Eat, Drink, and Be Green
Michelle Nielson

Front Table Books/Cedar Fort, Inc.
May 2015/ ISBN 978-1462116140
Nonfiction / Health / Nutrition / Recipes

Reviewed by Leslie C. Halpern

This full-color glossy, softcover recipe and instruction book prepares readers for a new way of eating vegetables at every meal. The author includes equipment and ingredient lists, instructions for cutting, preparing, and storing ingredients, illustrated recipes, and frequently asked questions about these healthier foods.

Sections divide recipes into (1) Green Smoothies, (2) Salads, (3) Main Dishes and Cooked Vegetables, (4) Weekend Breakfasts and Healthy Breads, (5) Appetizers, Dips, and Dressings, and (6) Drinks and Sweet Treats. One of the author’s favorite foods, organic baby spinach, is used in every breakfast smoothie recipe, but does not appear in any other recipes in order to mix things up throughout the day. The salad section offers a “Take-Away Lesson” for each recipe, such as this comment from her recipe for Colorful Vegetable Salad: “The dressing for this salad uses the base ingredients typical of many salads – an acid, an oil, and a sweetener – then adds herbs and seasonings for added flavor.”

The section, Main Dishes and Cooked Vegetables, provides recipes for a variety of vegetable dishes, sometimes inspired by Nielson’s travels to other countries. Weekend Breakfasts and Healthy Breads is a small section, without the FAQ, but with unusual recipes including Oatmeal Cakes With Fruit Sauce, Blender Corn Muffins, and Huevos Rancheros. The Appetizers, Dips, and Dressings section offers healthy homemade versions of some traditionally store-bought foods (such as easy homemade Caesar dressing), and the final section, Drinks and Sweet Treats, provides exotic beverage recipes and several “bake-me-not” versions of desserts with healthier ingredients.

Filled with beautiful photographs and exciting new recipes for adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet, this book comes with a word of caution from the author. Nielson mentions that going green too fast can upset your system, causing nausea, stomach cramping, etc., and warns readers to begin the process slowly to give the body time to adjust. She writes that it took 2-3 months of green eating before she and her husband fully adjusted to the increased fiber and other nutrients. This slight inconvenience seems a small price to pay for the benefits received.