Weekend Cooking: The Back in the Swing Cookbook
After Barbara Unell was treated for breast cancer, she thought she would be treated for the side effects of her treatments, to get her “back in the swing” of life but, found herself dismissed by her doctors instead. She asked:
How do I improve and protect my health and reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. . . how do I get back in the swing?
The lack of answers she received was a call for action to her. She founded the organization Back in the Swing USA to help breast cancer survivors live their best lives. Unell recruited Judith Fertig to help her write The Back in the Swing Cookbook. Don’t let the subtitle, Recipes for Eating and Living Well Every Day After Breast Cancer fool you. This book is for everyone who wants to eat a healthier diet and lead a healthier lifestyle. Not only does it include delicious, easy, healthy recipes – it also includes tips for healthier living. Both the recipes and tips are simple and easy to live with.
The recipes in this book are lean-protein, low-fat, and, for the most part, plant based and most of them appeal to me. They all contain caloric and dietary information. There are beautiful photographs for some of the recipes, but not all. I want to try so many of them, including the Celebration Chocolate Cake, the Bountiful Breakfast Strata, and the Cheese Tortellini with Artichoke-Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. I decided to try the Parisian Raspberry and Blue Cheese Salad and it was simple and absolutely delicious! I made a big plate for me and another for Carl and he wanted more! I will definitely be making this one again! If you’re looking for a cookbook that promotes a healthier lifestyle, you can’t go wrong with The Back in the Swing Cookbook!
Parisian Raspberry and Blue Cheese Salad
4 cups baby spinach
4 cups boneless, skinless chicken breasts, Gardein, or firm tofu, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh raspberries
1 cup raspberry vinaigrette
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese or feta cheese or toasted walnuts (I used blue cheese)
Arrange the spinach on four large plates. Top with chicken and scatter with raspberries. Drizzle with the vinaigrette, then top with cheese and serve.
Raspberry Vinaigrette
1 cup fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
3 tablespoons vegetable or chicken broth (I used chicken)
3 tablespoons red wine or raspberry vinegar (I used raspberry)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
- Combine the raspberries, shallots, broth, vinegar, honey, mustard, garlic, and olive oil in a food processor or blender and puree.
- Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl to remove the seeds; discard the solids in the sieve. Season with salt and pepper.
- Use right away or transfer to a glass jar with a lid. This keeps, covered, in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Simply shake to blend.
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.
It looks like a beautiful cookbook. The strawberry salad looks beautiful. I would want to try the Celebration Chocolate cake too.
That salad sounds wonderful! And I love the cover and the concept. I’m always looking for healthy recipes!
This sounds wonderful! I find I am drawn more and more to plant based meals and love new ways to prepare healthy and delicious food.
Hi Kathy. Thank you for bringing this book to my attention. A good friend of ours is having surgery next week as part of her treatment for breast cancer and I think this cookbook and a meal from it would be a perfect recovery gift. Off to find the cookbook
I love this cookbook too! I’ll be reviewing it soon. I agree, it’s not just for women recovering from breast cancer but for everyone who wants to eat healthful and delicious food.
OMG…this one sounds and looks amazing! With Matt’s diabetes I am now looking for better meals to prepare and ones that will pull you in visually too! I will be trying this one!
I’ve had that salad in a restaurant and loved it. I’m happy to see a recipe for it. I’ll have to look for this book. Plant-based recipes always appeal to me.
It looks wonderful!! (sounds good too)
Oh I must get this! And I love that salad – I’ve also had it with pieces of chopped pear added, which goes great with the blue cheese!
This looks healthy and marvelous.
That salad is beautiful and sounds delicious too (although I’d have to leave out the mustard from the dressing.) I thought this cookbook had lots of wonderful recipes.
This salad sounds and look absolutely delicious – not something I would have thought of combining, for sure! We’ve been collecting a few cooking books recently and I think this one might interest us. Thanks for the review!
I could live on nothing but blue cheese. I love the whole idea of this cookbook. I’m going to have to play with it if the library has it on their shelves.
It’s sad to me that the healthcare industry left her hanging but I am glad to hear she found the courage to find the help that she needed in other places. This cookbook looks amazing!
Oooo – that salad looks delicious. I think the reasoning behind this cookbook is inspiring, and it’s absolutely horrible that she had to shift for herself during recovery! I wasn’t aware that that was the modus operandi of the medical establishment.
The dressing alone ounds yummy!
Here’s to eating healthy!
Definitely a book I will look for! That salad looks yummy!
This looks like a wonderful cookbook and that the author turned her own experience into something positive is inspiring. I am not a fan of blue cheese so it was nice to see feta cheese as a substitute.
Sounds like a salad I’ve been eating most days for lunch in an effort to get more iron. I add avocado in addition to the rest but I use bottled dressing. Will have to try this–wonder how long it keeps for. The tortellini sounds fantastic, too!
The book sounds great and that salad looks fantastic!
I like that these recipes are healthy and tasty too.
Sounds good..except I hate blue cheese of any variety.
My husband and I have been looking for healthier recipes and these sound good. I appreciate your review because I probably wouldn’t have given this one a second look.
Looks like a great cookbook. I’m always looking for more creative salad ideas, and love the idea of raspberries and walnuts in a salad. Yum! Thanks for sharing.
I am always looking for a new way to fit in healthy foods, and this book sounds like it’s just the thing I have been looking for. I love the idea of that salad, but I would probably substitute the blue cheese for feta. I don’t really like the strong flavor of the blue. Very nice review today, and by the way, I love your plates!
This cookbook sounds worth checking out. The food in the pictures look yummy!
Yum. yum. I LOVE blue cheese so that salad is calling my name!
What a great idea for a cookbook. That salad looks delicious!