My health was failing me and I’d just begun a Paleo diet. I’d amassed quite the collection of books to help me with the food transition. I’m sharing this cookbook review of The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans.
At a time when I was required to eat a Paleo diet, undergoing my Hashimoto’s treatment, this cookbook was well-received.
It’s not easy completely changing your diet. You know … going from fast food and junk to a totally clean diet. That’s why I was incredibly excited to get a chance to review a new Paleo cookbook from Blogging for Books called The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans.
Summary
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The Paleo Chef cookbook was created by Pete Evans who is an international chef. In the introduction of the book, he mentions that he understands the needs of people to make Paleo effortless and affordable. He also hopes Paleo is a party, not a chore. Mr. Evans offers several pages in the beginning to help you understand more about the Paleo diet. He’s also not so hardcore Paleo that he shuns everything that isn’t Paleo and he gives his reasoning behind it.
Ivy’s Paleo Cookbook Review: The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans
Unfortunately, the excitement all but vanished once I opened the book. Out of my collection of several Paleo cookbooks, I consider this one the most exotic yet! I suppose I should have done more research before eagerly requesting the book.
For starters, most of the breakfast recipes call for things like fish sauce and salmon roe. I’m sorry, but I can hardly stand to eat fish, so I’m not going to be utilizing fish sauce and roe in any of my recipes.
I finally narrowed down two recipes that weren’t outrageously exotic. I felt comfortable making the Jerk Chicken one week and the Roasted Chicken Thighs the next.
Since our family includes a 3.5 year old, I had to turn down the spice on the Jerk Chicken recipe to ensure she could eat dinner. I will say I liked this recipe a bit better than another recipe I had been using. It takes a good deal of time as you should marinate the chicken overnight, but it’s worth it, really. I thoroughly enjoyed the papaya mango salsa and was pleased that my daughter tried some new fruit (even if daddy had to convince her to).
The roasted chicken thighs also take a bit of preparation time (including marinating). While it was good, I wasn’t as fond of this recipe for some reason. I felt like it was missing something, although my husband and daughter seemed to really enjoy it. I think, perhaps, I’ll simply use skinless chicken breasts the next time I want to try this, so that hopefully the chicken absorbs more of the flavor.
I didn’t find this book of recipes to be effortless or inexpensive. I understand that buying fresh, organic ingredients will always up the grocery bill, but these recipes seemed to take quite a bit of time. Some of the more exotic (or less well known) ingredients made it difficult for me to even consider the recipe. For example, I don’t know what friseé or mâche leaves are, so what am I looking for and can I find it in my grocery store? Or, was I going to need to visit a more specialized and expensive store like Whole Foods? That incited too much thinking for me to even consider putting it on my list, so the whole recipe was out for the time being.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t brave enough to try many of the other recipes. I believe this cookbook is for a much more adventurous eater. While my daughter eats relatively mature meals at her age, I don’t feel like this is a cookbook for families with small children, unless they have really mature taste buds … which I don’t even seem to have either.
Do you want a copy of The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans?
If you’re more adventurous and don’t mind spending the time in the kitchen, this cookbook may be right for you. Grab your copy of [easyazon_link identifier=”B00RWSZ76K” locale=”US” nw=”y” nf=”y” tag=”ivsvabasaan0a-20″ cart=”y” cloak=”n” localize=”y” popups=”n”]The Paleo Chef[/easyazon_link]on Amazon!
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