160 of 169 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The only book I've ever returned, July 31, 2011
This review is from: The Paleo Diet Cookbook: More than 150 recipes for Paleo Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Beverages (Paperback)
What a disappointment. I've never returned a book before now, but honestly, this one was a dust collector right off the bat. Baked apples? Seriously? I don't know many people who don't know how to put some cinnamom and nutmeg on an apple and put it in the oven. I need a recipe book for that? Maybe it's because of the incredibly strict rules that Cordain follows. Get off grains? Oh yes. Loose the sugar? Absolutely. Avoid soy, corn and other processed oils at all costs? Too right. Toss the processed food? You bet. Try to find grass fed, pastured, free range and organic? I'm with you. But if you then remove all dairy (cheese, butter, cream) and go low fat (why you would do this I have no idea), it's pretty darn hard to create a dessert.
Here's my take on paleo eating in a nutshell (it'll save you the price of a cookbook): Cook some grass fed, free range or pastured meat or wild fish (the size of your palm is about right), put it on your plate and fill the rest of the plate up with organic veggies and salad (raw is always good). Snack on nuts. Easy on the fruit (berries are the best!) and heavy on the veggies. Stay far, far away from sugar, grains, beans, soy, processed stuff and food covered in chemicals. Don't eat animals that were fed these things, either. Dairy? Some say no, some say okay. Honey? Same thing.
Want to approximate your old favorites? Cauliflower is life's wonder food: use it in place of rice or potatoes. Spaghetti squash is pasta, as is zucchini. Cabbage can be lasagna noodles. Romain lettuce leaves = wraps for just about anything you could put in a sandwich. Turnip and rutabagas do just about anything potatoes can do. High heat frying can be done in pork fat, beef tallow or (to some extent) coconut oil.
Want to make desserts? Bake with almond meal and coconut flour. Use stevia or xylitol to sweeten (both are natural sweeteners). Use coconut oil, butter and olive oil. Eggs and cream help a lot. Organic feta and cream cheese can be found. That's if you eat dairy. If not, you can still do some baking with coconut oil and eggs. You can make SUPERB ice cream with premium coconut milk (the high fat stuff), stevia, eggs and some melted Lindt 99% chocolate. No sugar, no dairy, total paleo, and you won't believe your taste buds.
Anyway, this book offered nothing new, and certainly nothing worth writing (or reading) about. No pictures, no new ideas, no fun, some items really hard to find...just not much there to love.
Pick up The Primal Blueprint Cookbook if you're looking for paleo meals, or a good low carb recipe book.
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42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unoriginal and uninspired, May 18, 2011
This review is from: The Paleo Diet Cookbook: More than 150 recipes for Paleo Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Beverages (Paperback)
There are so few paleo cookbooks out that I hesitate to slam this one. I mean, any paleo cookbook is helpful, really.
But this cookbook seemed to take the tack that he was teaching people to make very basic food without using grains. There are zero photos (!!!), and the recipes consist of things like deviled eggs, kebabs, and salads with nuts, fruit or meat added. As a 30 year old person, I am well able to adapt my favorite burger recipe to a different type of ground meat. I am able to add a single herb to meat to make it taste better. I'm able to stuff a vegetable with other vegetables and meat. And I'm able to stick fruit in a blender and make a smoothie.
I read cookbooks to give me the creative solutions that I would not think of myself. How to make familiar foods that I miss, in a paleo, healthy style? And this book offered none of that. I dog-ear the recipes I want to try in cookbooks, and at the end of reading this one, I had two dog-ears. The other recipes just seemed, well - fine. It's just I eat simple stuff like that all the time. That's why I bought a cookbook, is to mix it up a bit and try something new. And this was just more of the same.
I'll give it two stars just because it is paleo, everything is lean and low-fat, and if you are brand new to cooking, this might help you. However, if I were new to cooking, I'd want photos, so I'd choose Mark Sisson's Primal cookbooks or Sarah Fragoso's Eevryday Paleo instead.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Food, Great plan!, April 28, 2011
This review is from: The Paleo Diet Cookbook: More than 150 recipes for Paleo Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Beverages (Paperback)
This is the companion to the Paleo Diet. I highly, highly recommend this. There are some great recipes. My favorite are the "taco's" - delicious filling put into a romaine lettuce leave and eaten like a taco! My son wants those everyday! Great book!! -MB
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