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book review blogs
@Barrie Summy
It's time for more book reviews!
This month I'm reviewing Easy Sexy Raw by Carol Alt. A little over three years ago I gave up meat and dairy. I bought several cookbooks and even started experimenting with some recipes. Then about two years ago I heard about raw food for the first time. It was referred to as a "raw diet" by someone I knew was trying to lose some weight so I thought it was something like the Adkins diet, but with raw foods.
Raw, to me, meant completely uncooked so in my head we were talking raw fruits and vegetables. The subject came up again about six months later when my doctor prescribed (yes, prescribed!) Pringles as a means to an end for an issue I was having at the time. This same doctor had prescribed Pringles to a friend of mine and her sister had sent her an article entitled "Pringles Causes Cancer". The article went on to talk about what raw cooking is. Essentially it comes down to not heating anything over a certain temperature.
So fast forward to a couple of months ago when I went on a cookbook buying binge. The idea of raw cooking came back up and I found myself at Barnes and Nobles checking out some raw cookbooks. I selected several and took them to a table to see which ones might best fit my self-imposed dietary restrictions. This book was the standout for me.
Since buying the book, I've also invested in a dehydrator and a mandoline. I've made several of the recipes and so far have not found one I didn't like. Among my favorite recipes is the Vegan Bay Crab Cakes. I wasn't sure what to expect because, truth told, I've never had crab cakes so I didn't know if I would like this recipe, assuming it tasted like real crab cakes. Among the ingredients are zucchini, celery, bell peppers, cashews, pine nuts (for the tartar sauce), almonds and macadamia nuts (which I've discovered I love on their own!). So it's healthy. And so scrumptious! But it's not a quick recipe to make. The almonds have to soak for 8-12 hours and then, once everything is prepared, it "cooks" in the dehydrator for a total of 4 hours so it's not something that you come home from work and say "I'd like to have raw, vegan crab cakes for dinner tonight." It takes some planning - but I promise it's worth it. And I'm fully aware that when I heat up my leftovers in the microwave, the meal is no longer raw.
Another good recipe is the Avocado/Kale Salad (actual recipe name may be different). It's something that is truly raw and can be made in 15-20 minutes. It's not quite as appetizing to look at but it's delicious.
For me, those two recipes alone were worth the price of the book. Oh, and it's not a vegan cookbook - there are recipes involving meat included as well. I won't be trying the meat or fish recipes in the book but that doesn't mean I won't maybe substitute ingredients for those with meat.
And something I did to test out what I call a theory in the book is I baked some cookies using the dehydrator. Carol states that cookies put in the dehydrator to cook taste exactly the same as their baked counterparts. I used recipes from other cookbooks I have - recipes that are tried and proven hits. I split the batches evenly and baked half in the oven and half in the dehydrator. There was absolutely zero difference in the taste. The only differences were 1) dehydrated cookies do not spread out when cooked so the size/shape you put into the dehydrator is the same size/shape you get out; and 2) length of time to cook (10 minutes in the oven vs. 13 hours in the dehydrator). The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies did stick a little in the dehydrator (peanut butter cookies did not) but I'm going to test that some more to see if there's a fix for that.
This book was an interesting discovery for me and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to experiment with raw cooking. The thing to remember though is that raw doesn't necessarily mean fast.
