Why make it harder than it already is?
Cooking doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming
In the first pages of “The Whole Smiths Real Food Everyday,” cookbook author Michelle Smith says she wants to bust the myth that eating well needs to be a time-consuming, laborious, over-the-top process full of odd, hard-to-source items.
Amen. Does that mean we can stop pulverizing cashews and searching for maca powder?
While those ingredients do appear in Smith’s new collection, which debuts just in time for New Year’s resolutions, the majority of its 100 recipes are filled with whole, minimally processed foods that are easy to find. The results yield tasty, comforting dishes, like downright addictive Apple- Cinnamon Mini Frittatas, and Chicken Tikka Masala Soup, a recipe that epitomizes what eating well means to Smith — “whole foods, convenience and absolute freaking deliciousness.”
Grains, dairy, sugar and soy are used sparingly. But, Smith, a busy mother of two and blogger at The Whole Smiths, is all for treating herself and her family. There’s a paleo brownie recipe in the book, and she’s a big fan of pizza night.
“With this book, I wanted to get flavor profiles we’re all familiar with, clean them up a little bit and make them easy for any weeknight,” Smith says.
Each chapter of the cookbook, a follow up to 2018’s best-selling, Whole 30-endorsed “The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook,” is dedicated to a method of cooking that is fast or simple. Among them, 30 Minutes or Less, One-Dish Wonders and Aww, Sheet (sheet pan cooking). The recipes in the In An Instant — yes, Instant Pot — chapter include Chicken Tikka Masala Soup and Butternut Squash and Pancetta Risotto. And a Weekend Living chapter offers recipes for weekend down time.
But knowing you can throw five ingredients or less into a pan and still get a flavorful, healthy meal on the table is what we all need after 10 months of sheltering in place.