The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet

The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet
250 Simple Recipes and Dozens
of Healthy Menus for Eating Well Every Day

By Nava Atlas

Every week, it seems researchers give us another reason to eat healthier foods. "You are what you eat," their studies suggest, promoting better nutrition as the key to a long and healthy life. Reduce fat.. .add fiber.. limit sodium.. eat more grains, fruits and vegetables. It's all sound advice but the pressure to serve up a tasty, nutritious meal is enough to send harried home cooks screaming to the nearest take-out line.

We'd all love to eat healthfully, but in this high-stress, fast-paced world, is it really possible to fix wholesome, home-cooked meals? "Yes", says Nava Atlas emphatically, and she proves it in her refreshingly simple new cookbook The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet: 250 Simple Recipes and Dozens of Healthy Menus for Eating Well Every Day.

Caught in the crush of work and family responsibilities, many people have little energy left at the end of the day to prepare a nutritious meal. From on-the-go singles to working parents, everyone wants fast and easy recipes that get them in and out of the kitchen in a hurry. Going beyond the usual "quick and easy" approach cookbook The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet focuses on simplifying, resulting in delicious foods that nourish both body and soul.

Here Atlas offers 250 recipes that combine whole, fresh foods with high-quality convenient ingredients. The key is to keep it simple, she stresses, and she does it by using ingenious shortcuts and complex sauces commercially prepared by someone else. Equally important, Atlas limits each recipe to just five ingredients. excluding salt. pepper. And water. Keeping things simple cuts prep time significantly, and, as a result, takes the pressure off time-crunched cooks.

In chapters like "Simplicity in a Soup Pot" and "Streamlined Salads" The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet offers enticing, meatless dishes along with complete nutritional analyses. "The Zen of Grains and Beans" lists more than just recipes; it also includes a primer on varieties featuring handy tips on cooking and fascinating historical footnotes. For something a little different, "Rudimentary Wraps" offers burritos. quesadillas, and more, all with a southwestern flair. "A Flash in the (Pizza) Pan" and "Pasta, Presently" add new twists to the old favorites.

From "Essential Soy" (demystifying tofu and other soy foods) to "Fundamental Fruits" (desserts that satisfy with natural sweetness), this book turns high-nutrient foods into gourmet meals while it explains how to...

Plan healthy weekly menus.
Beat the "I-don't-know-what-to-make" blues with a well-stocked pantry.
Incorporate uncommon grains into family-pleasing dishes.Expand the salad repertoire.
Quickly prepare hearty soups.
Turn ordinary vegetables into extraordinary meals.

Written by a working mom who knows firsthand the pressures of preparing healthy family fare, The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet is filled with creative, healthy alternatives to take-out and make shift meals. Its appealing recipes don't sacrifice flavor, nor do they require hours to prepare. Sophisticated and palate-pleasing, these are delicious dishes, simply prepared-a perfect way to enhance the quality of daily life.

About the Author

Nava Atlas is the author of six vegetarian cookbooks, including Vegetariana, Vegetarian Express, and Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons. She has also contributed many articles to Vegetarian Times and other natural health magazines. Her popular website, "In a Vegetarian Kitchen" (www.vegkitchen.com) has been written about in the New York Times, New Age, Family PC, and other publications. She lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband and two sons.

Buy the Book!

The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet
250 Simple Recipes and Dozens of Healthy
Menus For Eating Well Everyday
By Nava Atlas
Broadway Books, June 2001
Paperback, $15.95
ISBN: 0-7679-0690-X
Information provided by the publisher.