Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking: A practical Introduction to Natural Ingredients [Paperback]

Natalie Nigro (Author), Shirley Nigro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Learn all about hundreds of natural ingredients and enjoy healthy cooking with this essential kitchen handbook! This guide introduces new foods and healthy ingredients in a practical, easy-to-read format which cuts through the confusion surrounding healthy cooking.

"I'm going to eat better and lose weight!" Does this sound familiar? Or, "My doctor says I have to change my diet" because in either case, this book can help you find and use healthy, new ingredients to add to your diet.

The Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking is the most comprehensive guide to natural ingredients anywhere. This down-to-earth book cuts through the confusion surrounding healthy cooking and provides the read with lots of valuable food preparation instruction. This indispensible guide also includes easy to read tables, comparison charts, and pronunciation guides. A wonderful book for anyone interested in eating healthier. We got into healthy eating over 10 years ago. Through those years, we often searched for information about ingredients. We found the best way to learn about them was to buy two books -- an excellent general healthy-eating cookbook and a companion ingredient guide that explains what ingredients are, their flavors and textures, their pronunciation, their general uses, issues regarding freshness and quality, how to store and cook them, where to buy them, and where to go for more information about them. We wrote this book because there really isn't anything that fills the role of the companion ingredient guide and we needed one. they changed from a typical American, junk-food, meat-eating, high-fat diet to a healthful, low-fat, wholesome vegan diet.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book is intended to be a companion volume to low-fat, cholesterol-free, vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic, allergy, whole-foods, natural-foods, ecological, self-healing, and healthy cooking recipe books that are available on the shelves and on-line bookstores today. Natalie and Shirley Nigro are a daughter and mother team who didn't know beans about healthy cooking until 10 years ago. Through the years, worked hard to change It involved massive amounts of research and thousands of hours of experimentation. However, they are ordinary people -- sorta. Shirley is an ex-graphic designer and Natalie is an Artifical Intelligence Senior Software Engineer whose work impacts the Hubble Space Telescope. Because they did it, they understand the process of how to permanently change a way of eating. They are convinced that a good fundamental understanding of ingredients is the key.

The Essential Handbook for Every Kitchen

This indispensable guide introduces new foods and healthy ingredients in a practical easy-to-read format. Inside you'll find:

1) Hundreds of natural ingredients -- low in fat, sodium, and cholerterol,
2) Ways to add new flavors and textures to your recipes,
3) How to eat well on a limited budget,
4) Easy to read tables, comparison charts, and pronunciation guides, and
5) How to successfully buy, store, and prepare natural foods such as
beans, rice, pasta, tofu, nut milks, miso, and mushrooms.

This down-to-earth book cuts through the confusion surrounding healthy cooking.

Natalie and Shirley Nigro, a daughter and mother team, have spent over 7 years studying and practicing healthful eating. After thousands of hours of experimentation and research, the Nigros have compiled this excellent reference. Shirley and Natalie attended college together in the 1980s and have been working together ever since. It is also perfectly suited to serve as a text for healthy cooking, macrobiotic, etc. classes.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The type of rice used can make quite a difference. Make a simple but tasty rice to accompany any entree by combining cooked rice, garlic, parsely, and a little oil, margarine, or soy butter in a baking dish, covering and baking in a moderate oven until the rice is tender. If brown rice is used for this dish, it will have an earthy and hearty feel and is nice served with meat loaf, roast, tempeh steaks, etc. On the other hand, if white rice is used, the dish is transformed into a delicate, mild, almost gourmet dish that can be served with fish, poultry, tofu, etc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Featherstone & Brown; 1 edition (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964173115
• ISBN-13: 978-0964173118
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,513,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is wonderful!, March 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking: A practical Introduction to Natural Ingredients (Paperback)

Being a vegetarian, I found myself bored with rice and vegetables minus the meat. I decided to experiment more with vegetarian cooking. However, I found that most recipes had ingredients that I had never heard of, and most cookbooks did not give an explanation of the ingredients. I was ready to give up until I bought this book. This is by far the most comprehensive book on healthy food on the market. It is easy to follow their instructions, and I really like the Nigro tips. Anytime I have an ingredient I don't reconize, I pick up this book and quickly learn where to find it and how to use it. This book introduced me to so many food choices that I never knew I had. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in vegetarian or vegan cooking.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous information on how to use Natual Ingredients., December 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking: A practical Introduction to Natural Ingredients (Paperback)

This book has Great Detail on how to use Natural Ingredients for Healthy Cooking. The charts were easy to read and so informative. I learned how to buy, store & prepare Natural Foods. Everything I needed to know and more, which I could not find in any other book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource!, December 8, 2009

By 

HFC in LA - See all my reviews

This review is from: Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking: A practical Introduction to Natural Ingredients (Paperback)

I've used this book for years and have found it to be an excellent and very informative resource. It tells you how to use all those unusual items that you may find in health food stores and ethnic markets. It also has ideas on other ways to use standard things you have in your pantry. This is not a recipe book: it just provides the basics on how to cook or use each item, and guidelines on how to select and store them. I think it really helped to introduce some new foods into my diet and helps to prevent "same-old-food" ruts.