Month: January 2010

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Book Review

I was looking forward to receiving The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl cookbook by Ree Drummond. Yes, I knew ahead of time that the recipes were going to be full of butter and I would probably need to adjust a lot of them, but I just had to see what the book was about. Although I am not one of Ree’s regular followers, I do occasionally visit The Pioneer Woman web site.

At first glance, the book seems very cluttered. Lots of filler photos, clipart, and stories. But once I started reading through it (and I did read it from cover to cover), I found it to be charming. But as a cookbook, the excess is distracting. It’s more of a self-portrait of her personal life, and the recipes are secondary. I enjoyed reading The Pioneer Woman Cooks once, but truthfully I would rather just go to the online blog to view her recipes.

But the recipes are simple and easy to make, without a lot of ingredients to fuss over. It could possibly be a good choice for a beginner, but I found the design of the book wasn’t very user friendly. The food photos next to each step are gorgeous, but are too small for the reader to comprehend. It’s unfortunate because the photos work very well on the web site, but they are larger and easier to view. It just doesn’t translate to the printed page very well.

One more nitpick, most people naturally read left to right, but the steps are listed top to bottom in three columns. I found myself getting lost in the recipes. I would have preferred the photos/steps be listed left to right for a more natural read.

So bottom line, The Pioneer Woman Cooks offers lots of good old fashioned dishes without a lot of ingredients, but it’s more of a personal testament to Ree Drummand and life in the country, not necessarily an easy to follow cook book.

And yes, lots of butter and red meat. It’s not a health-conscious or dieter’s book by any means, but she expresses that very clearly on her blog. I would have looked past all the book’s shortcomings if I could have overlooked all of the fat, but in the end I couldn’t. So, I am donating it to my local Library. I know there is a fairly long waiting list for the book, so I hope it gives joy to other home cooks.

Disclaimer:
I love reading cookbooks, like some people love reading novels! I am inspired by recipes, and enjoy learning ideas from cookbooks; I like putting my own spin on a recipe rather than exactly following it. Please keep in mind that my opinions might be completely different from the other home cooks.

Cheerios Aren’t What They Used To Be

Today Hungry Girl posted a question on her Facebook Page:

Anyone out there try Chocolate Cheerios? Whatd’ya think of ’em?
http://www.facebook.com/HungryGirl?v=feed&story_fbid=266498302257

No surprise, of course, her loyal followers were gushing all over them! One naive woman even compared them to cocoa puffs, thinking they were healthier.

Are people really that stupid, or is it just laziness? Do people even bother to read labels anymore? What, so it carries the Cheerios name, and it automatically HAS to be healthy right? WRONG!

Take a look at the ingredients for both Cocoa Puffs and Chocolate Cheerios, and try to figure out which is healthier. Same calories and portion size. The Chocolate Cheerios have a little less sugar and fat. The Cocoa Puffs have more fiber along with more fat, but it’s mono-saturated fat.

The ingredients list on both products is almost identical. But because one is named “Cheerios” people automatically assume it’s healthy.

Chocolate flavored cheerios is not healthy, it's just as bad as cocoa puffs

Chocolate Cocoa Puffs are just as bad as chocolate Cheerios

My big problem with Hungry Girl and sites like hers, is that her followers are substituting so-called bad foods with what they think are better alternatives, instead of figuring out how to reduce the bad foods, and only eat them occasionally as a treat.

Why not just reward yourself with real chocolate once or twice a week, but just in a smaller portion? For about 100 calories I can eat 6 squares of Green & Black Milk Chocolate and it satisfies my sweet craving and I am not putting dangerous chemicals like BHT into my body.

I just don’t eat chocolate every day! But these people are eating Chocolate Cheerios every day for breakfast and/or snacks. And then everyone wonders why the US is so overweight and obese. Hmm, and kids are eating this crap too! Not good.

Whey Protein

I would like to find an easy solution to add more protein to breakfast! I have been dying to try whey protein.

I bought a single serving pack of the Biochem 100% Whey Natural Flavor the other day at Whole Foods. I opened up a fresh carton of almond milk and added the packet, mixing it with a spoon.

It was fairly easy to mix, but what about the taste. Well, let me just say that it was tolerable but I need to add some more flavor. Perhaps next time I will get the chocolate flavor. A few more calories and sugar grams but it might be worth it, especially if I can get my DH to drink it as well.

ETA: Although, I don’t consume whey protein all that often, I now buy Jarrow Whey Protein in the french vanilla flavor. I like that it’s growth hormone free.

I order from iHerb: http://www.iherb.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Whey-Protein-French-Vanilla-Flavor-2-lbs-908-g/270?at=0

(Note: When you order from iHerb, please use referral code ‘LIF213’ and you’ll receive $5 off your first order!)

The Biggest Loser Cookbook Book Review

I really like watching the Biggest Loser on TV, so I was curious to read the The Biggest Loser Cookbook: More Than 125 Healthy, Delicious Recipes Adapted from NBC’s Hit Show (2006).

I started reading and I knew this book wasn’t for me when I read the recommendation to use low fat and fat free mayo. Has anyone read the ingredients in fat free products!? Yuck!

I was immediately turned off!

On Page 3, fabulous fruits and vegetables: thumbs down to the white potato and don’t eat more than a few weekly servings of pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, and yams. Nope, don’t agree with that advice either!

Then there was my recommended daily calories! Ha! At 170 lbs x 7 = 1190. Under 1200! No way! This would definitely be a “diet” not a lifestyle change, something I could never do long term.

I was very happy to see that they initially didn’t recommend using artificial sugars, but then the first recipe included reduced fat peanut butter and artificially sweetened yogurt! In fact, the breakfast recipes are full of sugar free food products like syrup and splenda. Very conflicting!

I did find the Biggest Winner Breakfast Sausage recipe to be very interesting, and might try it!

http://www.recipezaar.com/Biggest-Winner-Breakfast-Sausage-240739

The Muscling-Up Meatballs recipe also sounded yummy good!

http://www.biggest-loser-cookbook.com/meatball-sandwich.htm

New Fashioned Meatloaf:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2258722623&topic=2369

and Better Blueberry Pancakes:

http://www.prevention.com/health/weight-loss/diets-getting-started/biggest-loser-recipes/article/d8791e1a2faa5110VgnVCM10000013281eac____

The Biggest Loser Cookbook: More Than 125 Healthy, Delicious Recipes Adapted from NBC’s Hit Show is definitely not a book I’d recommend to a clean foods health nut! I don’t think I would even recommend it to anyone actually, because it promotes unhealthy processed foods, but it’s a good base to work from, sort of like Hungry Girl.

Most of the good recipes can be found online, so don’t waste your time buying the book.

I just picked up the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: Budget-Friendly Meals Your Whole Family Will Love (2008) at the library this afternoon, so we’ll see if that has any improvements.

Read my review on Amazon.com

Disclaimer:
I love reading cookbooks, like some people love reading novels! I am inspired by recipes, and enjoy learning ideas from cookbooks; I like putting my own spin on a recipe rather than exactly following it. Please keep in mind that my opinions might be completely different from the other home cooks.

Believe It, Be It book review

Like most of the books I am reading lately, I found Believe It, Be It: How Being the Biggest Loser Won Me Back My Life at the library!

I am a recent fan of The Biggest Loser. I didn’t watch the season when Ali Vincent won the title of “first female biggest loser”, but I am watching the show now! Although I don’t agree with everything about the show (ie crazy advertising recommendations) I think the show is a great inspiration, especially for women.

Ali’s book shares a behind the scenes glimpse of her weight-loss journey: what she experienced at the Biggest Loser ranch and afterward at home. There are no specific details on how she lost weight, but she highly recommends calorie counting and exercise. But everyone has to find their own path to their weight loss. It’s a “feel good” – “yay you can do it” kind of book.

I am glad I read the book, it gave me validation that what I am doing so far is correct, and she is inspiring me to get moving more and exercise!

You can’t stop creating new goals! I keep wondering what’s going to happen to me when I am done losing weight. Will I revert back to old ways if I don’t have the “loss” as a goal? The answer is to keep challenging yourself! Whether it’s with fitness, food or something else, always have a new goal. Never stop trying to reach a new level – physically or mentally!

Everyday will be a choice. Just like now, some days will be easy and some will be tough. One day at a time or during the rough days, one minute/hour at a time!

The book is very easy to read; it would probably take most a few hours to finish. It took me a few days because I took lots of breaks. I returned it to the library promptly, as there was a waiting list and it’s a great book to inspire you to make the move to lose weight! (I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did!)

I found Ali to be uplifting. Her message us simple: believe it, be it! Don’t just THINK about something, DO it. Plan it and do it!!

ETA: it’s funny, her season of The Biggest Loser is being replayed on FLN channel so I’ve been watching it every morning. Also it was great to see her on QVC last week.

Soups and One Pot Meals Cookbook Review

This is a review for the cookbook Soups and One-Pot Meals the 100 Best Recipes from around the World by Christian Teubner (1998)

The first thing I noticed about the recipe design is that the ingredients list was centered making it a little more difficult to read. Plus more multiple ingredients were sometimes listed on one line, making it even more difficult to comprehend.

The photos in the book are gorgeous. I love cookbooks with lots of photos and this book doesn’t disappoint. Every recipe has beautiful professional photos on its pages.

The book starts off with stock recipes, and then is divided into countries/regions. A few recipes include photos with every step but unfortunately, it’s difficult to see the details because the photos are too small.

Personally I don’t know how many recipes I would actually make, but there are a lot if great ideas to take to your own recipes, and the price is right at the Amazon.com marketplace. With shipping, you can grab a used copy of this book for under $5.

Disclaimer:
I love reading cookbooks, like some people love reading novels! I am inspired by recipes, and enjoy learning ideas from cookbooks; I like putting my own spin on a recipe rather than exactly following it. Please keep in mind that my opinions might be completely different from the other home cooks.

Butternut and Sweet Potato

Hehe. My hubbie says he hates sweet potato. I want to eat them more often so I bought both butternut squash and sweet potato. So for dinner, I cut up both and steamed until soft. I mushed them together and he wasn’t the wiser!!! Shhh, don’t tell him.

I also recently picked up a white colored sweet potato (or was it a yam?) and I plan on slicing them and roasting along with white potatoes. I hope he doesn’t notice, they are just so good for you!