Mark Bitterman is the foremost salt expert and one of the largest importers and retail distributors of Himalayan salt blocks. The precious pink mineral mined from ancient hills in Pakistan’s Punjab province has arrived on the American cooking scene as an exciting and enticing new form of cooking. Himalayan salt blocks are available at specialty retail stores around the world and the market is growing.A precious mineral mined from ancient hills deep in Asia has stormed the American cooking scene. With crystals of rose, garnet, and ice, Himalayan salt blocks offer a vessel for preparing food as stunningly visual as it is staggeringly tasty.Everyone who loves the excitement and pleasure of discovering new cooking techniques will enjoy this guide to cooking and entertaining with salt blocks. The introduction is your salt block owner’s manual, with everything you need to know to purchase, use, and maintain salt blocks with confidence. The chapters that follow divide seventy recipes into six techniques: serving, warming, curing, cooking, chilling, and of course, drinking. You’ll find recipes ranging from a minty watermelon and feta salad to salt-tinged walnut scones, beef fajitas served table-side, salt-cured candied strawberries, and salt-frozen Parmesan ice cream!  “Mark Bitterman knows more about salt than anyone else on the planet. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with those handsome slabs of Himalayan salt you see at cookware shops, Salt Block Cooking will inspire you with wildly innovative uses you’ve never dreamed of, from cocktails to candy, from curing to grilling, and from ceviche to pizza. Along the way, you’ll learn the half-billion-year history of the only food that starts as a rock.” ––Steven Raichlen, author of the Barbecue! Bible series and host of Primal Grill on PBS“Cooking on salt blocks will blow your mind, jump-start your creative process, make your food taste better, delight your friends, and cut down on the time you spend cleaning pots and pans. And what better guide for your new experience than Mark Bitterman, a man who has forgotten more about salt cookery than I will ever learn.” ––Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel“Salt Block Cooking is an essential guide to working with salt blocks. It opens readers’ eyes to possibilities never imagined before and gives a unique perspective on a completely new and interactive way to cook. Mr. Bitterman has changed the way I cook every day. He made me understand that salt is the most essential part of the seasoning process and is just as important as the ingredient itself. I encourage you to follow Mr. Bitterman’s lead and I promise you will never think about salt in the same way again.” ––Vitaly Paley, chef/owner of Paley's Place Bistro and Bar, Imperial, and Portland Penny Diner; co-author of The Paley's Place Cookbook

    Now, Vitamix has created a gorgeous companion cookbook to help you enjoy the benefits of a whole foods diet. Here are more than 200 simple, scrumptious, easy-to-prepare recipes that use a blender—most taking less than thirty minutes.The chefs at Vitamix believe that the only way to make lasting, healthy changes to your diet is to enjoy the food you eat. With The Vitamix Cookbook they’ve created mouthwatering food you’ll want everyday: breakfast and brunch, including smoothies, breakfast mains (muffins, breads and scones), pancakes, waffles, egg dishes soups and sides (amazingly, the Vitamix heats the soup while blending it, making it table ready in less than ten minutes!) entrees, including wraps and sandwiches, burgers, pizza, pasta, poultry, meat and seafood sauces and dressings drinks, including nut milks, juices, and even cocktails desserts, including sorbets, ice creams, milkshakes and baked desserts Throughout The Vitamix Cookbook, you’ll find helpful sidebars with inspiring stories of people who have improved their health using their Vitamix, as well as tips for a nutritious whole foods diet.

    Knowing from her own hard-won experience that bread is the greatest loss for the wheat, oats, rye, or barley intolerant, she has experimented with exciting new bean-based flours and now devotes an entire book to breads. Here are yeast breads, yeast-free breads, muffins, rolls, buns, breakfast breads, and crackers-a veritable cornucopia to be made in the oven or the bread machine for people who cannot buy breads at a bakery or supermarket but must rely on their own kitchens to provide the staff of life.Along with dozens of great recipes comes a medical foreword by Peter H. R. Green, M.D., of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University; a beginner's guide to understanding and cooking with gluten-free flours; answers to commonly asked questions about baking with these flours; and a source list of where to buy gluten-free baking supplies. The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread joins Hagman's three previous books, each recognized as the best in this special diet category.

    Enjoy hearty "brinner" dishes like Bacon Fried Rice, Breakfast Ravioli, Pizza over Easy, and Cornmeal Pancakes with Beer-Braised Short Ribs, plus such sweet treats as Sunrise Margaritas and Maple Bacon Cupcakes—to name just a few. This cookbook is a breakfast lover’s dream come true.