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Love this approach to cooking

Customer Rating:
I think that I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to healthy eating, but still, before getting Super Natural Cooking, I considered items like margarine and fat-free dressings to be healthy. But Heidi Swanson's way makes much more sense -- doesn't it stand to reason that foods that are naturally cultivated would be received and digested by our bodies with far greater ease than factory-made approximations of real food? I for one would now much rather have a homemade amaranth-flour biscuit with real organic butter over a piece of sliced, processed bread with margarine.

It makes even more sense when you take into account that Heidi's recipes are delicious. Following the advice in the book, I have completely restocked my pantry with whole wheat and all natural flours and grains, and all natural oils and sweeteners. Now I reach for them when I cook, and I've come to appreciate even the process of cooking as something to enjoy and celebrate.

The actual recipes I've tried thus far are the amaranth seed biscuits (which I screwed up the first time; my own fault -- but the second time, they were delicious), the amaranth ginger shortbread, the mesquite chocolate chip cookies and the polenta-style teff wedges, which I've made a few times. It was all wonderful, homey and delicious. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to eat healthy and make a life-style change while doing it.

Some Of My Favorite Recipes, All In One Book!

Customer Rating:
Even if you're not into 'natural' foods, this is a terrific cookbook. Full of gorgeous photography and really delicious recipes (which are easy to make), it's a perfect cookbook if you're wanting to try some healthy foods or even just some different versions of some vegetable side dishes, new salads, etc.

I especially love the Big Curry Noodle Pot recipe, as well as the fantastic brussels sprouts recipe. Everything I've tried (I've tried about 10 or recipes from here) has been delicious. Very inspirational also when trying to decide 'what to cook'.

Great book to get you started!

Customer Rating:
Here is a cookbook thats based on a solid food philosophy but never sounds preachy. Excellent design and graphics, written as if you were exchanging recipes / meal ideas with a friend. The books includes lots of details without getting too busy, and indeed successfully preserves a sense of serenity. Most importantly, the recipes work well - otsu and the biscotti are my favorites! I can't wait for Heidi's next books and hope they continue to grow in scope and innovation.

Not Exactly Super

Customer Rating:
The book itself is beautiful- I love the photography throughout- but, unfortunately, most of the recipes aren't a hit with me. It's (obviously) a vegetarian cookbook, but I guess I was hoping it would contain more vegan recipes (or recipes that could easily be veganized). Because I am vegan, I personally don't find it to be very useful. A friend of mine who recently became vegetarian has this book and does like several of the recipes in it, so I can see the usefulness for someone who chooses to eat eggs/dairy. To be fair, I have only tried a small handful of the recipes (the ones that are vegan or veganizable), so my disappointment is based more on the fact that it wasn't what I expected it to be.

great book

Customer Rating:
this book gives a lot of info for natural cooking like what exactly to buy and why. this was a very helpful resourse when i wanted to change my eatting habits.