Sites To Know : 101 Cookbooks

July 24, 2008

The blog at www.101cookbooks.com is a recipe journal. It was born of Heidi Swanson’s decision to stop buying cookbooks and cooking the same 10 recipes over and over, and explore some of the other recipes in all her books. I think we can all relate.

Heidi Swanson

Super Natural Cooking

I certainly can. In fact, I have a rule that says No More Cookbooks. But listen to the focus of her book, SuperNatural Cooking : natural oils, natural sweeteners and alternatives, uncommon grains, cooking with color. There’s a chapter called Know Your Superfoods. I’d buy it for that alone. I looked at the recipe index on the Chapters site and it looks amazing. The book is $16. I’m thinking I’m to going to have to break my rule for this one.

Is that not an inspired title for a cookbook? It defines in 3 words, or 2 actually, my whole feeling about what cooking should be. This is the exactly the food I like and the food I eat. This is the food you eat to feel fantastic. Your body feels clean and light and strong. Your mind does too.

101 Cookbooks

I LOVE the recipes on this blog. They are sorted by type (Gluten-Free, High Protein, Appetizer, Soup, Whole Grain) and by ingredient.

The ingredients are generally organic and of highest quality. Since a recipe only turns out as well as your worst ingredient, ingredient quality really matters. I’d have to search for some of these ingredients. I’ve never seen agave nectar in a store and I don’t expect it’s cheap. I’m not really great at buying organic and I substitute ingredients in every recipe I make, but these always taste just perfect.

Every recipe has a great story behind it and incredible photographs. The pictures of the food are fabulous, and well-worth a visit to the site on their own merit. Heidi is a San Fransico-based photoprapher and shows many beautiful examples of her work, food and otherwise, on her site. Many photographs are available for purchase.

Grilled Potato Salad Recipe (linked to 101 Cookbooks)

Favorite Recipes

I love a fruit crisp. My absolute favorite is the Plum and Peach Crisp and I use orange zest instead of the orange blossom water.

Have a look at the chocolate recipes in the blog. If there’s a section like that in the cookbook, I’m going to have to glue the pages together or I’ll be making, and eating, nothing else.

Do find time to watch this beautiful video about making Big Sur Power Bars which I love for having coconut oil. The video is lovely to watch but Heidi’s kitchen is far too clean. I see one of my responsibilities as a parent to keep my childrens’ immune systems aware of what’s out there. This is the only reason my kitchen is just slightly messier than Heidi’s.

I find these bars a great way to use up a cereal my kids made me buy and will no longer will eat. I use sunflower seeds instead of espresso beans, because well, just imagine feeding children espresso. There are plenty of other recipes that span parent-friendly and kid-friendly – the BlackBean Brownies for instance, the most popular recipe on the site !

Black Bean Brownies at 101 Cookbooks

Just to prove I don’t only care about dessert, there are low carb, high protein, vegan, and vegetarian recipe sections, all excellent. I believe Heidi is a vegetarian herself, so the nutritional value of the foods is of personal concern to her as well.

Quinoa Forever!

I’m always looking for Quinoa recipes ( What The Heck Is Quinoa? ) , and look ! You just have to eat this food to be ‘au courant’. Don’t eat it and you’re nowhere.

Below is the fantastically easy and healthy Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa. It takes 20 minutes, 18 of which you’re reading and drinking your green tea while the quinoa is simmering or absorbing liquid ! How I know it’s the weekend is that I eat this for breakfast instead of AllBran. Sometimes I even make it for supper if I don’t have to feed the whole family. With berries, walnuts, and organic yogurt, it is so good.

Heidi often writes about other fabulous cookbooks, and this recipe is from chef and internal medicine specialist Dr. John LaPuma’s Chef MD’s Big Book of Culinary Medicine. It is vital to recognize the power of food to make you feel amazing and to act as medicine.

Food can be used to give you obesity, diabetes, intestinal disease, poor healing, and many other ailments. That’s a choice many people make, but I don’t believe it’s the easier choice. It’s just what’s been learned and made into habit. Food can also be used to strengthen immunity, breathe more easily, ease sore joints, and raise you to a level of feeling well that you’ve never experienced before. This book covers how to eat for specific medical conditions, how to shop, and which foods to eat to sleep better and think better. The 50 amazing foods we should all be eating on a regular basis often find their way into Heidi’s recipes.

Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa (linked to 101 Cookbooks)

Here is a beautiful big bowl Quinoa recipe! It is absolutely gorgeous, very much a buffet salad. Quinoa makes a great conversation piece. I also love the dressing in the Lemon Scented Quinoa. When you read that post, you’ll see that Heidi is working on using quinoa as a base for cookie dough. Well, alright, you go, girl!

Multi-dimensions

This is a multi-faceted woman. In her earlier days, Heidi set up a tech blog called ChickClick.com, a web site for teenagers. I am impressed with her talent for coming up with cool web names. In this day and age, that is a very marketable skill.

With forums, a store ( ) and iphone edition under Mobile Recipes , this is more than a recipe journal. This is the website of an inspired, creative, original woman who clearly loves her topic and loves the process.

Posted by Christine Scaman | Filed Under Food & Recipes, Sites To Know

Comments

4 Responses to “Sites To Know : 101 Cookbooks”

John La Puma, MD on August 2nd, 2008 2:35 pm

Thanks so much for the shout-out!
My “easy and healthy Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa” is made even better with Heidi’s photos and your generous praise.
I like what you’re doing in your blog…keep up the good work.
Warmly and thanks,
JL
n.b. we’re sending out tens of thousands of free easy quick healthy recipes every week at http://www.ChefMD.com, just for the asking: join us!
Caroline on August 2nd, 2008 4:31 pm

I tried these brownines and they are YUMMY!!! I especially like that they skip the flour, since I’m cutting down on wheat. Does Heidi have an equally great frosting recipe to go with the brownies?
Christine Scaman on August 10th, 2008 7:28 pm

@ John,

Gladly joined the group. You are totally on the right track.

Do you know of the book Foods That Fight Cancer? It’s written by Gingras and Beliveau, out of U. de Montreal in Canada. Though their focus is cancer, they have done a brilliant job of explaining complicated medical concepts in an understandable way. The 11 foods covered in that book, and the 13 covered in the cookbook sequel, are described in terms of their specific anti-cancer activity at the molecular level. It amazes me how much is actually scientifically documented regarding the activity of food in fighting disease.

@ Caroline,

Are they not great?? I love them too. I actually have to remind myself that I can eat a little more than I normally would and still do good for myself.

I haven’t seen frosting recipes either. I hadn’t thought of it, but now that you mention, it seems clear that there’s a need. In fact, healthy frosting would be a real bonus because of how tough those recipes are to find. Write Heidi a note and maybe she’ll start working on one !
KAREN on March 25th, 2009 2:59 pm

Try out my new cookbook! You will not be disappointed. It contains delicious country style home cooking recipes that have been handed down in my family for generations plus some creations of my own. I have also incorporated some of the poetry that I have written over the years for an added bonus. If any of you would like to check it out please visit my website listed. Thanks