It wasn’t until I started working for Cookbook Divas that I heard of Julia Turshen. I do pride myself in being pretty awesome in the kitchen, but I am guilty of googling a recipe and just taking the first one. Sometimes that is fine, because home cooks are just as phenomenal as trained chefs. But Julia Turshen needs to be on everyone’s radar.
Currently, she hosts the podcast “Keep Calm and Cook On”. She is also the founder of EATT or Equity at the Table. This is a database for food industry professionals featuring POC and the LGBTQ community – mostly women and gender non-conforming folks. Julia Turshen is truly a Renaissance woman.
Julia Turshen is NOT a formally trained chef, but a home cook. She is actually an English major and started her career as an intern for a food magazine, a cookbook author, and a food show television producer. She has always loved cookbooks, so it was only natural for her to actually create a cookbook.
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Julia Turshen has published a few cookbooks already, but there is something special about her newest cookbook: Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food.
As the subtitle indicates, there are 110 very easy recipes for us to enjoy during busy weekdays, relaxing weekends, or anything in between. She strives to make her dishes approachable and tasty. Many of the recipes you will find in this cookbook are some household classic comforts like chicken or tomato soup (jazzed up), pesto pasta, and more. There are also new dishes, such as ricotta and potato chip fish cakes that will become household staples.
The dishes require little time and all the ingredients are things you would find locally. They really are quite simple! I’m not bothered about the prep or cook time either – everything seems incredibly manageable. This cookbook features vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and sugar free recipes, so everyone can easily cook from it.
Mostly, I want to touch on the other part of the subtitle for Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food cookbook and that is the word “healthy”. I cannot stress how much I appreciate Turshen’s passion for identifying what “healthy” means, because most of us (me included) have a very UNhealthy perspective.
Turshen believes that we have really washed away any importance the word “healthy” means with overuse. Half the time, when we think “healthy” we mean “skinny”. Now, we’ve created a food association problem in the world. There is an actual reason there’s a large loaf of bread on the cover of the Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food cookbook. That’s because she is trying to actually retake the word “healthy” and give it meaning. We need to establish a happy relationship with food and not a disorderly one.
There is no eliminating of foods here. No need to sacrifice all the carbs in the world to be considered healthy. Just balance and not over-indulging, plus a better mindset. This cookbook should help us reassess how we approach eating and food!
This cookbook is really personal and not only gives us a new perspective and meaning to healthy eating, but also a glimpse of Julia’s personal life. A lot of these recipes are things she makes at home for her wife on a regular basis. They are nutritious, filling, and tasty foods that we all love and appreciate.
I think this new wave of healthy eating will catch on! I can’t wait to dig deeper into the Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food cookbook. What are some comfort foods that you and your family love?
~Kaiti
