The books in this collection may make strange bedfellows, but each one is enjoyable, informative and fun in its own way. Did you know you can make pizza crust with cauliflower? Read on for more amazing and interesting tidbits.
Cali’Flour Kitchen by Amy Lacey. You don’t have to be on a keto kick to want to eat fewer carbs. Lots of us have found that cutting carbs is the only way to trim off a few pounds. Amazingly, cauliflower has come into its own as a substitute for refined carbs, and many people have found they actually like it a lot. This book is all about showing you more ways to use the hard white vegetable to make bread-like stuff like pizza crust, but it also has unique recipes for using cauliflower to make soup, Buffalo appetizers and even chips to make your nachos with. We love cauliflower just steamed with a sprinkle of fresh grated Parmesan, so this collection of recipes is intriguing enough to make us want to start making cauliflower rice and cauliflower meal to sub for rice, bread and flour and then go from there into unexplored territories. Their subtly flavored recipe for creamy cauliflower soup beckoned (beautiful pictures throughout the book), and we ended up happy we made it. ~$13 on Amazon.
Last-Minute Kitchen Secrets: 128 Ingenious Tips for survive lumpy gravy, wilted lettuce, crumbling cake, and other cooking disasters, by Joey Green. Light-hearted treatment of legitimate solutions for many common mishaps in the kitchen and around the house. Nicely laid out – easy-to-read labels, color used effectively. You may know some of the tried-and-true solutions already (e.g., vinegar to kill odors). You might be surprised at some of them (salt to get rid of athlete’s foot). You may even find you already have some of your own solutions you like better. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, the book is fun, simple to read and contains nuggets almost anyone may find useful – or at least entertaining (applesauce for a facial). A fun gift for college students or newlyweds who are new to housekeeping. ~$16 on Amazon.
Yin and Yang Nutrition for Dogs: Maximizing Health with Whole Foods, Not Drugs, by Judy Morgan DVM and Hue Grant (not the movie star). If you have a dog, chances are good that s/he’s a beloved member of your family, and you want only the best for him/her. That may include buying pricey toys and/or specialty dog foods. But you may be surprised to learn what Author Judy Morgan says. She is a certified veterinarian who carries a flag for cooking your own animal’s foods. This book is somewhat of an expose; it says the pet food industry in general is lying about what’s in its food and how those foods are made. She has observed in her practice that dogs and cats are increasingly suffering from inflammatory diseases that can be directly tied to the poor quality of the food they’re consuming. The logic is compelling. The recipes sound delicious – and you know they’re good for your pet because the author is a nutrition-oriented vet. The book is nicely laid out. As of this writing, Amazon claims the book is not available because of a quality problem with the publisher’s file, but it should be again. ~$10 for Kindle version. ~$30 in paperback.
Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve
