One of the most common complaints about eating paleo is that it’s expensive. Or, if you try to have it not be expensive, you end up eating the same plain-tasting meals all the time. Ciarra Hannah, founder of Popular Paleo, attempted to counter that complaint with her new book, The Frugal Paleo Cookbook.

While Ciarra acknowledges it is possible to spend a lot of money on paleo grocery items, she says it isn’t necessary. It’s just a matter of strategizing your purchases and your approach to eating. The first and most important piece of advice she gives is, “Avoid making dishes that center around premium products.” That means in this book you won’t see such liberal use of bacon, honey, maple syrup, and expensive nut flours. You’ll also see less expensive cuts of meat and ground meats.

But don’t think that means the dishes will taste any less amazing. On the contrary, this book offers a great collection of recipes across the flavor spectrum that will keep you and your whole family happy and full.

Tex-Mex Casserole

The recipes are divided into the following categories:

• Beef and Lamb
• Poultry
• Pork
• Seafood
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• A Few Basics

Recipes I tried included:

• Pate for Rookies
• Tex-Mex Casserole
• Spatchcock Cilantro Lime Chicken
• Tangy Apricot Pulled Pork

The Pate for Rookies recipe was impressively tasty. I made it for guests who weren’t sure they’d even like pate, and they enjoyed it immensely. The fruit in the recipe really takes the edge off the offal and truly makes this not only an entry-level pate, but easy to make and enjoyable for veteran pate lovers, as well.

“In general I found the recipes in this book to be both simple and satisfying. Some recipes will require more effort than others, but there are plenty that are straightforward…”

The Tex-Mex Casserole was also simple to make, and made for some great leftovers, as well. In general I found the recipes in this book to be both simple and satisfying. Some recipes will require more effort than others, but there are plenty that are straightforward, and for the most part, there are no ingredients required that you couldn’t find at a decent local grocery store.

In addition to the recipes, Ciarra offers advice on how to keep your paleo meals tasty and give them variety by using spice blends. But again here, she gives tips on how not to break the bank by creating your own spice blends, including everything from taco seasoning to creole seasoning.

Spatchcock Cilantro Lime Chicken

Downsides

The binding on the book did break almost instantly, so I would be careful when handling your copy so you don’t start losing pages. In addition, not every recipe has a photo, which is a big pet peeve of mind with cookbooks. I want to see what I’m making, and see if what I made was even remotely in the ballpark of what the dish should look like.

“[I]f you are seeking more nuts-and-bolts about the science of paleo , as well as meal-planning and shopping support, this is not the book for you.”

This book does not cover the paleo approach to eating in as thorough a way as other cookbooks. There are no meal plans, shopping lists, or nutritional information for the recipes. This is all not necessarily a bad thing, as you may already own books that provide that sort of info for you. But if you are seeking more nuts-and-bolts about the science of paleo , as well as meal-planning and shopping support, this is not the book for you.

Who This Book Is For

Despite those potential negatives, this book still might be a good purchase for you. This book is not only about eating paleo frugally, but it itself is frugally priced.

I believe it also successfully walks the line between providing simplicity and great flavor. It’s not always easy to prepare tasty meals, and it’s not always fun to eat the same meals over and over. Creating a budget-friendly cookbook that still results in great food is a big challenge, and I think this book does an admirable job of meeting that goal.

“The Frugal Paleo Cookbook” is available for $12.99 at Amazon.com.

You’ll Also Enjoy:

• How to Feed a Hard Gainer on the Cheap and on the Go
• Eating Clean on the Go: It’s All in the Planning
• Tips and Tricks for Healthy Shopping on a Budget
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

The post Frugal Paleo Cooking: It’s Not an Oxymoron appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Paleo cookbooks often fall into one of two camps:

1. Recipes are way too simple and involve mostly grilling
2. Recipes are for foodies and way too complicated for those new to the diet

Paleo Takes 5 – Or Fewer attempts to walk the line between those categories, offering minimalist recipes that still deliver gourmet flavor. Author Cindy Sexton is the brains behind this book and the website PALEOdISH.

About the Book

The secondary title of this cookbook explains everything you need to know about Cindy’s concept and framework: “Healthy Eating Was Never Easier With These Delicious 3, 4 and 5 Ingredient Recipes.” Rather than organize the recipes by the type of dish (i.e. appetizers, main courses, desserts), the recipes in this book are arranged into three-, four-, or five-ingredient recipes.

“My husband and I both enjoyed every single one of these recipes. And because I am obsessed with cooking and do have a well-stocked pantry, I found these recipes to be straight-forward and relatively simple for a busy weekday evening.”

But while these recipes may not have a ton of ingredients, that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily easy or that the ingredients are hanging out in your standard grocery store. This could be a pro or a con, depending on who you are and where you are in your paleo journey. For some, the inclusion of a wide variety of seafood and offal will be a sight for sore eyes, for others it will be a budget-buster.

Pork Belly with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

“Nutrient-Dense” Defined

An interesting section in the opening of the book is the discussion on what it means for food to be “nutrient dense.” We hear a lot about the necessity of eating nutrient-dense food, but do we actually know what that means? With the help of Mat Lalonde, who has a PhD in organic chemistry from Harvard, Cindy outlines how to measure nutrient density, as well as how various vitamins and minerals benefit our bodies.

RELATED: How to Evaluate Your Training in Terms of Your Epigenetics

A large portion of the recipes also include an inset that explains specific aspects about the food’s vitamin and mineral content. In the back of the book are charts illustrating this about all sorts of foods, as well. So if you want to geek out on science and numbers, you’ll find plenty on those pages.

Recipes I tried included:

• Pork Belly With Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Sage-Infused Mustard and Onion Pork Chops
• Indian Butter Chicken
• Rosemary and Lamb Potato Pie
• Roasted Turkey Breast With Apple-Orange-Cranberry Sauce
• Slow-Cooker Cabbage and Beef Casserole
• Moroccan Lamb Burgers

LEFT: Slow-Cooker Cabbage and Beef Casserole; RIGHT: Rosemary and Lamb Potato Pie

My husband and I enjoyed every single one of these recipes. And because I am obsessed with cooking and do have a well-stocked pantry, I found these recipes to be straight-forward and relatively simple for a busy weekday evening. Your experience may or may not be similar, based on your overall experience level in the kitchen. I would not say that this book is a highly complicated or “gourmet” cookbook, though. It is real food for real people.

“With the help of Mat Lalonde, who has a PhD in organic chemistry from Harvard, Cindy outlines how to measure nutrient density, as well as how various vitamins and minerals benefit our bodies.”

Also, unlike many paleo cookbooks I’ve encountered, the serving numbers seem to be accurate on these recipes. (Pretty sure most people eating paleo are starving based on other books.) In fact, the surplus of apple-orange-cranberry sauce I wound up with led to our discovery that it tastes amazing on ice cream. So, you never know what good leftovers (or slight paleo deviations) can lead to.

RELATED: What Our Dietary Guidelines Should Be

Considerations

One thing to know is that the idea of five or fewer ingredients is conceptual, and not so factual. There are no true five-ingredient or fewer recipes in this book because the author does not count ingredients she believes you should always have stocked in your kitchen. It’s important to know that, otherwise the book will feel kind of like clickbait to you.

Not included in the “five or fewer” ingredients are:

• Water
• Salt and pepper
• Cooking fats
• Vinegars
• Commonly found dried herbs and spices

A sample ingredient list from the book – the bold items count toward the total of three

The construction of the book is also not the best. I think I mostly destroyed the binding on mine almost immediately. I know my book is not an anomaly, as I see this complaint from a few people in the Amazon reviews, as well. (On the plus side, with a broken binding it lays really flat in my cookbook holder.)

“There are no true five-ingredient or fewer recipes in this book because the author does not count ingredients she believes you should always have stocked in your kitchen.”

My Recommendation

This book tries to walk the line between simple and affordable and gourmet and exotic. In some ways, it fails at both. There are no affordable Ferraris, people. Nor easily acquired beef cheeks.

But with that said, this book has a lot of strengths. I enjoyed that it covered everything from mussels to pork chops. And I’ve never once owned a cookbook where I used every single recipe, so I don’t find frustration in the fact that not every recipe in this book is for me. On the other hand, if you’re new to paleo, the simple approach of this book just might lead you into trying some new things.

In the end, I think the book is full of great recipes, but suffers from misguided packaging and marketing.

“Paleo Takes 5 – Or Fewer” is available for $15.86 at Amazon.com.

The post “Paleo Takes 5 – Or Fewer” (Book Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As the paleo movement grows and more cookbooks are coming onto the scene, it’s interesting to see how they are also becoming more unique and mature. In the beginning paleo cookbooks were pretty bland and seemingly created by coaches, not chefs. These days that’s not the case and I daresay someday we may even see the emergence of paleo “cuisine.”

One of the newer entrants into the paleo cookbook scene is Weeknight Paleo by Amber Beam, who created the website Paleo Savvy. The book offers nine weeks of “quick and easy gluten-free meals.” But while the book sells itself as a timesaver, it does not skimp on flavors.

The book is organized by week. Each week includes:

• Recipes for four main dishes and sometimes accompanying side dishes
• Tips for how to make some elements ahead and save time
• Shopping list for the week
• Beautiful photos of each dish
• Occasional timesaving and/or shopping tips in the bottom margin

Without a doubt, every recipe I made from this book was fabulous. It prompted me to buy some ingredients that are not staples in our house (celery root and rutabaga?) and to create exciting new flavors, but without it being overly complicated. I truly enjoyed cooking all these meals and never found myself frustrated by any aspect of preparing them.

Some of the recipes I made included:

• Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork with Stellar Sweet Potato Home Fries
• Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cider Sauce and Apple-Celery Root Hash
• Slow-Cooker Chicken Mole
• Roasted Root Vegetables
• Sassy Coleslaw
• Thai Pork Meatballs

I will warn you these recipes are so good you may possibly completely overstuff yourself. I made a double-batch of the Thai Pork Meatballs and my boyfriend and I still consumed them all in one dinner. My boyfriend so loved the Chicken Mole that he ate it for 24-hours straight and we didn’t have the required leftovers for the next evening’s Chile Relleno.

One thing this book prompted me to do was to be more intentional in planning my week’s meals and grocery shopping trips. It should be noted, though, that each “week” outlined in the book covers four evenings (it is Weeknight Paleo, after all), and not every evening includes the side dishes. That being said, there are a large number of recipes included in this book and you don’t have to follow the given schedule. I mixed and matched things to fit my life and my week. The various sauces, vinaigrettes, and marinades in the book can easily be used for other items, as well, increasing its versatility.

I did have a couple issues with the book – mainly portion size and budget size. In regards to portion size I felt some of the recipes were off in their estimations of how many people could be served with each dish, or how much would be left over in order to serve double-duty as part of the next night’s entrée. I think if you have a house full of men and/or athletes, you might want to double some of the recipes.

The second issue was in regards to budget. For some people this won’t matter, for others it could be a deal breaker. While my taste buds loved the inclusion of seafood dishes and meats like prosciutto, my wallet wasn’t such a big fan. But this doesn’t mean this isn’t a great cookbook to own. The realization I came to is that this cookbook is a great resource for nights when you want to create a “nice meal.” You know, when you’re going to have friends or family over and you want to make something special. The dinners involving seafood and more expensive meat cuts are perfect for those sorts of events, as are some of the presentation methods suggested. And these are meals you won’t find in most paleo cookbooks.

In the end, I found this cookbook and the meals I created from it thoroughly enjoyable. Some people may find the nine-week format useful, but personally I threw it out and cooked what made sense for my household, but kept the idea of planning ahead. I will continue to cook more meals from this book and revisit some of the ones I already tried.

“Weeknight Paleo” is available for $14.95 as an e-book and $29.99 on either Create Space or Amazon.

The post Book Review: “Weeknight Paleo” by Amber Beam appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten-Free Kitchen is a cookbook for people who have made the choice to forsake gluten, grains, dairy, and legumes, but miss hearty American food. Many of the recipes are updates on classic Southern cuisine – updated to fit the needs of people seeking a paleo diet, whether it be athletes seeking performance or non-athletes seeking to avoid disease.

While some detractors may question the paleo-ness of some of the recipes, one thing I like very much about this book is the honesty of the people behind it. Julie and Charles Mayfield don’t claim to be professional chefs, nor do they claim to be nutritionists. They are simply people who follow a paleo nutrition lifestyle who also happen to love food. In their own words, they explain in the preface:

Let it be said that dependent upon your overall goals – whether it’s to lose weight, gain muscle mass, or avoid some intestinal inflammation – it may be that not every single recipe in this book is a good idea for you. Some of the recipes in here shouldn’t be eaten every single day. Some aren’t appropriate for those going super strict, say on a Whole 30 plan. Some aren’t wise if you are trying to lean out or bulk up, and some may not appeal to everyone.

So, be warned – this cookbook may not be for you, and you may not cook from it every night if you do purchase it. That being said, my personal experience was that the recipes are quality and worth investigating.

Paleo Comfort Foods begins with sections that seem to be de rigueur in cookbooks, particularly paleo cookbooks: shopping lists, pantry lists, and equipment lists (not to mention the requisite Robb Wolf foreward). While these sections are full of useful information, if this isn’t your first paleo cookbook, you may not spend a lot of time here.

After that, however, the book transitions into 280 colorful pages of equally colorful recipes covering starters and snacks, sauces and staples, soups and salads, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts. While there are incredibly useful everyday recipes, particularly in the sauces and staples section, where this cookbook shines is in its adaptations of classic American meals. Jambalaya, gumbo, okra, fried green tomatoes, grits, pulled pork – it reads like a menu from my favorite barbeque joint, only I could actually eat every one of these items.

I tried out a few of the recipes in my own kitchen, both to test the feasibility of preparing these recipes in conjunction with a busy lifestyle and to see how they tasted. The P, B, & J Pork Tenderloin was a bit foreign for me, but I loved what resulted from the South of the Border Stuffed Acorn Squash and Turkey Loafing recipes. I also gave the Sweet Potato Pie a go, but as mentioned in the recipe notes, I swapped out the sweet potato for pumpkin.

Each recipe comes with ideas for variations, tips on ingredient shopping, and/or tips on planning ahead. I missed having more specific information on the time required for each recipe, but the ingredients and instructions were all very clear for every recipe I tested.

There are some recipes I didn’t dive into yet – particularly those that would be breaded foods in “real” life, like fried okra or fried chicken. For those of you fond of fried foods and breads, you will find solace in these gluten-free recipes that instead use almond, coconut and other flours.

Frankly, there are many, many recipes in this book I am looking forward to making. Not having grown up on Southern foods, this cookbook feels exotic to me, which is nice in comparison to many paleo cookbooks that feel a bit boring and make me wonder why I bought it. I don’t wonder why I have this book and I think it makes for an excellent source of culinary exploration.

There are those who will look at this cookbook and critique it as not being paleo, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks the meals aren’t tasty. The authors acknowledge that paleo comes in a variety of forms. Undergoing, ironically, a type of evolution. If you are someone who enjoys old-fashioned home cooking, but are committed to a gluten-free lifestyle, this is a cookbook you should definitely look into.”

“Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten-Free Kitchen” is available for $16.81 at Amazon.com.

The post Book Review: “Paleo Comfort Foods” by Julie and Charles Mayfield appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While it’s great to see more and more Paleo/Primal cookbooks hitting the shelves these days, one of my biggest complaints is that the food inside just isn’t very interesting. Melissa Joulwan’s new cookbook, Well Fed, just plain obliterates that complaint. In fact, it’s become my new favorite cookbook (and since my boyfriend is my “test kitchen,” I think it’s fair to say it’s his new favorite, as well).

From the start Melissa’s book is different in that she approaches food as a real chef would. Melissa was born into a restaurant family and raised knowing how to prepare foods and meals for quick cooking. As a result there is an entire section in the book dedicated to the “Weekly Cookup” where she walks you through preparing different foods to have on hand for an entire week’s worth of easy meals. She utilizes spices and sauces to maintain variety. She also gives you a math equation to figure out exactly how many pounds of meat to buy each week.

The main recipes, of which there are over 100 are then broken into:

• Sauces & Seasonings
• Protein
• Veggies & Salads
• Fruits

In addition to recipes, the book includes:

• Rules of Paleo nutrition
• Necessary kitchen tools
• Spices and staples to keep in your pantry
• Sample grocery lists
• Online resources for spices & meats
• Online resources for information on Paleo eating

If you are looking for Paleo brownies and the like, this is not the cookbook for you. The food in this book is actually healthy for you.

If you are looking for recipes with international flair, that are a step above beginner cooking skills, and are far more rewarding in eating experience than the bison burgers, broccoli, and sweet potato you’ve been eating for months, this IS the book for you.

Every single recipe I tried from this book – and I’ve tried quite a few now – was wonderful. Melissa’s mixed ethnic background of Lebanese and Italian has given her a love of spices and textures that comes through loud-and-clear in her recipes – Moroccan meatballs, Char Siu, Citrus Carnitas, and Bora Bora Fireballs are just some examples of the proteins. The vegetable recipes, like Jicama “Potato” Salad and Cauliflower Rice Pilaf, do an excellent job of mimicking non-Paleo foods in a flavorful, healthy fashion.

Melissa’s sassy and fun attitude also comes through in the design and text of the book. I’m not sure I’ve ever laughed out loud reading a cookbook before.

Well Fed is available both as a soft-cover book for $29.95 and a PDF file for $14.95. Knowing full well the irony that cookbooks are often in danger in the kitchen, Melissa offers a free download of the PDF file with the purchase of the softcover edition. For every PDF download one dollar is donated to Common Threads, a charity that educates underprivileged kids in cooking and nutrition. You can purchase either edition of the cookbook on Melissa’s website, theclothesmakethegirl.com.

While the recipes in this book might be a little challenging for the beginner cook, for those of us who love being healthy and at the same time truly love food, this is the cookbook for you.

You can win a free copy of Well Fed!

1. Like Breaking Muscle on Facebook
2. Like The Clothes Make the Girl on Facebook
3. Come back here and comment saying you liked us!

This will be earn you an entry into a random drawing for your own free soft-cover copy of Well Fed! The window for entry will end at 12pm Pacific tomorrow, Thursday 1/26/12.

Well Fed is available for $29.95 (softcover) and $14.95 (PDF) at theclothesmakethegirl.com.

The post Book Review: “Well Fed” Paleo Cookbook by Melissa Joulwan appeared first on Breaking Muscle.