Eat Like You Give A Fork : The Real Dish on Eating To Thrive – Cookbook Review

Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary copy of this book by its publisher, St. Martin’s Griffin, in exchange for my honest review of the product.

A Different Kind of Cookbook

I’ve shared with you in other posts about my love of cookbooks…not just the recipes but the photography, the stories, the individuality of the author. Usually I don’t gravitate to “diet plan” cookbooks (of which there are many!), but Eat Like You Give A Fork: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive by Mareya Ibrahim (June 4, 2019; St. Martin’s Griffin, $29.99) intrigued me.

“No one should do anything that starts with “die”.” – Mareya Ibrahim

Some of you may recognize Mareya Ibrahim from her Facebook Live show The Real Dish, or even listen to her podcast Recipes For Your Best Life, but starting with the Introduction, this book delves deeper into her philosophy about diets…

That sets the tone for the rest of the book.  

The Strategies

From the moment Mareya starts examining all the “F” words associated with food (fear, fat, failure, forbidden and friends, family, fulfilling, flavor, fun) her holistic approach to eating becomes clear. It’s about “honoring your body, your mind, and your psyche with a real-food plan that gets you to your realistic goals.”

This plan is divided into eight essential strategies, with recipe selections following each:

• Retrain Your Taste Buds – avoiding processed, sweet or salty foods in favor of those packed with sour, bitter and umami flavors.
• The Real Kitchen – Restocking your kitchen so you can make the best choices for your body and your life
• Get Up On Greens – Incorporating greens that deliver a knock-out punch of phytonutrients
• The Fast Break – How intermittent fasting helps to realign, restore, and optimize; and life-changing reasons for going Vegan two days per week
• Go Gluten-Free Super Grains – Carbs have an important place in your diet; incorporating whole grains
• Fat Fillers – “Good fat is the friend that makes the party come to life.”
• Be Real Dense – Making every bite count
• The 90/10 Rule – 90% of your meals follow the previous seven strategies, and the other 10% eat what brings you joy

Eat Like You Give a Fork is informational, educational, entertaining, and written with a great sense of humor. The science behind the plan is easy to understand and follow. The one issue I did have with this book is that not every recipe had a photo, however the photography is lovely and the recipes make you want to eat healthy!

No Bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

We tested three recipes for this post. The first one – from the Super Grains section – was the No-Bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. While it did take a brief moment for us to get past the idea of a traditional cookie texture, these were actually so tasty and had no eggs, no flour, no dairy.

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NO-BAKE OATMEAL PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

When we shot the photos for this book, everyone went a little cray over the no-bakes. I mean, what’s not to love? No baking means less time to your mouth. And all the ingredients just feel so homey and happy together. I think you’re never going to want to run out of these in your home.

Servings 12

Ingredients

• ½ cup canned unsweetened full fat coconut milk
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter or sunflower seed butter, for a nut-free option, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons raw coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons granulated stevia or monkfruit sweetener
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• ½ cup no-sugar-added dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. 1) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, wax paper, or a silicone mat.
2. 2) In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, ½ cup of the peanut butter, and ½ cup water until smooth. Add the coconut oil, stevia, vanilla, and salt and mix until smooth.
3. 3) Using a spatula, fold in the oats, making sure all the oats are well soaked. Let sit for about 10 minutes, until the mixture becomes firm. Fold in the chocolate chips and mix with a spatula to evenly distribute them.
4. 4) Using an ice cream scoop, portion cookies onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, and press down lightly to flatten them.
5. 5) In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut butter and ½ teaspoon water. Drizzle the peanut butter over the tops of the cookies and let set at room temperature, about 15 minutes. Store wrapped in parchment paper to keep them fresh up to a week.

Zucchini Noodles with Romesco Sauce

Next up we tried the Zucchini Noodles with Romesco Sauce out of the Reset Your Tastebuds section. I have to say this was our favorite dish, and there were no left overs to take for lunch the next day! And that Romesco Sauce would be perfect on so many things (think Spaghetti Squash).

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ZUCCHINI NOODLES WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

The fanciest easy dish you’ll ever make and want to eat by the spoonful. Use it on everything. ’Nuff said.

Course Main Course

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 zucchini cut with a spiralizer into linguine shaped noodles
• 1 cup Romesco Sauce recipe follows
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon grated pecorino cheese or other hard sheep’s milk cheese optional but recommended

Romesco Sauce

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup pine nuts or blanched almonds

Instructions

Zucchini Noodles

1. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the zucchini noodles and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Transfer the zucchini noodles to a bowl and add the romesco sauce. Toss to thoroughly coat the noodles.

3. Finish with the parsley and cheese and twirl your zoodles with zeal!

Romesco Sauce

1. Preheat the broiler or heat a grill to medium-high heat.

2. Broil or grill the bell pepper, tomatoes, and garlic until blistered with a bit of char and soft all the way through. Transfer the tomatoes and garlic to a food processor. Stem and seed the bell pepper and add it to the food processor as well.

3. Add the smoked paprika, cumin, salt, and olive oil and process until smooth. Add the pine nuts and pulse until combined but the nuts still have some texture.

4. Store the sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Toss it with veggie noodles or cooked proteins, or use it as a dressing.

Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse with Raspberry Coulis

Finally we rounded out our taste testing with…what else?…dessert! We picked the Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse with Raspberry Coulis, which can be found in the 90/10 Rule section. My tasters were a little reluctant to try this one at first, but one bite of the rich chocolate mousse and they were sold!

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DARK CHOCOLATE AVOCADO MOUSSE WITH RASPBERRY COULIS AND COCONUT WHIP

Course Dessert

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Raspberry Coulis

• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 1 teaspoon granulated stevia
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse

• 1 large ripe avocado
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk or rice milk, for a nut-free option
• ¼ cup granulated stevia

Instructions

1. 1) MAKE THE COULIS: In a small saucepan, combine the raspberries, stevia, and ½ cup water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and push the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice. Let cool to room temperature.
2. 2) MAKE THE MOUSSE: Halve and pit the avocado. Scoop the avocado flesh out of the skin using a spoon and drop it into a food processor. Pulse the avocado until smooth.
3. 3) Add the cocoa powder, almond milk, stevia, and ½ cup water and pulse again until completely blended and smooth.
4. 4) Evenly distribute the mousse among four martini glasses, champagne flutes, ramekins, or mason jars and divide the raspberry coulis among them. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
5. 5) Before serving, top as desired and eat it up with a spoon!

Recipe Notes

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: Coconut whip topping, raspberries, blueberries,
all-natural coconut whipped cream, star fruit slices, slivered almonds, unsweetened shredded coconut, dusting of ground cinnamon and/or unsweetened cocoa powder—or any combination of these that your heart desires!

There are many more recipes in this cookbook I am excited to try, like the Poached Egg and Veggie Brekkie Bowl. And my husband has already requested that the Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai show up in our kitchen soon!

What I like best about Eat Like You Give A Fork (besides the healthy AND delicious recipes) is how it makes a healthier eating lifestyle seem so…achievable. Mareya takes you on this journey of examination and encouragement that makes you realize how possible it is to really enjoy eating and be healthy.

“Food is magical. It’s a miracle of nature. It expresses culture. It brings us together for celebration. It feeds our intellect and our creativity.” – Mareya Ibrahim

I hope you enjoyed this review. Let me know in the comments below, or if you already own Eat Like You Give a Fork, tell me what your favorite recipes are. 

And if you aren’t already following A Slice of Spice, we would love for you to join us for the fun!

Until next time, keep it spicy!

MICHELE

Recipes From EAT LIKE YOU GIVE A FORK: The Real Dish on Eating to Thrive.  Copyright © 2019 byMareya Ibrahim and reprinted with permission from St. Martin’s Griffin.

Photographs by Teri Lyn Fisher.