With so much conflicting information out there about the best or healthiest way to eat, what’s your average person to do?  Do we come down firmly on the side of “virtue,” focusing on protein, veggies, and modest amounts of “good” fats?  Or do we succumb to “vice,” and hunker down with lots of sugars, carbs, and the tempting trifecta of butter, cheese, and full-fat dairy?   Jessica Seinfeld’s newest book, Food Swings: 125+ recipes to enjoy your life of virtue and vice, aims to find a middle ground where we can enjoy eating — well, pretty much anything!

As you might guess, the book is organized into two halves: the first, dubbed “virtue” contains recipes that showcase ample quantities of vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins.  Conversely, the “vice” half cuts loose a bit, with recipes featuring plenty of cheese, red meat, and calorie-dense desserts.  In either half of the book, we found that most of the recipes were relatively simple and easy to follow, and many fit on one page.  The large format was attractive, and photos were numerous and visually appealing.  And thanks to its larger size, the book stayed open when we wanted it to.  One common complaint was that the time listed to make the recipe was noticeably inaccurate– it took most of us way longer than the author stated.  We ultimately decided that the time listed referred to time spent actually cooking, after all ingredient-locating and prepping was complete.  But once all the chopping and cooking was done, did we enjoy the results?

On the “virtue” side, there were some definite winners.  Four people made roasted spaghetti squash with almonds, cinnamon, and sage— and everyone thought this was a fantastic combination of flavors.  In particular, we liked the fresh sage.  One drawback– the thick-skinned squash is tricky to cut in half when raw; caution must be exercised to avoid injury!  Moroccan chicken also featured a nice combination of spices and was easy to put together.  We also liked cod with garlicky tomatoes and potatoes which was a simple yet tasty one-pot meal.   Another good weeknight choice was tangy and spicy chicken and peppers, a colorful dish that came together quickly.  Quinoa chili was “much better than I thought it would be,” really delicious and probably a keeper!  Quinoa also made an appearance in the quinoa banana-date muffins, which were a tender yet hearty breakfast muffin, pleasantly sweet without any added sugar.  One caveat: they contain mostly almond flour, which is an expensive ingredient  And roasted plums with honey and pistachios turned out to be the simplest, most amazingly yummy dessert– roasting the fruit brought out its sweet-tart flavor, and the pistachio and mint garnish put it all over the top.

There were some misses in this half of the book as well.  Vegetable soup was “a definite no,” as its flavor was anemic– probably because its base was water, not broth.  Roasted carrots and chickpeas with feta vinaigrette  was initially pretty appealing (and the crispy chickpeas by themselves were excellent),  but unfortunately it wasn’t good when reheated.  Baked vegetable chips were hard to get right– the potato peeler recommended to make the chips made slices that were too thin, and using a mandoline seemed to make them too thick!  Two people tried the ginger salmon with sesame cucumbers and thought it was just OK– no one liked the cucumbers; and the dish needed more accompaniments to make it a meal (how about the spaghetti squash above??).  Farro bowl with shaved broccoli and Parmesan was loaded with obviously healthy ingredients, but it wasn’t that enjoyable to eat; the taste was “meh!”  Lemon-thyme milk-braised chicken with spinach was similarly noticeably virtuous; but though the milk-braising idea was intriguing, overall it was a fairly boring dish.  And (as the photo shows), the milk sauce curdled and separated despite careful adherence to the recipe, which made a visually unappealing mess.  Lastly, coconut milk panna cotta was a disappointment– it was very plain, and even if it was on the “virtue” side, it definitely needed more sugar– or something!

So we certainly gave virtue a fair try; what about vice?  Many of the main dish recipes on this side of the book could be defined as comfort food– for instance, a few people tried red wine and shallot beef stew.  The recipe featured a rich wine sauce with chunky vegetables; it reheated well, as many stews do.  One person felt this recipe was nothing special, but others thought it was a very good version of this classic dish.  There were some other classic dishes in this section that we enjoyed: the lasagne bolognese was “really delicious– meaty and creamy;” corn chowder with bacon was extra-good with its crunchy-fresh off-the-cob sweet corn; shrimp scampi had a tasty, hearty sauce; and pulled bbq chicken sandwiches with coleslaw had a fantastic classic sauce, and the coleslaw was excellent as well.  Blue cheese burgers weren’t anything innovative; but were definitely enjoyable, since how can you go wrong with a burger and blue cheese?  Peach and sriracha chicken over coconut rice was a winner– nicely spiced chicken and rich-tasting rice.  Its garnish of scallions, peanuts, and cilantro made the dish look beautiful, and enhanced its flavors as well.   Spicy eggplant pasta also had a bit of heat, though not all that much– just a bit of red pepper flakes.  The roasted vegetables in this dish were first-rate all by themselves, but the completed dish was “good, not great.”  Pine nut and parsley pasta was similarly good, but “kind of ordinary.”  On the other hand, creamy mushroom pasta was super-creamy and smooth, with plenty of mushrooms– just a wonderful combination.   Crispy fish with tartar sauce was crunchy and tasty; it was a standard version of this classic that most of us always enjoy.   With your fish you might like skillet-roasted potatoes and tomatoes, which was a fine combination of the two main ingredients.  In the dessert section, two people made one-pot mocha brownies.  While they were perfectly fudgy and chocolatey, neither cook thought they were better than their usual recipe.  And apple galette showcased a nicely flaky crust with a complementary tart Granny Smith filling.

Overall, though most in the group enjoyed at least a few recipes from this book, no one felt that it offered anything groundbreaking.  The idea of sometimes eating super-healthily and other times more indulgently isn’t a foreign concept for most people– so do we need a cookbook to validate that idea?  It also seemed that some of the recipes from one category could have arguably been in the other– perhaps another indication that “healthy” is a more fluid concept than is generally acknowledged.  People did enjoy the simplicity and ease of preparation of most of the recipes, and there were some definite standouts.   Those who liked this title really liked it; but some were ambivalent– and thus our voting averaged out to a 3.5 (out of a possible 5).

We’ll next meet on Friday, October 26 at 11 AM in the Fireplace Room.  We’ll be exploring an ’80s classic this month: The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.  Copies are available at the main desk.  All are welcome, hope to see you there!

What better way to counteract the persistent snow and chill of March than by turning on the oven and baking something warm and buttery?  There’s not much that’s better at warding off the late-winter-when-is-spring-ever-going-to arrive blues than a freshly baked something served up with a steaming hot cup of coffee.  This month we devoted ourselves to the (mostly) sweet side of things with Martha Stewart’s A New Way to Bake, which features “classic recipes updated with better-for-you ingredients from the modern pantry.”

Martha Stewart has certainly been at the forefront of America’s food renaissance since the 1980s, when Entertaining made a huge splash.  Her insistence on topnotch ingredients and attention to detail won her legions of fans.  But these days, she seems to leave much to her staff; the “author” of our title is “the kitchens of Martha Stewart.”  Obviously there’s nothing wrong with a group effort, but we felt that the book suffered a bit from the lack of ownership that a single author might have provided.  There were some unexpected editing mistakes: a pancake recipe labeled “gluten-free” contained wheat flour; and some choices that made the book less user-friendly, such as not warning us when an ingredient was to be “divided”– that is, part used up front and part later.   Some ingredients were listed in ways that made it harder to buy them; one recipe lists “3 cups grated zucchini,” when it would be far easier if we’d been told “1 pound zucchini, grated (3 cups)”,  since we normally buy produce by weight.  These are small complaints, but they did affect our overall enjoyment of the book.  And this title suffered from the cardinal sin of absolutely refusing to stay open; the spine was so stiff that it was difficult to keep the book open even with a heavy weight on top (I resorted to using a large cast-iron skillet!).

But, as always, these petty annoyances will be overlooked if ultimately there are yummy results.  Was that the case for our group of dedicated bakers?  Read on, dear friends…..

In the breakfast department, coconut baked oatmeal was a winner: it was absolutely delicious, easy to make, and the coconut milk and ginger were perfect accents for the toothsome oats.  Another standout was spiced apple and oat scones.  These were moist and tender, and the spelt flour in them contributed depth and a touch of sweetness.  Coconut pistachio biscotti were good for dunking, but the proportion of cornmeal was too high, which made for a gritty cookie (a better version: http://greekboston.com/cooking/paximathia/).  Double chocolate rye muffins had satisfying chocolate flavor, and the rye flour added a slightly bitter backnote that went well with the chocolate.

We tried several of the quick breads in this book, with mixed success.  Coconut banana bread was praised for its subtle, tropical flavor.  It had a beautiful texture, was moist and flavorful, and disappeared quickly!  The Irish-style brown bread with whole wheat and rye flours was grainy and good– we sampled this at our meeting topped with smoked salmon and crème fraiche, which elevated it to a gourmet treat!  On the down side, whole wheat date-nut bread took way longer to bake than the recipe indicated, and resulted in an inedible brick.  Zucchini and chocolate loaves were OK but did not impress.  Whole-grain cornbread was similarly fine but not outstanding– it tasted pretty much like any other cornbread.

Of course a few of us had to try the luscious-looking apple-cider doughnut cake which graces the cover of the book.  It’s made with whole-wheat flour and olive oil, as well as applesauce and apple cider.  One person thought it was heavy and didn’t have much flavor; another thought it was good, but the olive oil flavor was too strong.  We sampled  this at the meeting and the consensus was that it was tasty and not too olive-y.  And, as it turned out, the olive flavor mellowed after a day or so.   A third person had overall success with this recipe, though the apple flavor was not as strong as she would have liked.  However all agreed that the cake they made looked every bit as pretty as the one on the cover!

In addition to the biscotti mentioned above, we tried pecan, oat, and dark chocolate chunk cookies.  These cookies were good but fell apart when you ate them.  The prescribed 1/4 cup size was too big; and overall they just weren’t good enough to bother with again.  The dark chocolate spelt brownies had a nice fudgy taste, but the spelt flour imparted an unpleasant graininess.  This was one recipe that tasted like it was trying a bit too hard to be healthy.  Whole-wheat fig crumble squares had too much crumble and not enough filling; however, the almond-coconut macaroons, which we were fortunate to sample at our meeting, were very easy to make and a yummy treat.  A keeper!  And the sweet oat-walnut crisps, while a bit fussy to make, were a delicious less-sweet cookie– really more like a cracker.  The coarse salt and flaxseeds added a welcome crunch and flavor.

One person bravely attempted a yeast dough, making hazelnut hot-cross buns.  These were a major disappointment, producing “hockey pucks.”  The dough never rose, perhaps because the instructions never have you proof your yeast before adding all the other ingredients; it was an overall epic fail!   The honey whole-wheat bread did instruct you to proof your yeast, but the resulting loaf, though it looked and smelled wonderful, was still unpleasantly heavy and dense.

There were a few other epic fails on the savory side of things, mostly to do with various tart crusts.  Mushroom tart had a half whole-wheat crust that was extremely problematic.  The dough was gritty, almost impossible to knead (as instructed), and absolutely refused to come together, despite multiple tries.  After buying a lot of expensive ingredients for the filling (lots of mushrooms, gruyère cheese) it was frustrating to spend so much time and energy on one component that never came out right.  The filling did taste very good, though!  The herb quiche with rye crust had a similarly difficult crust that ultimately was no better than crumbly.  And the quantity of filling made for a very thin quiche; as with the mushroom tart, this recipe seemed like a lot of effort for a less than stellar finished product.  On the other hand, chickpea-vegetable pancakes were quick, easy, and delicious; good for lunch or a snack.

As should be obvious by now, everyone entered into this month’s baking with lots of energy and enthusiasm, but overall we were disappointed.  We felt that with this book,  Martha & Co. were simply jumping onto a trend, just swapping out white flour for  something whole-grain, as opposed to developing recipes specifically designed to showcase those products.  And although some recipes used oil instead of butter and less-processed sweeteners instead of white sugar, amounts certainly matched those in standard recipes; so if you’re looking to reduce fats and sugars, this is probably not the book for you.  Once again our voting strongly reflected our experiences: we averaged out to 2.78 chef’s hats (out of a possible 5).   One comment perhaps sums it all up: “My husband was so happy to see this book go back to the library!”

If you’re interested in whole-grain baking, here are a couple of titles that are worth checking out: Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce; or Better Baking by Genevieve Ko.

Our next meeting will be Friday, April 27 at 11 AM in the Fireplace Room.  We’ll be in uncharted waters, learning about  – and cooking Korean food!  There are multiple titles; please choose one.  All are available at the main desk.  Guettae manna!  (See you then! in Korean, according to Google Translate).