Fresh Choices : More than 100 Easy Recipes for Pure Food When You Can't Buy 100% Organic

by David Joachim

Good Cooking Starts with Good Food

Do you want to enjoy the best food nature has to offer? It's easier than you might think with Fresh More Than 100 Easy Recipes for Pure Food When You Can't Buy 100% Organic , the indispensable cookbook that helps you bring the best food possible to the table--even when organic isn't an option. Packed with more than 100 inspiring and satisfying dishes, Fresh Choices confronts the issues consumers face when they want to know where their food comes from.

Whether you're planning a special occasion or preparing a quick weeknight dinner, you'll find all your meals are more refreshing with flavorful dishes like Jamaican Pork Chops with Pineapple Black Bean Salsa, Sautéed Chicken with Sage and Gingered Plums, or Thai Fettuccine Primavera. And you'll be delighted to see how the freshest fruits and vegetables are paired to produce truly exceptional results like Mesclun Salad with Pears and Apricot Balsamic Vinaigrette or Caramelized Nectarine and Blueberry Galette. Also included are lists for buying seasonal produce, a valuable resource section, and all the information you need to buy the purest and safest meats, poultry, seafood, and dairy products.

Genres: Cookbooks

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ruth Barone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, a gift from a friend, is a good introduction to the differences between organically and conventionally grown produce, as well as between kosher, grass-fed, free-range, organic, "natural," and the too many other titles given to meat, poultry, pork, and fish products. It goes through the regulations that enable a Company to put such a label on the food product, and what the health benefits/concerns are with each type of label.

The book then goes through a variety of foods and tells you when you should buy the organic version and when it doesn't matter. Apples, for instance, have very high pesticide residue, so we have switched to organic apple products (apple sauce, apple juice, and plain ol' apples) as much as possible in our house. On the other hand, conventionally grown blueberries usually don't require the use of pesticides anyway, so it wouldn't make sense to spend twice as much for the organic versions.

There are also a bunch of recipes in the book, which I haven't tried yet, so I can't review that part of it.

One significant fact I learned from reading this book was that organic produce is NOT free of pesticides. It has approximately 1/3 to 1/2 less pesticides than conventionally grown produce. This is because, even if pesticides aren't used on the produce itself, it absorbs some from the ground (pretty much all farmland has been contaminated with pesticides), from the air, and from water. Pretty scary stuff, right?

All in all, this is a great reference book if you are trying to cut contaminants out of your food, but either can't afford to go completely organic or have only a limited variety of organic produce available in your area.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very helpful recipe book using non-organic ingredients. The premise is how to use the least pesticide filled ingredients if you can't find organic versions of them. I found it informative to a certain extent but I'm pretty well-versed in this stuff so it wasn't a huge help. The recipes look good.

[Tammi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend of mine let me borrow this and I made several recipes. The honey oatmeal with spiced pears and pecans was and is still my favorite. Informational notations regarding organic vs. local and contributing authors bio's very helpful.