How I Became a Cookbook Ambassador
Before I get into the review of the cookbook, I have a story to tell you. Over summer, during our vacation, our website crashed and my best friend (Jeanette – the other Admin for this website) was in the hospital bleeding internally and they didn’t know what was wrong. It was very serious. She would just pass out from the loss of blood. I don’t know what I would do if something ever happened to her. I was distraught. She turned out to be okay and life kept moving along but I missed a very important email. An email from Lisa Leake at 100 Days of Real Food accepting me as her cookbook ambassador! I replied to the email and followed what it said but I was sure it was too late. 2 weeks late to be exact. Well then my laptop crashed and I thought I lost everything. We were finally able to recover most of my stuff but now I have to wade through tons and tons of files and pictures to get everything organized again. You could bet I was checking my email every day after missing that one. And guess what popped in one day? More information on being a cookbook ambassador and then I got a signed copy of the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook!!!! I COULD NOT believe it. I thought everything around this blog was crashing on me… from the website crashing, missing the important email, and then my laptop crashing. It’s amazing I’m still blogging. 😉 It was sure nice of Lisa to let me in at the last minute.
So what does it mean to be a Cookbook Ambassador? Well, I get to be part of a group of bloggers that received a F R E E signed copy of the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook (see Lisa’s signature to the right)! All I had to do in return is review it and post my review on my blog. Lisa has already sent out her Thank You post that includes all the cookbook ambassadors. There are a lot listed but I am honored to be one of them. Check out the list and you may find some other blogs that you want to follow. And feel free to share with others!
My Review of the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook
Okay, enough about me and now we are on to this really great cookbook! The only cookbook I have really ever had is a Betty Crocker cookbook. It’s not about organic real foods and it’s all black-and-white. No pictures. The 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook is not just a cookbook, it tells a story. A story of how Lisa and her family made these huge changes in their lives towards real foods. A story of how you can make healthier changes in your diet, how you can make changes for your whole family. I absolutely love this cookbook. My kids enjoyed looking through it and we can’t wait to make these yummy foods. I love how the recipes are separated out and the pictures are beautiful! I think the pictures alone would convince anyone to make these delicious foods. Anyone could benefit from this book. The way it is laid out is so easy to follow and I truly believe that if someone wanted to switch to eating real foods, they would know exactly what to do and where to start from following this book. Lisa has done an amazing job of putting it all together.
What You Can Expect
In addition to telling their story, Lisa gives her definition of what real food is. This includes a break-down of the different types of grains, her thoughts on sugar consumption, reading labels, and so much more. There’s also information about shopping, food budget tips and meal plans. There are recipes for different dietary needs (see bulleted items below). Recipes for appetizers and treats, all the basic meals, side dishes, salads, snacks, and things to make that you just need to have around. Basic staples like sauces, dressing, bread, tortillas, and much more. A beautiful color photo is included with each recipe. There is a lot here that is not on the 100 Days of Real Food website. Plus, I don’t think it is very convenient to search for things on a website. I love having this book that I can easily carry around and flip through to make these easy, wholesome recipes. It isn’t super heavy like I imagined. My kids could carry it around… although I don’t think I would let them just yet. I am very protective of this new book I just got! 😉
- 71 recipes are (or can easily be) Gluten-Free
- 79 recipes are (or can easily be) Vegetarian
- 49 recipes are (or can easily be) Dairy-Free
- 42 recipes are Freezer-Friendly
In the beginning of the cookbook, Lisa tells their story of how they got here and the goals for the cookbook. I love her story of when “the light clicked on” for her and she never turned back. That was similar to what happened to me. And the goals of this book are to be able to help those in any type of situation in which they think they won’t be able to make the switch to real foods but in fact, anyone can! And this book definitely shows you how. Here’s some of the content, straight from the book:
One of the first recipes we will be making from the cookbook is the Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread:
Recipe for Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread from the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted (plus more for greasing the pan)
- 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup raisins
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with butter and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork, mix in the eggs, applesauce, melted butter, and syrup until well combined, taking care not to over mix. Gently fold in the raisins. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 – 55 minutes.
My kids and I sat down together to look through the cookbook. They knew all about it and why I was keeping a close watch for the UPS guy/gal every day until it got here. 😉 They really loved going through all the pictures and talking about what we can make. Their favorites are: Waffle Sticks you can dip in syrup, Eggs in a Basket, Cinnamon-Raisin Quick Bread, Pizza Bites, Cinnamon Apple Chips, Fruit Kabobs with Yogurt Dip, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and every single Special Treat recipe in the cookbook.
My son Tyler (age 5): “Everything looks SO GOOD and it’s making me hungry!”
My daughter Kailey (age 8): “Those girls (Lisa’s daughters) are SO lucky they get to eat all this good stuff. I want to bring that stuff for lunch too.”
The following morning I asked the kids what they wanted for breakfast and what we should pack in my daughter’s lunch. They both mentioned items from the cookbook. So we made the Eggs in a Basket for breakfast and they both LOVED it! For my daughter’s lunch (3rd grade), she picked the hummus sandwich. I was really surprised. I didn’t think she would ever want something like that. They want to try a lot of other recipes but I need to stock up on some of the items first. 😉
Here’s where you can purchase this wonderful cookbook, that is a #1 New York Times best seller by the way! Buy yourself a gift or it would be a great gift for someone else. How about one for you and one for them?? 😀
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