Scratch: Home Cooking for Everyone Made Simple, Fun, and Totally Delicious: A Cookbook

by Maria Rodale

IACP COOKBOOK AWARD NOMINEE

Maria Rodale was raised on real food. She doesn’t think of eating homemade, from scratch meals as part of a trend or movement; it has always been her life. Raised in a family of farmers, bakers, chefs, gardeners, and publishers, Maria is used to growing, cooking, reading and writing about, and eating organic, delicious food. And now, for the first time ever, she’s sharing her tried-and-true family recipes.

Scratch is full of comfort food recipes that aren’t focused on any one healthy trend, but are instead innately healthy, because Maria inspires you to return to your kitchen and cook with real, organic food. Recipes like Pasta Fagiole, Maria’s Fried Chicken, and Lamb & Barley Soup will be crowd pleasers for sure, but Maria throws in some unique-to-the-family recipes that are going to delight as well, such as her Pennsylvania Dutch Dandelion Salad with Bacon Dressing, Ardie’s Pasties, and Homemade Hoppin’ John (a black-eyed pea stew made with smoked turkey or ham).

Besides sharing her family’s favorite recipes, Maria’s book also gives you a peek into her life as a Rodale, with personal family portraits and stories. With this cookbook, you can eat like the Rodale family every night of the week with delicious food to make at home, from scratch. Naturally healthy, bacon included.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2016

About the author

Maria Rodale is the CEO and Chairman of Rodale, Inc., the world's largest independent publisher of health, wellness, and environmental content and the largest independent book publisher in the United States. She is the third generation of the Rodale family to lead the company, which was founded by her grandfather J.I. Rodale in 1930 and later led by both her father, Robert Rodale, and mother, Ardath Rodale.

A lifelong advocate on behalf of organic farming and gardening, Maria is also the author of several books, including most recently Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe (2011, Rodale Books). She blogs regularly about news and information related to healthy living at Maria's Farm Country Kitchen.

Reviews

[Allison Palmgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fellow librarian flagged this one for me when she saw it in a book order because she knew that some new dietary restrictions were making dinner time a challenge in my house and that meals made from scratch were less likely to cause problems for me. I am so thankful that she sent this book my way. After one quick skim, I knew that I needed to return the library copy and buy my own! All the recipes are simple and don't require vast food and cooking knowledge or crazy culinary equipment. That said, everything I've tried tasted amazing. The pesto is foolproof and delicious. Oh and who knew that brown butter could make everything so good? The best part is that I can eat 2/3 of the recipes without any modification to fit my crazy restrictions!

[Jocelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recipes in this book made my mouth water. Incredibly easy recipes and simple ingredients.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first heard about this cookbook I didn't even realize the author was related to J.I. Rodale - one of the pioneers of organic farming. The author is J.I.'s granddaughter and she grew up on the first official organic farm eating high quality food made from scratch. Even after she became a single mother she knew that cooking from scratch was cheaper and tasted better. This cookbook is her ode to her unusual and pioneering family background. There are SO many great sounding, yet simple recipes. There are quite a few that I'd like to try. She gives a lot of background on her family, definitions of some common food terms related to organics, and lots of tips for cooking and baking from scratch. Overall, this is a fantastic cookbook and I would highly recommend it!

[Laura Sharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book with an abundant recipe selection! I absolutely loved flipping through and seeing that nearly everything sounded wonderfully delicious! I think I need to try more of the recipes in here before I draw too much of a conclusion, however because of all of the ones I tried, none of them quite stuck us in the way we were hoping. I did mess up her clam chowder recipe, so that one was my fault; and while I enjoyed her kale bites, my husband didn't. Her Pastie recipe was good, just different from what we were expecting. I will have to come back after I have made more. I do love the idea behind this book though of making things from scratch, it may not be quite as easy, but in the long run it is much healthier, and of course tastier too!!

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Real food". Like today there are 8 billion ghosts living on mana.

Anyway, the book is just a scam. Home cooking as in Cordon Bleu is way too complicated for Maria Rodale so is not really home cooking. Made simple? These are simple recipes. Nothing in here is made simple. Fun? This sure is a strange way of having fun and getting fat at the same time.

[Abby Glann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good homecooking recipe collection. There could have been fewer recipes that differed in only one ingredient from another but overall a nice primer for those who want to cook from scratch at home more and develop a solid kitchen repertoire.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super simple recipes with good food- seems like the sort of food our grandparents made without needing a cookbook. I got this from the library but I do plan on purchasing to have on hand.

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a book that I would buy a physical copy of to have on my cookbook shelf!!

[pea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

borrowed it ... started bookmarking too many recipes guess I have to buy it.
I loved her disclaimer.

[Christine (Tina) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm adding a cookbook to my overall challenge this year, even though I was trying to avoid anything other than "real" adult reads. That said, I've added this because I believe it is an honest work of non-fiction. Maria Rodale provides insight into a lifestyle we should all embrace - organic living. I know that diets are everywhere; however, if I could begin life all over again and have a say as to what I ate at the outset of it, the only thing I would change is how I was raised eating, how I raised my family eating. It wouldn't be a vegetarian diet; it wouldn't be a vegan diet; it wouldn't be a paleo diet. It would be based on sound principles of the Meditteranean whole diet and it would be organic. This book is eye-opening without being intimidating. It is real!

[Shelly Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Organic made Easy

I am an avid foodie and cook. And I love cooking...A LOT. I always thought "organic" meant "difficult" or too much trouble to bother. This book lured me in because the title is "Scratch" which interests me and is how I try to cook the majority of the time. I was reminded of Mark Bittman's books which reinforces the fact that the best food is simply prepared food. I used to collect cookbooks but got away from it with my obsession with Pinterest. This is one I will be adding to my cookbook shelf.

[Teresa McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whether you're a novice cook or a busy working parent, you can cook whole, healthy, organic foods at home every day. Maria Rodale shows you how to do it, deliciously.

Full review here: https://onewetfoot.ca/2016/11/10/holi...

[Emily Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book! I'm a super picky eater and an inexperienced cook, to say the least, but I found several easy, delicious recopies in this book. I love the simple approach to wholesome, organic food. Can't wait to try more of these recopies.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either. There were not very many pictures in this book and the ones that I did see were not yummy looking. I had better expectations for this book that were not met.

[Catdav56 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about this cookbook is the easy, yet very tasty recipes Maria Rodale included. She is humble about good food, from the garden, to the kitchen, and on to the table. Gather your family and friends and prepare a good wholesome meal to enjoy together, she makes it simple.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that everything i this book is home made.

[Closeacademy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cookbook that I really want to have on my shelf because it's real food. And she cooks the way I do.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, classic recipes. Would be good for someone starting out learning to cook from scratch.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up on scratch recipes and I always seem to revert back to the known, tried and true recipes that my family passed down. Yet ingredients have expanded since those days and this has familiar recipes that are inclusive of these considerations. I reviewed this from my local library and just purchased it for my collection. Good meals they are a'coming!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures of recipes? About half are pictured.
Commentary on recipes? Yes.
Nutrition facts? No.
Recipe Style? Simple farmhouse style.
Any keepers? Not really.

I liked that the recipes had short ingredient lusts, with some exceptions. A sprinkling of salt does not suffice for roast turkey. I also felt a bit of organic, farm to table, grass fed snobbery.