The Dreaded Broccoli Cookbook : A Good Natured Guide to Healthful Eating with 100 Recipes (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Tamar Haspel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

We want to eat healthy foods and renounce the familiar, artery-clogging staples of our past, but what do we cook instead? "The American culinary scene has become a minefield of strange ingredients and elaborate preparations," writes the mother-daughter author team in Dreaded Broccoli. They show us how to make everyday cooking more healthful and fun, especially for those of us who don't have all day to spend in the kitchen. This is a sprightly and entertaining cooking guide about vegetables and how to enjoy cooking and eating them. For instance, you can simplify preparation by just brushing the dirt off mushrooms and getting your 4-year-old to wash the spinach. Keep your cooking low-fat by steaming, roasting, or sautéing in as little oil as possible. The book demystifies easy-to-cook ingredients such as leafy greens (forget the complicated names: "There are two kinds of greens--little and big"), whole grains (you can eat them without taking on an alternative lifestyle), and legumes ("you just put them in very hot water and leave them there a very long time"). You'll sample the Haspels' favorite recipes, such as Potato and Mushroom Pie with Polenta Crust (14 percent fat) and Nutritionally Correct One-Bowl Chocolate Cake (9 percent fat). Recipes include calories, fat grams, and saturated fat grams. The book is fun to read, plus you'll learn plenty about how to cook healthier without strain or pain. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly

The claim that healthy eating can be delicious isn't a new one, but since Americans eat about one hamburger patty's worth of lentils in a year, it's pretty clear we're a tough bunch to convince. Undaunted, this mother-daughter team, also responsible for "The Dreaded Broccoli" newsletter, keeps hope alive in a cookbook that's part recipe collection, part dietary intervention. The elder Haspel, Barbara, starts the ball rolling by describing how she came to healthy eating, namely her husband's heart attack. Influenced by Dean Ornish's diet plan, she realized she would have to make some modifications to get her family to stick with his stringent guidelines for the long term. And her approach workedAher husband lost weight, lowered his cholesterol and, most amazing of all, the food she was serving was so tasty she got her family to change its eating habits. Tamar, whose narratives alternate with her mother's, admits that she tends to think of french fries while eating her quinoa, but she makes her own delicious contributions. Keeping in mind that some people like meat, the authors include suggestions for fat-free beef stock and lots of recipes featuring such hearty meat substitutes as mushrooms (Potato and Mushroom Pie with Polenta Crust). There are imaginative dishes using grains, including Spicy Couscous with Leeks, Chickpeas and Peppers. Improvisation, fun and satisfaction are high on the list for the Haspels in this combination of techniques and recipes for healthy eating. This book is just what the cookAespecially the one in the kitchen every dayAordered.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st ed edition (April 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684854546
• ISBN-13: 978-0684854540
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,113,495 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The title doesn't do this wonderful book justice!!, May 17, 2002

By A Customer

I picked up this book because it was on sale (kind of an 'impulse buy'), but also because I'm trying to cultivate a desire to cook. Thinking the book was really just about broccoli, I let it sit on my bookshelf for a couple of months before even opening it. What a surprise to discover this is a wonderful book, and I love reading it! It's about so much more than broccoli, and I've learned a great deal about putting flavor into healthy food (a skill which doesn't come naturally to me). The authors (a mother and daughter team) are very amusing and informative, and a novice like me would actually feel comfortable cooking with them, rather than feeling intimidated. I would recommend this book to anyone who's not already an accomplished cook or chef ; I'm inspired to go buy a Römertopf (clay pot) and cook up a feast this weekend. (And I'm someone who often eats cereal for dinner to avoid cooking. No longer!!) I like to know how and why you do certain things when cooking, and this book tells you everything you need to know, and it's all fun.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, insightful, a pleasure to read, March 30, 1999

By A Customer

Unlike other assorted low-fat cranks, the authors of Dreaded Broccoli actually like food, and it shows. The book is witty, insightful and a pleasure to read even if you never cook a single recipe. In fact, its title notwithstanding, it is not really a cookbook at all; the authors' insistence on "recipe independence" means not cooking the recipes is really part of the point.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written and Funny like the Newsletter, just longer, March 27, 1999

By A Customer

I have subscribed to the Dreaded Broccoli Newsletter for several years. It helps that I like to cook, but even if I didn't I would still enjoy reading the Haspels' writing. The Haspels are intelligent, highly literate authors whose ability to turn a phrase (article on cooking low fat buffalo meat at home titled "At Home on the Range") is a constant delight. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys eating, reading or reading about eating.

Eli Becker