Upon first opening Sarah Wilson's book, The I Quit Sugar Cookbook: 306 Recipes for a Clean, Healthy Life, my initial thought was that I would eat any one of the foods that she included in her book. My second thought happened to be, yep, I'd eat them, but it sure would be nice if someone else prepared them for me.
Wilson's book is engaging and a certain delight for the reader. The photos and illustrations are inviting. The recipe formats are simple to follow, including clear, concise instructions that help to make the preparation of the foods error free. After trying one recipe, which worked quite amazingly, I am eager to try more of her foods.
However, I would not necessarily say that her recipes are for a novice cook. The ingredients are not ones that every kitchen has on hand. Depending on the area one lives, the ingredients may be more readily stocked, but in my hometown, where there are only three grocery store options, the ingredients were a bit of a stretch. The preparation time is considerable. Because she uses all parts of her ingredients, there is considerable chopping, straining, and saving ingredients for future recipes. This is not a bad thing, but it is time consuming. For example, I made the NoMato sauce. This sauce is primarily created from beets, carrots, shallots, celery, fresh oregano, garlic, lemon juice and some additional ingredients. The description in Wilson's book made it sound so good that I was excited to try it out. The sauce, when completed, looked just like a tomato pasta sauce. It also tasted very close to tomato marinara sauce. The sauce was just a little less acidy, more of a smooth palate experience.
My husband and I did enjoy it immensely and because I made a double batch, I have some in the freezer. The effort to make the sauce was a definite factor. I had to grate beet roots, carrots, celery, shallots, garlic, and other ingredients, then sauté and cook down the ingredients before blending in a blender or using an immersion blender (which is what I used).
Was the time and effort worth it? Definitely. Will I make more of the items in the cookbook? Certainly, I can hardly wait. Is the cooking easy? Nope, but that's okay if you have the time.
Overall, I like the premise of Wilson's book. She promotes clean living and sustainability. She is wholeheartedly invested in using all parts of the food and having no waste. She even confesses to asking for strangers leftovers at restaurants, and taking home fish carcasses from a friend's dinner party to make broth. More power to her, these things I could or would not do, yet I understand her concern for food waste.
I would suggest anyone looking for a whole foods, sugar-free oriented cookbook, check into
The I Quit Sugar Cookbook: 306 Recipes for a Clean, Healthy Life. You will be pleased.
FTC disclaimer: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review
About Me
- Laura Miller
- I am a recently retired high school educator who is learning to spend time doing what I want to do. This is a new challenge in its own sense. It's like walking into a buffet and knowing you can eat all you want and not get full or gain any weight and for once you have absolutely no idea what you want. But I look forward to the journey of figuring it out.
