DestinationSpaVacations 100 Recipes For The Home From The Golden DoorSpa

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100 Recipes For The Home From The Golden DoorSpa
By Katie Kapusnik
Dec 29, 2009 - 9:20:10 AM

Bring the spa home to your kitchen. You may have a bathroom full of beauty products, but it's time to turn your attention to beautifying your kitchen and the foods you eat. This cookbook shares the recipes of the luxurious Golden Door Spa. Chef Dean Rucker shares over a 100 recipes, each with a gorgeous photo to further entice you. Tips on how to eat less, reduce stress, exercise more, and lose weight are woven into the book. They encourage you to not only eat better, but to eat more consciously as well.

As this spa specializes in holistic healing, these recipes focus on eating whole, nutritious foods, not just restricted calories. You will be not only well fed physically, but emotionally you will know that you are nurturing yourself. A whole foods diet is certainly the best, and Chef Dean Rucker carefully chooses which of the higher calorie foods are necessary for a satisfying dish, explaining when you can substitute low or non-calorie foods for flavor.

The book is very balanced in this way, with no recipes being “too-much,” and none that are lacking. He shares his cooking tips, and teaches you how to prepare dishes on your own. Because he teaches cooking classes at the spa, I believe he knows just what lessons are most needed in the book. One lesson that I find to be especially helpful is on simple vegetable cooking methods. No meal is complete without vegetables, and you can use these methods everyday.

Reading through the main dishes is like reading off your favorite restaurant's menu. They are often written as a complete course, and you are given step-by-step instructions for putting it all together. If this were a menu at a restaurant, I would eat there as often as possible. As for actually cooking the recipes myself, there are some fairly simple ones that I am comfortable enough to try.

One new favorite is the Broccoli Basil Soup, which is delicious, healthy, and easy. Many of them are more elaborate, and would be perfect for a special occasion. For example, there is the Miso-Glazed Mero with Shiitake Mushroom Quinoa and Grilled Pineapple and Mango Salsa. All in all it's not that complicated, and it is sure to impress.

Rucker writes the instructions in a linear fashion and guides you from start to finish. This helps you stay organized and calm. He also lets you know which of the ingredients you can prepare ahead of time, which is especially helpful if you are cooking for company and have a lot to do.

I am so happy to add Golden Door Cooks At Home to my collection of cookbooks, and will be turning here first for healthy takes on the classics, and inspiration for new dishes.

Dean Rucker, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, came to the Golden Door in 2000 as sous-chef. In June 2005, he was named executive chef, and his bold and fresh new American cuisine has been met with accolades ever since.

Maria Stets is a food writer and editor. Her most recent collaboration was with Jim Denevan on Outstanding in the Field.

Golden Door has been the premier spa in the United States since it opened in 1959. With architectural elements modeled after seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Japanese inns, and with programs incorporating Zen philosophies of balancing physical and spiritual health, the spa revolutionized the American spa experience. In addition to the destination spa in Escondido, California, there are also full-service Golden Door resort spas throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

Katie Kapusnikis a licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.) by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia. She is a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine (Dipl. OM) as certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM).

Golden Door Cooks At Home: Favorite Recipes From The Celebrated Spa (Clarkson Potter/ 2009) by Dean Rucker, Maria Stets and Photography by Quentin Bacon

Source: Basil & Spice
http://www.basilandspice.com/nutrition/100-recipes-for-the-home-from-the-golden-door-spa.html