Eat Smart Age Smart » Cookbooks I love!

Carol Alt is a raw foods advocate

eatSmart — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:10:03 +0000

I saw Carol Alt on the shopping channel not long ago promoting her line of anti-aging skincare line. I really didn’t pay much attention until the host reminded views that Carol was in her late 40s and she was appearing on television without any makeup!

I stopped dead in my tracks and I got as close to the television as I possibly could because it’s not every day that a former supermodel (she is the first American to be the face of Lancôme and graced the cover of more than 700 magazines) appears on television without makeup.

Her skin was flawless and she explained that it was in great part due to the fact that she’s been following a raw food diet (which she’s been doing since the mid-90s).

It’s hard to believe that Carol Alt will be 50 later this year (born December 1, 1960) because her youthful skin and youthful body could lead us to easily believe that she’s not even in her 40s.

I’m not sure if the raw food diet is for everyone because it’s quite difficult to manage 7 days a week when you already are juggling a busy schedule, but I can assure you that even if you were to only integrate the raw food diet a few times per week, everything about your health and body would change.

A few years ago, Carol documented her raw food diet in her Eating in the Raw: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way book and not she’s following that with a cookbook of raw foods called The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle!

The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle is packed with raw recipes ranging from breakfast, to lunch to dinner to snacks to drinks. You’ll learn how to cook tasty dishes that are not cooked and that are packed with nutrients, vitamins and all around goodness.

Don’t worry because when it comes to desserts, Carol has that part covered. You’ll learn how to cook a delicious Raw Food Brownie recipe, Lemon Ginger Coconut Tart and Frozen Watermelon Cheesecake.

>>> If you are interested in knowing more about the raw food diet and if you’re not sure where to start, you might want to check out Carol’s two books dedicated to educating people on the benefits of raw food diet.

1) Eating in the Raw: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Slimmer, Feeling Healthier, and Looking Younger the Raw-Food Way

2) The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle

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Cookbook Club: cookbooks for only $1 each!

eatSmart — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:00:12 +0000

If you are a cookbook junkie like me then you’ll love the idea of getting 4 cookbooks for $1 each!

We’re talking about cookbooks from some of the top celebrity chefs out there.

If you are a fan of any of these celebrity culinary chefs:

* Paula Deen

* Rachael Ray

* Ina Garten

* Patrick & Gina Neely

* Alton Brown

* Giada De Laurentiis

* Susie Middleton

* Guy Fieri

* Bobby Flay

* Jennie Schacht

* Alton Brown

* Mario Batali

* Gordon Ramsay

* Daisy Martinez

You’ll really love the idea of getting 4 of their cookbooks for only $1 each!

>>> Here are some of the great titles you could enjoy for only $1:

* What’s New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson

* Farmers’ Market Desserts by Jennie Schacht

* Molto Gusto by Mario Batali and Mark Ladner

* All Fired Up! by Margaret Howard

* Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito

* Pastry Queen Parties by Rebecca Rather

* Baking by James Peterson

* The Food and Cooking Of Tuscany by Valentina Harris

* Pillsbury® Easy as Pie by the Pillsbury Editors

* Better Homes and Gardens® The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book by the Better Homes & Gardens Editors

* Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton

>>> If you’d like to know more on how you can get some of your favourite cookbooks for only $1, click here: Cookbook Club: cookbooks for only $1 each!

>>>> If you’re viewing this healthy eating or healthy living tip as part of an aggregated content stream from different sites, or as a re-blogged post, please check out the content on the original Web site at www.EatSmartAgeSmart.com

Jamie Oliver: STOP eating frozen foods!

eatSmart — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:20:49 +0000

***I’ve included an omelette video tutorial at the end of the post***

Bless Jamie Oliver for wanting people to stop eating frozen foods! That’s quite the task.

I mean how many millions of people depend on a frozen dinner every night to feed themselves and feed their families?

I could not agree with Jamie Oliver more when he says:

“Learning to cook just a few simple recipes can change your life”.

The reality is that people either don’t want to learn how to cook, they don’t like cooking at all or they just have lives that are so busy it makes food preparation one extra task on a long list of daily tasks.

I think that if everyone made the effort to learn the basics of preparing some of the simplest meals in their cuisine of choice, the mounting obesity problem would simply not be an issue like it is now.

I share Jaime Oliver’s concern with lower-income families. With this recession more and more families are forced to do more with less on their dinner table and in order to even get a “meal” at a reasonable price many families are cutting WAY back on quality.

I think it takes chutzpah to take on the mighty Big Macs in an attempt to change the way people eat, but that’s exactly what British chef Jamie Oliver is doing.

Oliver’s main concern is that:

“If we survive on takeaway/takeout food and ready meals, people are getting unhealthier each year.”

The reality is that all this junk food is making people fatter and fatter and sicker and sicker, but thanks to David Kessler and his The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetitebook we now know that so many people who live off of junk food are addicted to the high content of fat, sugar and salt.

Jamie Oliver is not only talking about wanting things to change, he’s actually just written a new cookbook destined to show people how to cook simple, uncomplicated and affordable meals to feed their families.

Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals is packed with 20-minute recipes and loads of step-by-step photography that make it much easier to follow and increase your chances of producing a meal that resembles what it’s supposed to look like.

I think that a lot of people get quite intimidated by all the Food TV glamour and the glossy pages of certain cookbooks and cooking magazines. I think that they get paralyzed by not being able to reproduce such perfect dishes, but the reality is that you wouldn’t really eat most of the foods prepared on those shows on a daily basis.

Cooking is just like any other activity on the planet … the more you do it … the easier it gets … the better you are at it.

Honestly, if you just learn how to make a few different omelettes, you can feed yourself and your family at a fraction of what it would cost you to go out and the nutrition content in an omelette is far superior anything you’d find at a fast food restaurant.

>>> Change the way you perceive cooking!

A lot of people are convinced that cooking is more expensive than making food at home. A lot of people also think that it’s way faster to pick up the phone and dial their favourite take out joint as opposed to opening the fridge and preparing something quick like homemade pasta, pizza or an omelette. Gosh, you can even pull out a baguette, add some cheese and finish it all off with some salad and you’ve got yourself a meal in about 15 minutes.

>>> Takeaway/take-out is NOT faster than making food from scratch!

Laziness is what is causing so many people to stay stuck in a body they hate. Jamie Oliver did an experiment on a live show he did not long ago where he phoned a local pizza takeaway place and ordered a pizza. While he was waiting for the pizza to arrive, he prepared a pizza from scratch (including the dough) and by the time the pizza arrived at the studio, he had already finished his pizza and the audience was already feasting on a home-made pizza that was prepared with better ingredients and that surely cost less than picking up the phone and dialling a few digits.

I think if you get over the intimidation of cooking and get some really basic skills, you can start acing a few healthy recipes and you will change your body forever AND you’ll be far healthier in the process!

If you want to start losing weight effortlessly without all those stupid gimmicks, start learning how to cook simple and healthy meals and you’ll see how quickly the pounds will melt off of your body!

If you want to learn how to cooking, you might want to pick-up Jamie Oliver’s: Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

>>>Video: Jamie Oliver shows you how to cook an omelette at home from scratch

Photo of pizza by thebittenword.com

Return to Cooking with Eric Ripert!

eatsmart — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:08:42 +0000

There are more and more stats showing that people are making the decision to eat at home more to beat the effects of the current recession.

That means that people who couldn’t even turn on their oven a year ago because they just didn’t know how it worked are now chopping, slicing, dicing, sautéing, grilling, tossing and serving up home cooked meals.

If you are one of those people, Eric Ripert’s A Return to Cooking
cookbook might be one to add to your collection.

This is the first cookbook that I own that has so many paintings (about 100 paintings in total by artist Valentino Cortazar) interspersed with scrumptious food photos! It’s a real work of art and it shows. This is really like an art book and cookbook combined and the experience is wonderful.

I think it’s important to understand in advance that A Return to Cooking is more like a food journal from a celebrity chef who takes a break to focus on cooking while culinary journalist Michael Ruhlman documents in words and photo the whole experience.

The four week retreat (in the U.S. and the Caribbean) allowed Chef Eric Ripert to come up with 156 recipes!

The most valuable aspect of this book is what it reveals about how Rippert reached his level of excellence in the culinary arts, and how he works to maintain that level. Rippert appears to follow the same path as Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Tony Bourdain, and, if you can believe it, Alton Brown, where these people were mediocre at school and other vocations until they discovered cooking, which, along with some very important mentors, they came alive with the passion needed for excellence in the culinary arts. Rippert’s primary mentor was the great French chef Joel Robuchon, who demanded a level of excellence and discipline which only a handful of chefs can accomplish. The insights of this sort you simply don’t get on the Food Network.

I find this fascinating because I also feel that food has brought me alive in many ways and the discovery and the food history keep me interested.

The font they selected for the copy is a bit small and make running from the stove to the recipe book a bit challenging, but the recipes are worth the trouble.

Here are a few of the recipes I think you’ll absolutely want to try:

* Smoked Salmon Croque-Monsieur

* Chicken and Lamb Tagine with Mediterranean Spices

* Figs Wrapped in Bacon (I know, but this is a small bite and make the most perfect appetizers)

* Marinated Mixed Grill Steaks

* Crab Salad with Chilled Gazpacho Sauce

* Desserts like Rice Pudding with Sautéed Bananas and Chocolate Sauce

* Chocolate, Ginger and Coffee Pot de Crème with Anisette Cream

If you are complete newbie to cooking, I don’t know if I’d start with this cookbook, but if you’ve been cooking for a while and you are looking to add to your repertoire of recipes and cooking techniques, Eric Ripert’s A Return to Cooking is an excellent choice!