The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook: 150 Recipes for Healthy Living

Feeding my family a healthy diet has always been a big priority for me so I bought this book to get more ideas for integrating whole grains into our diet. Overall, I have not been disappointed. While none of the recipes are unique and earth shattering (for example Barbara Kafka comes up with insanely creative delicous dishes) they are tasty. The red rice tuna salad was a hit with everyone in the house as was the minestrone with wheat berries and the chili chicken pie with millet crust. This is not a vegetarian cook book. This is not always a low-calorie cookbook. Because this is cooking with whole grains, the cooking time is usually not going to be quick either so this is more for weekend cooking. I like that there is an introduction to most of the whole grains in the front that includes interesting history and tidbits along with nutritional information. There is also a section in the back aimed at diabetics. Occasionally, there are some mistakes. In one recipe, one of the ingredients is lemon juice but lemon juice is never mentioned in the recipe! Overall, I like the recipes and many are definitely "make agains"

while there is a rather short vegetarian recipe section, many of the recipes in this book feature meat, and a lot of it. I made a millet pilaf from this book, which was my first time trying millet, and I discovered millet is not so tasty. It turns to mush. Maybe that's what makes it "highly digestible". Many of the recipes call for leeks and not onions, which I find a little strange. I like leeks, but onions are cheaper and easier to prep. Many of the recipes do sound good, if a little too involved, and she lists english and metric measurements. There are pictures of probably 1/3 of the recipes. The front reference section, listing most of the whole grains, is very informative and helpful, and is the primary reason I bought the book. It's handy to know how much raw brown rice you need to cook to get 4 cups of cooked rice. I'm going to try some more of the recipes, probably with about half the meat called for.

I was so suprised that this book doesn't have any customer reviews written about it. I came across it at my library and when I had to return it (after good 2 months), I went ahead and purchased it. Compared to my top favorite book on whole grains Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, it's less extensive when it comes to amount of pages dedicated to each grain. But on the other hand, it has nutritional profile for each grain and every recipe and that information comes quite handy. Also, I really really like the recipes. There are notes if the recipe is Vegetarian or Vegan Friendly. Since I bought the book (about 2 weeks ago) I made about 5+ meals - all of them got rave reviews from my hubby (Zucchini Lemon Loaf w/Cranberries and Turkey Cutlets in Gingery Lemon Gravy w/Cranberry Rice were the biggest hits so far). All in all, this book is one of my go-to's whole grain cookbooks.