Copyright 2015 by Promax Nutrition Corporation dba The Pure Bar Company
Photographs copyright 2015 by Quentin Bacon
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com
CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bosgraaf, Veronica.
Pure food / Veronica Bosgraaf. First edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
1. Cooking (Natural foods). 2. Seasonal cooking. 3. Sustainable living. 4. Kitchens. I. Title.
TX741.B627 2015
641.302dc23 2014004886
ISBN 978-0-8041-3795-9
eBook ISBN 978-0-8041-3796-6
Cover design by La Tricia Watford
Cover photography by Quentin Bacon
v3.1
Contents
Introduction
Most people would assume that one of the reasons I wrote a cookbook is because I am a trained chef. How I more accurately define myselfwhich probably many of you can relate tois as a very busy mother of three kids who works many hours and is under a lot of pressure (self-created, no doubt) to feed her family well and at least try to live a semi eco-conscious life. When someone calls me a great cook, I sometimes feel like an imposter because most of what I cook is extremely simple. But the beauty of it is I have found that creating healthy and fabulous food does not have to be complicated, and that is what I want to share with you.
It takes time to learn confidence in the kitchen, and I got there in an unusual way: by starting a business. In 2006 I started Purea line of all-natural, organic snack bars made with fruits, nuts, and spicesout of my home, and without formal culinary or business training. The business came about as a direct result of my daughter, who when she was six years old announced that she was a vegetarian. Yes, one night at dinner, out of the blue, she made this proclamation, and instead of shrugging her off, I decided to validate her decision and learn more about a vegetarian lifestyle. I began to rework the things I cooked, looking for ways to rely more on fruits and vegetables while packing in lots of important vitamins and nutrients. One day, I started playing with a pie crust recipe (Foods and Trader Joes. Its been such a blessing to see it succeed!
Starting my business the way I didwith no real training for ittaught me that anything is within my reach. And that includes cooking! Growing up watching two remarkable womenmy mom and my grandmothercook everything from scratch is how I have learned. And through experimenting and a little creativity, I am able to create delicious foods packed with the nutrients my family and I need to stay strong and healthy all year long.
Pure Food is not a fancy cookbook. Its an approachable guide to help you quit fast, frozen, processed foods and get back into the kitchen. This book isnt full of snack-bar recipes, but instead demonstrates how I feed myself and my family on a daily basis. My recipes are simple and wholesome, and use real, seasonal foods that hopefully will help others rediscover cooking, and do it within their schedule. Granted, there are some more challenging recipes in the book because we all need to be pushed out of our comfort zone, but even those are recipes for real people who dont think they have the time or confidence to cook.
In this book I have assembled recipes that make the most of ingredients when theyre at their peak, which is why theyre organized by month of the year. I live and grew up in Michigana Midwestern, agricultural state that has plenty of meat and dairy. And yet I follow a vegetarian diet. Eating this way makes my body feel good, and aligns with my beliefs too. Although Im not a stickler for vegan or gluten-free eating, I have included several recipes that abide by these tenets.
I believe that life is about balance and it is more important to eat clean, real food than to be overly strict about never eating this or that (unless, of course, you have an allergy). Here, I have taken many of my favorite recipes from my childhood and given them a makeover, switching out processed ingredients for fresh, seasonal ones. I tested everything on my kids and friends, all Midwestern salt-of-the-earth people. I am not some fanatic, but rather the girl next dooror, I guess, the mom next door nowwho is trying to do the right thing for her family.
I think we have a lot more cooking ability in us than we give ourselves credit for. Yes, you can make an amazing . These are the foods I eat often. When others ask me how I stay fit and energized, I tell them it is almost entirely because of the amazing foods I choose to eat. But its not a hard choice; it is something anyone can easily do.
I believe in you and your ability to become an accomplished cook and to make healthy, nutritious meals anytime. I know you can do it and will feel so great about it, too!
The Pure Pantry
The most important rule I have for cooking is to use real ingredients: fresh items not found in a can or jar or box. Real food is free of synthetic additives and has been spared manufacturing processes that break down or extract beneficial nutrients. There is less packaging waste as well. It is simply better for our bodies and better for the environment to buy this way.
I also try to buy local, seasonal, and organic. Buying local, seasonal food means my food is fresher and my money supports local farmers. Local and seasonal go hand in hand and provide a unique combination of fruits and vegetables, which have essential nutrients that our bodies need. Buying organic is also extremely important to me. As the founder of a company that creates organic products, I am well versed in the vast advantages of buying a certified organic product over a product that is not. The organic ingredients are not sprayed with harmful chemicals to control weeds and bugs. In addition to contaminating our bodies, chemical sprays pollute our soil, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans and negatively affect the health of farmworkers who are constantly exposed to them.
Organic ingredients are also not allowed to be grown with genetically modified seeds. I am very against eating genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and many crops like corn and soy have been manipulated in this manner (see ). Buying organic is a good safeguard against these substances, though I recommend also looking for the non-GMO seal.
alternative ingredients
Besides cooking with whole foods as much as possible, I try to find healthier alternatives to common ingredients. I truly had no idea how many great healthy substitute ingredients are out there until I started experimenting. For example, different flours allow you to rework recipes to be gluten free, and coconut oil can be substituted for butter and other oils in some recipes, making them healthier. I purposely use a variety of flours, sweeteners, and oils in my recipes so that you can see how they behave and decide for yourself which ones you prefer to work with. Here is some information on the alternative ingredients I like to use and why.
alternative sweeteners
Typical white sugar is bleached with an array of chemicals and stripped of its minerals. White sugar is also often filtered with bone char, from the bones of cows, and therefore is unsuitable for vegans and many vegetarians.
I use HONEY whenever I can because to me it is the most natural sweetener. Unrefined honey provides minerals, has antibacterial properties, and has been shown to help reduce the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and intestinal distress.