Clean Start: Inspiring You to Eat Clean by Terry Walters

Clean Start shows that choosing minimally processed foods is both easy and nutritious. Many of the 100 gluten-free and vegan recipes are photographed.

Terry Walters is a proponent of clean eating, or choosing sustainable foods that are healthy for you and the environment. She also runs a website and blog with tips and resources for the clean eating movement. Terry’s other book, Clean Food, started readers talking about embracing new choices in the family kitchen by choosing to eat foods that are in season from locally grown food sources and that are minimally processed. Clean Start has over 100 recipes all vegan and gluten-free.

The Benefits of a Clean Start in the Kitchen

In Clean Start, Terry describes clean food as “whole, minimally processed and close to the source.” How do you make a clean start when shopping for the family? Her tips begin with choosing foods that come from the source itself (locally grown and organic if possible) and skipping those foods that are heavily processed or packaged. Since eating clean can mean different things to different people, her biggest tip is applying the ‘grown not manufactured’ motto when shopping. Not only will the pantry begin to fill up with more nutritious foods, but there will be less of an impact on the environment because of the choices.

Book Chapters and Contents

The first three sections, Getting Started, The Basics, and Making It Work For You, explain the Clean Eating movement and introduces readers to grains, legumes and greens. A basic pantry chart includes whole grains and dried foods that are easy to store and stock up on. If making a change like this seems abrupt, Terry suggests bringing one new clean food a week into your kitchen by way of a new product or ingredient substitution so that the transition for betting eating will be long lasting.

While all the recipes may be vegan and gluten-free, they are full of flavor and many are photographed in color. Interesting recipes for all menus include Cocoa Brownies (sweetened with real maple syrup), Green Fries (fried fresh green beans with wasabi powder), and Polenta Pizzas (with a gluten free polenta pizza crust). The recipes are all broken down by the season so choosing a seasonally appropriate food is easy.

Recommended for People Wanting to Incorporate Minimally Processed Foods In Their Diet

You don’t have to be completely vegan to enjoy this book. Many of the recipes in Clean Start are photographed and can be adapted to family menus. The vegetables and grain dishes can easily be used as side dishes for non-vegetarians, and many will make great tasting and healthy lunches for the office. Terry’s run down of the basics includes a resource list of finding clean food in your area.

The book also has handy recipes for cooking basic grains like quinoa and wild rice, and preparing dried legumes by different soaking methods.

Recipe: Cabbage Sauté with Tart Cherries and Crisp Apples

This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 3 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
• 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
• 1 cup dried unsweetened cherries
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 Macoun apple (or tart, firm variety of choice)
• Sea salt

Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons mustard seeds
• 2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons apple cider or juice

Procedure:

1. In Dutch oven over medium heat, sauté onion in oil 6 minutes or until very soft. Stir in cabbages, cherries and mirin and continue sautéing until cabbage starts to soften (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In small dry skillet over low heat, lightly toast mustard seeds 2 minutes or until fragrant, being careful not to burn. Add brown rice syrup, apple cider vinegar and apple cider, and whisk 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Core apple and cut into 1⁄4-inch matchsticks. Return cabbage to medium heat, add apple, drizzle with dressing and fold to coat evenly and heat through. Season to taste with salt, remove from heat and serve.

Book Information:

• Clean Start: Inspiring You to Eat Clean and Live Well with 100 New Clean Food Recipes by Terry Walters
• Sterling Publishing
• ISBN13: 9781402779053
• Hardcover, 176 pages

Recipe reprinted with permission from Clean Start © 2010 by Terry Walters, Sterling Epicure, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions expressed are my own.

Enjoy,
Renee Shelton
🙂