An Honest Kitchen – real food that’s good for you

Early in 2009 I joined forces with writer and photographer Lucinda Dodds of Nourish Me to launch the eMagazine An Honest Kitchen. The magazine is all about seasonal food, that tastes delicious and is simply prepared.

Food that’s balanced and made up of ingredients which improve your health, served in realistic portions. Along the way we’ve tried to simplify, cut back on processes, find ways of making the cooking easier and show the food as it really is. Honest food.

An Honest Kitchen is full of simple recipes, practical cooking information and healthy eating advice. The whole publication is illustrated with Lucy’s glorious photographs.

Who should buy An Honest Kitchen?

• People who want to produce a healthy meal at the end of the day, but don’t want to spend hours fussing in the kitchen.
• New cooks who want to make simple, great tasting meals.
• Busy, time-poor people
• People who want to eat more healthy foods, but just don’t know how to do it.

Summer An Honest Kitchen – A$19.95

The Summer issue focuses on hot weather food. There are barbecue recipes, suggestions for the hottest day of the year and ways of using up leftovers, to minimise the cooking. Recipes include:

• Fish Cakes with Ginger and Coriander
• Spiced Lamb Cutlets with Tomatoes and Eggplant
• Baked Ricotta with Tomatoes
• Some very adult ice blocks
• To try before you buy, we have a free extract from Summer available for download. Click here.

Spring An Honest Kitchen – A$19.95

The Spring edition concentrates on what we call Lazy Cooking: making cooking easier and simpler, by freeing yourself up in the kitchen. Recipes include

• Lentil, Parsley and Goat Cheese Salad
• Chilli Chicken Skewers
• A surprising and healthier potato salad
• Berry and Ricotta Tiramisu
• If you want to take a look we have a free extract available for download. Click here.

Winter An Honest Kitchen – A$19.95

In the Winter edition we talk about seasonal eating: which fruit and vegetables are in season; the benefits of eating seasonally; and how to do it. Recipes include:

• Spiced North African Chicken
• Beef with Cauliflower & White Bean Mash
• Lentil, Ricotta and Rocket Tarts
• Wontons & Shiitakes in an Asian Broth
• You can download a free extract from Winter edition, by clicking here.

Winter – Australian edition A$19.95

Winter – International edition A$19.95

In December we also published a revised Winter edition of An Honest Kitchen for our Northern hemisphere readers. While the core material and approach remains the same, we’ve internationalised the terminology, measurements and ingredients. So no more racking your brains over what “coriander” is, or doing complicated calculations to work out the fahrenheit equivalent of 200°C.

About the cost

We realise An Honest Kitchen is more expensive than most magazines. In fact it’s more expensive than many e-Publications sold online.

However, being honest with you, we think it’s worth it.

Firstly, unlike many magazines An Honest Kitchen is advert free. There are no promotions or advertorials; and we don’t take any payments for including products or ingredients. Instead, An Honest Kitchen is 100% independent content – unclouded by advertisers and promoters.

The recipes are put together by myself, a qualified Nutritionist. They are nutritionally balanced and include a wide variety of ingredients. The recipes show ways of prepping vegetables that taste good and how to make the food you eat better for you.

In our recipes we use seasonal ingredients. We know many publications promise seasonal eating. However when you check, the recipes include one or two ingredients which are in season, combined with a whole lot that aren’t. So in the winter An Honest Kitchen you won’t find any tomatoes, asparagus or zucchini. While spring is a pumpkin, sweet potato and parsnip free zone.

It’s a beautiful publication. Lucy is a fantastic photographer, who’s eye for food, light and the season means each issue is a thing of great beauty.

Each publication takes a lot of time to complete. This is not something we cobble together in a few days, instead it’s a lengthy process where recipes are written and tested at least twice by me; Lucy then re-tests each recipe while she photographs them. We also send the document out to friends and colleagues for further comment and testing. This process takes a long time and a lot of hours from Lucy and I, which is reflected in the cost of the publication.

But we think this process is important, because we want the recipes to work, to be simple, and to produce a glorious meal at the end. Something that is healthy, but doesn’t taste too healthy.

Which is why An Honest Kitchen does cost more than many magazines and why we think it’s worth every cent.