If you’re looking to create a superhealthy vegetarian kosher kitchen, this cookbook is the perfect primer. It’s creative, funny, and chock-full of great nutritional guidance. The author even throws in some of her poetry and a few personal stories for good measure.
And then there are the recipes, some with whimsical names like Yummy Baked Yam Cubes, Color-Me-Purple Salad, Peasful Hummus, Tofony Scrambled Eggs, and Hot Chocolate — a Cup of Tranquility, which is made with Rice Dream nondairy beverage, organic cocoa powder, and pure maple syrup. The author draws liberally on her deep faith and eclectic background, which includes degrees in literature and counseling psychology, and experience leading diet workshops in Toronto and Jerusalem. She’s also a certified counselor in Bach Flower Remedies, an herbal healing system involving wildflowers.
In her introduction, Rothschild explains the far-reaching health benefits of a plantbased diet and rails against processed foods. She discusses her own struggles with osteoarthritis and how she was helped by switching to a diet of whole natural plant foods — grains, nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruit, and legumes. She includes a handy shopping list of healthy staples and sprinkles in helpful hints to round out this most useful cookbook.
Recipe: Spicy Red Lentil-Yam Soup
Serves 6 – 7
This light soup, with its gorgeous golden colour, is a nutri-yummy meal-starter any time of the year. It is also a most pleasant way to add to your (and your family’s) vitamin A and protein account.
3 — inch piece wakame
8 cups water
2 medium yams, peeled and cut into 1‑inch cubes
1 cup red lentils
1 cup coarsely chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 large bay leaves
2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin or to taste
1 tsp ground coriander or to taste
3 tbsp organic soy sauce
1 – 2 tbsp umeboshi vinegar
Finely chopped dill or curly parsley, for garnish
1. Soak the wakame in a bit of warm water for eight minutes, and cut into 1/4 ‑inch pieces.
2. In a large pot, place the eight cups water, yams, lentils, onions, garlic, bay leaves, ginger, and wakame; cover, bring to a boil, and cook on medium heat for 40 – 50 minutes.
3. Cool slightly, remove the bay leaves, and purée with a hand-held electric mixer, or in a blender or food processor.
4. Pour the soup back into the pot, add the cumin, coriander, soy sauce and vinegar, adjust seasoning, and simmer for another eight minutes.
5. Garnish with dill or parsley and serve.
Nutrilicious: Food for Thought and Whole Health by Edith Rothschild (Feldheim Publishers; May, 2007; Paperback $26.99)
