Ultimate quick meals

The whole 'meals-in-minutes' concept is very big in these hectic times of working parents, over-scheduled children, and rising obesity rates. How to feed the family quickly without resorting to the drive-thru window? How do you provide healthier meals for your family? Well, you can kill two birds with one stone by using Ani Phyo's new cookbook: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: easy, delectable living foods recipes. A word of warning here - these recipes are for vegan, raw food. That's right, no cooking (dehydrating in your oven is O.K., though). And she provides the recipes for making your own meat and cheese substitutes from various nuts and seeds.
I know in my heart of hearts that I will never make the foods in this book, and that I could never embrace a vegan diet, let alone a raw food diet (or maybe I could do the raw food, but not the vegan. Who knows?). But I will say that this book makes me want to try. It is an inspiring book because it all sounds like such a great idea: a diet full of grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables that you haven't boiled/steamed/fried into nutrient oblivion. Phyo is trim, vibrant and healthy-looking, and she makes it all seem so easy. I'm also totally enamored with the idea of tossing a few fresh vegetables and condiments together and Presto! you have dinner. Most of the ingredients in her recipes are available here in town, although the freshness will be dramatically different than what Phyo (a Southern Californian) is used to . She's a good motivator and a great role model for healthy, ecologically responsible living. If you are already a vegan or vegetarian, then you will really like this book. And if you're still eating Big Macs, perhaps you could start to sneak one or two of her recipes into your weekly menu (lunches might be best, people seem to be more flexible about what they eat for lunch). Maybe some day I'll try one of her recipes.