Which recipe did you find most enjoyable to prepare, and why? I only tried the lentil soup.
Did any ingredients or techniques feel new or unfamiliar? How did you approach them? I found her suggestion to soak red lentils odd and unneccesary, they cook up in like 10 minutes. If you soak them, I suspect they'd turn into sludge. Do you soak them? Also, she said the cook time was 30 minutes. I think that is far too long. Perhaps this is in error?
Did cooking or eating these dishes evoke any memories or emotions? Yes, I was reminded of my favorite red lentil soup recipe, which I much preferred to this one. Here is the recipe I developed: https://motherskitchen.blogspot.com/2018/01/red-lentil-soup.html
How did the meals make you feel—physically, mentally, or emotionally? Soup is one of my favorite foods. So it made me feel great! Also, lentil soup is filling and has lots of fiber, which will make me feel good tomorrow!
Did you share any of these dishes with loved ones? If so, what was their reaction? Nope, because my hubby is not a huge lentil fan.
Did you experiment with any substitutions or additions? Yes, I used diced fire roasted tomatoes, because I think a can of whole tomatoes undiced would result in giant tomato blobs in the soup. Whole tomatoes definitely not right here, I think this might be another error in the recipe. She probably dices them. Fire roasted tomatoes have more flavor. I added more cayenne than called for. I liked that there was a lot of onions and garlic in this recipe, it helped it out. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock because it's more flavorful.
Which recipe or ingredient sparked your curiosity to learn more? I wondered why she suggested ghee instead of what I would consider a better ingredient - olive oil. In the beginning of the book, she mentions that cooking with olive oil is a "bad idea", but doesn't explain why. Also, in her comments, she says that this soup is great for women to increase their iron stores, and that lentils are better than red meat because red meat is higher in fat and calories. This is a very "diet culture" comment. As a lifelong anemia sufferer, this is not good advice. As my midwife taught me: heme iron is so much better! Plus, this recipe only has 11% of my daily requirement for iron. I love lentils, but they aren't really high in iron. But at least they have some!
All in all, this isn't a cookbook I would add to my collection. I got it out of the library, thankfully. There are better vegetarian cookbooks out there! Thank you for inspiring me to try it out.
Hi Cynthia! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! I love how deeply you engaged with the cookbook club experience. I agree that red lentils cook quickly, and soaking them isn’t always necessary—I’d be curious to hear from others who’ve tried it both ways!
I also appreciate your perspective on the cookbook’s approach to nutrition. Your thoughts on heme vs. non-heme iron are such a great point, and it’s always valuable to bring personal experience into the conversation.
I’ll have to check out your red lentil soup recipe—thank you for sharing it! And I completely understand that not every cookbook is a keeper for everyone. That’s one of the things I love about the cookbook club—it gives us a chance to explore, experiment, and take what resonates while leaving what doesn’t.
So glad you joined in this month, and I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughtful feedback.
Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here! Each month, we feature a cookbook that embodies a food as medicine approach, and I share insights, highlights, and my experience cooking from it. While I don’t share full recipes (since they come from the book), I offer guidance, key takeaways, and inspiration to help you cook along in a way that works for you.
Your writing is effervescent...you capture the vibrancy of food and its contribution to our wellbeing, especially when we take time to eat with seasonality, breadth, and variety! a joy to read!
Hi Ellen! Thank you so much for your kind words! My connection to the vibrancy of food and its deep impact on well-being was truly awakened through gardening. Growing food opened my eyes to the beauty of seasonality—not just in what we eat, but in how we live and nourish ourselves. It’s a joy and part of my mission to share this perspective. Grateful for your support and to have connected here on Substack.
Here are my answers to your prompts:
Which recipe did you find most enjoyable to prepare, and why? I only tried the lentil soup.
Did any ingredients or techniques feel new or unfamiliar? How did you approach them? I found her suggestion to soak red lentils odd and unneccesary, they cook up in like 10 minutes. If you soak them, I suspect they'd turn into sludge. Do you soak them? Also, she said the cook time was 30 minutes. I think that is far too long. Perhaps this is in error?
Did cooking or eating these dishes evoke any memories or emotions? Yes, I was reminded of my favorite red lentil soup recipe, which I much preferred to this one. Here is the recipe I developed: https://motherskitchen.blogspot.com/2018/01/red-lentil-soup.html
How did the meals make you feel—physically, mentally, or emotionally? Soup is one of my favorite foods. So it made me feel great! Also, lentil soup is filling and has lots of fiber, which will make me feel good tomorrow!
Did you share any of these dishes with loved ones? If so, what was their reaction? Nope, because my hubby is not a huge lentil fan.
Did you experiment with any substitutions or additions? Yes, I used diced fire roasted tomatoes, because I think a can of whole tomatoes undiced would result in giant tomato blobs in the soup. Whole tomatoes definitely not right here, I think this might be another error in the recipe. She probably dices them. Fire roasted tomatoes have more flavor. I added more cayenne than called for. I liked that there was a lot of onions and garlic in this recipe, it helped it out. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock because it's more flavorful.
Which recipe or ingredient sparked your curiosity to learn more? I wondered why she suggested ghee instead of what I would consider a better ingredient - olive oil. In the beginning of the book, she mentions that cooking with olive oil is a "bad idea", but doesn't explain why. Also, in her comments, she says that this soup is great for women to increase their iron stores, and that lentils are better than red meat because red meat is higher in fat and calories. This is a very "diet culture" comment. As a lifelong anemia sufferer, this is not good advice. As my midwife taught me: heme iron is so much better! Plus, this recipe only has 11% of my daily requirement for iron. I love lentils, but they aren't really high in iron. But at least they have some!
All in all, this isn't a cookbook I would add to my collection. I got it out of the library, thankfully. There are better vegetarian cookbooks out there! Thank you for inspiring me to try it out.
Hi Cynthia! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! I love how deeply you engaged with the cookbook club experience. I agree that red lentils cook quickly, and soaking them isn’t always necessary—I’d be curious to hear from others who’ve tried it both ways!
I also appreciate your perspective on the cookbook’s approach to nutrition. Your thoughts on heme vs. non-heme iron are such a great point, and it’s always valuable to bring personal experience into the conversation.
I’ll have to check out your red lentil soup recipe—thank you for sharing it! And I completely understand that not every cookbook is a keeper for everyone. That’s one of the things I love about the cookbook club—it gives us a chance to explore, experiment, and take what resonates while leaving what doesn’t.
So glad you joined in this month, and I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughtful feedback.
I'm brand new and trying to understand how this works. Are the recipes available somehow or are we supposed to purchase the cookbook to follow along?
Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here! Each month, we feature a cookbook that embodies a food as medicine approach, and I share insights, highlights, and my experience cooking from it. While I don’t share full recipes (since they come from the book), I offer guidance, key takeaways, and inspiration to help you cook along in a way that works for you.
You can learn more about how the cookbook club works here: https://michelleseguinmd.substack.com/p/cookbook-club. Let me know if you have any questions—I’d love to have you join us!
Your writing is effervescent...you capture the vibrancy of food and its contribution to our wellbeing, especially when we take time to eat with seasonality, breadth, and variety! a joy to read!
Hi Ellen! Thank you so much for your kind words! My connection to the vibrancy of food and its deep impact on well-being was truly awakened through gardening. Growing food opened my eyes to the beauty of seasonality—not just in what we eat, but in how we live and nourish ourselves. It’s a joy and part of my mission to share this perspective. Grateful for your support and to have connected here on Substack.