Simply Ancient Grains by Maria Speck

 

The award-winning author of Ancient Grains forModern Meals, Maria Speck makes cooking with ancient grains faster, more intuitive, and easier than ever before in this collection of recipes, most of which are gluten-free.
 
From black rice to red quinoa to golden Kamut berries, ancient grains are showing up on restaurant menus and store shelves in abundance. Yet in home kitchens, many fear that whole grains are too difficult and time-consuming to prepare. In Simply Ancient Grains, Maria makes cooking with these fascinating and nourishing staples easy and accessible with sumptuous recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Her family-friendly dishes are Mediterranean-inspired and delicious, such as Spicy Honey and Habanero Shrimp with Cherry Couscous; Farro Salad with Roasted Eggplant, Caramelized Onion, and Pine Nuts; and Red Rice Shakshuka with Feta Cheese. Maria’s tips and simplified approach take whole grain cooking to the next level by amplifying the flavor and enduring beauty of these nutritious grains.

My Thoughts:

For the last year or so I have been trying to cook healthier. I have been interested in trying out a variety of ancient grains. Its so hard trying to eat healthy in such a fast paced world.

This is a hardback book with 261 pages. There is a nice variety of full color photos of many of the dishes. I would of loved a picture personally of every dish but, that is just me as I love being able to see photos in cookbooks.

I love the layout in the introduction with the ancient grains from A-Z. I am not gluten free but, have many friends who are not able to consume gluten. I really appreciate this information being available in a grain cookbook.

This is loaded with information from a cooking time table and also baking with the grain. She explains the texture of each grain along with nice description of the flavors.

The origins of the grains and what it was used for originally I thought was extremely interesting. Just having a cookbook that has a variation and suggestions for substitutions for either making it gluten free or something that is more suited for your taste is unique in a cookbook. Most of the grains are suited for vegetarians. Some of the recipes have suggestions on adding meat to the recipes.

There is something for all meals from Breakfast to satisfying your sweet tooth.

The contents are as follows:

Introduction

Ancient Grains 101

Breakfast

Slow Morning

Salads and Sides

Soups and Stews

Pasta

Simply Mains

Simple and Sweet

Include is some helpful information on Ingredients and Techniques, Sources, Bibliography, and an Index.

I have tried out a few recipes already and I am pleased with the ones I have tried. I haven’t had any problem finding any of the grains at my local health food store either. For those that I am not able to find locally I can easily find online.

This has been a delightful experience and I have enjoyed exploring with Simply Ancient Grains.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book from Blogging for Books- Waterbrook for free in order to write this review. All thoughts and opinions are