The Complete Diabetes Cookbook

October 15, 2018
The editors of America’s Test Kitchen deliver another solid recipe collection in this practical and immensely helpful cookbook for those living with diabetes. With nutritional information, notes from the test kitchen (including advice on buying the perfect hunk of parmesan, how to store spices, and favorite brands of staples, such as Reese capers), this book offers diabetic-friendly recipes designed to limit refined carbohydrates, sugars, saturated fats, and sodium. Those looking to create comfort-food standbys will find more than enough possibilities. Dishes such as spinach lasagna and cheesy shrimp and grits use reduced amounts of butter and full-fat dairy as well as aromatics and healthy oils to retain richness of flavor. To accompany high-protein, low-carb choices such as steak and chicken (they suggest flouring only one side of a chicken piccata), the editors have created an array of delicious pan-sauces, such as one made with porcini mushrooms and Marsala. Whole wheat ingredients are also favored by ATK, as they pack in stabilizing fiber and proteins to such carb-heavy comfort foods as carrot cake, blueberry muffins, and pancakes. This cookbook brims with variations for hundreds of recipes, offering a solid foundation for healthier cooking.

December 1, 2018

This latest offering from America's Test Kitchen reengineers 400 recipes spanning breakfast, mains, meats, and seafood, as well as a small section on dessert, for the needs of home cooks with diabetes, beginning with a solid introduction to the disease along with guidelines for diabetes-friendly meals. Each recipe has a brief explanation of its benefits as well as nutritional information, including carbohydrate choices and substitutions. There's a wide range of flavors, including many appealing ethnic recipes. Several base recipes also have several suggested variations. Sidebars contribute additional information on techniques, tips, and the results of Test Kitchen tasting panels and evaluations. This resource is more ambitious in its techniques and palate than the recent The Diabetes Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Healthy Living Powered by the Diabetes Food Hub or the American Diabetes Association's Complete Month of Meals Collection, and more complete than Eat Smart Lose Weight from Diabetic Living Editors. VERDICT A great choice for anyone interested in healthy eating.--Devon Thomas, Chelsea, MI

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2018
There are absolutely no reasons for nondiabetics not to welcome the latest culinary advice and collection from America's Test Kitchen, the venerable Boston-based publishing collective of 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists behind Cooks Illustrated, dozens of cookbooks, and a TV show. Every dish in this 400-recipe tome includes variations, nutritional calculation, and ATK's signature notes on why this recipe works and the equipment needed in addition to clear directions. A wealth of cuisines is featured along with old favorites, like granola bars (here sans sugar), kale chips, Italian vegetable soup, tabbouleh, Indian-style vegetable curry. How-to-cook tips are absolutely everywhere; for instance, to make better pancakes, leave some lumps, and flip them when you see bubbles; score salmon's skin to keep it from buckling. Diabetics and all health-conscious home cooks will find great information on almost every page, from pureeing soup to preparing avocados to learning everything there is to know about vinegars or eggs. Photographs enable the production of a picture-perfect dish; better yet are the completeness of the directions and helpful how-to's.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)