New Series: The BEST Plant-Based Healthy Eating Cookbooks I Use, Part 1 of 5

I’m really enjoying writing series aren’t I? I realize that I have always been getting so many questions about cooking and food, meal planning, healthy eating, and I usually just answer them on text, email, or on Facebook. But I ought to share with all my readers so here you go.

The series idea came to me when a group of friends and myself had an email thread discussion on a new-ish video put out by Dr. Michael Greger about Food Is Medicine. Obviously this has been a long-standing interest of mine and I didn’t really label it until recently. It turns out, more people than I thought are conflicted about how to apply the prescription of healthy eating to their lives.

To answer the need, we started the Culinary Medicine cooking classes and further realized how there is a serious interest in learning more! People want to know how to apply things in the kitchen. I can help with cooking classes and kitchen coaching, meal planning etc.. but sometimes people just want a few books to start with to use in their home kitchen.

So here’s a start to a series of FIVE lists. These are lists of cookbooks, mostly tried and true, that have helped me plan nutrient-dense meals for my family and that have inspired me to CREATE my own combinations! In this series, there will be a list of international, American continental, new upcoming books, books I own but don’t use, and also regular books with science and research PLUS recipes. The first list I give you today is this one. Notice that these books all don’t necessarily follow any one diet….since we don’t subscribe to any one particular diet as a whole in our family!

My Top 5 Plant-Based Healthy Eating (no specific international cuisine focus):

1. The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon: the power snacks, breakfasts, salad dressings–all very creative.

   2. A New Way To Cook by Sally Schneider: a compendium of basics done more interestingly; many sauces, fish dishes, salads, and grain dishes. I first learned about how to use a variety of grains from this book over a decade ago.

  3. True Food by Dr. Andrew Weil: I have 2 of his and a 3rd on the way (not children hahaha… .books! :)) You can’t go wrong with your health on this one, since he’s one of the leading nutrition and food researchers and the head of an Integrative Medicine Program. I have been following him for 15 years, ever since my father (who is vegetarian and has always been thin) survived a heart attack and I began my quest to learn about nutrition and food.

4. Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics. Just like it says, this is a great basic cooking book. Classic techniques and flavors put together in very well-written easy to follow recipes especially for beginner cooks. The vegetable chapter is what I am highlighting here but once in a while, if you need dessert or meat and potatoes, the book has that for you too!

5.  Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero: very creative, enticing main-course salads, dishes and dressings. I need to use this book more!

So what about all of you? I’d love to hear your favorites when it comes to plant-based healthy cooking. Stay tuned for my list next time on more of these cookbooks but with a global flavors or international cuisine origin. Yes, Ottolenghi is definitely in that list in case you’re wondering why it’s not on this one!