Heather of Cook it up Paleo is a teenage “real food nerd” whose debut e-book Grain-Free Family Favorites draws from her experience transitioning her family to a Paleo diet in the hopes of enabling everyone to feel their best. Grain-Free Family Favorites aims to show that a whole foods diet can be delicious, affordable, and achievable even with picky eaters in the household. It is a straightforward, no-frills-about-it tool to get your family eating better as quickly and painlessly as possible.
In the brief introductory material, Heather shares simple tips for getting picky eaters on board and eating better without breaking the bank. Instead of the usual chapters like “Pork”, “Poultry”, and “Seafood”, Heather’s e-book breaks the recipes down into categories like “Lunchbox”, “Snacks and Munchies”, “Weeknight Favorites”, and “Weekend Favorites”. This is very accessible for families that are already used to packing lunches, having a quick meal on weeknights, and spending a little more time in the kitchen on weekends, but it is also a little confusing to navigate if you are looking for a recipe to use up that chicken breast or almond flour. Fortunately, because it’s a Kindle e-book, you can always use the search feature to find specific ingredients quickly. The design is extremely basic, which means that your device shouldn’t get bogged down with a large file size or lots of graphics.
The Chicken Nuggets with Ranch-Style Sauce are a quick, easy way to punch up plain old chicken breasts for a weeknight or game day meal when simple comfort food is just called for. The breading has a mild herb and garlic flavor and sticks to the chicken very well. Heather recommends baking for 15 minutes, but I had to bake mine for 30 (turning over once halfway through) before the breading was nice and crispy. I also found the huge variety of seasonings in the Ranch-Style Sauce a little too overwhelming–with dill, onion powder, and garlic powder in equal parts–and would probably cut all of the seasonings in half in the future or add some honey to mellow them out. We wound up serving the nuggets with homemade honey mustard instead.
Of all the boxed side dishes my mom made when I was a kid, rice pilaf was my favorite. Heather’s Cauliflower Rice Pilaf aims to recreate that side dish without using any grains or additives, and with the umami flavor from mushrooms, it’s a pretty close approximation. It takes about 40 minutes to prepare, but only uses four ingredients plus seasonings and cooking fat (Heather calls for butter or ghee, but you can easily use any other fat that’s solid at room temperature). It would make a wonderful side dish for chicken or beef, and it’s a great way to introduce your family (or yourself) to cauliflower rice!
The Sweet Potato Sandwich Bread is a simple mug cake-style bread that requires only a handful of ingredients and a few minutes in the microwave. The bread is light and fluffy, almost spongy, and it would make a good breakfast or dessert biscuit. Even with the savory spice option, the bread is pretty sweet–it is primarily sweet potato, after all. We thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches of turkey, tomato, lettuce, avocado, and mustard, but I am dying to try this bread again with jelly and almond butter! This is by far the easiest Paleo bread recipe I have ever seen, and it is surely going to become a staple around her any time we want sandwiches or hamburgers.
What Grain-Free Family Favorites lacks in polish, it makes up for in accessibility. It’s a straightforward, easy-to-use and easy-to-follow guide to bringing real, whole foods into your family’s daily routine–even if your family is a little resistant to the idea. Using her own experience as a guide, Heather has created a wonderful resource for families who want to eat better without sacrificing time, energy, or some of their favorite dishes.
