Cookbook Review: Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso

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There has been a flurry of cooking and baking at my house. I mean, there’s always a lot of kitchen activity around here, but it’s usually on the lazier side, lacking the gusto of the last month. Why, you ask? I recently received Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo and Julie & Charles Mayfield’s Paleo Comfort Foods. Both Paleo cookbooks. Both very worthy. These cookbooks add variety and zest to the emerging compendium of Paleo recipes out there. Today I’ll tell you about Sarah Fragoso’s book and next time I’ll tell you about the Mayfields’.

I met Sarah at the Ancestral Health Symposium, where I found out that she’s just as sweet, beautiful and enthusiastic in person as she is on her blog and in her book. If you haven’t read her blog posts, she has some awesome, practical advice for implementing Paleo in your life, especially for those of you who have kids. Sarah is a wife and mother of 3, a trainer at NorCal Strength & Conditioning, and it seems she’s a great cook to boot. She’s been Paleo since 2008.

The book contains some of her notoriously sage advice, some exercises you can do at home, and some meal planning tools, but the bulk of the book is divided into categories of delicious foods to cook. Everything from poultry to snacks, baked goods and desserts.

The first recipe I tried was the Everyday Meatloaf. I love meatloaf and had been dreaming about it since I’d seen an infomercial for a meatloaf pan in my hotel room at the Ancestral Health Symposium last month. My mom used to make a mean meatloaf and this Paleo version brought back some tasty memories.

Next I made her plantain chips and guacamole. I’d never touched a plantain before, so it was a little outside my realm. The plantain “chips” ended up being more like soft, fried bananas so I didn’t dip them in guacamole. However, I really LOVE fried bananas, so I was more than happy to eat my mistake. If it wasn’t my mistake, then it was faulty directions from the recipe, in which case that’s my only complaint about the book so far. If someone can help me out with making plantains into chips, I’d be grateful.

I’m about to go make her Avocado Tuna Boats for lunch, which seem like they’d be a great meal for kids, or a crowd-pleaser at a party. That’s in the seafood section, along with other gems like Salmon Cakes with Ginger Mayo, Shrimp Tacos and many others. She’s also got some soup recipes, meatballs, sauces, ethnic foods, desserts, drinks, you name it.

The book is laid out well; you can find recipes using a couple different directories. It uses simple ingredients but the recipes pack a lot of flavor. The pictures give you a good idea of what you’re about to delve into, although, they’re not quite Martha Stewart photography. However, I can personally attest to how difficult it is to get beautiful photos of food. And she provides you with small but immensely important details like prep time and how many servings the recipes make.

All in all, a very good book to keep handy in your Paleo kitchen. I highly recommend it. You can get it at Amazon here.