I had some interest in perusing a southern cookbook, but what put me over the top to accept the offer to review My Pinewood Kitchen: A Southern Culinary Cure ($26.95, HCI BOOKS) was that it featured “microbiome-friendly meals.”
Author Mee McCormick was born with intussusception, a condition in which part of the intestine telescopes into itself. When doctors couldn’t help her digestive issues, she made herself her own lab rat to heal her Crohn’s disease, gut issues and other immune system challenges with whole food recipes. In fact, she harvested most of the foods on her family’s farm near Nashville, Tenn.
The book, which will be released this week, has more than 100 gluten-free whole foods recipes that can be customized for Keto, Paleo or vegan. Recipes range from immune-boosting smoothies to gut-friendly soups, salads, dinners and desserts. McCormick even explains how to stock a “probiotic pantry,” what foods are prebiotic and probiotic “powerhouses” and what foods to avoid (e.g. leftovers, shellfish and fermented foods).
The first dish I made was the Immune-Boosting Chicken and Quinoa Soup (p. 95). I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The vegetiables–the mushrooms, in particular–absorbed the ghee and thus had a lot of flavor. Meanwhile, the shredded chicken and cooked quinoa made the soup hearty and filling.
Next was the Pinewood Fried Chicken (p. 147). What makes it different is that the recipe calls for non-GMO cornstarch, non-dairy milk, non-GMO cornmeal and organic sugar (or stevia), and the chicken is cooked in grapeseed oil. I love fried chicken, and I certainly enjoyed this version–in fact, it was hard to distinguish it from “regular” fried chicken, other than it needed more salt.
McCormick also is the author of My Kitchen Cure: How I Cooked My Way Out of Chronic Autoimmune Disease with Whole Foods and Healing Recipes and runs a restaurant called Pinewood Kitchen & Mercantile.
Tags: cooking
