Broth & Stock from the Nourished Kitchen: Wholesome Master Recipes for Bone, Vegetable, and Seafood Broths and Meals to Make with Them Cookbook Review

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

You may know Jennifer McGruther by her award-winning traditional foods website, Nourished Kitchen, and her first book The Nourished Kitchen. She is also a food educator that teaches workshops on traditional foods, fermentation, as well as food activism. Jennifer lives with her husband and son in Washington State. I personally have enjoyed reading her website and own her first cookbook which I use quite often for her farm-to-table recipes that are sustainable, traditionally prepared, unprocessed, unrefined whole foods.

In her second cookbook she focuses on one area, making and using broth and stock, that is briefly touched on in her first cookbook. In Broth & Stock from the Nourished Kitchen: Wholesome Master Recipes for Bone, Vegetable, and Seafood Broths and Meals to Make with Them she delves deeper into the foodie trend that is making a comeback in popularity with households who want to get back to their roots with their cooking.

Broth & Stock is well laid out and easy to navigate. It starts out with an introduction that introduces the history of broth and stock and why you would want to make it at home. The book is then divided into 6 chapters: The Broth Maker's Kitchen, Master Broths and Stocks, Poultry, Meat, Fish, and Vegetables. The first chapter is an in depth look at what broth, stock and bone broth is; choosing bones to use in bone broth, using wine or vinegar, which vegetables to pick for the broth or stock, herbs & spices, equipment needed, and how to store it. Chapter 2 has many master recipes for use as bases in other recipes. Chapters 2-6 each start out with a brief introduction on the chapter then they have the recipes. Each recipe has the name of the recipe at the top and servings under that,  ingredients along the left side, a gorgeous full-color photo of the completed dish, a paragraph about the dish, and instructions on how to make it. She also include tips and tricks throughout the cookbook as well. Then at the end of the cookbook you have Where to Shop, Bibliography, Measurement Conversion Charts, Gratitude, and an Index.

For myself, who has only made a few broths or stocks in her lifetime, I treasure the contents of this cookbook. This will help me, in my opinion, make better homemade meals in my kitchen. With this cookbook I can make all sorts of soup bases and not only that, I have delicious sounding recipes right at my fingertips to use them in. Also I love that she includes recipes from different countries. These will help me grow my repertoire of meals and give them a good boost. I always love to try exotic things. My favorite sounding dishes from this cookbook are: Thai-Style Chicken Soup with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk (tom kha gai) and Springtime Risotto with Asparagus, Green Garlic, and Chive Blossoms.

I highly recommend Broth & Stock by Jennifer McGruther. Whether you are new to making broths and stocks or a natural, I feel that you will enjoy this cookbook like I have. It is sure to become a family favorite.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Blogging For Books for sending me this book for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Wordless Wednesday Twisted Carrots

Zari found this fun twisted carrot from the large bag of juicing carrots we get for our horses to eat.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this post. Affiliate links are in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

My New Roots: Inspired Plant-Based Recipes for Every Season Cookbook Review

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

You may know Sarah Britton (BFA, CNP) from her extremely popular foodie blog, My New Roots, which focuses on healthy recipes that are plant-based natural whole foods. Sarah Britton is the Copenhagen based holistic nutritionist, writer, and photographer behind both her blog and cookbook that shares the same name. She is also a seasonal eater and lover of organic and super foods. She has won many accolades and awards for her work, been on TED talks and featured in O, the Oprah Magazine, Bon Appétit, and Whole Living. If you've seen her blog you have seen her fantastic wholesome recipes gorgeously presented with photographs that she herself took. If you've seen her TED talks (you can on YouTube if you haven't) you have seen her lovely infectious spirit and enthusiasm for nutritious food. She is, in my opinion, a vegetarian culinary goddess.

In her newly released and very first cookbook she takes inspiration from her blog by creating brand new recipes that also are plant-based natural whole foods. The book is divided into seasonal chapters: Spring, Early Summer, Late Summer, Autumn, and Winter which then are each divided into recipe groups: Mornings, Small Measures, Mains, and Sweets. In the Introduction, before the recipes start, she introduces herself, her blog, her food philosophy, why eating in the rhythm of the seasons and connecting with the cycles of nature makes so much sense, and the use of symbols in the book. After the Introduction and before the recipes she shares Essential Techniques of cooking dried legumes, cooking grains, making ghee, making seed and nut milks and butters, growing sprouts, and flavoring food with the use of salt (sea salt, Himalayan rock salt, soy sauce, tamari, miso), sugar (raw honey, pure maple syrup, barley malt, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, dates, fruit juice, applesauce), and acid (citrus juice, vinegar - raw organic apple cider vinegar is healthiest).

This cookbook has whole foods, super foods, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free recipes inside. Sarah Britton does use goat/sheep/cow cheese/yogurt, ghee (which in most cases can be substituted with coconut oil), honey (although she says you can substitute with maple syrup), bee pollen, and eggs in some of her recipes, so this book is not completely vegan, but it does have quite a few recipes that are and they are clearly marked with a v at the top of the page under the recipe title. Besides the v symbol for vegan, there is a gf  symbol for gluten-free, a clock symbol for when the recipes need planning ahead, and a moon symbol for when it will take 8 hours or longer to do a task that is required (like soaking legumes, fermenting, etc.) in the recipe. Some of these recipes are great for paleo and raw food diets as well.

The layout of each recipe is quite simple. At the top of each recipe includes the title, serving sizes or how much it makes in both US standard and metric units, and symbols. Each recipe also has a small paragraph where the author introduces it. I love her down to earth tone and kindred spirit feel of her writing as well. Then she has listed ingredients and detailed directions to each. Sometimes you see a paragraph within the picture or pages to give more information, facts, or background about an ingredient or a note, tips, and tricks to help you in the recipe process.

Just thumbing through the pages in this cookbook is so satisfying to me. There are things in My New Roots that are revolutionary in my opinion. I wouldn't have thought on my own to make "bacon" from coconut, try celeriac, or poach radishes. I can tell you that I couldn't help but drool a bit when looking through the My New Roots cookbook. What I love about this, verses other cookbooks that I have on my shelf, is that just about every recipe in this cookbook has a photo of the finished dish to go with it. The photos are beautiful and mouth watering just all by themselves!

At the end of the My New Roots cookbook there is a section on stocking the pantry, a gratitude section where she thanks people, and an index to help you find things easier. I love that with the section on stocking the pantry you can get the ingredients in your kitchen closer to healthier and more holistic.

For me the My New Roots cookbook is fantastic! I love the presentation and everything looks and sounds so delicious! I cannot wait to dig into this deeper and try all the food and drinks within. I recommend this to vegetarians or anyone willing to try the lifestyle that need inspiring and motivated cooks who would like to be a little adventuresome with their palate.

Watch for a sneak peek of her cookbook...


Follow Sarah Britton and My New Roots
Her Blog http://www.mynewroots.org/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MyNewRoots
Twitter: @mynewroots
Instagram: http://instagram.com/mynewroots/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mynewroots/

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Blogging For Books for sending me this book for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon Cookbook Review

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

You may know Sara Forte from her popular foodie blog, The Sprouted Kitchen, which focuses on making recipes using whole foods that are also in season. She and her husband have compiled two fabulous cookbooks: the first is called The Sprouted Kitchen after her blog and the most recent one is called Bowl + Spoon. Her recipes are sumptuous, nutritious, and easy to make if you have the ingredients at hand. She doesn't over-complicate anything and uses ingredients that help us get back to eating healthier. Her husband, Hugh Forte, is the talent behind the camera. He photographs all the gorgeous photos on her blog and in her books. They also have a little boy named Curran, who I think has a very adorable name!

When I think of bowl foods I think of; breakfast foods like: hot oatmeal, other hot and cold cereals, and yogurt with fruit and granola; comfort foods like: soups, chili, stews, and chowders; and others like: salads and stir-fries. One of my favorite places to eat out is Chang's Mongolian Grill in Portland, which is a restaurant where you create your own stir-fry in a bowl using a variety of meats, poultry, seafood, vegetables, sauces, and spices. I have come up with many a yummy combination with the ingredients they have on hand. Bowls are my favorite vessel to put food into at home because usually my meals are foods that go well mixed together anyway, in my opinion. I love making one pot meals, casseroles, and quiches that lend themselves easily to a bowl as well. My favorite desserts to make tend to be fruit crumbles, crisps, and cobblers which also are great in a bowl dolloped with ice cream.

The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon cookbook is a hardcover book by Sara Forte which focuses food around the use of a bowl. The bowl has become a beautiful vessel for all types of foods not just the popular ones that come to mind. Sara's take on bowl foods is refreshing and enlightening. She creates meals and desserts that are somewhat unique to the regular bowl food repertoire, yet are easy to fix while also being wholesome, nourishing, and delicious.

The layout of the book is fairly straightforward. Contents of this book start with an overview, a list of tools needed in the kitchen, and pantry staples. After these pages it has categories of bowl foods split into: Morning Bowls, Side Bowls, Big Bowls, and Sweet Bowls with recipes throughout. Then it has a section that covers Dressing and Sauces with recipes for those. The end of the cookbook is a lovely epilogue of thankfulness from the author to people that helped her with the making of the book, an "about us" page that tells about the author and photographer, an index to find things easier and some handy measurement conversion charts on the inside of the back cover.

The ingredients in this cookbook are a menagerie of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and/or lean proteins that are nestled against each other to create a distinctive blend of flavor and texture. This is not a strictly vegetarian or vegan cookbook. There is use of dairy, chicken, turkey, eggs, seafood, etc. in this book. Some of the ingredients are not what I usually have at hand in my kitchen pantry, but I am reassured by the author that I can find them all easily at a "farmers' market, heath food store, or wellstocked grocery store". Put together in a bowl these ingredients are very visually appealing, and perfect to serve to: guests when entertaining or your family while sitting on your sofa.

The recipes in this book are easily executed. The instructions are simple to reproduce and the directions are uncomplicated. Some of these recipes do call for more time than most care to invest, but in my opinion they are worth it because they are a lot healthier than the average food faire. I do wish that all of the recipes were accompanied by the photograph of the completed dish, but not all of them are. Instead some have pictures of the author, her family, entertaining, and/or part of the ingredients of the recipe displayed in a pleasing manner. I do love these photographs too, but having photos of each completed recipe would have been more helpful to people like me who are very visual and love to see what the food should end up looking like before making the recipe. Every recipe in The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon cookbook has a title at the top, how many it serves, a story with tips, ingredient list, and directions on how to prepare and make. I love that Sara puts her personal touch in each recipe with a short story that goes along with each. My favorite yummy sounding recipes in this book are: Baby Potato and Asparagus Tangle with Green Harissa and Eggs, Winter Fruit Salad in Ginger Lime Syrup, Mixed Greens with Beet and Walnut Puree, Za'atar Roasted Carrots, Seared Albacore Niçoise, Coconut Sorbet with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce, & Dark Cherry Hazelnut Salsa. I also love that she adds a Building a Bowl guide to building your own bowl meal from scratch.

All in all I believe this cookbook is a lovely addition to my cookbook shelf. It will be treasured in my kitchen. I am excited to make the recipes inside its pages for my family and friends.

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Blogging For Books for sending me this book for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.