Originally published August 4 2005
Cookbook centers around the "12 Best Foods"
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dana Jacobi's "12 Best Foods Cookbook" offers tasty and healthy recipes using 12 versatile, good-for-you foods: Black beans, blueberries, broccoli, chocolate, oats, onions, salmon, soy, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and walnuts.
In the past few years, "best foods" lists have captured the imaginations of those of us looking for help (based on science, not gimmicks) to eat right.
Cookbook author and chef Dana Jacobi - inspired by constant questions put to her, such as "Aren't nuts full of fat?"
and "How can I possibly eat all these foods?"
- has endeavored to lay out the answers in "12 Best Foods Cookbook: Over 200 Delicious Recipes Featuring the 12 Healthiest Foods" (Rodale, $21.95).
Turns out that Jacobi's criteria included foods with "the best combination of nutrients and versatility in the kitchen."
There is no sense of health-food denial here, only enticing, easy-to-follow recipes and attractive photographs.
Each of the more than 200 recipes has one or more of her 12 best, but also use other nutrient-dense foods.
Margin notes peppered throughout detail the nutrients in the dishes.
Tasters loved both recipes prepared in the test kitchen: the nine-a-day salad and the roasted vegetable sauce.
In the first chapter, Jacobi makes her case for the nutritional properties behind each of her choices.
But after that, the lecture is mostly over; she lets the food speak for itself.
"A powerhouse made with nine vegetables, beans and soynuts, this meal-size salad was inspired by the USDA's Nine-A-Day program," writes Jacobi.
One taster suggested cutting the pepper rings into smaller pieces.
For the dressing, combine the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, basil, oregano and garlic in a 10-cup plastic bowl with a lid; shake gently to combine.
Add the oil and pepper to taste.
Set aside 1 hour to let flavors meld.
For salad, add the broccoli, bell pepper rings, onion, beans, carrots, zucchini, mushroom, tomatoes and spinach.
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