Customer Reviews

Whole Foods for the Whole Family Cookbook

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have used Whole Foods for the Whole Family as my main cook book for the past 15 years. We have a number of food sensitivities; this is addressed in the book with lots of appropriate receipes. There are also receipes that are very basic - for example, calling for flour of choice (I use rice flour in everything!). It has also been easy to adapt many other receipes to our needs. The Kids' Cookbook section is great: simple things children of a wide variety of ages can make; I make a lot of them, too. This is a cook book that makes even difficult sounding dishes very possible, even easy. Another thing I like is that most receipes list variations. This book has really helped me feed my family well and has helped me learn to cook better. I use it almost every day.

I love the "Whole Foods" Cookbook. There are breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and side dishes all clearly laid out and easy to follow. All recipies have the approximate calories, protein, carbos, fiber, etc, per serving listed. There are recipies to make your own breads, yogurt, butter, cheese, and peanut butter. All the recipies use whole and natural foods, stressing the importance of a properly balanced (and yummy) meal. This books tells how not to waste parts of vegetables you thought you couldn't use. It understands that time is important and tells clearly which recipies are quick and which take a little more time. Even healthy kids' snacks are included. I resoundingly reccomend this book to anyone wanting to improve nutrition and lessen grocery costs.

This is a really GREAT practical book. I absolutely love it! Everything in here is wholesome. The recipes are all simple, quick and delicious. These recipes have been complied from La Leche League members from all over. They have also been well tested. This book is not limited to vegetarian cooking, there are a number of recipes with meat in them.

Probably the best thing about this book is how it actual teaches you to cook with whole foods because almost every recipe follows with a list of variations. Its focus is on making healthy food to feed your family. Many people will be able to open this book up and will have most of the ingredients on hand to make a number of the recipes.

The back of the book tells you how to simply make cheese, beans, yogurt, peanut butter, sprouts, jam and more. Plus charts on protein complements, sample menus for quick meals, leftovers, make ahead, and a whole section on baby's first food. This is an excellent all-encompasing book for anyone interested in eating health whole foods. Simple and straight forward. I use this book almost everyday. Even my picky 7 year old loves the food I make from here.

I have done a LOT of research on the best eating plan and cookbook for our family: an elderly person with diabetes, a sixty-plus person with high cholesterol and an overweight person with hypoglycemia. I wanted an eating plan that emphasized natural, whole foods as opposed to processed and refined foods. Unfortunately, most of those types of cookbooks were for vegetarians or vegans. We believe that God created animal products for our nourishment as well as plant products, so we were not interested in becoming vegetarians or vegans. When I ran across this cookbook, I was thrilled. I had the original 1970's LaLeche League Cookbook and liked it, but it is out of date as far as our current nutritional knowledge goes. So I was glad to see that they had produced a newer cookbook.

Pros:
1)Outstanding cover and binding! Every cookbook should be so well made.
2)Recipes from, and tested by, "real" people as opposed to fancy chefs or paid testers.
3)Whole foods, but not "weird" ingredients
4)Nutrition information after each recipe so special diets can be followed if needed.
5)Divided by breakfast foods, lunches, snacks, breads, dinners, desserts, home-made versions of store bought products.
6)More than just a cookbook-many helpful comments. For example: "This is a great recipe for busy mothers. Assemble in the morning while you are getting breakfast." or "This goes well with poultry."
7)Offers many alternative ingredient choices
8)Got two books for the price of one from LaLeche League. Whole Foods From the Whole World was included.

Con:
The last edition was in 1993. A new edition needs to be done to include the lastest information in nutrition. For example, recipes in this cookbook used carob in place of chocolate. Research has since determined that carob is no more nutritious than cocoa. Chocolate has been found to contain valuable antioxidants.

Also, any type of vegetable oil is used in the recipes. The cookbook does not reflect knowledge about the differences in oils and the dangers of transfats. However, it appears that no hydrogenated products are used in the recipes and one can use current knowledge to use the correct oils since the recipes don't specify which oils.

As much as I want to love this cookbook, I've found it very frustrating. On the positive side, it has great information on feeding your family more healthfully. I've incorporated many of the suggestions into our diet and we are much better off for it. This book also gives really good basic instructions on wholesome food preparation [the section on baking is especially great].

However, there are some problems with this book. My biggest issue with the book is that many of the recipes I've tried from it have just been (disappointing). Its very frustrating to spend a lot of time and energy on a recipe only to get a finished product that is inedible. [The whole wheat biscuits were like hocky pucks, a couple of the bread recipes were just nasty]. I have to wonder if these recipes were actually tested before they were included [I think not]. I *have* had good success with some of the recipes ["David's Casserole" has become a favorite standard at our house, along with several others!], but it has been way too hit or miss for my tastes.

This book would be worth buying just for the instructional parts. You are also supporting a great organization - La Leche League International - when you purchase it. However, just keep in mind that every recipe you try might not be the greatest ever.

I checked out this book from my local LLL group's library and I just love it! The recipes are quick, easy, healthy, and cheap. So far, I've liked everything I've made and the banana bread and pudding recipes (made with no refined sugar and only whole wheat flour) are excellent. My toddlers and husband loved them too. There are plenty of both vegetarian and meat recipes- I'd say it's a pretty good mix overall. I am particularly pleased with the wide selection of healthful dessert recipes since we have a lot of sweet tooths around here. I am definatly going to purchase this one!

There are a lot of great whole foods cookbooks out there. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. It does have lots of great information in it, but the recipes have consistently been disappointments. I've tried it time and time again over the past three years and have only had one recipe win "approval" from my family.

Through the years I have owned this cookbook, I have found more recipes for various dishes, various types of cuisine, and special diets (like dairy-free and wheat-free) than any other cookbook I've owned. There are also instructions to make your own baking mix, make your own baby food, answers to questions about cooking, etc. I plan to order this for my engaged daughter. However, a new copy can be ordered straight from La Leche League for only $18.95 and that includes a bonus of another cookbok, Whole Foods From the Whole World. It's not out of print and I'm puzzled why anyone would sell it for more than list price.

This cookbook gives the basics of cooking while encouraging creativity.
From whole wheat pancakes that cost less than mixes to family pleasing casseroles--all "from scratch" I learned to feed my family nutritious and delicious meals and snacks while spending less money at the grocery store.
If I could have only one cookbook--this would be the one.

I bought this book when I was in another country. La Leche League sent it to me. All the recipe's were useful wholesome and many family favorites come from these. Especially the whole wheat recipe's. I bought stoneground wheat and made fantastic bread. We even had a sourdough starter that lived for seven years named Tony. The pita bread, the items were simply easy quick and required just the basic ingredients.I raised three boys now in college and I was looking for copies now that their friends are having babies. My friends loved it too, so I gave it to them. I want to always have a few copies around so if anyone does have it and doesn't want it, sell it to me please.
gingerbread apple bread, puddings, salads, beans. My favorite cookbook ever and I cook with International chefs. Can't live without this book.