heartland Renaissance

How to Roast a Lamb – A book review

Apr 122012

There is a single word in Greek, kefi, that explains a philosophy of life. Kefi is the culmination of a celebration when music, dance, food, liquor, and the company you share intersect. The effect is so ethereal and the feeling so euphoric that you realize this is what life is about. It isn’t material possessions – the size of your house or the kind of car you drive – that are important. It’s the joy you derive from celebrating life with the people you love.

Michael Psilakis

This cookbook is a love story. About a man and his family. His family and food. And food as love.

Michael Psilakis has written a cookbook that you just want to sit down and read with a glass of wine in the evening. He’s crafted a story about his family, including his personal story about his relationship with his late father, that can make you misty-eyed at times. Love, faith, teenage angst and family dinners all coincide and then you look up, and remember it’s a cookbook. . .

April 12, 2012 Posted by Heartland Renaissance Beef and Game, Book Reviews, Cookbooks No Responses »

Salad as a Meal – a book review

Mar 122012

Love at First Sight I picked up Salad as a Meal: Healthy Main-Dish Salads for Every Season on a whim at the library recently. It looked like my kind of book. Along with Dorie Greenspan and Georgeanne Brennan, Patricia Wells is one of my favorite modern French cookbook authors. I either own, or habitually borrow from the library my favorite books of theirs over and over and re-read them like I re-read my favorite novels; every few years or so I have to revisit them for renewed inspiration. So I brought it home and began to browse through it after the kids were in bed. Within a few minutes I had to set the book down and rummage through the junk drawer. I was in search of my stash of [... To read more, click here ...]

March 12, 2012 Posted by Heartland Renaissance Book Reviews, Cookbooks, Fish, Vegetables, Salads and Sides cookbook review, salad as a meal 3 Responses »

Real Cajun – a book review

Mar 142011

It my pleasure to share with you my review for Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link’s Louisiana by Donald Link. “The pleasure,” you ask? Seriously? Yes. Because if you could be just a little bit smitten with a cookbook, I confess that I am with this one. Maybe it’s the way Link describes how he grew up, where “every occasion of [his] life revolved around food,” much like mine has, or how his food memories are rich with the aroma of past meals, lingering “in the thick Louisiana air,” he paints a picture as eloquently with words as with ingredients. Link explains, “Real Cajun food translates to the best ingredients of the area, simply prepared. The flavors are focused and the food is highly seasoned . . . [... To read more, click here ...]

March 14, 2011 Posted by Heartland Renaissance Book Reviews, Cookbooks 2 Responses »

Review : In the Kitchen: Real Food Basics

Oct 282010

Are you like me? You read Nourishing Traditions, or stumbled across the Weston A. Price foundation’s website, got inspired to make changes to your diet, and then went, “okay, where to begin?” and immediately felt overwhelmed? Did you flip through the tome, trying desperately just to find a simple dinner or snack that your in-transition-to-real-foods family or children would eat that was familiar and without having to spend a lot of money buying new ingredients for your pantry? If you answered yes and are in the midst of the transition to a more real foods diet, but have questions on how to implement it successfully in a modern American family, my fellow real food blogger, Kate Tietje of Modern Alternative Mama has written the cookbook for you; In the Kitchen [... To read more, click here ...]

October 28, 2010 Posted by Heartland Renaissance Book Reviews, Cookbooks, e-books, Other 2 Responses »

Review – Feeding the Whole Family

Feb 232010

When you’re out grocery shopping and choosing the food your family eats, Cynthia Lair, author of “Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children and their Parents” asks you to consider the following: Can I imagine it growing? How many ingredients does it have? What’s been done to the food since it was harvested? Is this product “part” of a food or the “whole” entity? How long has this food been known to nourish human beings? On it’s third edition, Lair’s cookbook for feeding the whole family is chock full of great information and inspiring recipes. Spanning the globe with influences from French, Greek, Thai and the American Northwest cuisines, Lair’s recipes are varied and easy and incorporate real, whole foods. The first 55 pages are introductory, and truly, [... To read more, click here ...]