Book Review: Healthy in a Hurry by Danielle Walker

I’m so excited to have received an early copy of Danielle Walker’s new cookbook, Healthy in a Hurry! I already love it.

What kind of cookbook is Healthy in a Hurry?

Healthy in a Hurry is a Paleo cookbook geared around easy and quick to prepare meals. Danielle Walker gears the Paleo diet to help manage her Ulcerative Colitis so the recipes are meant to be anti-inflammatory and easy to digest.

What I like in this cookbook is there are a lot of sauce and spice mix recipes. I always have trouble with sauces and there are several good ones in here including Hoisin, Stir Fry, and basics like Ketchup, Barbecue, and Ranch dressing.

The book also has tips for eating grain-free on a budget, stocking your kitchen, and meal prepping. All recipes are gluten, grain, dairy, and refined sugar-free.

How SCD™ friendly is Healthy in a Hurry?

I would say Healthy in a Hurry is the most SCD™ friendly Danielle Walker cookbook since her first one, Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes To Eat Well And Feel Great. There are many recipes that fit SCD™ or, if you are an experienced SCD™ cook, could be easily modified. Recipes are labeled if they are SCD™, which I really appreciate.

This book is great for anyone who using a Paleo-type diet to help manage autoimmune symptoms or for SCD™ followers who are exploring other options or have expanded their diet to include other ingredients like unsweetened cocoa, maple syrup, coconut aminos, or sweet potatoes.

If you want to learn about Walker’s journey from SCD™ to the diet she follows now, I highly recommend her memoir, Food Saved Me. In that book, Walker tells her story of being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and experiencing extreme symptoms and nearly fatal illness before discovering The Specific Carbohydrate Diet™. When that diet was not producing as good of results as she hoped for, Walker began to explore other dietary options that would work for her.

Some SCD™ recipes that are included in Healthy in a Hurry

Ketchup
Ranch Dressing
Mango Chutney
Dairy Free Basil Pesto
Adobo Seasoning
BBQ Rub
Taco Seasoning
Dairy Free Yogurt
Savory Polenta with Sausage and Blistered Tomatoes
Chicken and Apricot Stew
Coconut Chicken Curry
Mediterranean Salmon with Artichokes and Peppers
Philly Cheesesteak Skillet
Persian Style Saffron Cauli Rice with Dried Fruits
Pineapple Whip
And a lot more!

I’ve tried out a couple of recipes so far. The first one is Creamy Cauli Almond Polenta is 100% SCD™. I was very unsure how this would be, but I loved it. It had a good savory flavor with a creamy polenta-like texture. It will be great as a base for stew or the recipes in the book that go with polenta.

The second recipe I tried is the Coffee Mac Nut Cookie Pie. This one is not SCD™. I did modify it a little fit my needs, but there are still two non-SCD ingredients I used – arrowroot powder and date-sweetened chocolate chips (made by HU). I left that, but subbed date syrup for the coconut sugar, I used a tablespoon of cold brew instead of espresso powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 tsp lemon juice instead of the baking powder.

This turned out great! Because of the honey I had to cook it about 10 minutes longer than the book indicated.

Overall, I recommend this cookbook, especially if you are a fan of Danielle Walker’s recipes.

Author
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Sherry Lipp

Founder at Happy Gut For Life

Sherry is a Certificed Holistic Gut Practioner, author, and recipe creator. Sherry started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in 2000 and has been creating delicious, grain and gluten-free recipes ever since. She is the author of the Don't Skip Dessert SCD cookbooks.