I wonder who don't... LOL!
My seven years old son always think that healthy foods like salad, carrots and celery are not delicious and delicious foods like pizza, ice cream, burgers and fish and chips are not healthy. Well, would you trust a seven-year-old kid for his analogy? To some extent, I can't deny that he does make some sense but I would prefer to educate him towards the more positive way of perceiving delicious food.
Can healthy food be delicious?
"Whole foods are delicious foods. Eating a healthy diet based on whole foods doesn't mean depriving yourself, counting calories or restricting enjoyment. It means eating well and loving it." - Chrissy Freer, author of the book, Real Delicious.
Well, what do you think?
What is whole food? Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. For example, brown rice is a whole food and white rice rice is a processed food. In this case, we should eat more brown rice than white rice because the brown grain retains its nutrient-rich bran and germ.
I kind of like Chrissy Freer's way of defining and creating delicious healthy foods. What she said is not referring to any fad diets or obscure food philosophy. Just simply eat food with the least amount of processing and then you and I can be healthy! She totally make sense to me!
Who is Chrissy Freer? She is a nutritionist and food writer and has previously written two books; SuperGrains and SuperLegumes. If you have been reading my blog, you would know that I did a book review for SuperLegumes before at here and here and like the recipes and contents of SuperLegumes. Knowing that Real Delicious by Chrissy Freer is going to be published in February 2016, I would love to grab a copy...
Lucky me that I'm now a happy owner of this book because this book is totally positively knowledgeably nutritionally awesome!!! Do you want to know more? First, please allow me to show you how I baked these easy and healthy seed and nut bars using one of the recipes in this book.
Seed and Nut Bars - A healthy Gluten Free lunch box snack
To bake one 20 cm x 20 cm (8 inches x 8 inches) that yields about 16 squares, you need:
You can use any nuts (including walnuts) and seeds that you like.
Roughly chop the nuts in a food processor.
Then, get ready these ingredients.
Combine these in either a saucepan or a heat proof bowl (if you are heating this mixture with a microwave)
Notice that the amount of oil in this recipe is so little!!!
Then do this and the mixture is now ready to bake.
Transfer nut mixture into a baking pan lined with baking paper.
Use either the back of a spoon or your hand (with food processing glove) to press mixture firmly onto the tray.
Please make sure that this step is done properly or else your bars will be loosely bound.
Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 20-30 mins or until deep golden brown.
Wow! Baking these makes the kitchen smell SO GOOD!!!
Cool completely on the tray.
The original recipe says that the bars need to be refrigerated until chilled but I reckon that I didn't have to do this step.
Cut into bars or squares and serve!
Chewy, nutty and yummy!
This is the picture of the seed and nut bars shown in this well-illustrated book.
With no added white sugar and any processed or artificial ingredients, these bars are fully packed with real whole food and heaps of goodness. Best of all, they are yummy too!
For a vegan variation, you can replace honey with rice malt syrup. Store these bars in an airtight container and keep them up to 2 days at room temperature and up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Now, can see why I said that this book is totally positively knowledgeably nutritionally awesome?
Real Delicious by Chrissy Freer
Positive because this book encourages positive thinking about food. We must enjoy eating our food and it teaches me how to choose the right food to eat. Best of all... no counting calories here!
Knowledge because it is a well organised book classifying whole food according to their species, sources and nutritional purposes. Every chapter of these classified food contains many food facts and I'm sure that Chrissy being well-qualified nutritionist can deliver the most accurate food information.
The recipes and information of this book are well classified according to these chapters.
Nutritional because the book has thoroughly explained what and why the whole food is good for you, with details like what is a serve of grains, legumes, meat, eggs, seeds and many more... It also provide well-analysed answers to interesting food questions like...
How much meat should we eat?
Grass-fed vs grain-fed beef?Free-range, oragnic, certified organic? What does it all mean?
Super eggs?
How fresh is fresh eggs?
Canned fish - a good option?
Are dried fruit good for me?
Fresh or frozen seafood?
Do you know the correct answers to these questions? Thanks to this book, I have gained these valuable knowledge as I'm learning to choose my daily food wiser.
Here are some examples of whole food recipes that can help you to cook and eat healthier...
Smoked salmon is my son's fav! And I can see that this is a great way to encourage him to enjoy kale too.
This cashew cheese is a great option especially if you can't eat cheese because you are vegan or dairy intolerant.
Pick me! Pick me!
This pick-me-up beetroot soup with spiced yogurt is telling me that I need to cook this comforting soup for our coming winter. Ok!
There are more than 100 healthy recipes that you can find in this book... All simple to follow and made with down-to-earth ingredients! Want to see more? Sure! I will show you a few more examples in my subsequent post.
If you can't wait and grab a copy of this book now, you may wish to know that it is available in most retail or online book shops selling at the retail price of AUD$35.
As this post is specially written to review this book, I'm sorry that I have agreed to the publisher that I can't publish the recipes in this book in this post. However, if you really wish to make these lunch box friendly seed and nut bars, please read my post in details, you will see that you can actually do it without a written recipe as I have fully illustrated the process very thoroughly to you. *Hint*
Before ending this post, I like to thank Murdoch Books for giving me this opportunity to do this review. I like to make a disclaimer here that I'm not paid to do this and like to share my most honest opinions with everyone who read this review.
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This post is linked to the event,Little Thumbs uporganised by Doreen frommy little favorite DIYand me,Bake for Happy Kidsand hosted by Joyce fromJoy 'N' Escapadeatthis post
Our Little Thumbs Up event starts on the first day of the month until the last day of the month. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe with the theme of the month which is HONEY for March 2016 and link with us at this post anytime until 31st Mar 2016.
Don't forget your thumbs up or display this badge! And make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post preferably within this month. (2) Please mention Little Thumbs Up in your post and link back to Bake for Happy Kids, my little favorite DIY and Joyce fromJoy 'N' Escapade
