Cooking the Whole Foods Way: Your Complete, Everyday Guide to Healthy, Delicious Eating with 500 VeganRecipes, Menus, Techniques, Meal Planning, Buying Tips, Wit, and Wisdom [Paperback]

Christina Pirello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

The revised and updated edition of the popular, whole foods cookbook-with more than 80 new recipes...now 100% vegan!

With a dash of fun, Christina Pirello introduces whole foods cooking, inviting health-conscious readers to cut out processed and chemically enhanced food, as well as dairy, sugar, and meat, and embrace fruit, whole grains, vegetables, and beans. From savory soups to innovative entrées and delectable desserts, here are more than 500 recipes and ideas for wholesome, gourmet eating. With tips on meal planning, a shopping guide, product resource list, and extensive glossary, Christina makes healthy eating a most delicious adventure.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In 1983, Christina Pirello was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia. With little prospect of help from conventional therapies, she turned to a nutritional program using a whole foods approach. Now, after more than 15 years cancer-free, Christina Pirello is the Emmy award-winning host of Christina Cooks! on National Public Television, teaching whole foods cooking classes and lecturing nationwide. Christina is the author of Cooking the Whole Foods Way, Christina Cooks, and, most recently, This Crazy Vegan Life. She and her husband publish a natural foods magazine, Macrochef.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HP Trade; 1 edition (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557885176
• ISBN-13: 978-1557885173
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Whole Foods

More About the Author

Christina Pirello is the Emmy Award-winning host of the national public television cooking show Christina Cooks!. She teaches whole foods cooking classes and lectures nationwide. Christina lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING & WONDERFUL BOOK!!!! MUST HAVE!!!!, November 7, 2007

By 

Christea (Cape Cod) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking the Whole Foods Way: Your Complete, Everyday Guide to Healthy, Delicious Eating with 500 VeganRecipes, Menus, Techniques, Meal Planning, Buying Tips, Wit, and Wisdom (Paperback)

Anyone who is interested in incorporating whole grains and more veggies into their diet should have this cookbook in their kitchen! While their may be a few "exotic" ingredients to the newbies of macro/vegan cuisine, there are dozens and dozens of delicious recipes that incorporate whole grains, beans and soy products. Several of these items can be found at your local natural foods store or the health food section in your grocery store. Some of my favorites from this cookbook are the basic miso soup, chickenless salad, italian vegetable stew, brown rice & millet croquettes, quinoa salad, steamed spring rolls with citrus mustard sauce, temeph stronganoff, hearty sauteed greens with ginger, mushroom pate, sweet and sour cabbage with tart apples, pasta primavera, marinated vegetable and tofu salad, asian noodle salad with cashews, oat-raisin scones, olive nut bread, tarte tatin, and chocolate decadence brownies to name just a few. Christina does not use any refined sugars, white flour or dairy products in her recipes. Her delciious recipes require a shift in thinking from the SAD (Standard American Diet) to a natural, organic whole foods approach to enjoying food. This is a must have for any vegan or anyone just wishing to incorporate more vegetarian meals into their weekly diet.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christina Pirello is inspirational, December 2, 2007

By 

Alice (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking the Whole Foods Way: Your Complete, Everyday Guide to Healthy, Delicious Eating with 500 VeganRecipes, Menus, Techniques, Meal Planning, Buying Tips, Wit, and Wisdom (Paperback)

Take it from someone who has always been a bit hesitant to try new things (and who has also not had a very healthy diet in the past) - This book, along with Pirello's other books, have helped me start to include more variety in my diet and to understand how these foods help me feel better physically and mentally. Any of her books are great purchases.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too time consuming for weeknight meals, January 22, 2009

By 

Single Mom "Lori" (Allentown, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cooking the Whole Foods Way: Your Complete, Everyday Guide to Healthy, Delicious Eating with 500 VeganRecipes, Menus, Techniques, Meal Planning, Buying Tips, Wit, and Wisdom (Paperback)

We have made a handful of recipes from this cookbook so far. Ingredients can be difficult to find if you're not used to shopping at Asian markets or don't have a good health food store nearby. A lot of this stuff you just won't find at your average grocery store. We happen to have a grocery store that has an excellent nature's market section and international section and I still had to get some of the ingredients at the health food store.

What we've made so far was tasty but way too time consuming to do on a week night. This book was definitely written for someone who is obsessed with cooking and loves to do it up in style. Spending two and three hours on a meal can be fun, but it's not something I want to do on a regular basis. On weekends that we get snowed in, it's been fun spending the time in the kitchen with my 12 year old daughter working on a recipe together.

Also, having tended towards a raw food diet, the vegetables in these meals seem awfully over cooked. Since it's winter, I wanted more ideas for cooked vegetables, but these recipes go overboard with many of the recipes having two parts - first cooked on the stove and then in the oven.