The Food Matters Cookbook : 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Bittman, New York Times columnist and bestselling author (How to Cook Everything) provides a rational approach to eating that not only improves health but also helps the environment. Extolling the benefits of a plant-heavy diet, Bittman offers more than 500 healthful recipes that feature unprocessed fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains and reduce all types of meat to backup players. In addition, he shares five basic principles for sane eating that are easy to implement and understand as well as an unusually helpful pantry section and handy charts for substituting produce and seafood by season. Recipes focus on flavor, such as lemony zucchini risotto, which uses brown rice, and curried chickpeas and cauliflower with chicken. His chapter on beans offers a particularly varied selection, like a lentil stir-fry with mushrooms and caramelized onions, white beans and shrimp burgers, and beer-glazed black beans with chorizo and orange. Bittman also provides a resourceful index of dishes that can be made quickly as well as meals that can be made ahead of time. Practical and balanced, this collection will shape the way we cook at home for years to come. Copyright В© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Two years ago, prolific cookbook author and newspaper columnist Bittman published a cogent injunction urging Americans to redirect their eating habits toward more environmentally friendly and agriculturally sustainable diets and away from sugary, meat-centric meals. Since that first volume offered only a few recipes, Bittman has come to the aid of cooks who need much more specific kitchen support. So he has engaged his formidable creativity to generate a cornucopia of recipes to inspire people to rethink what they prepare for meals. BittmanвЂTMs innovative approach starts at the market with teaching shoppers to spot and buy seasonal, fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. The bookвЂTMs hundreds of recipes give menu planners maximum flexibility in just about every category of cookery. Many appetizer and main-dish recipes call for some meat or seafood, but in controlled quantities. BittmanвЂTMs visionary imagination sparkles on every page, and even cooks who may not wholly resonate with his planetary concerns will find themselves intrigued and inspired on virtually every page. Promise of weight loss as a side benefit adds additional incentive. Bittman eschews rigorously exacting nutritional tables in favor of empowering cooks to find healthy balances based on broad principles of disciplined, intelligent, aware, yet joyful consumption. --Mark Knoblauch

From the award-winning champion of conscious eating and author of the bestselling Food Matters comes The Food Matters Cookbook, offering the most comprehensive and straightforward ideas yet for cooking easy, delicious foods that are as good for you as they are for the planet. The Food Matters Cookbook is the essential encyclopedia and guidebook to responsible eating, with more than 500 recipes that capture Bittman’s typically relaxed approach to everything in the kitchen. There is no finger-wagging here, just a no-nonsense and highly flexible case for eating more plants while cutting back on animal products, processed food, and of course junk. But for Bittman, flipping the ratio of your diet to something more virtuous and better for your body doesn’t involve avoiding any foods—indeed, there is no sacrifice here. Since his own health prompted him to change his diet, Bittman has perfected cooking tasty, creative, and forward-thinking dishes based on vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Meat and other animal products are often included—but no longer as the centerpiece. In fact the majority of these recipes include fish, poultry, meat, eggs, or dairy, using them for their flavor, texture, and satisfying nature without depending on them for bulk. Roasted Pork Shoulder with Potatoes, Apples, and Onions and Linguine with Cherry Tomatoes and Clams are perfect examples. Many sound downright decadent: Pasta with Asparagus, Bacon, and Egg; Stuffed Pizza with Broccoli, White Beans, and Sausage; or Roasted Butternut Chowder with Apples and Bacon, for example.

There are vegetarian recipes, too, and they have flair without being complicated—recipes like Beet Tartare, Lentil "Caviar" with All the Trimmings, Radish-Walnut Tea Sandwiches, and Succotash Salad. Bittman is a firm believer in snacking, but in the right way. Instead of packaged cookies or greasy chips, Bittman suggests Seasoned Popcorn with Grated Parmesan or Fruit and Cereal Bites. Nor does he skimp on desserts; rather, he focuses on

fruit, good-quality chocolate, nuts, and whole-grain flours, using minimal amounts of eggs, butter, and other fats. That allows for a whole chapter devoted to sweets, including Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies, Apricot Polenta Cake, Brownie Cake, and Coconut Tart with Chocolate Smear.

True to the fuss-free style that has made him famous, Bittman offers plenty of variations and substitutions that let you take advantage of foods that are in season—or those that just happen to be in the fridge. A quick-but-complete rundown on ingredients tells you how to find sustainable and flavorful meat and shop for dairy products, grains, and vegetables without wasting money on fancy organic labels. He indicates which recipes you can make ahead, those that are sure to become pantry staples, and which ones can be put together in a flash. And because Bittman is always comprehensive, he makes sure to include the building-block recipes for the basics of home cooking: from fast stocks, roasted garlic, pizza dough, and granola to pots of cooked rice and beans and whole-grain quick breads.

With a tone that is easygoing and non-doctrinaire, Bittman demonstrates the satisfaction and pleasure in mindful eating. The result is not just better health for you, but for the world we all share.

The "Minimalist" columnist and author of How to Cook Everything outlines an eating plan that is comprised of environmentally responsible choices, in a guide that shares insight into the risks associated with livestock production. This follow up to Mark Bittman's "NY Times" bestseller, "Food Matters: The Cookbook" offers around 450 recipes that will save your health and the planet