Michael Symon - Fix It with Food: Every Meal Easy: Simple and Delicious Recipes for Anyone with Autoimmune Issues and Inflammation : A Cookbook

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have happened without the overwhelmingly positive reception from readers like you who made the first Fix it with Food a New York Times bestselling cookbook. That response was especially heartwarming because the book was my most personal one to date, since it dealt with my inflammation and pain struggles as a result of two autoimmune diseases. Like that book, this one continues in that vein, while providing countless new recipes for you and your family.

I wouldnt be here without the love and support of my wife, Liz, who is so understanding about the demands of work and travel. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and my grandparents, who inspired in me not only a love of food but a love of people, regardless of their background. Thanks also to Kyle, Krista, and Emmy. Being able to be so close to them on a daily basis not only inspires me but fills my life with a purpose and joy that I didnt know I could have.

Thanks are due to my longtime business partner, Doug Petkovic. You make me crazy most of the time, but I am grateful that you are always there for me in business, recreation, and life in general as a true friend.

Thanks to my culinary director, Katie Pickens, whose painstaking recipe testing guarantees that every dish in this book will come out great. Over the past decade, Katie has become not only a member of the team but also a member of the family.

Thanks to my manager of fifteen years, Scott Feldman of Two-Twelve Management, a real mensch who represents me as though Im his only client. Nobody understands the food and media arena better than him. Credit goes to Margaret Riley King with William Morris Agency, a team that always manages to ink the perfect deal.

Thank you to my Food Network family for allowing me to teach and, hopefully, entertain people for the better part of twenty years.

This is the sixth book that Ive collaborated on with Douglas Trattner, who is not only my coauthor but also a great, funny, and patient friend and who keeps these projects rolling along despite my challenging schedule.

Photographer Ed Anderson, along with Andie McMahon and Devon Grimes, have a knack for capturing the true spirit of a book, while making every dish look as delicious on the page as it does on the plate. It is always a privilege to collaborate with him and his team.

And, of course, Raquel Pelzel, my meticulous editor at Clarkson Potter. Over the course of three cookbooks, it has been her attention to detail that has resulted in such amazing finished products.

Michael Symon is a James Beard Awardwinning chef and restaurateur, an Emmy-winning television personality, and a bestselling author. He is the longtime cohost of Food Networks Iron Chef America , host of Symons Dinners Cooking Out , cohost of BBQ Brawl , and former cohost of ABCs The Chew , and has the Symon Home line of appliances and home goods on HSN. This is his seventh cookbook.

USEFUL CONVERSIONS

Dry Measurements

Liquid Measurements

(some liquidslike honey or maple syrupweigh more than others like milk or water)

Weight Conversions

4 ounces = pound

8 ounces = pound

16 ounces = 1 pound

More Helpful Conversions

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons

2 tablespoons = cup

4 tablespoons = cup

1 fluid ounce = 2 tablespoons

1 cup = 8 fluid ounces

1 pint = 2 cups

1 quart = 4 cups

1 quart = 2 pints

1 gallon = 4 quarts = 128 fluid ounces

Dried-to-Cooked Conversions

2 cups dried beans = 1 pound dried beans = 6 cups cooked beans

1 cup dried beans = pound dried beans = 3 cups cooked beans

1 cup dried quinoa = 3 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup dried old-fashioned rolled oats = 2 cups cooked oats

1 cup dried brown rice = 3 cups cooked rice

10-DAY RESET

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

After the release of Fix It with Food, we were thrilled to watch the response of enthusiastic readers, many of whom shared their progress on social media. I also published my own personal Reset journey, cooking my way through 10 days of clean eating while posting the videos online.

From experience, I know that many people prefer things spelled out for them. Thats why, in the first book, we designed a 10-day menu of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for home cooks to follow. But one of the most frequent questions that popped up surrounding the Reset process was whether someone could deviate from the routine or if there was room for modification. There is roomand you are free to chart your own course. The goal of the Reset is to exclude all potential triggers for 10 days so that you can embark on the reintroduction phase of the process to figure out which ingredients activate your inflammation. All of these recipes can be used interchangeably. So if theres a breakfast recipe that you really enjoy, go ahead and make it again. And again. If you want to prepare lunch for breakfast and dinner for lunch, there is no objective reason why you shouldnt. Every single one of these dishes is trigger-free, so they are all fair game. For this book, we decided to reorganize the Reset recipes into sections for each meal so it wouldnt appear so rigid.

My goal is twofold: first, to provide you with the information, tips, and recipes that will help you feel better and give you control over your well-being; second, to encourage you to enjoy cooking so that youll do it more often. Find and follow a routine that works best for you and your body. Just because youve finished the 10-day Reset doesnt mean you cant ever return to these recipes. Personally, I find it helpful every three or four months to revisit the Reset because it puts me in a positive, mindful eating mode; it forces me to be more aware of what Im eating. You dont have to do the entire 10 days; even just a day or two helps to reinforce good eating habits. Short of that, theres nothing stopping you from incorporating individual recipes into your daily or weekly routines. For example, I always have overnight oats (see )!

Breakfasts

Breakfast isnt just the most important meal of the day, like Mom always said; its often the most satisfying, too. The breakfast recipes in this section also happen to be extremely wholesome, healthy, and nutritious since they are free from wheat, meat, dairy, and refined sugar. I like to rely on superfoods like quinoa, oats, avocado, kale, and beans to start every day with a boost of sustainable energy. I have always been the type who enjoys breakfast for breakfast, but also for lunch and dinner, too! The Pomodoro Baked Eggs with Parmesan and Basil (), for example, would be appropriate for any meal of the day. If you are particularly fond of any single breakfast recipe, go ahead and repeat it as often as youd like. I try and have some overnight oats going in the fridge at all times for those hectic mornings when I need to grab and go. When it comes to juices, I often double or triple the recipes so that I can grab one for an afternoon pick-me-up or a speedy, no-fuss breakfast the following day. All of these recipes are built for one person, because I think its always easier to scale up a recipe than to reduce it.