Eating healthier is something that most of us are trying to do. However, it’s not always easy and it’s not so easy to find recipes that help us on our journey to eating healthier. As you all know if you’ve been here before, but just in case you haven’t, I love Melissa Costello’s recipes. I first heard about her when I was doing P90X. She is Tony Horton’s personal chef. Well, she just came out with her first cookbook called The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook and WOW! What a lot of great recipes. Although she is a vegan chef and the cookbook has all vegan recipes, you don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy it. It’s a great resource for anyone who is interested in cooking and eating healthier.
Eating Healthier Is Something That You Can Ease Into
Melissa was not always a vegan. Eating healthier was something that developed in time. Like many Americans, she was raised on processed foods and lots of sugar. However after too often being sick as a child, she started researching foods and their affect on the body. On her quest to eating healthier, she started cutting out foods like white sugar, gluten, and other processed foods, and she noticed that she felt better. She then eventually cut out meat and dairy products because they didn’t make her feel good. She does not suggest that you cut out all these foods too, but merely suggests that you try to become in tune with your body and analyze what affects different foods have on you. Most of us just eat whatever we want with little concern about what is in the food that we put in our mouths. Sometimes we get bloated or just don’t feel well, but rarely do people actually make the connection that what we ate is what didn’t make us feel good. Yeah, it might have tasted good at the moment, but is it really worth the hours afterward that you feel lousy or the weight that you either gain or maintain? I don’t want to waste my time feeling lousy. Life is too short and goes by too quickly so I prefer eating healthier and feeling good.
Melissa merely suggests that if you listen to what your body wants and become in tune with it, you may find that you don’t have to count calories all the time because you’ll find your own natural balance. You’ll also find that when you start eating healthier, which means eating whole foods that don’t come out of a box, bag, or can you’ll actually feel more satisfied, and stay full longer. Have you ever noticed that when you eat all that fast food, or all those chips, you’re hungry again an hour later? That’s because those foods aren’t nutrient dense as whole foods, those foods are empty calories.
Melissa’s cookbook consists of 7 chapters, breakfast and beverages, dips and other nibble/appetizer type recipes, one pot soups and stews, salads and salad dressings, main dish favorites (made healthy), great side dishes, and wonderful sweet treats made healthier. Most of her recipes are gluten free, non of them have refined sugar or white flour. She also has great extras, like baking substitutions for white flour, white sugar, and a really neat way to substitute an egg, along with helpful tips of what type of kitchen tools you need and what to have in your pantry. She makes eating healthier easy, satisfying, and simple.
[button link=”http://www.amazon.com/The-Karma-Chow-Ultimate-Cookbook/dp/0757316336/ref=as_li_tf_ssw?&linkCode=wss&tag=fitove4002-20″ color=”red” bg_color=”#1c191c” window=”yes”]Yes, I want to Order My Cookbook NOW[/button]
My husband made her stuffed mushroom recipe the other night which turned out fabulous. I plan to make them as an appetizer for my thanksgiving dinner. I can honestly say that before finding her recipes I was extremely baking challenged. I always wanted to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies, but no matter what I did they usually came out flatter than a pancake. Melissa’s chocolate chip cookies come out perfect every time as do all her other recipes that I’ve tried. I’ve made several from her website, Karmachow.com, like the chickpea fillets, the vegan cheesecake (total yumminess), the brownies, the banana chocolate chip muffins, the anise cookies, and the list goes on. All of them turn out great and taste great.
She has many healthier versions of favorites that I’m looking forward to trying like the banana chia pancakes with coconut crème sauce, the homemade granola, pumpkin pie waffles, vegan meatballs, Korean style tacos, shepherd’s pie, pad thai, enchilada role, and mac and cheese. Then there are the desserts I can’t wait to try, the chocolatey rice krispy thingies(that’s her name for it :)), the lavender coconut ice cream, and the apple/pear crisp. Who thought eating healthier would taste so good?
So many recipes to try! For only $11.43 this makes an excellent Christmas gift even for that hard to find person. The recipes are easy to follow and easy to make. They’re sure to please all pallets young and old. Eating healthier was never easier!
So, what are you waiting for? Start your Christmas shopping now!!
Order your copy of the karma chow ultimate cookbook here
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