"The Healthy Eating Cookbook" by Charles Van Amerongen
Charles Van Amerongen grew up in New York state, outside of Albany in a small town. There, in his youth, his mother taught him the basics of cooking, baking and canning. Van Amerongen now lives in La Center and has applied his knowledge of making food to a cookbook with healthy eating in mind.
The book is titled “The Healthy Eating Cookbook” and it was released last month. Van Amerongen says the book is full of traditional recipes, Dutch family recipes and most of all, his own recipes. All of them are gluten, dairy and sugar free. Several in the collection are also vegetarian, but there is also some poultry and seafood. In all the book has 273 such recipes.
“I have sensitivities to food and knew that a lot of people do too, so I started compiling recipes,” says Van Amerongen on his inspiration to make the book. “I see a demand for this type of cooking and recipes.”
That demand, he believes, is a tribute to the people of this area.
“People here seem to be more conscientious about what they eat and a lot of good food is grown here in the Northwest,” he says.
At 69 and having had three hip surgeries, a pacemaker, three ear surgeries and a few other surgeries along the way, Van Amerongen knows better than most the benefits of eating extra carefully.
“Eating healthy helps maintain your weight, less chance of getting sick and your body will function better and have more energy,” says Van Amerongen.
Other ingredients (or lack of ingredients) that can be found in most of the recipes in the book are low sodium amounts, baking soda and cream of tartar instead of baking powder, and several healthy oils like olive and canola.
Of course eating healthy is beneficially great for your body, but what about your taste buds? The thought of no dairy and sugar is enough to drive casual eaters away, but the author says not to worry.
“I have tried to put new insight into the old ways of cooking, yet have delicious meals,” says Van Amerongen. “I seem to have the knack for knowing just how much to use and what goes well in a recipe.”
Van Amerongen adds that many of the recipes in the book that aren’t his have undergone some changes by him to make them taste better or work better with people's health problems.
A few of his personal favorites within the cookbook are chicken tenders and vegetable stir fry, cranberry cornbread, and zucchini banana nut bread.
