Gwenyth wrote the book with her friend, who is a chef, in order to have good tasting food that is clean and addresses her allergy issues. She does not use processed sugar in her recipes. Instead, she uses Maple Syrup, Brown Rice Syrup, honey or Zylitol. My only criticism of the book is that she uses a lot of ingredients that most people don't have in their pantry, which necessitates a shopping trip every time you want to make a recipe. However, I have found that once I have the ingredients, they are used in multiple recipes, so that is one less thing on the list for the next recipe.
This book is chock-full of AWESOME. Everything that I have made has been delicious. Even the picky eaters in my family (you know who you are) has had to begrudgingly say that the weird concoctions that I have served them have been good. I have tried the Fish Tacos, Korean Chicken Tacos, two kinds of salsa, baked and seasoned garbanzo beans to use as croutons (delightful), Korean Slaw, Thai Chicken Burgers (the family likes these the best), Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and some of her egg dishes. Everything is easy to make and is done quickly. The only issue is making sure that you have all the ingredients, because, like I said, some of this stuff we just don't commonly keep around. I do now. Since I got this book we have been basically eating dinner out of it regularly. The food is flavorful, low fat, low calorie and full of veggies. Perfect for those of us looking for variety on a clean diet.
Gwenyth does come across as a little bit of an out of touch celebrity. This book is definitely not for those on a shoestring budget. Some of the ingredients are expensive and require ordering on the internet (at least for me here in Tacoma). She recommends the Vita Mix Blender ($500) to make sauces, however I use my Sunbeam blender and it works fine. Not all of us have that kind of money to fork out on a blender, Gwen .
Tomorrow I will post a recipe and I will let you know our impressions of it. Get the book. It is pure gastronomic delight.
