Eating for Life: 100 Healthful Recipes
Posted by Beth Bader on Kids Cuisine.
At the moment, my head (and stomach) have given over to the dance of the sugar plums. And the sugar cookies, and eggnog, and hot chocolate. Come New Year’s, however, I’ll be hearing a different tune. Most likely, it will be something peppy with an aerobic instructor shouting over the top of it. I will also be reaching for the new cookbook, Eating for Life: 100 Healthful Recipes from the Kansas City Star, by James Beard award-winning food section editor Jill Wendholt Silva.
The book features 100 recipes that all adhere to the USDA Dietary Guidelines, even the desserts. Each recipe features a full-color photo and information on the nutritional benefits of key ingredients as well as helpful tips and tricks, and nutritional analysis. The recipes were originally published in an award-winning column by the same name in The Kansas City Star, as well as syndicated nationally through the McClatchy-Tribune News Services.
The chapter list has a section for Kids Meals, including such kid-enticing recipes as Pizza Pasta Salad, Guilt-Free Onion Rings, and Vegetable Calzones. Even so, nearly every recipe in the book will appeal to the whole family.
Best of all, the recipes don’t require any hard-to-find ingredients and they feature easy instructions and techniques. Most recipes can be made in about thirty minutes, making the book a great weeknight dinner resource for busy parents. Even the perennial high-maintenance dish of risotto has been made easy with a recipe for Slow Cooker Risotto with Swiss Chard.
“I think the main message is that a little can go a long way. Just a few, delicious, nearly imperceptible changes in the way you eat every day can make a huge difference in your overall health,” says author Silva.
I am thinking if those few changes include things like Greek Tacos, Farmers Market Salad, and Key Lime Tartlets, my family can handle them and ask for more. I opted to make the Pumpkin Gingerbread Bars since these are two of my favorite flavors conveniently put into one recipe that is perfect for the holiday season.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Bars
Makes 12 servings
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch square pan with non-stick vegetable cooking spray.
Beat eggs with electric mixer at high speed 2 minutes. Add brown sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add pumpkin, molasses, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger; stir to blend. Add to pumpkin mixture; stir well.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool 10 minutes in pan; invert onto platter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar. Serve warm.
Recipe ©2007 Jill Wendholdt Silva
Book Details:
Eating for Life: 100 Healthful Recipes from The Kansas City Star
By Jill Wendholdt Silva
Publisher: Kansas City Star Books
Hardcover, 220 Pages
Price: 24.95
Available from Amazon
