The ABC's of Home Food Dehydration Review

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(More customer reviews)This book contained tons of information on various complicated (sulphuring? - Eww!) methods of home food dehydration. About two weeks after I read it (taking copious notes) an episode of Good Eats dealt with the subject of drying fruit, and I learned more in that half hour than I had in the two hours of reading. I will definitely use this as a reference guide, but I sure am glad Alton Brown tackled the subject!

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Every important facet of home food dehydrating is covered in this handy reference volume, which provides directions for making dozens of thrifty, healthy, do-it-yourself meals and covenience foods. Starting with a reminder of the "whys" of dehydrating foods, the book inspires its readers forward through chapters that carefully explain the various methods used to dehydrate and preserve foods. Pre-treatments and preparation of fruits, vegetables, herbs and meats are outlined in orderly detail, followed by useful dryness testing information and guidance on labeling, packaging and optimum storage conditions. The ABCs of Home Food Dehydration is a basic text for the industry - a book that belongs in every kitchen and food storage library! A rehydration section, with food items listed in alphabetical order, gives quick and easy reference and recipes when it's "time to put back the water" and to make the food table-ready.The second half of the book is filled with delicious recipes for using dehydrated foods - recipes that are simple to prepare and delicious to eat. A wide variety of foods are covered: apples, apricots, asparagus, chicken, coconut, comfrey, fish, fruit leather, granola, jerky, noodles, onions, papaya, peppers, persimmons, rhubarb, sage, squash, turkey, yogurt, and dozens of other foods. The list is comprehensive and the results are great!

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Rawsome Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the single best reference and recipe book in one that I've found thus far. Mars provides a detailed food-by-food breakdown of nutrients as well as suggesting what conditions this food may help heal. Her recipes are practical, relatively easy to assemble and appealing. The strongest point in her favor for me, the only raw eater in my household, is that many of her recipes make only 2 servings, thus making Rawsome! an excellent choice for singles or couples who prefer not to have to downsize recipes.
Mars also summarizes five classic studies supporting raw foodism as well as recommending three titles for those wishing to explore the scientific support more extensively. I'd suggest Gabriel Cousens' Conscious Eating for people wanting more scientific support with recipes.
The most annoying drawback for me for a number of Mars' more appealing recipes is the unbelievable amount of time required to soak, drain, soak, drain, and dehydrate ingredients before you can even begin to assemble the dish. And then, my little bitty dehydrator often takes well over 24 hours to do its work. Too much hassle for me! (To be fair, however, lengthy preptime is common for quite a few recipes in all-inclusive raw recipe books.)
Nevertheless, there are many usable recipes in Rawsome! Consequently, it's still the best all-around raw recipe book I've found, easily the equivalent of Betty Crocker's "big red" binder cookbook.

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A raw foods diet advocates exactly that: eating raw foods. No cooking, no grilling, no steaming, no application of high temperatures. Why? Because eating food closest to its natural state engenders a tremendous exchange of energy between food and body. The result, over time, is a feeling of buoyant, radiant health. Tackling head-on the skepticism likely to greet proponents of what the world sees as a "fad" diet, renowned nutritional consultant and raw foods adherent Brigitte Mars presents historical data and scientific evidence confirming the efficacy of raw foods diets in: Supporting emotional stablity; Increasing energy levels; Clearing the skin; Boosting immune-system function; improving digestive function; Dispelling depression: Sustaing overall good health. In addition, Mars points out the environmental benefits of the raw foods diet, making a case for eating raw foods as a means of reducing waste, making the most of agricultural practice, and reducing the !human footprint on the earth. Whether the reader wants to jump right into an all-raw diet or just wants to introduce more raw foods into the diet, Mars offers gentle encouragement and practical instruction. Readers will find advice on planning a balanced diet to meet their nutritional needs, combining foods for best effect, presrving raw foods, equpping the raw kitchen, sprouting, juicing, and evey other technique that makes the raw foods diet simple,delicious, and healthful. In-depth profiles describe the nutritional and health benefits of hundreds of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seasonings. Perhaps most important, the author provides more than 200 kitchen-tested, real-people-approved raw foods recipes. Under Mar's instruction, readers will enjoy making everything from juices and shakes to salads, soupsdressings, yogurts, crackers, spreads, dips, vegetable burgers, curries, vegetable pastas, wraps, and more. And let's not forget desset: brownies, ice cream, lemon bars, fru!it leathers,pies,cakes, puddings, and other delectable treats. For people who want the vibrant energy and health that raw foods offe but don't want to give up the taste of good cooking, "Rawsome!" provides the answer.

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Dehydrator Delights Review

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(More customer reviews)Having just bought a dehydrator and living in the UK,there are no British books on drying food available over here. Therefore,I sent to the US for the book Dehydrator Delights and found it extremely useful in giving me a start on the road to dehydrating.
The book gives drying times for different foods and then recipes for those foods. All in all a very handy book for a beginner like me.

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Fork in the Trail: Mouthwatering Meals and Tempting Treats for the Backcountry Review

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(More customer reviews)A Fork in the Trail: mouthwatering meals and tempting treats for the backcountry
By Laurie Ann March
I have really enjoyed A Fork in the Trail even though I am not a hiker and am rarely in the backcountry. I do, however, have a boat, and the recipes in this book fit my needs as a boater to a T. There is not much space on our boat to store consumables, and in the moist environment at the marina or on the river does not lend itself to longevity for prepared dishes, so the use of dehydrated items and those that are easy to carry and take up little space in storage is perfect for me. I am very grateful to Laurie Ann March for doing the thinking part of meal planning for those long boat trips.
Even though it is winter, and boating season is a few months off, I did try a few recipes from this book. It is my policy to cook from every book I review, and A Ford in the Trail was no exception. I even rehydrated dehydrated items to achieve authenticity. I first prepared March's Salmon Cakes, and found the addition of mozzarella cheese brilliant. We enjoyed them immensely on a Lenten evening with sides of buttered noodles, and green beans. (I had to resort to a fast food restaurant to get the packets of mayonnaise, but the recipe was worth the effort) Of course, people who hike and people who boat collect additional packets of sauces and seasonings whenever possible anyway. March's Breakfast Bread Pudding was an ingenious use of powdered egg mix, and quite good. Prepared in my kitchen it was quite easy. I cannot attest to the outback oven method, but it does seem quite doable.
I do recommend this cookbook to anyone preparing to hit the trails or water this summer. You may want to experiment, as I have, before the season starts so you will have an idea of how the dishes come out.


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Inspired by foods from all over the world and the guiding principle of "if you wouldn't eat it at home, why eat it in the backcountry," Laurie Ann March has created over 200 lightweight, taste-tested recipes to turn an ordinary backcountry outing into a gourmet adventure. In addition to the recipes, March covers menu planning, recipe creation, and meal planning for families and larger groups. Color photograph insert.

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Lipsmackin' Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Recipes for Backcountry Trips Review

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(More customer reviews)We have 8 backpacking cookbooks including both of Christine's books. Lipsmackin' Backpackin' is by far our most used book in our kitchen. The recipes are easy to follow, use easy to obtain foodstuffs, are tasty, quick to prepare, and are even great out car camping where storage space is still at a premium in our little VW campmobile or for a quick busy nite at home dinner.
We bought this book in 2000 just before a 50 mile rim to rim extended hike in the Grand Canyon. Most of our older books dating back to the early 70's called out items that were hard to find early on and next to nonexistent now days. Freeze dried meals may be light but are expensive to use for the number of nites we spend out on the trail every year. Not to add 1 meal isn't enough and 1 for each of us is way too much, meaning that we have always had to repack 3 freeze dried meals into 2 meals or add extra ingredients to bulk them out. Rice mixes and couscous get old.
The recipes in Lipsmackin' Backpackin' were so yummy sounding that we packed a weeks worth of them into the Grand Canyon, without even trying them at home first. Every one of the recipes we tried has been a keeper. Except for a few recipes of our own that we have come up with over the years, or a few favorites, we have hardly used our other books since. It is our gift of choice for Christmas, wedding and birthday presents.
We are the backpacking coordinators for a local hiking club and the first thing we recommend to beginners trying to think of something to eat when backpacking, is to buy this book.
Note that while Christine makes good use of a dehydrator, we have found that preparedness stores carry a wide variety of dehydrated or freeze dried vegies, fruit, or meats to buy in bulk (even peanut butter powder and the ever elusive sour cream powder) so it is possible to produce many of the meals with a well stocked backpack foods pantry. On the other hand, we didn't buy our two dehydrators just to make apple rings with. With a little planning and a spring weekend of assembly line packing each year, we have a whole seasons worth of meals packed and ready to go down in our basement. Then all we have to do is make our minds up on which meals to take when we pack our packs. Cooking our meals usually does not take any longer than it takes our friends to cook what ever red or white glop they are making. Plus we can control portions so much easier and rarely have leftovers to pack out.

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Tasty backcountry cookbook filled with trail-tested recipes providing nutritional information, food preparation and meal-planning tips from experienced long-distance hikers.

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Raw Review

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(More customer reviews)I've got 3 other raw food books. I like this one the best. Not alot of hype. I appreciate that. It is written for idiots...begins by explaining the benefits of going raw. I'd been raw for a month prior to reading this book, but the motivation to continue was good.
Step by step instructions for soaking and sprouting methods (easy to follow chart included). I was too timid to attempt this process til I read this book. Way easy. My kitchen is sproutin' right now.

Recipes with easy to find ingredients is important. I've got to prepare food for 5 s.a.d. enthusiasts so I don't have alot of time or cash to fool around with. This book's got the recipes I can use. The live oatmeal recipe was easy to prepare and delish! It touches a couple of times on this or that being gluten free, which is vital for me. It clued me into nama shoyu...major gluten goin' on. Thanks, it sucks to have a recipe picked out and find out at the grocery store while reading a label that I can't have that specific thing. So, I run around putting the other ingredients back on the shelf coz that recipe's a wash! Another thing, Idiot's Guide tells you exactly what needs to be soaked for any given recipe. I ruined a recipe from another book because it didn't tell me to soak $12.00 worth of almonds. I had to go on you tube to watch other people explain it before one of them finally mentioned that they needed to be soaked. I was bummed. This book helps me not screw things up.

Idiot's Guide has great insider tips on kitchen appliances...wish I'd have read this before I bought my dehydrator, blender, food processor, and juicer. The dehydrator to buy is the Excalibur. The hours it saves in dehydrating time due to its design is crazy! Now I'm bummed with my cheapy Walmart one. There are alot of chip, cracker, and bread recipes I can't make very well without the good dehydrator. The recipes are found in other books not just this one, so it's not a negative against this book. The dehydrating chart is helpful, as well. I like how Idiot's Guide explains why you have increased temps at the beginning of some dehydrations and not others, and why it is still considered raw at these temps. Also, a Champion brand juicer is the one recommended by all raw foodists I've read from. This book explains very simply the differences in how they work and therefore why Champion is the brand recommended.

Basically, the book imparts alot of knowledge, little tips and info on nutition without being too sciencey. It defines some of the raw foodist lexicon. It's like having a friend explain lots of little facts as well as some biggies, in a fun to read manner. I'd buy it again if I didn't already own it!

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A raw food diet is a purely healthy diet. More people than ever are turning to a raw food diet. In this guide, readers will find the secrets to raw food weight loss; how raw foods can heal the body and boost energy and enthusiasm; information on the anti-aging properties of raw food; and 100+ recipes that show how raw foods can be combined into delectable meals. • Fully explains the benefits of this increasingly popular diet choice, plus presents a mini cookbook that gets readers started on their new regimen • Recently published studies indicate that rheumatoid and fibromyalgia patients—who number in the millions—can benefit from an uncooked vegan diet rich in antioxidants, lactobacilli, and fiber

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Going Raw: Everything You Need to Start Your Own Raw Food Diet and Lifestyle Revolution at Home Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a great place to start if you're curious about the growing raw food scene. Judita Wignall, in a warm, practical and easy tone, explains it all. She lays out the kitchen basics including tools and techniques, offers a range of wonderful recipes from the simplest, throw-it-together-and-eat-in-your-hand wraps to wonderful tasty raw main dishes and the prettiest desserts. Each recipe has a step-by-step photo series, showing exactly how to get it done. There's nothing precious or intimidating about her recipes, and she has included foods that are not too far removed from the already familiar, like her gorgeous raw vegan pizza, and her OMG brownies.
A great feature of the book is the planned menus, and the clear and easy nutritional information. She seems to have covered all the FAQs, including what she herself eats in a day.
And...the bonus DVD, tucked inside the cover, features Judita demonstrating recipes and techniques, which just brings it all to life.
Even if you're not into raw food, the book itself is a beautiful piece of art for its design and photography alone. Just a lovely thing to look at and admire.
I can't recommend this book highly enough if you're a beginner, and need guidance on how and why and what to do.

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Go raw, get radiant, start a revolution!
A raw-food diet is a healthful way to detox, clear up your skin, shed a few pounds, and feel radiant. But who has time to track down hard-to-find ingredients and whip up labor-intensive recipes every day? (Hint: not you!) So what's the best way to start? Going Raw gives you everything you need to start enjoying the benefits of a raw-food lifestyle, all in this gorgeous guide.
Judita Wignall's Going Raw combines the flavor of a gourmet cookbook with everyday recipes that are practical for the real-world home chef.
— Fully illustrated raw-food techniques, from slicing a coconut to sprouting your own seeds
— More than 100 delicious, fresh, gourmet food recipes—smoothies, salads, "burgers," and beyond
— On the bonus DVD you'll find a video tutorial for several raw-food techniques, including how to use a dehydrator, basic knife skills, slicing with a mandoline, and spiralizing vegetables
Inside you'll find:
— Green Smoothies
— Berries and Cream Crepes
— Dandelion Salad
— Thai Green Bean Salad
— Herbed Cashew Hemp Cheese
— Broccoli and Mushrooms with Wild Rice
— Spaghetti Bolognese
— Asian Noodle "Stir Fry"
— Classic Veggie Pizza
— Coconut-Curry Samosas with Plum Chutney
— Orange-Chocolate Mousse Parfait
— Mexican Spiced Brownies
— Apple Cobbler with Maple Cream
— How to grow your own sprouts
— How to ferment kimchi and sauerkraut
— ...and even 100% raw Ice Cream, Coconut Yogurt, and more!

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