. Rosie doesnt call

for oiling the top of the dough but Id recommend it. I really got excited

about making this recipe because I love breads with herbs, especially rosemary. The recipe also calls for chopped fresh basil. My husband kept

asking me when the bread would be ready because the entire kitchen was

scented with garlic and herbs. The recipe makes two large loaves and this

is quite possibly the best herb bread Ive ever tasted. You may find that the

bread bakes in 25-30 minutes instead of 40. This bread would go well with

the pasta recipes in In the Kitchen with Rosie: Oprahs Favorite Recipes.

The Miso Soup was very simple to make. Miso paste was easy to find at

my local health food store. Since this is a fairly mild soup you may want to

add a little seasoning. I personally liked adding some of Emerils original

seasoning to make the soup a little spicy. If you cant find the wakame

seaweed just use some cut up roasted seaweed sheets (Sushi Nori).

Dr. Weils Lebanese Salad is delicious and great in the summer. I left out

the tomatoes and spearmint and used half the onion instead of a whole onion. I also used half the feta cheese because it is so salty. Salt and

pepper are added at the end to taste but Id also recommend sprinkling

some extra olive oil on each serving.

Some of the other recipes you may enjoy making include:

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Mixed Bean Minestrone Stew

Vegetable Lasagna

Greens with Tangy Miso Dressing

Apple Cake Squares

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

Serrano Chili and Cilantro Cornbread Muffins

Savory Lobster-Mushroom Crepe

Ginger Cookies

If you have been cooking for a few years you will find the recipes to be

fairly straightforward. A short section on how to knead bread dough would

have been useful. Instructions for adapting the recipe for bread machines

could save time. I loved all the recipes I tried and Im looking forward to trying the Spiced Tea in the winter. It is probably impossible to create a

cookbook without some mistakes so if you can overlook a few tiny errors

here and there you can still discover some recipes you will make agai n and

again. I really love the ideas in this cookbook and all attempts seem to

have been made to make the recipes as healthy as possible (butter

substitutes, olive oil, whole wheat flour, vegetarian fare, etc.). Ive rarely

found a cookbook that had so many recipes I wanted to try.

~The Rebecca Review

8/12/2008 - The Baked Wontons are pretty good. I used 1/4 cup chopped

shallots in place of the green onions and didnt add the ginger. The curry

flavor actually goes really well with some Sun Luck Plum Sauce in place of

the sauce you are supposed to make with dried mango.

8/17/2008 - The Blueberry Pie with a Lattice Top is one of the best pies Ive

ever made. The filling is sweetened with maple syrup and the butter crust

didnt shrink like I expected it to. Ive tried other butter crusts with less luck

but this one kept its shape. The only issue I had to deal with while making

the crust was the lack of enough water. It is very dry where I live. If

needed, just keep adding more tablespoons of ice water - I used 16 T

instead of 10.

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