After Brynn McDowell, a registered dietician, traveled to France, Italy and Greece, she came home inspired. She launched The Domestic Dietician, a blog that shares her expertise, recipes and a realistic approach to the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, a plan that's been proven to benefit heart health and the management of diabetes and weight control.
McDowell's cookbook, her first, offers clearly presented principles and benefits of the Mediterranean diet. It contains more than 70 easy, customizable recipes that rely on whole ingredients found in grocery stores and home pantries. McDowell's Make-Ahead Spinach and Goat Cheese Frittata is filling without being heavy. A lunch of Crispy, Baked Falafel--a flavorful blend of fried chickpeas--and Broccoli Crunch Salad--which marries broccoli, carrots, onions and raisins, dressed with lemon juice and tangy yogurt--are perfect for on-the-go eating. Dishes like Mango and Black Bean Tacos with Avocado Yogurt and Juicy Lamb and Mushroom Burgers put a creative new spin on traditional favorites. Sides, such as Quick and Simple Tortellini Bites--skewered tomatoes, olives and tortellini, dressed in balsamic glaze--transform a few modest ingredients into a nutritious snack. The collection is capped off with delicious desserts such as Peanut Butter and Chocolate Walnut Bites and a Lemony Olive Oil Cake, inspired by McDowell's "Oma," that skillfully replaces butter and sugar with olive oil and unsweetened applesauce.
McDowell's passion and enthusiasm for healthy, wholesome eating infuse each recipe. The addition of fresh, seasonal ingredients shows how any versatile, ordinary dish can be successfully elevated by adding a distinctly Mediterranean spin. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines