by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski
Thumbs Up
No one wants to be put on a special diet. Many people like to experiment with gourmet cooking. If you find yourself in both these camps, this book is a real winner. Even if you are only in one or the other camp or even neither, the book is chock full of information and would be a good resource if you occasionally cook for a guest who needs such a diet. If you don't consider yourself a gourmet cook, the book is fun to read through and many of the recipes are not any more technical than any other cookbook. With the exception of the bread and dessert sections, most of the recipes need no specifically gluten free ingredients to prepare.
From breads to soups to main dishes and desserts, the book is cover to cover a delight to read and stimulates a reader's gustatory and olfactory imagination. I will certainly be purchasing it for my husband's cooking pleasure. I do cook, but I generally do not have time to consult recipes at this point in my homemaking career.
My copy is due back at the library, and I haven't even had time to try anything in the book. I can't tempt you with a presentation of my favorite recipe. But before returning the book, I will be writing down the recipes for Indian Naan and Italian Gnocchis and Cinnamon rolls for one of the rare days I do feel energy and concentration enough to use a recipe.
I enjoyed perusing the pages and imagining the wonderful taste temptations presented. The bread and dessert sections are quite extensive. There are many international dishes.
The sidebars give additional information, both on culinary and cultural terms within the recipes. The introductory sections give information on gluten free living and shopping and general kitchen skills and tools.
The Bronski's keep a gluten free living blog at No Gluten, No Problem. It is obvious from the things they've written there that they have spent many man and woman hours in the kitchen, testing their recipes until the result is just right.
Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-help. Show all posts
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever
by Beatrice Ojakangas
Thumbs Up.
The subtitle of this book says it all "With More Than 500 Recipes." This book is truly an amazing collection of recipes. I heard an interview with Duluth, MN, author, Beatrice Ojakangas on Tony Nasello's The Lost Italian radio show out of Fargo. I was immediately on my library page to request it.
Ms. Ojakangas begins with extensive introductory pages which include basic definitions, cooking techniques, utensils and cookware, and food prep and storage suggestions.
I appreciate that her main recipe section starts with a chapter on preparing basic casserole ingredients such as homemade sauces and broths, hard cooked eggs, caramelized onions, etc. Ms. Ojakangas advises preparing one's own sauces and broths in order to avoid the additives in store-bought, processed foods.
The ensuing chapters are organized by casserole purpose and type, such as appetizer or breakfast casseroles; poultry, beef or shellfish casseroles; vegetarian casseroles, and many other categories. She includes chapters on cooking for large groups and for two people and for kids. She includes many interesting ethnically based dishes. Indeed the idea of a "Minnesota hotdish" has expanded.
The recipes are designed with an eye to healthful eating. Ms. Ojakangas recommends throwing out the fat that congeals on the top of one's homemade broth. If you want to include more meat fats in your diet, you'll have to ignore some of the instructions. With a quick perusal, I don't find any vegetable oils called for, except olive. Most of her cooking fat is butter. Many of her recipes include dairy products such as cream and sour cream. Many of the casserole breads are sweetened with honey instead of sugar. In her grain and legume chapters Ms. Ojakangas includes recipes for a wide variety of whole grains such as barley, millet, and quinoa; and of course, being from Minnesota, she included several wild rice recipes.
I have to cook with a gluten free diet, so I tend to avoid accumulating cookbooks, most of whose recipes I wouldn't be able to use. But I think with a few minor adaptions, I could use many of these. I will definitely be putting this book on my Christmas wish list.
Thumbs Up.
The subtitle of this book says it all "With More Than 500 Recipes." This book is truly an amazing collection of recipes. I heard an interview with Duluth, MN, author, Beatrice Ojakangas on Tony Nasello's The Lost Italian radio show out of Fargo. I was immediately on my library page to request it.
Ms. Ojakangas begins with extensive introductory pages which include basic definitions, cooking techniques, utensils and cookware, and food prep and storage suggestions.
I appreciate that her main recipe section starts with a chapter on preparing basic casserole ingredients such as homemade sauces and broths, hard cooked eggs, caramelized onions, etc. Ms. Ojakangas advises preparing one's own sauces and broths in order to avoid the additives in store-bought, processed foods.
The ensuing chapters are organized by casserole purpose and type, such as appetizer or breakfast casseroles; poultry, beef or shellfish casseroles; vegetarian casseroles, and many other categories. She includes chapters on cooking for large groups and for two people and for kids. She includes many interesting ethnically based dishes. Indeed the idea of a "Minnesota hotdish" has expanded.
The recipes are designed with an eye to healthful eating. Ms. Ojakangas recommends throwing out the fat that congeals on the top of one's homemade broth. If you want to include more meat fats in your diet, you'll have to ignore some of the instructions. With a quick perusal, I don't find any vegetable oils called for, except olive. Most of her cooking fat is butter. Many of her recipes include dairy products such as cream and sour cream. Many of the casserole breads are sweetened with honey instead of sugar. In her grain and legume chapters Ms. Ojakangas includes recipes for a wide variety of whole grains such as barley, millet, and quinoa; and of course, being from Minnesota, she included several wild rice recipes.
I have to cook with a gluten free diet, so I tend to avoid accumulating cookbooks, most of whose recipes I wouldn't be able to use. But I think with a few minor adaptions, I could use many of these. I will definitely be putting this book on my Christmas wish list.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
Thumbs Up.
This books takes the reader on a tour of the American ultra-marathon circuit, with detailed descriptions of the routes and challenges. We meet a generous handful of the colorful runners who frequent these amazing races.
We pay a couple of visits to the Copper Canyons of northwestern Mexico. We encounter drug runners, local characters, and super-athletic Tarahumara Native Mexicans.
McDougall does an excellent job pulling the reader along to find out what happens next while he relates his quest for pain-free running.
To sum up the things he learned:
One has to ignore the anti-capitalist sentiment expressed with some amount of vitriol against particularly the Nike corporation. They ruined everyone's feet by marketing increasingly specialized running shoes. And the evolutionary explanations for various aspects of physiology are a little overdone in some parts.
An obvious inconsistency to an astute reader, was the glorification of a traditional vegetarian diet, while in other places in the book McDougall explains that the Tarahumara tribesmen developed their great reflexes and amazing endurance while hunting. They regularly chase down rabbits on foot and follow deer until the prey tires and can be overcome.
A final commendation for anyone with limited discretionary time: the book, although nearly 300 pages long, was a very quick read.
Thumbs Up.
This books takes the reader on a tour of the American ultra-marathon circuit, with detailed descriptions of the routes and challenges. We meet a generous handful of the colorful runners who frequent these amazing races.
We pay a couple of visits to the Copper Canyons of northwestern Mexico. We encounter drug runners, local characters, and super-athletic Tarahumara Native Mexicans.
McDougall does an excellent job pulling the reader along to find out what happens next while he relates his quest for pain-free running.
To sum up the things he learned:
- run barefoot
- eat vegetarian traditional diet
- vary workout to "surprise" your body in order to increase reflexive reactions
- in order to achieve optimal fat burning, run at just below cardio-vascular workout level
One has to ignore the anti-capitalist sentiment expressed with some amount of vitriol against particularly the Nike corporation. They ruined everyone's feet by marketing increasingly specialized running shoes. And the evolutionary explanations for various aspects of physiology are a little overdone in some parts.
An obvious inconsistency to an astute reader, was the glorification of a traditional vegetarian diet, while in other places in the book McDougall explains that the Tarahumara tribesmen developed their great reflexes and amazing endurance while hunting. They regularly chase down rabbits on foot and follow deer until the prey tires and can be overcome.
A final commendation for anyone with limited discretionary time: the book, although nearly 300 pages long, was a very quick read.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Pilates for Weight Loss: the Fast and Effective Way to Shed Weight and Change Your Body Shape for Good
by Lynne Robinson
Thumbs up.
Ms Robinson, co-founder and director of UK based Body Control Pilates Education, has put together this book of, well, pilates education.
Robinson's introduction starts with a history of pilates and describes the various benefits it can render. She includes information on body weight and muscle mass, and gives formulas for determining ones ideal weight.
She continues with a section on what she considers the foundational exercises of the pilates exercise method. From there she goes into the exercises specific to weight loss and increasing muscle mass and therefore metabolism. She has two chapters of suggested workouts for various goals and suggestions for exercising away from home.
The final section is on lifestyle choices and tips for making the most of ones exercise in order to increase health and well-being.
The book is chock full of photos and clear and specific, descriptive language. It is difficult to learn exercises from a book, but Ms Robinson puts in a valiant effort that will probably be successful for some learners.
Thumbs up.
Ms Robinson, co-founder and director of UK based Body Control Pilates Education, has put together this book of, well, pilates education.
Robinson's introduction starts with a history of pilates and describes the various benefits it can render. She includes information on body weight and muscle mass, and gives formulas for determining ones ideal weight.
She continues with a section on what she considers the foundational exercises of the pilates exercise method. From there she goes into the exercises specific to weight loss and increasing muscle mass and therefore metabolism. She has two chapters of suggested workouts for various goals and suggestions for exercising away from home.
The final section is on lifestyle choices and tips for making the most of ones exercise in order to increase health and well-being.
The book is chock full of photos and clear and specific, descriptive language. It is difficult to learn exercises from a book, but Ms Robinson puts in a valiant effort that will probably be successful for some learners.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done
by Dave Crenshaw
Thumbs up.
Some people will not like this book stylistically. Mr. Crenshaw uses an allegory of a small business owner meeting with a fictional consultant, to make his points. For me it made the book easier to read (I didn't fall asleep every few paragraphs). And perhaps it made the philosophies of Mr. Crenshaw more memorable. I haven't forgotten them yet, but then, it's only been a few hours since I finished it.
Mr Crenshaw's basic premise is this: Many people think they are good multitaskers. But they aren't. They may be better than others at an inefficient system of managing time and work. Crenshaw uses the term switchtasking to describe what most of us do when we think we are multitasking. Switchtasking, according to Crenshaw's definition, is being involved with one task, being interrupted or interrupting ourselves and then immediately getting back on task until the next interruption. But each of these interruptions costs us time and energy.
A true situation of someone accomplishing more than one thing at once is when one requires no concentration, such as watching TV while eating. This he refers to as background tasking. Because only one task requires intellectual effort, the other can occur in the background of our brains.
After convincing the reader that multitasking is, in fact, a myth, Crenshaw goes on to give tools and advice for dealing with the interruptions we all have in our lives. He includes worksheets such as those to help determine where one is inadvertently multitasking and which chronic interruptions warrant their own time slot.
The argument makes sense. It is easily presented. It is a fast read that I can imagine would help some people in their professional lives.
I have a hard time thinking of ways it could help a full time, stay-at-home, homeschool mom. There are many things demanding a parent's time that cannot be schedule into a certain time slot. "It's not your turn to soil your diaper yet, Jimmy." or "You'll have to hold off on that skinned knee, Susan, I'm helping Fred with his school right now."
One point Crenshaw made, however, is worth noting. When we think we are having a conversation and yet trying to keep our brain on what we are doing, we will do neither the conversation nor the task well. Which can easily cross the line into rudeness. In my own life, I know I often continue reading a recipe or correcting a paper or whatever while trying to answer a child's (or even husband's) questions. It never goes well. I will have to be more conscious of stopping the first thing before attempting to listen.
Thumbs up.
Some people will not like this book stylistically. Mr. Crenshaw uses an allegory of a small business owner meeting with a fictional consultant, to make his points. For me it made the book easier to read (I didn't fall asleep every few paragraphs). And perhaps it made the philosophies of Mr. Crenshaw more memorable. I haven't forgotten them yet, but then, it's only been a few hours since I finished it.
Mr Crenshaw's basic premise is this: Many people think they are good multitaskers. But they aren't. They may be better than others at an inefficient system of managing time and work. Crenshaw uses the term switchtasking to describe what most of us do when we think we are multitasking. Switchtasking, according to Crenshaw's definition, is being involved with one task, being interrupted or interrupting ourselves and then immediately getting back on task until the next interruption. But each of these interruptions costs us time and energy.
A true situation of someone accomplishing more than one thing at once is when one requires no concentration, such as watching TV while eating. This he refers to as background tasking. Because only one task requires intellectual effort, the other can occur in the background of our brains.
After convincing the reader that multitasking is, in fact, a myth, Crenshaw goes on to give tools and advice for dealing with the interruptions we all have in our lives. He includes worksheets such as those to help determine where one is inadvertently multitasking and which chronic interruptions warrant their own time slot.
The argument makes sense. It is easily presented. It is a fast read that I can imagine would help some people in their professional lives.
I have a hard time thinking of ways it could help a full time, stay-at-home, homeschool mom. There are many things demanding a parent's time that cannot be schedule into a certain time slot. "It's not your turn to soil your diaper yet, Jimmy." or "You'll have to hold off on that skinned knee, Susan, I'm helping Fred with his school right now."
One point Crenshaw made, however, is worth noting. When we think we are having a conversation and yet trying to keep our brain on what we are doing, we will do neither the conversation nor the task well. Which can easily cross the line into rudeness. In my own life, I know I often continue reading a recipe or correcting a paper or whatever while trying to answer a child's (or even husband's) questions. It never goes well. I will have to be more conscious of stopping the first thing before attempting to listen.
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