Norene's Healthy Kitchen: Eat Your Way to Good Health with Over 600 Fast & Fabulous Recipes [Paperback]

Norene Gilletz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 13, 2007

Norene Gilletz has a passion for recipes that are simple, healthy and delicious for the kosher (or not) cook. High in flavor and low in calories, they focus on good carbs, good proteins and good fats, and are made with readily available ingredients.Norene's Healthy Kitchen is packed with chef's secrets, including easy preparation ideas, freezing tips and nutrition notes. The recipes are heart-healthy, weight-loss-friendly, smart-carb-friendly and glycemic index- friendly. The selections are good choices for anyone on almost any diet. Recipes are suitable for the kosher kitchen, with lots of dairy-free and vegetarian options that the whole family will enjoy.Norene's Healthy Kitchen bursts with tried-and-true chef's secrets nutrition tips, and deliciously easy non-dairy,meat-free options fit for kosher and vegetarian diets. The recipes are great choices for heart-smart cooking, for thoselooking to lose weight and for diabetic diets. They are also compatible with the Weight Watchers and South Beach diets.Favorite dishes include:-Confetti Vegetable Strudel-Cool as Cucumber Soup-Lox and Bagel Cheese Strata-Spanakopita roll-ups-Chimichurri Chicken-Luscious Lemon Berry Mousse-Lentil Barley Soup

Editorial Reviews

Review

Just what the doctor ordered.... Packed with chef's secrets and nutrition tips. (Carolyn Blackman Canadian Jewish News 20070427)

About the Author

A freelance food writer, food consultant and cooking teacher, Norene Gilletz's world revolves around recipes. Norene is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada and owner of Gourmania Inc. She is a Certified Culinary Professional with the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She is also a member of Cuisine Canada and the Women's Culinary Network of Toronto. She gives cooking demonstrations for many charitable fund-raising organizations and is also a popular speaker about healthy cooking. Her motto, "food that's good for you should taste good," has been a core principle guiding her culinary career.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Whitecap Books Ltd. (August 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552858022
• ISBN-13: 978-1552858028
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Recipes; Difficult to Read/See Them, February 20, 2008

By 

Barbara F. Backer "Preschool Teacher for 20+ ... (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Norene's Healthy Kitchen: Eat Your Way to Good Health with Over 600 Fast & Fabulous Recipes (Paperback)

Oy! I just received this cookbook. I have 3 others by this author, and I use them regularly. Her recipes are simple and DELICIOUS. However, I was disappointed when I opened this new book and saw that, while it is full of her eater-pleasing recipes, all recipes are printed in a light red ink that provides little contrast with the white page. The print font for the recipes seems to be smaller than in her other books, too. In other words, I find it difficult to read the recipes. I certainly won't be able to read them at an arms-length distance, like when I'm combining ingredients and want to see what to do next. Much as I want this collection of recipes, I may return the book. How could a publishing company make such a poor choice of print color?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If someone put a gun to my head and I had to pick one cookbook from my collection..., January 12, 2010

By 

Chandler - See all my reviews
(#1 REVIEWER)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Norene's Healthy Kitchen: Eat Your Way to Good Health with Over 600 Fast & Fabulous Recipes (Paperback)

Well, if what I noted in my review title actually happened I'd be quite surprised because, after all, why would someone put a gun to my head in order to choose a cookbook???...
...but I digress...

In all seriousness, I have quite a large collection of cookbooks and I've been organizing and reflecting on which ones I should give away and which I should keep and what I like about the ones I'd consider a favorite. And I'd say if I had to pick the things I want wrapped up in one book if I only could have one book, I do believe this cookbook contains them.

Reasons why:

This is a very extensive cookbook. It has 600 recipes so it covers whatever mood, taste, or timeframe I have to cook so it's one of the most comprehensive books I have for healthy recipes.

These are fast, fabulous, and family-friendly...whether your favorite place is in the kitchen or you typically eat out daily, rarely cook, but have decided to get some healthier meals into your home periodically...I would expect you'd enjoy the book.

The directions are clear and easy-to-follow without any extensive or involved processes and you'll find loads of dishes even kids would love or that your honey would never know are "healthy". There are some truly gourmet tastes and depths of flavor as well and everything from good ol' American comfort foods to some more exotic gourmet dishes...yet the ingredients are never ones that are hard to locate.

Take for example: (and these are easy to adapt to keep the flavor but sub the meat if you don't eat meat)
Cranberry Brisket with Carmelized Onions
Barbecue Meat Loaf
Mighty Good Meatballs
Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Chicken Marvelosa
Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
Rosemary Maple Chicken
Oven Fried Chicken
Grilled Moroccan Chicken Breasts
Sweet Potato Fries
loads of homemade light dressings
Rolled Stuffed Turkey Breasts
Apricot Glazed Salmon
Pecan Crusted Tilapia
Vegetarian Shepard's Pie
Winter Vegetable Stew
Mini Cheesecakes
Tiramisu
Chocolate Pudding

...you get the idea. Things that you don't associate with "diet food". That's a good thing.

The full nutritional information is on each page to back up, however, that these really are healthy recipes. And they are. That's important to me. I'm a weight loss coach.

One of my favorite things that makes this cookbook unique is that there are notes on the recipe pages for substitutions. For example, if it calls for white wine it may note you can use chicken broth. If you hate Splenda or are out of it, it notes a measurement of sugar you can use, or maple syrup, etc. Such notes and substitutions are on the right side of the recipe so the recipe page still reads easily and remains uncluttered.

The book has everything from soups to appetizers to salads to meats to meatless dishes to muffins to grains and vegetables and breads to desserts to sauces and marinades and even a section of Passover recipes! Don't let that last section seem daunting if you don't celebrate Passover...I found some excellent dishes therein. (Blueberry cheese pancakes and sweet potato mushroom lasagna for example-- both to die for)

There are are wonderful notes on the pages in addition to the recipes such as one that has bulgar as an ingredient in a recipe. For those who may be unfamiliar with that ingredient, the note describes how it tastes and that it's a nice alternative to rice and that it's delicious in pilafs, salads, with poultry, etc. This is almost like a combo of watching a cooking show and having the recipe written for you...

The author clearly spent so much time on this book and I appreciate that but someone who is still learning to cook will love it even more... In the foreward of the cookbook, for example, there are food storage tips, how long certain foods keep, how much Splenda to use instead of sugar in a recipe or visa versa, substitutions to make foods lighter, notes on health tips such as the glycemic index.

You'll even get notes of how to use a food processor if you want to for some recipes, or cook em on a grill.

So...with all that and with recipes that turn out so dang tasty each time, it gets my pick.

I try to balance out all my reviews with negatives and positives but I can't imagine anything I'd add to this one.

I mean heck, there is even a recipe for homemade cereal bars if you need a healthy breakfast on the run during the week and wanna make em ahead on the weekend, for example.

Though I probably have as many cookbooks on my bookshelf as a small-town library, many of which I mention in my reviews, some are unique with their clarity of instructions, wealth of good recipes, listing nutritional info, and--most importanty--tastes you crave or for which someone will want the recipe.

And for me, I'd say this sets the bar in my home...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my kind of cooking, September 10, 2007

By 

Happygal (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Norene's Healthy Kitchen: Eat Your Way to Good Health with Over 600 Fast & Fabulous Recipes (Paperback)

I really loved this book. This is my kind of cooking. Easy to make, healthy and delicious. Since I liked her other books (especially Healthy Helpings) I pre ordered this book. I have already made some of the recipes and plan to use more soon. Each receipe has a cute short blurp about the recipe which is entertaining, and most have useful cooking tips.
The ingredients are common stuff that I usually have on hand and makes good use of the food processor and microwave, but their use is not essential. This book also has great info on the glycemic index, glycemic load, heart healthy cooking and lots of useful kitchen infomation. Which makes it a great gift for a beginner or more experienced cook. You will use it for everyday and entertaining and no one will think of it as low fat and healthy.