Top 3 Cookbooks - help me choose? pls?

[janeeknits]

I finally got my consultant tracked down to send me an order form to get cookbooks so I have been trolling through the posts here to get some feel for which are the best/most useful books but I am supposed to be studying and doing a million other things so was hoping you guys could fast track it for me and tell me which books you think have the best most useful recipes.  i am mainly interested in main meals and I have young children so overly spiced meals are a bit risky.  They like a bit of mild Moroccan and mostly they love Mediterranean food.  Me I like Mediterranean based diet too with a low GL.

I have to say that i find most of the mains in the EDC are too rich having a lot of cream/coconut milk in them or are meals served with carbs like rice and pasta.  We do eat rice and pasta but about once a week each and we don't eat mashed potato only sweet potato.

I've done the apricot chicken risotto and was not impressed.  The lasagne was good but too fattening to be more than an occasional meal.  I'm going to try the stoganoff tonight but with steamed broccoli not rice/pasta. The kids aren't going to come at the curries readily so it doesn't leave much.

I'm also finding that the EDC recipes don't appear to have been well tested so I am assuming that the same will apply to the other books?

My thoughts at the moment are to go with the Cyndi O"Meara booklet, the lunchbox booklet, the vegetarian and the meat on the menu one - would love to hear some feedback if I'm making the right choices.

Also, I thought I read somewhere here about a Varoma cookbook but its not on the list?  I haven't even tried my varoma yet simply because I haven't seen an appealing recipe and I've never really done any steam cooking although I would like to do it because its such a healthy way to cook?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 

[faffa_70]

Janneeknits, the varoma book can't be purchased, you can only get hold of it by holding a varoma demo...

I would definitely say Meat on the Menu - and you can always serve them with your choice if it happens to be a mash or pasta dish IYKWIM.

The other books are all an improvement on the EDC when it comes to testing with the MOTM being the best! EDC is in the process of an update 

I love the vegetarian book - I FORCE my family to eat one vegetarian meal a week (that they know of lol)

[CreamPuff63]

I think you have made a good choice 

[riv_mum]

only three, thats tough.
i use the budget busters book alot! Real quick, easy and cheap.
the steaming book is good if you can get hold of that one.
The vegetarian one is also good because it has lots of mains as well as deserts, cakes etc. The meat one has lots of mains, sauces etc but no deserts or cakes.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Hmmmm.  I personally would choose Meat on the Menu (haven't got it yet but the reviews are mostly good), Budget Busters and Vegetarian.  If you are super health conscious perhaps consider choosing Cyndi O'Meara over Budget Busters though. 

P.S - I agree there are lot's of rice and pasta recipes in the EDC.  A couple of non-rice/pasta recipes that we often enjoy are:

meatloaf with red sauce - I roll in halved boiled eggs, ham and 2 thin slices of cheese
lentil hotpot - I add chopped cooked organic sausages as the meat
Italian shepherds pie - I make mine with sweet potato mash and don't normally put cheese on top (I'm a meany  ).

[cookie1]

Is there any chance your consultant could show you these books before you buy?

[judydawn]

janeeknits, Meat on the Menu is by far the best in my opinion - other than that I prefer recipes from the forum (and they are free).  So many to choose from to suit your dietary regime. I have most of the other books but have only done a few recipes from each of them. Have done hundreds from the forum.

[janeeknits]

Janneeknits, the varoma book can't be purchased, you can only get hold of it by holding a varoma demo...

oh cripes ... think my "free" thermoserve is being withheld on the same grounds 

[janeeknits]

thanks everyone for the help.  Sounds like I should break my top 3 criteria (and I think in my OP I actually listed 4 so I'm already a bit of a doofus it seems) and go with:

Meat On Menu
Vegetarian
Lunchboxes
Budget Busters
Cyndi O'Meara

It sounds a lot but Cyndi + Budget + Lunchbox is like $24 so its kind of like 3 x $30 books....I'm v good a rationalising...

[faffa_70]

Janneeknits, the varoma book can't be purchased, you can only get hold of it by holding a varoma demo...

oh cripes ... think my "free" thermoserve is being withheld on the same grounds 

Yep, the "FREE" thermoserve is a host reward, so you will get it when you host your delivery demo 

[janeeknits]

Janneeknits, the varoma book can't be purchased, you can only get hold of it by holding a varoma demo...

oh cripes ... think my "free" thermoserve is being withheld on the same grounds 

Yep, the "FREE" thermoserve is a host reward, so you will get it when you host your delivery demo 

TBH that won't be anytime soon as I don't plan on having another demo.  I love the machine but totally do not love the business model.

[zebraa]

I love the vegetarian book  because it has all the cooking and soaking times for beans and grains and I find I am always refreshing my memory.

I also like the GF book  as it shows me how to use different grains. I would buy the Cyndi O'Meara book (there is a book isn't there for $30 not a pamphlet?) as the recipies of hers - especially the GF bread is totally my way of cooking and thinking.

I also have the indian and it is good but indian is pretty easy to convert anyway.

I had a look at the booklets - kids and budget and raw and I was unimpressed. You can get just as good recipies from this forum or good blogs.

Your demonstrator should be able to lend you the books so you can flick through them. Mind did.

[Thermomixer]

Certtainly the books are getting better and I think Meat & Veg books are the best so far, but Indian is very good too

[faffa_70]

Janneeknits, the varoma book can't be purchased, you can only get hold of it by holding a varoma demo...

oh cripes ... think my "free" thermoserve is being withheld on the same grounds 

Yep, the "FREE" thermoserve is a host reward, so you will get it when you host your delivery demo 

TBH that won't be anytime soon as I don't plan on having another demo.  I love the machine but totally do not love the business model.

If you have already had a demo (and you bought your machine from that demo) you should have your thermoserver, if that makes sense.

[kye33]

I ordered the 'My way of cooking' and it arrived today, I honestly have not been able to put it down. I have all of the other books and this one is the best by far!!!

It has the best recipes in there and I love the set up!!!