Cookbook recommendations?

[Wifezilla]

Wore it out? Man, I have to look in to that!

 

[sylvie]

I really like Linda McCartney's 3 vegetarian cookbooks. They are more European, some gourmet level, but all recipes very good quality.
Best Vegetable Paella from her book Linda's Kitchen is my absolute favorite recipe that I have ever used by any author to date.

 

[meriruka]

Greene on Greens & Grains, The Herb Farm cookbook and In a Vermont Kitchen. None of these are vegetarian cookbooks, but they have really great meatless recipes. The first book has lots of variations for each veggie or grain. He a little too liberal with butter & dairy, so I just cut back on that but still get great results. The second book has some complicated recipes but I use it when I want to impress the heck out of my guests and the third is geared to farm lifestyle but not so much grease or fat.

 

[Wifezilla]

Food can taste good without swimming in fat. I prefer my vegetables without all that butter, just lightly steamed.

Veggies don't have to swim in fat (unless you want them to), but with no fat, your body does not absorb the vitamins. The fat can come from other sources in your meal so you don't have to necessarily put it on the vegetables. A fat-free meal, however, is a dietary waste of time.

"A fascinating new study published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that dietary fat is necessary for the absorption of nutrients from fruits and vegetables. In the study, people who consumed salads with fat-free salad dressing absorbed far less of the helpful phytonutrients and vitamins from spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots than those who consumed their salads with a salad dressing containing fat.

This is interesting research, but not necessarily all that surprising. We've known for a long time that healthy fats are a critical part of a healthy diet, and that avoiding fats actually causes chronic disease."
http://www.naturalnews.com/001545.html

 

[hikerchick]

I have never advocated a no-fat diet- if such a thing were even possible.

But there is a world of variation between "no-fat" and "swimming in grease". You dont' need vast amounts of fat to absorp the nutrients from a typical meal. Fat is horrendously high in calories, for one thing.

We've known for a long time that healthy fats are a critical part of a healthy diet, and that avoiding fats actually causes chronic disease."

The key words are healthy fats and healthy diet. This is not carte blanche to go dumping grease on otherwise healthy foods.

 

[Wifezilla]

If you would have checked the article I linked to you would have seen this...

"It doesn't take much fat, by the way, to aid the absorption of these important vitamins and nutrients. Eating just 5 or 10 nuts, or one-fourth of an avocado, provides plenty of dietary fat for transporting these nutrients and aiding their absorption. On another note, it's interesting to remember that for decades the American Heart Association insisted that heart patients should avoid nearly all dietary fat. This was during the low-fat craze of the 1980's and 1990's, when people were running scared from all dietary sources of fat and instead consuming massive quantities of sugar and refined carbohydrates.

We now know that this advice from the American Heart Association was, in effect, causing extreme nutritional deficiencies and actually reducing the life span of heart patients rather than helping them. Such is the case with information from many so-called disease organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association. Personally, I wouldn't listen to nutritional advice from any association that is so politically motivated and receives funding from pharmaceutical companies, as both of those organizations do.

The other thing to keep in mind with this finding is that if you are supplementing your diet with nutritional supplements or superfoods like the ones I frequently recommend, it's a good idea to do so in combination with a few nuts, seeds, or a tablespoon of flax oil or olive oil. One tablespoon of flax oil will give you about 100 calories, so keep that in mind in terms of keeping your total daily calorie intake under control. By consuming fats as you take these nutritional supplements, you will multiply the effectiveness of the phytonutrients found in those supplements, thereby giving your body far greater nutritional help from the very same capsules and pills.

In other words, if you take superfood supplements without fat, you're not getting the same benefit as taking the same supplements with a little bit of fat. So keep some nuts handy"
http://www.naturalnews.com/001545.html

I prefer my vegetables without all that butter, just lightly steamed.

Just lightly steamed means not fat. Like I said earlier, IF YOU GET FAT FROM ANOTHER PART OF YOUR MEAL THIS IS NO PROBLEM. I thought that covered it pretty well. Guess not.

 

[hikerchick]

I agree with that.

I just agreed with Wifezilla!!! Is the sky falling??

I have never been an advocate of a low fat diet- it just does not seem sensible to me.

I believe in all things in moderation - some fats for flavor and vitamin absorption, some complex carbs for fiber and crunch, some protein for satiety and cell building.

All groups have different functions and different strengths to bring to the table - literally.

 

[hikerchick]

I prefer my vegetables without all that butter, just lightly steamed.

Just lightly steamed means not fat. Like I said earlier, IF YOU GET FAT FROM ANOTHER PART OF YOUR MEAL THIS IS NO PROBLEM. I thought that covered it pretty well. Guess not.

I would not know how to even begin to make a no-fat meal. That was never on my radar.

 

[Wifezilla]

I tried for years. Believe me, it was horrible!

 

[hikerchick]

Well, I can imagine. Fat equals flavor.

And protein without fat is dry.

Carbs are tasty no matter what.