Eat to Live Quick and Easy

There have been exactly three people in my life who have spontaneously told me that, "I eat to live; I don't live to eat." This was said proudly, as though it was some sort of virtue. Like the rest of us humans spend way too much time eating food that we like.

To be honest, I don't think I know anyone who literally lives to eat. Sure, I have a bunch of food-loving friends, and we all enjoy eating good food. But we all have other things in our lives that are important. Many of us enjoy cooking food, and seeing the pleasure that others derive from our efforts. But I can't name anyone who actually spends their entire existence seeking out the best morsels of food.

That person might exist, but I don't know them.

On the other hand, most of us understand that we need to eat food in order to survive. It's just that we prefer it to be tasty. Eating well-made food (and possibly the occasional junk-food indulgence) is one of life's simple pleasures.

The interesting thing is that the "eat to live" people I knew were all very different from each other, aside from their declarations of food-as-fuel virtuosity.

The first fellow wasn't particularly picky about food, but did enjoy things that were well-made. He preferred simple homemade and peasant foods over restaurant meals, and he preferred from-scratch cooking over boxed or frozen products. He thought that diet sodas were the stupidest things ever, since you were paying for something with no nutritional value at all, and he disliked full-sugar sodas just slightly less, because they were all sugar with no other benefits. While he didn't seek out "fancy" foods and didn't follow food fads, he could be perfectly happy eating pretty much anything set in front of him. And while he certainly indulged in ice cream or cookies on occasion, he preferred foods that were more nutritionally balanced.

The second person was nearly the polar opposite. He said he didn't "need" fancy foods, but what he actually meant was that he didn't like them. He said that he didn't need anyone fussing over him, and that he wasn't picky - he was fine with simple foods. But, in fact, he was very picky. The list of foods he wouldn't eat (mostly vegetables) was quite long. But he patted himself on the back that he didn't require anything fancier than green beans and carrots and simply cooked meats. While he enjoyed going out to restaurants, he was likely to order a steak, lest he end up with something too fancy for his simple tastes.

The third person was a woman who would literally eat anything that wasn't actively trying to kill her. That included food that didn't taste good, had been long-dead of freezer burn, or that anyone else would say, "I'm not risking getting sick by eating this." Food was fuel and she had little interest in what it tasted like, particularly if she was cooking. If someone else was cooking, she could enjoy or critique their efforts, but she would eat it all. As far as restaurants, she always complained that she could make the same thing at home for much less. She was a big fan of McDonalds.

When the book Eat to Live Quick and Easy Cookbook by Dr. Joel Fuhrman showed up on my doorstep, I wondered what the author thought that phrase meant. Since it said quick and easy, I assumed I wouldn't be asked to stir a sauce for 20 minutes. Since the author was an MD, I assumed the recipes would be healthy.

But what sort of healthy?

I mean, seriously, there are dozens upon dozens of diets these days that purport to be the best way to stay healthy. Which one did this doctor embrace?

The extra text on the cover said: 131 Delicious Recipes for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, Reversing Disease, and Lifelong Health. So there ya go. Delicious healthy diet food. But still, how is this magic accomplished?

A quick glance through the book tells me that he doesn't use salt or oil, and not much black pepper. His "simple vinaigrette" uses vinegar, water and arrowroot powder with no other ingredients. He does like vinegar, Bragg Liquid Aminos, raw almonds and other nuts, and nutritional yeast.

He doesn't mind using packaged or canned products, and he doesn't mind cooking in the microwave. The first main dish uses frozen artichoke hearts that are microwaved and garlic that is microwaved then chopped. Then, tomato sauce (I'm imagining it's canned because it doesn't say otherwise) is poured on top of the microwaved artichokes, the minced garlic is placed on top of the sauce, and then whole shebang is microwaved again.

Pasta recipes in the book suggest bean pasta. While gluten is scarce, he's not entirely gluten free, since he calls for whole-grain bread crumbs in one recipe and whole grain pita bread in another. Presumably, if someone is following a gluten-free diet, they'd have gluten-free bread and pita bread for use in those recipes.

He's fine with grains in general, as long as they are whole-grain. He's also fine with beans, lentils, and all sorts of nuts.

The book seems to be dairy-free. Recipes that might otherwise use milk will use dairy-free alternatives. I didn't notice any recipes that used cheese, but I didn't scrutinize every recipe in the book.

He doesn't avoid soy since some recipes use tofu, and soy milk is listed as one of the choices for a dairy-free milk.

While the book isn't completely meat-free, the ones I saw used chicken or turkey rather than beef or pork. I didn't notice any recipes that used eggs, although it's possible I missed one.

Dessert recipes contain no sugar, but most (if not all) use dates as a sweetener. I didn't notice any other sweeteners, like honey or agave, and he doesn't use artificial sweeteners.

So ... when you add it all up, it doesn't seem like he follows any of the named diets out there. But overall it seems like we could call it Unseasoned Dairy-Free Gluten-Lite Nearly-Vegan.

Seriously, though, I'm sure this diet speaks to someone. And if you want to add a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil, and a shake or two of black pepper, I'm sure nothing will explode.

This book is currently available for pre-order and will be released on May 2, 2017. Please note that there are two previous books with a similar "Eat to Live" graphic and title on the cover. I'm not sure if these are a series or if they're revisions of the same book.

I received this book from the publisher for the purpose of a review.

Weeknight Paleo

A while back, a publisher asked me if I wanted to review Weeknight Paleo by Julia and Charles Mayfield. I said, "No thanks, I don't do a lot of special-diet books," and didn't think any more about it ... until the book arrived.

*sigh*

I paged through it, thinking that I probably wouldn't like the recipes. If you know me at all, you know I'm not afraid of carbs. I like bread, rice, potatoes ... not that I eat them with every meal, but if I'm eating Chinese food, there's probably rice, and if I want a sandwich, it's going to be on bread.

The more I paged through the book, the more I was surprised. For the most part, these were recipes that I would have been happy to make or eat. I mean, I might have cooked a carb as a side dish for some of them (a shrimp and vegetable dish was looking for rice, for example, and the pork mole would have been nice with some tortillas), but the recipes themselves looked fine.

There were a couple recipes in the book where squash was substituted for pasta, like a "lasagna" that I'm a little more skeptical of. I mean, I might try it and like it, but I don't think I'd give up regular lasagna.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, and happy that this accidentally got sent to me. While I'm not going to suddenly embrace the paleo lifestyle (at least not today, because there's rice in the rice cooker) I'll probably be making some of these recipes.

Honestly, this could have been named something else, and I probably wouldn't have noticed the lack of grains and starches, because the recipes are fine as they are. And the chicken and Brussels sprouts skewers wrapped with bacon look pretty darned good.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.

The Migraine Relief Plan

When I posted a link to The Migraine Relief Plan by Stephanie Weaver on my Facebook page, a lot of people commented that there's no one-size-fits-all diet that can eliminate migraines.

While I agree, as a former migraine sufferer, I have to say that if someone had offered me any sort of plan, I would have followed along.

That said, I don't know if I could have followed a super-strict diet to combat the migraines. I think I might have slipped a lot. But then again, the point is to find out what our own personal triggers are, so you can eliminate those and continue eating other foods that aren't triggers.

While this book does have recipes, I think the most important part, for migraine sufferers, is the plan itself. It's a very structured way to figure out which foods are triggers and which ones are safe. There are some foods that affect a lot of people, and some foods that affect fewer people. So it's kind of important to know what your personal triggers are. And to be honest, I was surprise at how many foods are possible triggers. I knew a few of them, but ... wow, there are a lot! This book talks about all of those foods as possible triggers, but I'll bet that most folks aren't triggered by all of them.

My personal relationship with migraines started when I was very young. So young that I don't remember a time when I didn't occasionally have headaches once in a while. I was probably four years old, or even younger, when I first started getting migraines, so I lived with them for a looooong time.

Now, I can't really remember the last migraine I had. It's been a while. Many years. Two of my triggers were not food-related. One was hormonal swings, and I've outgrown those. The other was stress, and I've learned how to handle that a lot better.

My major food trigger, which might or might not still exist as a trigger, is red wine. While not all red wines affected me, I found it was pretty simple to just stick to white wines. I still avoid red wines, but it's not a big sacrifice. I've had some red wine over the years - a small glass at a tasting, or a sip here or there. But you won't find me splitting a bottle of merlot at dinner. Nope.

I suppose that at the height of my migraine episodes, there might have been other foods that were mild triggers, but I guess I'll never know. And I don't want to.

As far as the recipes in the book, I've looked through them, but I haven't made any of them, mostly because I don't stock a lot of the ingredients that are used for substitutes for migraine-trigger food. The recipes look good, but I think I'll leave them for someone else to try.

If you're a migraine sufferer and you want to figure out what your triggers are and you want to see some recipes that might work for you, take a look at this book. If you don't get migraines ... well, consider yourself lucky. Migraines are awful.

The 4-Ingredient Diabetes Cookbook

I don't usually review a lot of diet-related books, but the diabetic ones fit pretty well with the way I eat, as long as they don't use artificial sweeteners. But those aren't used in savory foods, so it's all good.

Not only is The 4-Ingredient Diabetes Cookbook by Nancy S. Hughes a book for special diets, but it's also one for people who don't fuss with their cooking.

There's a cookbook for everyone and I picture this one as targeting someone who just found out they're diabetic and need to change their eating habits, but they're used to the convenience of restaurants, take-out, and frozen entrees and box mixes.

The recipes aren't complicated - I mean, how can they be with only four ingredients?

Well, there's a little bit of a trick - for the orzo salad I made, it called for feta cheese with sundried tomatoes and basil. Um ... I don't think I've ever seen such a thing. So I used regular feta cheese, then added some roasted red peppers. It also called for a bottled salad dressing mix. I normally would have substituted a home made dressing, but I just happened to have a bottle of dressing that I got as a sample, so I used that.

Then it called for a Greek seasoning mix. That's something I've never seen at the grocery store, but I do buy it from Penzey's. So I was good to go with that.

But ... if it weren't for the use of combo products, there would have been a lot more ingredients besides orzo, feta, salad dressing, and seasoning mix. Parsley was optional, but I didn't have any on hand.

It was pretty good. I was tempted to add more ingredients - olives, artichokes, capers, cucumber, zucchini, fresh green bell pepper ... but I held back. I figured the roasted red peppers were enough of an addition to the recipe.

Oh, and I also used a flavored orzo mix instead of the whole wheat orzo called for in the recipe. I didn't happen to have the whole wheat version, and I did have orzo with lemon and parsley - so there was some parsley flavor, even if the fresh herb wasn't there.

It was good. I'd make it again. Actually, I've made salads like this before. But if I did make it again, I definitely would add things. Maybe just cucumbers, to add just that little bit of crunch.

Next up, I tried something called Black Bean and Corn Bowl. It was pretty simple. A can of tomatoes with peppers, canned black beans, frozen corn (I used canned), and some sour cream for a garnish.

Again, I'd made something very similar befire, but the one I made had been an uncooked mix that was a salad or could be used as a salsa. I was curious what it would be like after cooking, aside from getting rid of some of the liquid from the tomatoes.

I didn't happen to have tomatoes with peppers called for in the recipe, so I used regular diced tomatoes plus a can of Hatch diced chilies.

The book made sort of a big deal about using the 10.5-ounce can of tomatoes instead of the 14.5-ounce can. I'm guessing they were referring to a particular brand in the smaller can, because can size shouldn't affect flavor. But ... they didn't mention the brand and I had the diced tomatoes and peppers on hand. So that's what I used. Next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll take a look at what kind of tomatoes come in small cans.

I combined the ingredients and cooked according to the directions, and I have to say that while it was okay, it wasn't fantastic. The beans, since they were already cooked in the can, seemed sort of overcooked and the flavor was a little muddy.

But it wasn't bad.

Hot, it was sort of like a vegetarian chili, but if I was making a vegetarian chili, I would have added more ingredients. Then I tried it chilled, but I thought it needed more flavor, so I added more salsa and used it on top of chips. While I liked the combination of ingredients, I think next time around, I won't bother cooking, particularly if I use canned corn. If I have fresh or frozen corn, I'll cook that separately, but leave the beans as-is.

So ... while this probably isn't the book for me because I wanted to keep adding more and more ingredients, it would be an awesome book for someone who wants to cook diabetic-friendly foods without a lot of fuss.

Skinny Suppers

Let's be honest. I'm not a big fan of diets or diet books. I'd rather eat a little bit of real ice cream than a quart of low-fat/low-sugar ice cream. I'd rather have a little bit of a good yogurt than a lot of a yogurt that tastes like sadness.

But I have no problem with recipes that cut back on calories without making flavor suffer. I have no problem with portion reduction. I have no problem with using lighter ingredients if they don't mess up the recipe. I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in a lot of recipes ... unless the recipe really needs sour cream.

So, when I got Skinny Suppers by Brooke Griffin, the first thing I looked for was any weird ingredients. Recipes in this book sometimes call for light mayonnaise, fat-free milk, or unsweetened jam. I'd probably use regular mayo and milk, because that's what I buy. I do like unsweetened jam, though. But I'm not morally opposed to any of those substitutions.

One recipe that called for cream cheese listed 1/3-less-fat cream cheese. That's not too bad. I've used that cream cheese and it works just fine in recipes. I've tried the fat-free cream cheese and disliked it, so I was happy that wasn't required. So that was a fine substitution.

I was a little skeptical about sugar-free maple-flavored syrup, though. I'd probably just use less of the real stuff and call it a day.

So, the ingredients passed my test - I was either okay with them, or I could substitute if I wanted to.

One surprising thing was how many brand names were specified. A pasta recipe, for example, called for Prego Light Smart Traditional pasta sauce. That's helpful as long as that product is for sale, but I thought it might be too specific. Does every store carry this particular sauce? I don't know. Other times, the recipes called for something generic (parmesan cheese) and then mentioned the brand that the author liked (for example, she often mentioned Barilla ProteinPLUS pasta as a favorite).

That specificity makes sense for diet recipes, since one brand of pasta sauce might have a lot more added sugar than another. Again, if you like another brand better, it's not going to kill the recipe. The calorie count might not be the same, but a lot of things affect the calorie count. Just how big is a medium onion?

The book has an interesting organization. Since it's all suppers, it couldn't be organized in the usual breakfast, appetizer, soup, salad, main ... sort of thing. And it's also not by seasons, as is pretty common these days.

Instead, it's beef suppers, casserole suppers, chicken and turkey suppers, pasta suppers, pork suppers, seafood suppers, soups and salads, vegetarian suppers, and side dishes. The edges of the pages in each section are a different color to make it easier to see where sections start and end.

The recipes are all things that I'd be happy making, and many of them are things that I already know how to make. But that's fine. I'm always willing to try new versions.

Some of the highlights in the book are the apple-stuffed pork tenderloin with Dijon mustard sauce (but I'd leave the raisins out), Italian chickpea salad, butternut squash risotto, slow cooker creamy chicken and wild rice soup, and blackened fish tacos with cilantro-lime slaw.

Overall, it's a solid book with recipes that are easy enough to be doable for most folks, but still with a lot of flavor. I doubt most eaters would feel deprived with any of these.

I received this book from the publisher for the purpose of a review.