I hate diets.  Probably because I’m on one. Kind of. Not really.  I just think I should be on one, so I pretend like I am.

Diet as in. . .

di·et \ˈdī-ət\

a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight

Yeah. That type of diet sucks.

On the other hand, you may have surmised by this point that there is another type of diet that I totally dig.

As in. . . .

di·et \ˈdī-ət\

food and drink regularly provided or consumed.

Especially the regular and consumed bit.  Those are my favorite parts.

All of this puts me in a bit of a quandary, wouldn’t you say?  Someone who loves food, wants to eat it regularly, yet should start a regiment of doing this said activity sparingly so as not to have a mammoth size butt.

Oh the horror.
But don’t be scared.  Because. . . I found a book. It’s called the nordic diet by Trina Hahnemann, and I think it just might have exactly what I need.

PICTURES of beautiful things that I would love to eat. Things I would eat on vacation, or while walking barefoot in my English Garden (that i don’t have), or sitting on the docks of the bay with my freshly manicured feet lapping in the waves, as I look above into pillowy clouds as they float by.

But thankfully, I don’t have to do any of these things, because these recipes are so simple and attainable that I could eat them every. single. day. At my kitchen table, surrounded by my kids, and the craziness that accompanies them.

Hence my second point in things that I find attractive about this cookbook . . .

simple recipes that are both enticing and as easy to put together as it is to pick up a pizza or order take-out. Recipes like . . . .

• Raw oats with fruit and milk (2 minutes to make )
• Mussel soup with potatoes and leeks
• Salted pollack with beet salad
• Kale and Chicken Salad
• Brown Rice Risotto with mushrooms
• Rye pizza with zucchini and tomato
• Rhubarb and strawberry tart
• Cold yogurt mousse with red currants

The list goes on and on.  I know they sound really fancy. But not too fancy for your pants. I mean your pants might be all glowy and sparkly and lit up like Fergie at the Superbowl, and you wouldn’t even know it, because these recipes are soooooooo simple. So basically, this book acknowledges the closet fancy freak in you. And me. Us.

Oddly enough, the whole idea around the book is not to acknowledge the closet fancy freak in us all,  though admittedly that might be interesting.  Its true intent, which it pulls off beautifully is to show the reader a new mindset of eating and preparing food, enhanced with secrets from Northern Europe to help us maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. Like eating locally sourced seasonal ingredients, moving away from processed foods, and towards a larger variety of grains, berries, vegetables, fish, poultry, and other meats.

Many of the recipes include ingredients that are grown in colder climates, but can easily be adapted to produce and items that you can find readily available in your neck of the woods. The take home idea is that we should all eat fresh, stay healthy, and enjoy easy to prepare good for you meals every day of the week. 

And if you don’t know how to do that, she gives you a few rules and guidelines to get you on the right track.

And if you do, she’ll supply you with over 75 beautiful and tasty recipes to help you meet your goals of healthier living.

MSRP – $17.95
Cost to Me:  Free

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I’m so loving this book.

For breakfast we had a simple bowl of Raw Oats with berries and milk inspired by this book.  We’ll be enjoying that for many mornings to come.

For dinner, we are having another simple meal of Salmon with carrots, ginger, leeks, green beans, and chervil.

Beautiful isn’t it.

When you bring the beauty inward, how can you not feel beautiful out.

Salmon with carrots, ginger, leeks, green beans, and chervil


Excerpted from The Nordic Diet
Text Copyright © 2011 by the author and reprinted with permission of Skyhorse Publishing

Ingredients:

4 pieces of salmon fillet, about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 pounds
7 oz baby carrots
1 leek, cut into fine julienne strips
7 oz. green beans, trimmed of end
3 1/2 oz. fresh ginger, minced
1 bunch of chervil
salt and freshly ground pepper

to serve
green salad
baguette (optional)

Pan-fry the salmon in a hot dry pan for 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove the salmon from the pan, add the vegetables, ginger, and chervil, and let them cook for 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
     Place the salmon fillets on a serving platter and spread the cooked vegetables over them. Serve with a green salad and maybe a baguette.