Before we even looked at the recipes in Super Natural Foods, we found ourselves leafing through the book to enjoy the astounding photographs taken by the multitalented author, Heidi Swanson. When we satisfied ourselves with photographic beauty, we reminded ourselves that the photos we were enjoying represented the recipes in the book and we began to explore the contents with enthusiasm and a little hunger.
Super Natural Foods is a cookbook for our times. Besieged as we are with reports on global warming, we are now looking for solutions. We seek ideas on how to eat better and more naturally with less harm to the earth, but want to see these ideas translate into beauty and gourmet tastes. Swanson is with us, advocating organic and healthy eating. She is unabashed in her use of every grain and bean, and finds combinations of food that speak loudly of creativity while maintaining the focus on health.
There is a brief, opening section on how to build a natural food pantry with guides to grains, non-wheat grain flours and meals, to oils and fats as well as sweeteners, spices and seasonings and fermented staples such as miso and soy. The recipes explore alternatives to highly processed flour and you will find Wild Rice Flour Pancakes, exceptional for the nutty flavor, or Quinoa and Corn Flour Crepes. We are always happy to discover recipes for quinoa, one of the most nutritious grains in the world. Freely experimenting, Swanson uses ingredients such as mesquite flour or teff flour, but always gives measured substitutions for those who have difficulty finding the more elusive ingredients.
Swanson has organized the book according to the steps that will help build tastier, healthier cooking. In the recipe-driven chapters are called "Explore Whole Grains, "Cook by Color," "Know Superfoods," and "Use Natural Sweeteners." Cook by Color may seem to be a visual person's answer to the kitchen, but color can determine nutrition, for example a red-fleshed fruit or vegetable such as a tomato is high in lycopene.
Swanson is both creative and eclectic. The recipes are fresh and original, many illustrating easy ways to freshen the taste of old ingredients, such as Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts, a surprising Grilled Broccoli, Chocolate Turtle Bean Tostados or what she calls Clemenquat Salad, a mixture of clementines and kumquats. When was the last time you combined these two elements? Among her own favorites are Black Tea Spring Rolls, Sweet Potato Spoon Bread, Crunchy Slaw Salad, Red Indian Carrot Soup, and Thin Mint Cookies.
About the Author: Heidi Swanson is a photographer of excellence as well as a graphic designer, a writer and the creator of the web sites 101cookbooks.com and mightyfoods.com. Her work has been featured on NPR.com and in national and international publications.
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