Almost Meatless: Recipes That Are Better for Your Health and the Planet

by Joy Manning, Tara Mataraza Desmond

A Little Meat Can Go a Long Way

We all know that eating less meat is healthier, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly, but how do we cut back without sacrificing flavor or resorting to a carb-heavy diet?

For today’s health-, budget-, and eco-conscious omnivores, Almost Meatless offers ingenious ideas for creating delicious, nutritionally balanced meals in which meat is an enhancement rather than the centerpiece. From all-American comfort food to global favorites, you’ll find more than 60 satisfying, easy-to-prepare main dish recipes that go light on the meat,

Beefed-Up Bean Chili
Eggplant and Chicken Puttanesca Stacks
Shrimp and Slow-Roasted Tomato Risotto
Sweet Potato Chorizo Mole
Tofu-Turkey Sloppy Joes

Almost Meatless also presents guidelines for buying poultry, meat, seafood, and other animal products responsibly, to ensure the best quality, flavor, and value. No matter what your reasons are for reducing your meat consumption, you’ll discover versatile cooking solutions that maximize flavor while minimizing your grocery bill.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Beth Lequeuvre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't thrilled about this book. It was a bit too preachy for my taste, you know to the point where I felt like obsessing over sustainability or health benefits in that fashion felt a little bit like an eating disorder. You know sometimes it is ok to just eat something because it tastes good and you want it. It also seemed like this book was geared toward some one who was a beginner at lowering the amount of meat in their diet. Well, I've been broke for a long time so I'm more to the expert level at stretching my animal proteins. Pictures were pretty and I did find the tip on pressing your tofu before cooking helpful. Just didn't float my boat overall. Not to say it wouldn't work for other people, just wasn't for me.

[SheReaders Book Club · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas to get you out of a cooking rut! Joy's writing is a delight. The cooking techniques are explained well and easy to understand, even for a less experienced cook. Highly recommend this book to anyone who loves good food, solid recipes, and artistic food photos.

[penny shima glanz · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are already vegetarian or mostly vege, I believe you will gain little from this book. I felt that The Flexitarian Table provided more information and was better suited to my cooking lifestyle: vegetarian, fresh, seasonal foods with instructions for meat if i found a source or if a desire was great. That written, this might be good if you are trying to reduce how much meat you use for budgetary reasons. I couldn't stay engaged as there were very few (if any, I'm a bad reviewer and writing this without the book in front of me) vegetarian recipes. It might be a good book, but it is definitely not for me!

(Added:) I'm aware the title is "Almost Meatless" but I was surprised that it means that each recipe just uses less meat than offering no meat.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely add cookbooks to my Goodreads because I don't really read them so much as just trying the recipes. But I feel compelled to comment on this, as the authors are from my hometown, and I am strongly committed to making changes in my diet to include more(!) vegetables.

This book not only contains healthy, delicious recipes in which meat is the accent rather than the starring role, but it also gives helpful information on choosing quality meats, and tips for getting the most out of your dollar in selecting food. The photos are stunning, and the prose easy to read and not preachy.

I'm enjoying going through the recipes in this book (the B4 Burger and the Asian Lettuce Wraps were delicious; the African Peanut Stew is next on my list), and it's soon becoming a good resource as well.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite thing about this cookbook is the approach.
After eating vegetarian for about two years, I decide to re-incorporate meat into my diet but didn't want to it take center stage.

Almost meatless advocates buying high-quality meat from responsible farmers (free range, organic, grass-fed, etc) and using it in smaller quantities to supplement main dishes (rather than being the main dish).

The authors/cooks came up with some really creative recipes like the B4 a burger made of black beans, beef, and bulgur.

There are also some really helpful kitchen tips and tricks scattered throughout. Good for beginner cooks but also useful for more advanced cooks to get a new take on meals and our use of meat.

[Liss Carmody · Rating 3 out of 5]

The approach here was useful to my lifestyle - not a vegetarian cookbook as such, but one that focuses on a dish with a small quantity of meat rounded out with other ingredients. As a longterm omnivore, I did feel that I learned some useful things about alternate umami sources and how to layer flavors - devoted vegetarians would probably already know a lot of that. As someone who is not interested in going wholly vegetarian but is interested in slimming down my overall meat consumption, however, it was a good starting point. And I saved several of the recipes to try.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't over-the-moon excited to try most of the recipes in this book, so I'm not sure I'd recommend buying it. However, since I was mostly interested in tips for stretching meat, I found the book helpful and informative. They include suggestions for flavor enhancing ingredients - vegetables, spices and broths - that could be used in almost any recipe.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these recipes are too fancy for my tastes (and pocketbook), but the photos were very pretty, and one or two of the recipes seem likely candidates for my repetoire. Stupid, almost meatless boyfriend.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good addition to a kitchen's cookbook collection. It positions itself in the meat-as-condiment camp which suits me fine. Try the Asian lettuce wraps and the potato corn chowder--both quite good and straight forward enough for weeknights.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Several recipes hace become standard items on the home menu (Sweet Potato Chorizo Mole anyone?) because they are so delicious and leave plenty of leftovers. I have not come across an ingredient yet the I can't get at my local farmers' market or grocery stores.

[S]

641.66 MAN

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a vegan book, FYI. Recipes have meat, just less of it; alternates are used in place of a portion. Good suggestions.

[kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

great recipes

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for people who want to eat less meat for the good of the planet but are not willing to give it up completely (like me!). The book has a good variety of recipes and photographs of most recipes.

[Cheryl Schibley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh and wholesome recipes. I'm really glad I got this cookbook for my cooking library. So far, everthing I've cooked has been wonderful.

[Adrienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to be a vegetarian but want to get as close as possible. This book had some interesting recipes, still with meat. I copied a couple to try.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this cookbook - great recipes using less meat.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hubby loves animals. I love to not eat them. This is our middle ground. Very nice facts about food etc.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great recipes for those of us who want to cut down on the amount of meats we eat.

[Chris]

http://www.goodreads.com/images/layou...

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great pictures and nice recipes.