I'm In Love

My wonderful brother sent me a new cookbook: Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. Not only is this book really beautiful to look at, but the recipes are easy, inspiring, and really delicious. I'm completely in love. I've only had it for about a week, but I've already made a few recipes and can't wait to make each and every one.

One of the biggest hits so far has been the Big Curry Noodle Pot (above). I was instantly addicted. I could have eaten this all week. Seriously easy and sooooo yummy. A little spicy, but you can adjust the heat. I loved all the turmeric. And I couldn't stop popping the tofu cubes. I ate almost all of them. Luckily Terri doesn't like tofu so she didn't care.

Another big hit, which I'm sharing at a big potluck at work, is this spicy-sweet popcorn. It's like caramel corn, only not as sweet (it's sweetened with maple syrup and brown rice syrup), plus some cayenne pepper and a few handfuls of organic trail mix. I liked how this was perfect for a few handfuls, but I didn't feel compelled to eat the entire bowl (as I usually am with regular homemade caramel corn). Smoky, caramelly, and crispy, this was just right. I put it in a low-heat oven for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so, to make it extra-crispy.

This book has inspired me to overhaul the kitchen pantry. We don't usually have too many 'bad' things (and the few boxes of pre-made Spanish rice, etc., usually sit for months because we end up not liking them), so I'd like to make room for more natural foods.

Anyway, if you want to be totally inspired to try more natural foods (or if you just need some really easy, very delicious vegetarian recipes), I would really recommend this book. Super-yum.