2 New Books!

I was at the book store the other day with the kids I watch and as they were flipping through the pages of the books they were trying to decide to get I couldn't help but get lost in a very small section (of the already somewhat small local bookstore). The cookbook section.

I'm not a huge cookbook fanatic, and these days you can find almost any recipe you want on the internet but there is just something about sitting down with a new book and flipping through the crisp (yummy smelling) pages for new recipes. The first that caught my eye out of all of them displayed on the table was Supermarket Vegan by Donna Klein. By no means am I a vegan, or trying to become one for that matter but vegetarian meals are so easy to make because you don't have to prepare the meat and they make you feel so good when you eat them. I saw an Oprah a couple of months back where she had her entire staff go vegan for a week, and it really opened my eyes. Even if every family in our country went meatless for just 1 day out of the week we could be saving soo many animals' lives, not to mention energy and money. Anyways, Supermarket Vegan has over 200 vegan recipes with ingredients that any of us can purchase in any old grocery store, not a specialty health food store. After I started looking at the recipes I knew I had to get this book because they all looked so good. {And it makes you feel healthy just reading the ingredients!} This weekend I made their basic lentil soup, yum. They also have a white bean minestrone with zucchini and rosemary that looks divine, anyone who knows me knows that minestrone soup is my all time favorite go-to meal (because of it's simplicity and all the awesome veggies it has in it) so I'm really excited to try this new one! Or how about the 3 bean barley chili? That sounds yummy too!!

So I had decided I would get that cookbook and call it good. And then (as I wasn't even looking at the titles on the shelf) my eye caught glimpse of another one that I knew I just had to pull off the shelf and peruse through. Power Foods from the editors of Whole Living Magazine. I love that magazine. I don't have many magazine subscriptions, but last fall there was a really good deal on a years subscription for Whole Living and Everyday Food, $12 for the both, can't beat that! Whole Living just has really good articles on how to live a better life {I'm sure you'll hear more about the magazine in the future from me} and is just a really great magazine. So anyway, I started looking through the cookbook and the first thing I fell in love with was all the great pictures it has, I love a cookbook with pictures, makes the food look that much more delicious. The book uses the 38 healthiest ingredients and incorporates them into 150 recipes. At the beginning of the book it shows the 38 healthiest foods and includes research-backed info on the health benefits of each of these foods, nutritional data, and tips on storing, preparing and cooking the foods. Very cool. So I knew I was stuck and couldn't pick just one or the other cookbooks, I knew I had to get both. And now I'm left with a ton of new recipes to try!! Oh, and I justified buying both books for myself as one of my 'rewards' along the way for sticking with my resolutions and fitness goals. :)

Here's the Basic Lentil Soup I made this weekend:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped carrot (I used more for mine to up the veggies)
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (I only had chicken broth, so I used that....oops, huge vegan no no)
1 cup water
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed and picked over
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Finely ground black pepper, to taste
1 large bay leaf, broken in half, or 2 small bay leaves

In a medium stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook, stirring, until softened. Add the broth, water, lentils, thyme, salt, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to between low and medium-low, cover, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard bay leaf halves.

*Lentils are one of the healthiest and cheapest sources of vegetable protein and iron on the planet....so eat up!