Sweet and Natural: More Than 120 Naturally Sweet and Dairy-Free Desserts - Hardcover

Health and pleasure are of equal concern in this book. For baked goods, McCarty recommends using whole-wheat pastry flour. If you must avoid wheat, she explains how to use other grains and flours. In talking about ingredients, as well as in her recipes, McCarty is meticulously detailed.

If you are already familiar with minimally processed ingredients, you will appreciate McCarty's recipes. They produce Martha Stewart-pretty results, as eight pages of color photos demonstrate. Even if you are used to cooking with brown rice syrup and agar (a thickener made from a sea vegetable), the creative ways McCarty uses them offer new possibilities, as in her maple-sweetened Pecan Pie. If this book is your introduction to naturally sweetened, dairy-free desserts, you may enjoy those made with fruit best, particularly the compotes and sorbets, such as Mango Coconut Sorbet.

Sweet and Natural offers perhaps the widest range of recipes and most detailed information about techniques and ingredients for making natural desserts. If you want healthy sweets, this charmingly illustrated book is indispensable. --Dana Jacobi

"Meredith McCarty demonstrates that low-fat vegan cooking can be both delicious and nutritious. Some of these recipes are low fat and to be enjoyed heartily." --Dean Ornish, M.D., author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease and Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish

"[Meredith McCarty's] material is excellent--informative (I learned a lot!), thorough, and very readable." --Rebecca Wood, Julia Child Cookbook Award-winning author of The Splendid Grain

"Lucky us! Amred with decades of experience in natural foods cooking, Meredith McCarty has risen to the considerable challenge of creating great vegan desserts and has given us hundreds of memorable ways to celebrate her sweet victory." --Lorna Sass, author of The New Soy Cookbook

"Meredith McCarty is a genius in the kitchen. Her recipes are wonderful and, from a health standpoint, they're just what the doctor ordered. I highly recommend this outstanding collection of healthy desserts." --Neal Barnard, M.D., president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

"Sweet and Natural is great! For those of us who love sweets, yet also love the joys of health, this beautiful book is a godsend." --John Robbins, founder of EarthSave International and author of Diet for a New America

"Meredith McCarty's healthy and satisfying recipes are an essential ingredient in the Kellogg Wellness Cuisine we serve to hundreds of executives every day." --Ron Griffin, director of Dining Services, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management