Title: Healthy Home Cooking For Kids: No Butter-No White Flour-No Added Sugar
Author: Emily Rose
ISBN: 978-0-646-57305-2
For Kindle: Amazon, LuLu, Emily Rose
Softcover: Amazon, Emily Rose
Emily Rose wrote this book after reading food labels and noting how much added sugar, and preservatives were in healthy treats she thought of purchasing for her family. She realized in order for her kids to eat foods full of good nutrition, they needed to be baked by her. She also knew she needed to make treats that were enjoyable and that tasted “normal”.
Emily Rose’s cookbooks are not about weight loss or any specific health problem. They are about putting healthy ingredients into our bodies and yet feel good about what we are eating, even when it comes to sweets. The recipes are also to be easy to prepare, sometimes only taking 10 minutes.
Emily is a mother of four and is from Melbourne, Australia. Her first cookbook, Have Your Cake, was published April 2011 with 60 recipes including muffins, biscuits, cakes, friands, tarts, and other heavenly desserts.
Review:
As I have stated in previous posts, I love cookbooks and learning skills for cooking and baking. It seems like you can always learn something new about how to correctly prepare foods, especially in ways that are to be healthier for you and your family.
With the rising rates of obesity, even in our children, it is important to address how we prepare our food for consumption. I like Emily Rose’s philosophy of feeding our bodies healthy ingredients and yet to not feel guilty about what we are eating.
With the “Pantry List” for this book, there were a few ingredients that were new to me:
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Rice Bran Oil-An extremely light oil, which is trans fat-free, contains vitamin E, antioxidants and nutrients. It also has a very high smoke point so it is great for cooking at high temperatures.
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Honey (yellow box)-A low-GI natural sweetener that provides the body with lots of energy.
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Desiccated Coconut-Contains lauric acid, which may have antimicrobial properties.
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Sultanas-A good source of energy. A small, light brown, seedless raisin.
Rice bran oil is used quite a bit in this cookbook and I thought I could substitute grape seed oil because I had been told that it had a high flashpoint so it was to be good for frying versus olive oil. Doing a search online, it looks like the information I had been told is false. I found this on grape seed oil vs. rice bran oil here and the site said never to expose grape seed oil to heat and rice bran oil is said to be safe for low heat applications. I’m still going to research healthy oils a bit more, but in the USA, rice bran oil can be found in specialty stores, online, or health food stores. This book said rice bran oil is available in supermarkets located in Australia and New Zealand, where the author is from.
Here are some of the recipes included in Healthy Home Cooking For Kids:
mango sorbet
ingredients
1 cup puréed mango
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 egg whites
Blend the mangoes until smooth (if using frozen mangoes,
allow to thaw). Dissolve the honey in the boiling water and
mix into the mangoes. Add orange juice and mix.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold egg whites into mango mixture until combined.
Place the mango sorbet in an airtight container and freeze. Prepare the day before serving.
Serves 4.
ingredients
1 cup puréed mango
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 egg whites
Blend the mangoes until smooth (if using frozen mangoes,
allow to thaw). Dissolve the honey in the boiling water and
mix into the mangoes. Add orange juice and mix.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold egg whites into mango mixture until combined.
Place the mango sorbet in an airtight container and freeze. Prepare the day before serving.
Serves 4.
banana split
ingredients
banana ice-cream
1 banana
¾ cup (180 g) natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon honey
banana split
2 bananas
2 scoops banana ice-cream
40 g 70% dark chocolate, melted
2 raspberries for decorating
Blend together banana, yoghurt and honey until smooth. Place in an airtight container and freeze for
at least 6 hours.
Slice banana in half lengthways. Place a scoop of ice-cream in the center. Drizzle with melted
chocolate and place a raspberry on top.
Serves 2.
Hint: Ice-cream can be prepared the day before serving.
ingredients
banana ice-cream
1 banana
¾ cup (180 g) natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon honey
banana split
2 bananas
2 scoops banana ice-cream
40 g 70% dark chocolate, melted
2 raspberries for decorating
Blend together banana, yoghurt and honey until smooth. Place in an airtight container and freeze for
at least 6 hours.
Slice banana in half lengthways. Place a scoop of ice-cream in the center. Drizzle with melted
chocolate and place a raspberry on top.
Serves 2.
Hint: Ice-cream can be prepared the day before serving.
spinach and mushroom lasagne
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) fan-forced.
To prepare the mushrooms, slice mushrooms and dice garlic into
fine pieces. Place oil in frying pan on high heat. Add mushrooms
and garlic, and lower heat to medium. Stir occasionally with a
wooden spoon until cooked (approximately 2 to 3 minutes).
To prepare the spinach mix, place eggs in a bowl and whisk. Drain
spinach, then add to eggs along with the ricotta and a pinch of
salt. Mix thoroughly.
Place a small amount of napoli sauce over the base of the dish
(24 cm × 22 cm), then cover with lasagne sheets.
Spread half of the spinach mix over the lasagne sheets, then add
another layer of lasagne sheets.
Top with some napoli sauce and place the mushrooms on top.
Add another layer of lasagne sheets followed by the remaining
spinach mix.
Place the final layer of lasagne sheets on top and cover with the
rest of the napoli sauce. Make sure that the pasta is completely
covered. Using your fingers, crumble boccocini over the top.
Cover with foil and place in oven.
Bake for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake for a further
10 minutes.
Serves 6.
ingredients
380 g mushrooms
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon rice bran oil
salt
2 eggs
500 g spinach (frozen, allow to
thaw)
250 g ricotta
1½ cups (380 g) napoli sauce
(see page 37)
250 g wholemeal (whole wheat)
lasagne sheets
90 g boccocini
To prepare the mushrooms, slice mushrooms and dice garlic into
fine pieces. Place oil in frying pan on high heat. Add mushrooms
and garlic, and lower heat to medium. Stir occasionally with a
wooden spoon until cooked (approximately 2 to 3 minutes).
To prepare the spinach mix, place eggs in a bowl and whisk. Drain
spinach, then add to eggs along with the ricotta and a pinch of
salt. Mix thoroughly.
Place a small amount of napoli sauce over the base of the dish
(24 cm × 22 cm), then cover with lasagne sheets.
Spread half of the spinach mix over the lasagne sheets, then add
another layer of lasagne sheets.
Top with some napoli sauce and place the mushrooms on top.
Add another layer of lasagne sheets followed by the remaining
spinach mix.
Place the final layer of lasagne sheets on top and cover with the
rest of the napoli sauce. Make sure that the pasta is completely
covered. Using your fingers, crumble boccocini over the top.
Cover with foil and place in oven.
Bake for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake for a further
10 minutes.
Serves 6.
ingredients
380 g mushrooms
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon rice bran oil
salt
2 eggs
500 g spinach (frozen, allow to
thaw)
250 g ricotta
1½ cups (380 g) napoli sauce
(see page 37)
250 g wholemeal (whole wheat)
lasagne sheets
90 g boccocini
I probably seem to be living in a cave, but I had to look up napoli sauce, which looks to be like a pasta sauce with tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs, and a little oil. Also, boccocini, which is just egg sized mozzarella cheese.
Healthy Home Cooking For Kids appears to have healthy, easy to prepare recipes for the family. I had to do a little research on the ingredients used in some of the recipes and need to research healthy oils some more for my own knowledge. The recipes included in this book look appetizing and I feel to be fairly high when it comes to kid appeal.
Disclosure: I received a copy of Healthy Home Cooking For Kids for this review. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own. No other compensation was received to produce this review.
