So last week the stork dropped a beautiful baby on my doorstep. I’m talking about Mediterranean Paleo Cooking, of course, the cookbook love child of Caitlin Weeks, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and blogger behind Grass Fed Girl, and her husband, Nabil Boumrar, who is a classically-trained, Algerian-born chef. Did I mention Diane Sanfilippo was there to help with the baby photo shoot? Might’ve taken this analogy too far, but you get my drift. Put them all together and you get Mediterranean Paleo Cooking: the most visually stunning cookbook I’ve ever seen, which immediately takes your tastebuds on a mouthwatering journey across the region – from your very own kitchen!
As someone who loves to travel (I’m going to Italy the end of this week!!), I was really excited to bring home some Mediterranean flavors to my kitchen, an area of the world I’ve not yet explored. I also really enjoyed the section in the book about the family-centered, slower-paced Mediterranean lifestyle where simple food is celebrated every day. We need more of that here in the states.
So here are my favorite things about the cookbook, for you short-attention span people like me:
- The mouthwatering pictures. I know I already mentioned this, but the cookbook is a work of art. The food photography is straight up food porn and you’ll have to watch yourself not to literally drool on the pages. The design of the book itself is full of rich colors, mostly blues that make you think you’re in Greece. I can get down with that.
- Chef’s Tips and Nutritionist’s Notes. Caitlin and Nabil have combined their expertise as a Nutritionist and Chef to bring you “Nutritionist’s note” and “Chef’s tips” at the end of every recipe, where they address any kinks you may run into, where to find or how to handle certain ingredients, and the health benefits of
- The family stories. Each recipe begins with a story from Caitlin or Nabil about where the dish comes from or its place in their lives, which makes you feel like you’re being transported into their kitchen or back to Algeria. And judging by how well these dishes have turned out, I’d gladly dine at their house any day!
- Dietary modifications for every recipe. This was a HUGE draw for me with this cookbook. Over the years I’ve tried many different healing diets to fix up my stomach and hormones, and at some points it felt like I couldn’t even open a cookbook (even a paleo one) to find a couple recipes I would actually be able to eat. Mediterranean Paleo Cooking provides modifications for every single recipe, without sacrificing flavor, whether you’re following SCD/GAPS, the Autoimmune Protocol, Nut-free, Egg-free, or lower-carb. How awesome is that?!
- And of course, the recipes!! Everything I’ve made thus far has been a huge hit: delicious, easy, and enjoyable to prepare. Exactly how I like to cook. The hardest thing was to decide what to make first!! Did you see all those postits I have to bookmark recipes I want to try in the picture up there? I’m not kidding. They even have a pizza and pasta section of the book, plus other great grain-free goodies like biscuits, pitas, pancakes, crepes, and the like. YEAH. With five different pizza crusts depending on what ingredients you want to include. #mindblownFavorite recipes so far:
Chicken Olive Tagine (the cover recipe)
Mediterranean Paleo Pizza Crust & AIP Pizza Crust – I liked the autoimmune-friendly crust one even better than the original with almond flour, which tasted more like a savory tart crust to me. The AIP one, made with tapioca flour, was crunchy on the ends, but flexible enough in the middle so that you can FOLD it if you like! New yorkers, you get me here.
Creamy Cilantro Salmon – I have to give a special mention to the salmon dish. This was the easiest, most perfectly cooked salmon I’ve EVER prepared. And it took a total of 10 minutes to cook. We eat a lot of salmon around here, so that’s saying something!
If I haven’t gushed enough, it would probably be easier to ramble off the reasons you shouldn’t buy Mediterranean Paleo Cooking (because I can’t think of any), rather than the endless list of why you should. This beauty officially comes out October 28th. Get it on Amazon already and get ready to transport your tastebuds to the Mediterranean!
