Superfood Kitchen

The title of today's post is the title of my latest cookbook discovery by Julie Morris. This is one of those gorgeous coffee table type cookbooks chock-full of full page color photos of almost every single dish. But the special thing about this cookbook is the uncompromising healthiness of every recipe. Have you been dying to taste sea buckthorn soup? Maqui ketchup? Lucuma cupcakes? If so, you have come to right place.

I don't know about you, but I get very annoyed when cookbooks claim to be all about health and nutrition, and then offer loads of recipes containing white flour, white sugar, pasta, white bread, and other ingredients that are lacking in nutritional value. (I realize that my own recipes swing wildly from ultra-healthy to quite naughty and decadent. But if anyone dares to point this out to me, I will not be pleased! Can you say "hypocrite"?)

Many chefs, home cooks, and authors are more concerned with flavor and how something tastes than health and nutrition. Therefore, compromises are constantly made. Sometimes the healthiest ingredients also taste the best. For example, butter is way healthier and tastes way better than margarine. Or Crisco. But sometimes flavor and/or texture must be compromised in order to avoid ingredients that are devoid of all nutrition and dense with empty calories. Whenever I cook, I confront these choices. Sometimes I choose not to bake anything at all because I want to avoid using flour. Muffins, cakes, and most cookies need flour to taste right. Cheesecakes are an awesome exception to this rule and can be made both delicious and nutritious with no wheat flour and very small amounts of sugar. (And there are some who would claim my cheesecakes are unhealthy due to the fact they contain dairy products, rolled oats, and a tiny bit of sugar.)

But I digress.

My point today is that if you are searching for a cookbook filled with the absolute healthiest recipes that DO NOT COMPROMISE then you may be very pleased to discover Superfood Kitchen. There is a recipe for Cauliflower Risotto which contains absolutely no rice. Finely ground cauliflower and quinoa substitute. And the tofu broccoli quiche contains no eggs, milk, cream, nor cheese. (I'm not sure I would call this a quiche, but I'm guessing the texture is quiche-like.) There is also a cheesecake recipe that contains no cheese of any kind. Raw cashews are soaked in water to soften them, then ground to a cheese-like consistency. A few recipes for baked goods contain whole wheat flour. And several sweeteners are also used, including agave syrup and coconut sugar. But these are in relatively small amounts.

As you can see from the above recipes, this cookbook is completely vegan. There is no use of dairy, eggs, meat, fish, etc. Now you probably know that I do not recommend a vegan diet. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't include a few vegan recipes in your repertoire. These recipes DO contain loads of "superfoods" including chia, hemp, and flax seeds as well as acai, goji, and other assorted berries. The more of these foods that you add to your diet, along with healthy proteins including meat, eggs, and fish, and a wide variety of fruits and veggies, the better.

So check out Superfood Kitchen and if you try any of the recipes, please let me know what you think!