Traditional Meals Given Creative Twists in Eclectic, Kosher-Style Cookbook
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Fall is the perfect time to start turning up the heat in the kitchen. Why not try a reimagined recipe for Jambalaya “Jewish Style,” a steaming bowl of Texas Chili (you control the burn) or a French Bouillabaisse, but without shellfish? Deep Flavors: A Celebration of Recipes for Foodies in a Kosher Style puts a creative spin on traditional dishes, with an eclectic assort-ment of mouth-watering meals that can all be prepared in a kosher kitchen. The result is a diverse anthology of recipes that will appeal to broad audiences everywhere — Jewish and otherwise.
Deep Flavors is perfect for those who love cooking, whether traditional Jewish, or reinterpreted international, regional American and vegetarian favorites, including creative new recipes applying familiar flavor profiles. This unique cookbook features an abundance of tempting dishes, appetizers, main courses and desserts, drawing from many cultures, plus helpful tips ranging from how to source ingredients to proper preparation.
“Cooking is worth some effort and attention to detail,” Horwitz writes. “The positive reactions from family or guests, as well as your own enjoyment, will make it worthwhile.”
“Effort” and “attention to detail,” however, don’t have to equate with “difficult.” In fact, throughout Deep Flavors, Horwitz shares his wisdom for breaking recipes into simple steps — and how to do some of this prep work well in advance so that delicious meals can be served even with a hectic schedule.
Horwitz, an attorney and CPA by trade, explained in an interview with Today’s CPA that, “My approach to cooking is really an extension of what I do in my professional practice. I solve problems. One of the ‘problems,’ at least in my house, is that since we maintain a kosher house, but eat eclectically, is how to convert recipes so that they are kosher …”
Horwitz’s Texas State Fair Blue Ribbon-winning Spinach/Mushroom Lasagna, for instance, is a completely original vegetarian lasagna accessible to Jews and vegetarians, with a unique twist on ingredients that gives it a complex flavor profile. Even recipes for classic foods such as brisket and roast turkey contain newly imagined taste combinations and techniques to elevate them while maintaining recognizable hallmarks of each dish. Another recipe that epitomizes the standard set by Horwitz, yet remarkably simple to execute, is the Dill French Toast: savory, unique, and delicious.
Horwitz’s ultimate goal was to create recipes that are readable and easily followed by anyone with a basic knowledge of cooking. He provides detailed instructions with enhanced expla-nations and alternatives, helpful for both the novice and the more experienced cook.
A Readers’ Favorite reviewer, who gave Deep Flavors a 5-star rating, referred to the book as “… an essential addition to any cookbook fanatic’s collection and to anyone who believes in spending the time and effort to make the ‘food’ experience a real work of art …”
With 52 years in a general tax and transaction practice as a CPA and lawyer, Ken Horwitz has a creative and focused approach to finding and fixing problems — a skill that translates well to the development of and modification of recipes based on traditional family favorites but tailored to one’s personal tastes and dietary needs. His professional drive and the care given to his work have earned him multiple awards, including the Honorary Fellow for a lifetime of distinguished service and the 2017 Chairperson of the Year by the Texas Society of CPAs. Currently residing in Dallas, Texas, Horwitz enjoys sharing his passion for cooking with his wife, children and grandchildren. Horwitz believes that one of the highest compliments he has received came from a longstanding client who uses numerous lawyers. He said, “Ken, you are the only lawyer we use whose work we have not had to fix.” Horwitz’s goal is for Deep Flavors to reach that same standard.
Chocolate: A (Healthy) Anxiety Cure For COVID-19 Stress
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In this virulent climate of self-isolation and serious immune system compromises, author/chef, Mee McCormick is mindful of how a rise in anxiety can find us craving snacks. Instead of a quick fix, she goes straight to her kitchen with the intent to shift her gut bacteria – important for keeping our immune systems strong – as addressed in her new book, My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure. An expert whose personal experience healing her Crohn’s disease, gut issues and immune system challenges makes her well equipped to share the whole food recipes doctors couldn’t prescribe to help her.
Enter one of our favorite snacking foods, chocolate. Says McCormick, “Cocoa is a pre-biotic plant food – this means it feeds the good probiotic bacteria or, as I like to call them, The Good Gut Homies. These Gut Homies live in our intestines.”
McCormick says the consumption of dark chocolate has been found to lower the risk of diabetes and heart disease, protect our DNA and improve gut bacteria. She points to research at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research where they designed a study to test whether eating chocolate could mitigate the stress-related effects on the microbiome. Dividing participants into two groups – high anxiety and low anxiety and testing their urine and blood for stress markers – each participant ate one chocolate bar (containing 74% cocoa) a day for 2 weeks. The study found cortisol and adrenaline decreased as well as their p-cresol and Hippurate; metabolites created from the Good Gut Homies. High anxiety group levels dropped down to the levels of the low anxiety group – all within a 2-week period, thus the importance of cooking with cocoa.
Take, for instance, how combining cocoa with black beans takes our gut health to another level as they also have a profound influence on our microbiome by feeding the probiotic bacteria that support the mucosal lining of the intestines. Bean eaters have been found to have an 81% decrease in the harmful gut bacteria that break down the protective mucosal lining. Supporting our intestinal lining is key in preventing leaky gut. Mee McCormick has a Chocolate and Black Bean Hummus that will surprise you with its nutritiously delicious taste and texture. Shown below is an example of another chocolate -centered dish, a super easy recipe to whip up during COVID cabin fever.
This chocolate recipe is mixed with avocado in a delicious mousse (found on page 277 of Mee’s book, My Pinewood Kitchen):
Chocolate-Avocado Mousse (Makes 4 servings) In the bowl of a food processor, blend 4 ripe avocados until smooth. Add 1/3 cup local honey or coconut nectar*; 1 ripe banana; 1/2 cup raw cacao powder; 2 tbsp. organic coconut milk; 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt. Blend until the mixture is uniform. Pour into a dish and chill for 2 hours in a refrigerator or 30 minutes in a freezer.
If watching sugar, use an equivalent amount of stevia; however, coconut nectar is low glycemic.
Mee McCormick is a real food maven, community food advocate, a restaurateur, a rancher, a mother, and the author of My Kitchen Cure: How I Cooked My Way Out of Chronic Autoimmune Disease with Whole Foods and Healing Recipes. When Mee isn’t running her restaurant or working on her biodynamic farm, she is touring the country as a speaker and community kitchen organizer. She has appeared on national and local TV, on radio and in print nationwide. She is a regular on-air contributor to Today In Nashville and a vital part of the Nashville restaurant scene. Visit: www.meemccormick.com or www.pinewoodkitchenandmercantile.com.
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure/130+ Crazy Delicious, Gluten-Free Recipes to Reduce Inflammation and Make Your Gut Happy HCI BOOKS – April 14, 2020 — $26.95 ISBN: 9780757323522 Available wherever books are sold
Trish Stevens Kim Weiss Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone 800.854.2207 Fax
Trish Stevens Kim Weiss Ascot Media Group, Inc. Post Office Box 2394 Friendswood, TX 77549 [email protected] www.ascotmedia.com 281.333.3507 Phone 800.854.2207 Fax
(This press release may be reprinted in part or entirety by any print or broadcast media outlet, or used by any means of social media sharing)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure
In this virulent climate of serious strains of illness and immune system compromises, gut health and balancing the microbiome are more important than ever. Mee McCormick nails these issues in her new book My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure, as an expert with personal experience healing her Crohn’s disease, gut issues and other immune system challenges with whole food recipes when doctors couldn’t help her. Part mini-memoir, mostly cookbook, McCormick’s book offers more than 100 gluten-free whole foods recipes that can be customized for Keto, Paleo, or vegans, making it a truly “all-inclusive” eating plan. Mee McCormick’s story of healing inspires us to make smarter food choices and offers practical tips from someone who has been there; all packaged with full-color photos of recipes and the author’s working ranch, her family’s farm, and Southern lifestyle.
My Pinewood Kitchen is microbiome-friendly meals with a Southern spin that follows up McCormick’s life-enhancing cookbook My Kitchen Cure. From immune-boosting smoothies to gut-friendly soups, salads, dinners, and desserts, this cookbook will become your go-to kitchen resource, freeing you from bland-tasting healthy food and the nightly question: “What’s for dinner?”
Mee first started cooking when Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and Hashimoto’s brought her debilitating daily pain. When conventional treatments couldn’t help, Mee found relief in a surprising place: her kitchen. Through relentless recipe testing, she put her condition into remission and completely restored her health with gut-friendly whole foods, most of which she grew and harvested on her family’s farm outside of Nashville, TN.
Once Mee was well, she opened a farm-to-table restaurant, sharing locally grown and seasonal foods with her community—some of whom drive hours to get a taste of Pine-wood’s Grain-Free Fried Chicken. Pinewood Kitchen is unique in that every meal is created with the intention to serve everyone with the same deliciousness regardless of dietary restrictions. Whether you want to eat healthier or you have diabetes, lupus, celiac, Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, or another autoimmune issue, you’ll find a wealth of delicious, nutritious recipes. You’ll also discover:
· The importance of intestinal health and how to improve your own gut microbiome
· Which foods are nutritional powerhouses and which you must avoid
· How to eat real food every day without breaking the bank
Mee McCormick is a real food maven, community food advocate, a restaurateur, a rancher, a mother, and the author of My Kitchen Cure: How I Cooked My Way Out of Chronic Autoimmune Disease with Whole Foods and Healing Recipes. When Mee isn’t running her restaurant, Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile, or working on her biodynamic farm outside of Nashville, she is touring the country as a speaker and community kitchen organizer. She has appeared on national and local TV, on radio and in print nationwide. She is a regular on-air contributor to Today In Nashville and a vital part of the Nashville restaurant scene. Visit: meemccormick.com or pinewoodkitchenandmercantile.com.
My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure/130+ Crazy Delicious, Gluten-Free Recipes to Reduce Inflammation and Make Your Gut Happy
By Mee McCormick
HCI BOOKS – April 14, 2020 — $26.95
ISBN: 9780757323522
Available wherever books are sold
