Customer Reviews

Raw Family Signature Dishes: A Step-by-Step Guide to Essential Live-Food Recipes

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is filled with recipes that the Boutenkos would present during their workshops. "Core recipes," they have been retested and refined over many years.
Have you ever made a recipe and found that it just didn't turn out nearly as nice as the stunning color photo in the book? One thing that makes this uncook book unique is its step -by-step guide with photos of each step in the process.

Arguably, even an illiterate or non English reader could prepare these recipes! It makes you feel almost as though you are at a raw food demo workshop. (Incidentally, this was done because of complaints from readers that their recipes didn't turn out as good as the Boutenkos'.)

Years ago I paid $15 for a recipe booklet with photos of each step for Igor's bread--and it was worth it for just that one recipe! Now you can get ALL their core recipes in a sturdy book for nearly the same price! These mouthwatering recipes are sure to become staples in your diet, demanded routinely by family members, regardless of whether you "go raw" or not. Healthy alternatives to chocolate cake, bread, chocolate truffles, etc! Guilt free desserts, such as scones like they serve at Starbuck's, but without the constipating, mind-fogging wheat! Some of the recipes are simple, some more complex, yet the photos make even the complex ones seem easy. We learn that raw jams have half the calories as their cooked counterparts, and the sensational mousse cake recipe has only 1/6 as many calories as the traditional one! Yet, no taste is compromised, and in fact, the raw stuff actually leaves the cooked way behind in flavor.

There is even a guide (complete with daily photos) on how to make sprouts. With this book, no one can use the excuse that the learning curve for making raw is too hard; indeed, Victoria may put many of us that give raw food workshops out of business!

Sprinkled throughout the book are some essays, including a list of the benefits of green smoothies, and a story about how Victoria's husband got involved in the food prep. The back of the book has a complete listing and description of the kitchen tools and where to get them, as well as how much to expect to pay.

I have dozens of raw food recipe books, but this one is destined to become a classic---removing the mystique and fear of creating raw gourmet food once and for all!

HOLLY WOW!!!!! This book is AWESOME!!!! Sure not many recipes but I have no less then 20 raw books on my shelves and I am OVERWHELMED with recipes. However I go on a roll and make a tonne and only 60% of them are awesome, the rest are yuk and that gets discouraging AND expensive! I agree, the extreme detail is wonderful even after doing this for 3+ years because I am SO tired of tweaking and crossing my fingers. I just want 'out of the box' great tasting stuff so to speak! LOL I have to say I have most of the raw food books of all the top authors, 1/2 dozen ebooks and all of the Boutenkos. I've hardly read half of them- I would get them and be so disappointed with the book layout or the recipes were too intense, called for stuff I hadn't heard of or didn't have or in one there are no pics at all- yuk! So many sit on my shelf unread. We are not 100% raw but we are trying. It's challenging with homeschooling, 2 little ones and a baby! LOL I do the best I can. ANYHOW...I haven't tried them all yet, but 3 recipes that were totally worth the price of this book were the Cranberry Scones (I used blueberries) , the Garden Live Burger MIx and Igors Live Flat Bread. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the idiot proof pictures. I guess I am a visual learner because I whipped alll of these up in the kitchen in record time (ok dh helped) AND for a change I had ALL of the ingredients. (SO many raw food books always call for ingredients I don't have on hand). TOTALLY worth noting is that not only did my steak loving husband enjoy all of these, my 5 yr old and 8 yr old are currently chowing down on Igor's flat bread with the garden burger mix in the middle- although they did add that it's a bit hot (too much onion!). 2 thumbs up from both of them. They will try all of my recipes but if they don't like them, they are not required to eat them. My son likes Alyssa's stuffed portabello mushrooms, but my daughter does not....my daughter likes Matt Amsdens cucumber salad but not my son- to have them both like this gets a 2 thumbs up from ME! lol Weird combination I know but I didn't have any other 'dip' so I went with what I had. I have found with many raw books like Amsden's- his book is one of my favorites BUT that most of his recipes all have namu shoyu- tonnes of garlic and lemon- wayyyy too much for my kids to handle and I have to make notes to adjust taste for next time. I've been experimenting for about 3+ yrs now with the raw recipes and all of these by far would be the closest to 'SAD' food (in taste!). I don't eat anything SAD but my friends would totally love these. I'm going back for more! I LOVE the layout of this book, the pictures are beyond superb- crystal clear etc. Even if I didn't know what I was doing these would be uber easy to follow for the first timer and yet.... the recipes are so incredibly superb- well no wonder they call them their signature dishes. Way to go...you all inspire us! Keep making books like this that have awesome pics and I don't have to adjust the recipes or cross my fingers that I didn't just waste all those ingredients, this is a perfect 'out of the box' perfected recipes book- I would buy another in a heartbeat!

This book is unique among raw food books because of the amazing step-by-step photos and simple instructions. It makes a great addition to my library (currently over 40 books) and is the first one I will recommend to others exploring raw foods.

I must admit that, although I've been vegan for almost ten years, the raw foods department of veganism is new to me. Up 'til a month or so ago I had never even heard of a dehydrator, and now I own one (not a pricey, noisy Excalibur, but a cheaper, quiet Good4U, which I like). I'm still holding out against getting a food processor but it looks like I'll bite the bullet, because if I'm going to continue this way of eating I'll need one.

As an intro to raw foods I bought two books: The Raw Food Revolution Diet (Cherie Soria et al.) and the Boutenkos' Raw Food Signature Dishes. To start out, I've been trying out recipes from the latter book for the past week, including the garden burger (delicious), chocolate truffles (tasty and chewy but not chocolaty enough), green smoothies almost daily (theirs and my various versions), Igor's flat bread and the peroshkis. The last two are loaded with celery, which I've never been a fan of, but I thought maybe the flavor would be masked among all the other ingredients. Unfortunately not. They both pretty much reek of celery, and it's the dominant flavor. But I know it's good for me and I don't want to waste food so I'll eat it, slowly. And the next time I'll substitute something I like, maybe zucchini, for the celery.

The ironic thing about raw foods is that they actually require more of a time commitment than cooked foods. You have to run around collecting all the ingredients you need from various markets; you have to soak the nuts and seeds to get rid of the phytates (and then dehydrate them before you can use them); sprouting takes six days or so; dehydrating can take up to 20 hours or more. And it can take quite a while and quite a mess to chop/process/blend/mix ingredients for, say, the peroshkis. Also, there's clearly a lot of pre-planning involved in this, and I wonder how many people have the patience for it. As a person who's spent most of her life not terribly interested in recipe books, this is a challenge. At any rate, my next Boutenko dish will be the cranberry scones, which contain no celery, thank god.

BTW, I do like all the photographs and the exhaustive explanations for preparing each dish. As a beginner, I find it comforting to have so much information, even though my dishes still don't turn out as photogenic as theirs. And all those flaxseeds tend to make you quite regular.

Buyers may want to know that the book has only 15 recipes which includes a recipe for for a three item green salad! Experienced cooks and those with even a limited knowledge of raw foods may be disapointed. That said, a few of the recipes could become important foundations for someone wanting to change their diet.

As an emerging Raw Food Chef, I Iinitially discounted the book as too elementary.............but was I wrong. I love it. There is very little room for error and I've been touting its values ever since I started using it. Perfect for the beginner as well as the more experienced chef. In addition, the recipes are delicious - just try the cranberry scones! Yum!

While I found this book to be the perfect companion to the book "12 Steps to Raw Foods", I also believe it stands very well alone. If you are considering a raw food diet, or if you've already started, this book is a MUST READ. Ms. Boutenko shows you how to make her family's favorite dishes. I must say I have NEVER seen a cookbook that is so easy to follow! Each recipe has lists of ingredients as well as tools needed and helpful informational boxes. Did I mention the HUNDREDS of color photos? The photos show EVERY step of the cooking process, so that I could literally see the dish form before my eyes. The pictures really 'make' this book.
I had no idea it was possible to make raw desserts like cakes and pies - they look absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try one.
Lastly, the back of the book contains helpful recommendations on the Boutenko family's favorite kitchen appliances that will help you make any of these dishes.
Five Stars.

This is the most ridiculous book I have ever seen. Perhaps it would be helpful if you have never been inside a kitchen and have no idea how your food processor works. There are so many silly repetitive photographs that one receipe took 16 pages!!! There is a total of 15 receipes in this entire book of 160 pages. There are 5 photos of just how to chop an apple. There is a photo of raisins in a measuring cup over a bowl, then a photo of the raisins being poured into a bowl, followed by a photo of cranberries being poured into the bowl and yet another photo of the bowl with raisins and cranberries in it. Then there are 5 more photos of hands mixing the raisins and cranberries in the bowl. And to make matters worse you have to keep turning pages to make any receipe which is difficult when your hands are dirty from all that mixing. Unless you are an ABSOLUTE BEGINNER with little comprehension of the written word then I would not waste your money on this silly book. To make any receipe I had to type the ingredients and directions onto a single piece of paper.

This was a great idea, a step by step guide to raw foods by one of the pioneers of the raw food movement, Victoria Boutenko. Raw Family Signature Dishes takes you through fifteen raw foods recipes, holding your hand the entire way. This book demystifies raw food cuisine and makes it completely accessible to all.

The layout is straightforward and Victoria's writing style is (as always) enjoyable and informative. The photos go through each step of the recipe and there's an equipment list with sources in the back of the book.

I think it's a good book, I would recommend it, especially for beginners (like me). I would have preferred maybe a few less steps and more recipes, but it's simplicity is comforting and almost like having an experienced friend in the kitchen with you.

I think this is the best instruction ever given in raw food books for preperation. Such detail that a child could do each with ease. I especially liked the veggie burger.

One complaint---the pages started to seperate from the book after only a couple of uses. I may have to remove them all and put in a loose leaf folder.