Heart healthy Un-cooking books?

[jawnn]

I cannot relate to recipes because it negates my artistic mind, so I am looking for a good cook book that is not full of recipes. And it should be heart healthy; that is the hard part.
I heard of one that is red and it is about actually learning to cook, but I do not remember the name.
Does anyone know of one, tell me about it.

 

[Steve Kroll]

A cookbook without recipes? I'm not sure I follow... but then again I'm not very artistic.

 

[jawnn]

How to cook with out recepes

I can’t stand to fallow recipes, they always tell me to use stuff that I do not have and it sucks the energy out of my mind to measure.

Combination ideas are what I need; if you cannot cook without measurements you cannot be creative.

I invented a winter squash and apples pie with no sugar salt or fat, for thanks giving, but no one wanted it because of the intensity of the other pies with tons of sugar salt and fat.

That confirmed to me that most people are insane, and do not care about their health.

There must be some books out there dealing with this concept.

A cookbook without recipes? I'm not sure I follow... but then again I'm not very artistic.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Google Simple food for the good life by Helen Nearing. That is the only non cook book, cook book, I know.

 

[Andy M.]

You certainly have a poor opinion of people who don't like your cooking.

If you want to learn about proper nutrition, take a nutrition course for people who require special diets. Then you can use what you learn to unleash your creativity in a constructive way.

 

[GLC]

How about this. I LOVE it. Every sort of food and flavors work with it. Great ideas. If you already know the essentials of cooking, you can think of ways to exercise the combinations. I think of it as several lifetimes of intense cooking experience in one book. The heart healthy part you can do for yourself. And it's a great reference for that, because "healthy" often means overcoming bland.

Amazon.com: The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs (9780316118408): Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg: Books

 

[Siegal]

You don't have to measure and use everything they ask for. It seems you want SOMETHING for inspirations or you wouldn't have asked for a book. I always look at a recipe (or 4) and just pick the elements I want and substitute/add/take away whatever I want.

Like for example yesterday I made cranberry ice cream. I found a recipe for a plain ice cream base (and used whatever milks I had not what the recipe called for) and found a recipe for cranberry sauce (Substituted grapefruit juice for orange b/c that's what I had), added the amount of sugar I wanted, etc.) Just my suggestion. So find a book that you like the general idea.

 

[Dawgluver]

Unless you're baking, many recipes are merely guides. I agree with others here, sub in the stuff you like, leave out the stuff you don't. I just made some roasted veg soup, and subbed ground flaxseed for flour. It still worked!

 

[jawnn]

too much fat and salt

I just think that people need to be more aware of the consequences of eating too much fat and salt , sugar in more obvious.


The Tassahara cook book is the book that got me started on the concept.
And I have been taking apart recipe’s ever since, just to make them fit my life style, and what I have. I should write my own un-cook book.

Cardiac rehab thought me a lot. And this book: Prevent, Halt & Reverse Heart Disease: 109 Things You Can Do by Joseph Piscatella

You certainly have a poor opinion of people who don't like your cooking.

If you want to learn about proper nutrition, take a nutrition course for people who require special diets. Then you can use what you learn to unleash your creativity in a constructive way.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I just think that people need to be more aware of the consequences of eating too much fat and salt , sugar in more obvious.


The Tassahara cook book is the book that got me started on the concept.
And I have been taking apart recipe’s ever since, just to make them fit my life style, and what I have. I should write my own un-cook book.

Cardiac rehab thought me a lot. And this book: Prevent, Halt & Reverse Heart Disease: 109 Things You Can Do by Joseph Piscatella

Thing is, you can teach and talk, but you are not going to convince. Just cook what you feel is right and don't discuss it, if they go into a meal knowing that it is low fat, lo sodium, low sugar, they are starting out with a negative attitude towards the meal. They don't have Heart Disease, why should you MAKE them eat like a cardiac cripple...that is what is going through their heads. Not the notion that you might care about their health and well-being.

You are not going to change the diehards. Live by example not by "nagging."

 

[Aunt Bea]

Thing is, you can teach and talk, but you are not going to convince. Just cook what you feel is right and don't discuss it, if they go into a meal knowing that it is low fat, lo sodium, low sugar, they are starting out with a negative attitude towards the meal. They don't have Heart Disease, why should you MAKE them eat like a cardiac cripple...that is what is going through their heads. Not the notion that you might care about their health and well-being.

You are not going to change the diehards. Live by example not by "nagging."

Well said!

I used to cook the "old way" when I had company and now I just cook. The only ones that seem to notice a difference are the ones that have adopted similar changes. Ina Garten always says the only thing anyone seems to remember about a meal is what you serve for dessert and I have learned to fake a couple of pretty good ones!

 

[CWS4322]

And I rarely eat dessert, so dessert is something I might make, but don't eat. I like to serve fresh fruit at the end of a meal...

 

[jawnn]

My favorite UN-recipes

BLACK BEAN PATE’
Yeast flakes, dry onion flakes, No salt
What would you add or do?

NONFAT CREAM CHEESE
Drained yogurt, dry onion flakes
What else?

APPLE SQUASH PIE
Baked apples and winter squash, coriander, a tiny bit of nutmeg
This has a lot of potential, but what?

NO MESSURE PIONEER BREAD
Make a depression in a bag of flour, pour water in it and let soak in, that’s your dough.

 

[jawnn]

This is a really good book, but it reads like a thesaurus after the intro to the concept.

 

[Cybob]

Two books come to mind. The first is: The Food Matters Cookbook - 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living by Mark Bittman.


This book IS a recipe book, but Mark, as usual in his writing, offers lots of alternative and variations which make it especially good for inspiration. The author had some health issues which turned him to this healthier approach to food, but he knows what good food is and he doesn’t leave flavor behind just to make thing healthier.

The second I believe may be just what you asked for a book about cooking, without too many recipes. It is: An Everlasting Meal – Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler.


In the Forward Alice Waters writes “. . . a book grounded in instinct, prompting the reader to examine the world around him- or herself differently, allowing cooking to become a continuous, integrative process that flows from meal to meal.”


And in the introduction Tamar states: “This is not a cookbook or a memoir or a story about one person or one thing. It is a book about eating affordably, responsibly, and well, and because doing so relies on cooking, it is mostly about that.”


This is not a health food book, but it is full of healthful ideas.

 

[jawnn]

write my own book?

I may have to write a cook book for simple eating with what you can find. And how to stay healthy with food.....but I think I need a word processor at home this library thing is just too stressful.