To celebrate the end of my juice feast (April 14th), I am planning to splurge on myself and buy myself a few treats. I plan on buying QUITE a few vegan cookbooks... but I wanted to get your opinions on which ones I should get. Bear in mind, I love love love cookbooks with desserts.... I love to have dinner parties that knock people's socks off (aka; I like recipes with VERY gourmet... five star restaurant-like recipes) AND I'm also a busy person so quick and easy things during the week are a blessing! :)
Also keep in mind, I already own rawvolution and raw food real world.
Please let me know your top 3 favorite raw-cookbooks and why you like them :)
I use Jennifer Cornbleets "Raw Food Made Easy - for 1 or 2 people" all the time. Because it is just me and my boyfriend in the house, I've found the smaller portions really helpful. And it's pretty easy to double or triple the recipe's for company.
As for it being "very gourmet," I'm not really sure what one could consider "gourmet" with raw foods. She has recipes in here from salads to lasagna, soups and really delicious sauces. Lots of pate's and "mock" things that I think are pretty darn good. I've tried the mock meat balls and they were fabulous, but I actually preferred to eat it as a pate rather than roll it up into a ball. And I found the flavor so appealing that it really didn't need any "sauce" on it.
I've also made a few of the deserts in there. My favorite was the apple crisp. Mostly because my 13 year old son was begging me for more and even thought it was a "treat" to have it for breakfast. The recipe called for optional raw sugar, but I thought it was plenty sweet without it.
Anyway, good recipe's and small portions sizes, so this book gets my vote :-) Have fun with your shopping spree!
I agree that Ani Phyo's book is a good one (and RFRW too). I would also suggest Russell James (http://therawchefblog.com/); he's also a member here. I don't know if he actually has a cookbook out (maybe I'll go ask him) but his website is full of amazing recipes including GOURMET DESSERTS! And, I've tried some of his other recipes and they've always turned out yummy. I'm fairly new to raw so I'll be interested in other members' posts on this topic too. :)
My first Raw recipe book was Rawvolution, and since then I've filled up 1/2 a bookshelf with raw books:
Raw - Juliano
Eat Smart, Eat Raw - Kate Wood
Alive in 5
Living on Live Foods - Alissa Cohen
Raw - Trotter & Klein
Raw Energy Bible - Leslie Kenton
Ani's Raw Food
Raw Family & Green For Live, the Boutenkos
several ebooks
booklets from workshops I've attended
others I can't think of...
I'm a cookbookaholic :) One I don't have (yet) is Raw Food Real World.
And you know what, I keep going back to Rawvolution. I got sick of it for a while, tried a few others, but keep going back there because they are relatively simple if you adapt them to your needs.
I also haven't been able to find Ani's Raw Food Kitchen and turned the house upside down (not literally of course) looking for it on the weekend... eventually found it in a box so I'm now happily rediscovering her simple recipes.
So, to answer your question I'd go for Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, and a couple of the cheap simple ones like Alive in 5 or Kate Wood's books, both having good quick and easy recipes for when you don't have much time or aren't feeling very creative.
I like Jennifer Cornbleets Raw for Made Easy for 1 or 2 People - because it is just me and the recipes are simple and taste good. Theres a good amount of dessert recipes in it. I think she may have another book devoted to desserts. I also like Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens - it has recipes based on ayurvedic principles. The book from Cafe Gratitude, I Am Grateful by Terces Englehart has some really good recipes also.
Living Cuisine: The Art and Spirit of Raw Foods is one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipes can be rather labor intensive, but so flavorful! It's a wonderful book for dinner party food. Another book that I like a lot is Kristen Suzanne's e-book. Her recipes are easy to make, but have lots of flavors. I love using lots of fresh seasonings and this cookbook has you using a bunch! You can check it out here www.kristensraw.com
I would also highly recommend a subscription to Living Nutrition Magazine, which is changing it's name to Vibrance this spring 2008 http://tinyurl.com/2wnxzc The magazine has lots of recipes in each issue and great reading on Raw leaning towards the Natural Hygiene perspective.
I'll also give Cornbleets "Raw Made Easy, for One to Two People" a thumbs up...
"Hooked on Raw" by Rhio and since it hasn't been mentioned yet, "Rainbow Green Raw Food Cuisine" by Gabriel Cousins.
Rhio's recipes remind me of "GoneRaw" they are easy but elegant.. Rainbow Green is a great informative book and the recipes are good. If you want to introduce yourself to Cousin's, I suggest this be your first buy out of all his books. I have about 8 books *raw" and I use them all... I have marked my favorites and have even memorized many of them... Once you get the hang of making something like a soup, pate' or sweets, It is easy to get creative and put your own spin on your favorites.
I am a cookbook junkie too! Love Rawvolution, Carol Alt's Raw 50, Allissa Cohen's Living on Live Food, Raw Food Real World (for it's desserts!!) yum, Ani's book. I just wondered about Rainbow Green Raw Food Cuisine as I have looked through it and found that he recommends a lot of dehydrating at 145 degrees. I have always read that anything over 115 degrees destroys enzymes. Can anyone shed light on this as dehydrating would be so much faster at the higher temperatures and this is tempting....
Permalink Reply by Jef on April 7, 2008 at 10:23pm
When I was at the Tree of Life last April, Gabriel explained this . He said that when things are moister, and you dehydrate them at 145 they are actually not gettign that hot until they get dryer. Its the same principle as sweating. As you sweat, it cools your body off. its when you get "dehydrated" that your body overheats. So, until it gets on the dry side, the "sweating" keeps the inside cool. Then, turn the heat down at the end to finish off.
He said that they have studied this some, and found that its ok at the beginning, especially if something is really wet.
Hope i did justice to the explanation. Does that make sense>?
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