The Healthy Hedonist: More Than 200 Delectable Flexitarian Recipes for Relaxed Daily Feasts [Paperback]

Myra Kornfeld (Author), Sheila Hamanaka (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 30, 2005

How would you like to prepare and savor a delicious meal that's also nourishing and healthful? In The Healthy Hedonist, chef, teacher, and cookbook author Myra Kornfeld offers home cooks more than two hundred mouthwatering flexitarian recipes designed to satisfy all kinds of appetites -- without leaving you feeling stuffed and guilty afterward!

So, what is a flexitarian? A flexitarian is anyone interested in eating healthy, primarily vegetarian cuisine without cutting meat and fish entirely from his or her diet. The Healthy Hedonist is the ideal cookbook for people with a variety of eating habits: the recipes are readily adapted to suit vegetarians, omnivores, and everyone in between.

The emphasis here is on real food: fresh, natural, and, of course, delicious ingredients are used to create unique and healthful meals. Aside from soups, appetizers, salads, chicken and fish dishes, vegetarian entrees, grains, and vegetables, there are tempting recipes for pizza, alternative burgers, and naturally sweetened desserts. You can indulge yourself and feel virtuous at the same time with delectable fare such as:

• Portobello Mushroom Tapenade
• Wilted Spinach Salad with Orange-Curry Dressing
• Crispy Thai Wontons
• Potato Salad with Caramelized Onions
• Roast Chicken with Maple Glaze
• Coconut Green Beans with Mustard Seeds
• Lacquered Carrots with Coriander Gazpacho Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette
• Red Snapper Provencale
• Marrakesh Minestrone with Cilantro Puree
• Tamarind Chickpeas
• Asparagus, Leek, and Barley Risotto
• Barbeque Spice -- Rubbed Tofu
• Seared Sesame-Crusted Tuna
• Zucchini Latkes
• Salmon Medallions with Lime-Mustard Teriyaki
• Citrus Compote Supreme
• Roasted Peaches with Caramel Sauce
• Chocolate Lovers' Brownies
• Pomegranate-Pear Cornmeal Tart

Throughout the book are plenty of helpful suggestions for substituting ingredients to suit your taste or dietary preference and for cooking for large groups or smaller gatherings, along with preparation tips and menu ideas. In addition, easy-to-follow illustrations guide you toward creating superb meals sure to appeal to every palate. For any and all food lovers, The Healthy Hedonist is the healthy, scrumptious way to enjoy sensational feasts every day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's not uncommon for people to call themselves vegetarian, only to say that they sometimes eat fish and maybe poultry. What they're probably really interested in is a healthful, well-rounded diet, making them "flexitarians," a growing group that Kornfeld (The Voluptuous Vegan) addresses in this winning cookbook. Pseudo-meat products (like tofu) are used sparingly, and dishes that do have them, such as Wilted Arugula with Braised Tempeh, Mango, and Red Onion, with its delightful intersections of salty and sweet, may conquer even their sworn enemies. Vegetarian offerings dominate, but there's a whole chapter on fish and chicken, which are generally simply prepared but then transformed by more complex sauces, as in the elegant Black Bass in Leek-Saffron-Tomato Broth. Kornfeld's instructions are fairly detailed, and helpful drawings illustrate some of the more difficult techniques, but many recipes can still demand time and patience. Cooks who are willing to put in the effort because they agree with Kornfeld about the need to get past fad diets and eat fresh, "unfussy" food will be thrilled with the possibilities this book provides for pleasing a variety of people and their different eating habits. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Myra Kornfeld is the author of The Voluptuous Vegan. She writes regularly for Vegetarian Times and has contributed recipes and articles to Natural Health and Organic Style. A veteran restaurant chef and private cook, she is an instructor at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City as well as at Sur La Table.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Original edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743255704
• ISBN-13: 978-0743255707
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Good food, good company, and a great conversation-and especially the three in combination-are among the greatest of life's pleasures. I like to help others create space for such joyful experiences in their lives.

I originally came to cooking from a background in fashion design. Nowadays, I like to encourage my students to trust their instincts and be their own designers. Creative inspiration can come from anywhere: from a trip to the Southwest, from an encounter with a green zebra tomato at a local greenmarket, from that great falafel that you picked up on the corner, from reading an exotic memoir, from a "mistake" in the kitchen.

Cooking is a lifelong journey, and the path is fascinating in its unpredictability. My students range from vegans to omnivores. While the particular foods they eat may vary, they all want to eat well. I have observed that at some point or another in the course of life, one's eating habits will alter. What worked at one point may no longer serve. What one chooses to eat is an individual decision based on a myriad of factors. It is best to be honest, and if one way of eating no longer serves, perhaps you need a dietary reassessment.

I spent years cooking vegan meals at Angelica kitchen, in New York City. My first book, The Voluptuous Vegan, reflects that experience. While I have never been vegan, or even vegetarian, I have come close at times. I did not find that it worked for me to be so strict. I do appreciate good vegetarian or vegan meals, and I cook them often. My subsequent two books are flexitarian and include some dairy, eggs, fish and poultry. My writing and editing address a wide variety of foods.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind. It's worth using the highest quality "real food" ingredients, locally grown or produced if possible. Try not to surf on the latest fad-based dietary wave. Savor ingredients that have been favored by long cultural traditions. For the best-tasting results, use healthy traditional fats (yes, fat makes flavor!), and remember- salt is your friend. High quality sea salt draws the flavors of a dish together; and furthermore, it's good for you. Seek out animal food - whether it's dairy, eggs, or flesh - from an animal that was raised humanely and traditionally, and consumes what it was designed to eat. Products from traditionally raised animals are now becoming increasingly available from local farmers. It is, in fact, getting much easier to find pastured eggs with bright orange yolks from hens that have been foraging outside.

What is healthiest for you is also what is healthiest for the planet. Local food is fresher, picked riper, and often grown without excessive pesticides. It also requires a minimum amount of fossil fuel to get to market. Furthermore, it just tastes better. Compare a peach so ripe and juicy that it falls apart as you eat it to the mealy versions so common in most supermarkets.

Nourishment is not only a matter of what we eat, but how we eat. Slow down, pay attention, and really taste your food. Keep in mind the pleasure, or "hedonist" factor. Also keep in mind that a meal should make you feel satisfied and lively after eating it. Splash love into your food, call down blessings on your kitchen, your family and friends, even as you wash and chop and slice. Nourish yourself and others as deeply as you can.

Myra Kornfeld is the author of The Healthy Hedonist Holidays; A Year of Multi-Cultural Vegetarian-Friendly Holiday Feasts (October 16, 2007, Simon and Schuster Publishers), The Healthy Hedonist; More than 200 Delectable Flexitarian Recipes for Relaxed Daily Feasts. (Simon and Schuster, 2005), and The Voluptuous Vegan: More than 200 Sinfully Delicious Recipes for Eggless, Meatless, and Dairy Free Meals (now in its seventh printing from Clarkson Potter, October, 2000).

Myra is the Head Chef & Content Manager of MyFoodMyHealth.com, a food and healing website. Myra teaches classes in ethnic, classic, and vegetarian cooking at The Natural Gourmet School of Health and Culinary Arts and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She has been a guest instructor at numerous schools including the New York Jewish Community Center, Classic Thyme in New Jersey and at Sur la Tables around the country. She frequently teaches individual and group private classes and coordinates cooking parties. Myra specializes in corporate team- building events, with clients including Jurlique, The Gap, Credit-Suisse, Colgate-Palmalive, Alliance Bernstein, and American Express. She is a frequent contributor to Vegetarian Times and has contributed articles to Natural Health magazine and Organic Style. A veteran restaurant chef, recipe developer and editor, private chef and menu consultant, Myra worked for six years creating innovative vegan cuisine at New York's Angelica Kitchen.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner! September 19, 2005

By Susan Avila

Format:Paperback

I am a huge fan of Kornfeld's first cookbook, "The Voluptuous Vegan" so I was very excited to learn that she had a new book out. The second book is written more in the way I actually use the first book--with flexibility. I love the term "flexitarian" -- it really makes sense with the way most people I know eat. For example, using the "Voluptuous Vegan" book I might add ground turkey to the tofu lasagna or serve one of the vegetable dishes as a side for roast chicken. In "The Healthy Hedonist" Kornfeld provides fish and chicken recipes in addition to vegetarian fare and encourages the users to suit their own needs. I like the hedonist approach, I'm sick of special diets, mainly I just want to eat well and feel healthy. Kornfeld offers sensible suggestions such as purchasing organic produce when possible and exercising moderation rather than giving up foods you love.

I knew this book was a winner when I read the very first recipe (Sweet Potato-Red Pepper Spread). This is so easy to make and provides an exciting change from the pre-packaged Trader Joe's spreads I usually serve at dinner parties. Plus the leftovers made a great sandwich the next day. Many of the recipes in this new book are surprisingly simple which suits my chaotic lifestyle just fine. In addition to interesting recipes, Kornfeld provides a lot of information about cooking techniques, unusual foods, and flexible cooking styles. I didn't know that I could substitute coconut milk for cow's milk when baking, I tried it the other day with a tea cake and it came out great.

"The Healthy Hedonist" has just what I love in a cookbook: an interesting variety of recipes that are clearly explained and tasty, but that also inspire me to experiment and try my own combinations.... This is the book I'll grab first when I'm not really sure what I want to cook but I know I want it to be fabulous! Read more ›

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Healthy Hedonist October 11, 2005

By Alison M. Dearborn

Format:Paperback

Once again, I was one of the lucky recipe testers for Myra Kornfeld for "The Healthy Hedonist". I LOVE this cookbook even more than her first (The Voluptuous Vegan).

The recipes are not only simple, nutritious, and delicious, they are fun to prepare.

The Sesame Tuna is out of this world and I have prepared this recipe again and again for my family. It's a House Favorite along with the Pecan Crusted Trout, Indonesian Corn Chowder, Braised Tempeh with Curried Coconut Sauce and the Tempeh Ruebens with Carmelized Onions. The side dishes are wonderful and so easy. I just made the Glazed Brussel Sprouts for dinner last night. Even my daughter who hates brussel sprouts will eat a few of these. ( I eat the rest.)

As for the desserts, I keep a stash of her Peanut Butter Cookies in my freezer, though they don't last long. Other must-try's are: Browned Butter Berry Galette, Sesame Biscotti, both of the Luscious Puddings, and Roasted Peaches with Caramel Sauce.

This cookbook stays on my bookstand in my kitchen because I use it all the time. It's also lovely to look at with the fantastic artwork on the cover.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative, easy, and tasty recipes February 15, 2008

By Cookbook Gal VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book has easy, creative, and tasty recipes, with a heavy emphasis on Asian and Latino-inspired dishes. That means that if you are looking for basic middle-of-the road vegetarian or flexitarian recipes, like mac and cheese, look elsewhere.

You will also need access to well-stocked specialty markets, or resort to mail order if you live in areas of the country that have limited food market options. For example, the author uses a variety of grains, including millet and quinoa, instead of just brown rice. She flavors her dishes with curry powders and pastes, coconut oil, and brown rice syrup. She uses tempeh and whole grain pastas. The recipes are absolutely wonderful, and I finally stopped bookmarking because I had post-its on every page. My meat eating husband loves the Roast Chicken with Maple Glaze.

Please note: this book has NO photographs. If that's really important to you, consider checking it out from the library first, as I did. I loved it so much I ended up buying it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Over all a good buy, but hard to find/ pricey ingredients April 25, 2010

By SCartist62

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I ordered this book so I can change my diet to a more vegetable, but still have meat occasionally(chicken, fish mostly) I have tired a few recipes and that majority have come out really tasteful. I will say I will not ever order pizza again and the mango chicken is good, fire roasted tomato sauce is good.

The down side to the book is that a good portion of the ingredients are harder to find unless you live in a more populated area, or you have to buy off line and that can also get expensive if you live in a more rural area. Or even if they are supplied in you area they are on the pricey side. Another thing is that they do not have pictures to show what the finished dish will look like.

Over all a good buy, but hard to find/ pricey ingredients

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Serendipity! (a great find through luck) October 29, 2005

By MeanOM

Format:Paperback

This book made cooking the nightly dinner an interesting, fun, and easy adventure. EVERYTHING tried has been great while being quite different from my routine. And I've been re-making several. The crispy shiitake mushrooms are amazing (page 216.) We're far from being vegetarian types and it's been simple to use the meats we love. It helped with adding more variety to the large amount of vegetables we're all supposed to be including (I'm admitting here that efforts were failing miserably in my household). You really do have to find some tamarind extract, as it's a frequent and yummy flavoring. (Whole Foods carries it, as do some other groceries.)

It's going to make a great holiday gift.