At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well

I bought this book in July of 2016 along with another plant based book by a popular author. At the time, I had become a chef in a plant based lifestyle center (where disease is treated with diet and other lifestyle changes). For some reason the other book I purchased had recipes that seemed to catch my eye a bit more and though I marked dozens in this book I hoped to make, I never got around to them. I tried several in the other book and though I changed or alterned every recipe I tried I still kept using that one and largely by-passing Amy's. (And so far mine has not fallen apart so the binding had nothing to do with my oversight.) Last May we visited friends in OK and the "other book" stayed behind as a parting gift when we left. In Jan of 18, I found myself back in the professional kitchen. This time cooking for a group of massage students after a year and half of travel and other duties. In Feb. I made the pistachio tart for a special dinner and though I can not speak to the taste (due to my food sensitives), it was simple to make and my husband snarfed down the little bit left after a dinner for 15. (There was more than one dessert though the tart is super rich and would easily serve 12). I loved her idea of a pistachio dukkah and made something similar which my tribe used on a daily basis. This weekend I needed some fast and simple dishes to transition my students after a week of juicing back to normal food. I picked up Amy's book and quickly picked the Shaved Zucchini Salad and Sweet Corn Soup as the first two courses. WOW! The soup was absolutely simple and amazing. True, it requires corn cobs. And fresh corn. So it won't be on our table mid-winter. But if you freeze your own corn and planned ahead I'm guessing you could freeze some cobs and make it then too. Except its the freshness and lightness, and that delightful summer taste of corn without getting your teeth all filled with stuck corn that make this an absolute delight. I took the leftovers to friends for supper and they were equally intriqued and delighted. The salad was one of the best I've ever had. And I've eaten more than my share and a few other people's too! I shaved the zucchini's a day ahead and tossed it with chives fresh from the garden. My assistant slightly burned the pine nuts which gave the garnish a bit of a grilled flavor, good, though unintended. And I don't know if making it ahead gave the zucchini time to mellow but I hardly knew I was eating zucchini. Though I love zucchini in just about any way. One of my students commented that she didn't like raw zucchini normally but she decided to give it a try and w suprised to find she enjoyed it. I expect to eat this on a regular basis all summer long. And I should add that the first summer I had this my sous chef made the black rice crackers and everyone went nuts for them! They were gone so fast I forgot we made them. :) I do believe that I will give a few more recipes a try from this book. I am so happy with these. I am beyond delighted to find some recipes that I can make as written and find them so yummy. A note about the sourcing of ingredients other than perhaps a seasonal reason to not find ingredients, I can't imagine what in here is complicated or impossible to find. Maybe not at your local grocer but likely your local co-op has everything you need and for sure amazon or azure standard etc. would have what you need. I have yet to see an ingredient I couldn't find locally in one of her recipes. And I live in South Dakota, 30 min from Rapid City. Let me put that into perspective for you who may not be familiar with this lovely state: the entire population of the state is less than the city of Nashville, TN. RC itself has appx 70,000 people. It ain't big by any means and the closet "big" city is 6 hours away. If you are looking for a bunch of fifteen minute recipes that let you get dinner on the table by 6:30 when you got home at 6:00, this is probably not that book. Though neither the soup or salad were complicated they did take longer thand 30 min start to finish and certainly there are more complex recipes than those. If you enjoy spending some time in the kitchen chopping and prepping food and/or you want some fresh recipes for weekends or entertaining, when you have more time to be in the kitchen, then yes give this book a chance. It has some delicous recipes that are different than others floating around. You will likely delight your family and wow your guests. One last note: the few recipes that use dairy are easy to sub and make vegan. Gluten free is a little more difficult but certainly doable if you know how. There are a fair number of recipes that use spelt and oats (not all of us with celiac can eat them gf or not) But inspite of those drawbacks to me personally, I'm happy I bought the book and finally decided to try more of these delightful recipes.

This book is larger than I expected. It is a beautiful cookbook. Very easy to understand her directions and the food photos are gorgeous.. i just became a whole foods person. I am excited to start making these recipes. Buy for your self, or buy as a gift for someone. It is a beautiful cookbook. Educational for a newbie like me. I love this book.

The media could not be loaded. I learned of this cookbook on Margret Roaches podcast, A Way to Garden. I got it from the library first and immediately knew I needed to buy my own copy. These recipes are getting me out of my cooking rut. I love the salads and the chia pudding. If you are intimidated by expanding the ingredients in your pantry, Amy Chaplin includes a chapter on demystifying the pantry with detailed information. I highly recommend this book.

Even thought I have been cooking Whole Food for many years I still found this book so very helpful.

I have been vegetarian for 25 years and I bought this book because I really wanted some new recipes. The table of contents looked unconventional and rich with new, interesting recipes. And it hasn't disappointed: I have had great luck with several of the recipes, including a whole wheat pasta with marinated goat cheese and kale; a black bean stew with polenta; and a few others. I'm looking forward to branching out even further, as many of the recipes will certainly push me into new and exciting territory. I did have a misstep with one recipe - beet/chickpea cakes with greek yogurt, which sort of ended up a nice-tasting but mushy mess. My only issue - and the only reason I don't give this five stars - is, like other readers, my book has already started to fall apart. I can see myself using this book over and over again, and I'm frustrated that there are already chunks of pages that I have to shove back every time I use it! I know that's a minor quibble but, in light of the fact that others have raised the same issue, I'd suggest to Roost Books that they look into higher quality binding! It's a bummer. Other than that, I totally recommend it!