Photo courtesy of page street publishing, co.

So, this book finally happened.

Simone Miller of zenbelly and Jennifer Robins of Predominately Paleo teamed up to bring us what seemed impossible: A successful paleo cookbook focused on Jewish food called The New Yiddish Kitchen. Don't let the title or cuisine deter you, though - their promotional hashtag #NotJustForJews had made it pretty clear that everyone can enjoy this publication.

And they obviously have! The first thing that seemed to break social media about this book is the bagels. Or should I say BAE-gels? Get it? Get it but just think I'm not funny? Whatever. My wordplays are awesome and you're no fun if you disagree. KIDDING... kind of.

Back to the point of this post: Miller and Robins produced a piece of art with this one. Both women are leaders in the paleo community. Miller runs a highly successful gluten-free catering company in San Francisco, with a blog connected to it to share new recipes with followers. Robins blogs over at Predominately Paleo and is the author of Down South Paleo, The New Yiddish Kitchen, and will be releasing her third title in September, called Paleo Kids Cookbook. She states that she never knew how to cook until her health turned for the worse and she had to transition to a grain-free lifestyle that ultimately saved her wellbeing. Well, she's certainly done a great job of turning something bad into something great!

The photography is so stunning I think I sleep-tried to eat one of the pages (yes I fell asleep with this book in my bed one night because I do things like read cookbooks before bed but also have exhaustion because #college). There are plenty of unique recipes besides the bagels, too - including Dairy-Free Butter (that isn't ghee. WHAT?), Chocolate-Covered Matzo, and Challah French Toast.

While there are unique gems throughout this book, another thing that makes it stand out to me is that the more popular recipes all have several variations to them. There are 3 variations on Matzo balls, 5 different bagel recipes (including an AIP one! Hooray!), and 2 Matzo formulas that can be used in 4 other recipes later in the book. Talk about versatility with a few ingredients!

The section that most surprised me was that there is an entire chapter devoted to deli fare. As in sandwiches. As in something that "paleo people" don't usually eat. This is the first paleo cookbook I've seen that had such a solid bread section, with recipes so versatile in it, that the authors were then able to take those foundations to create a whole sandwich chapter. Miller and Robins truly strived to be authentic in their writing and achieved that one hundred percent, in my opinion. I'm sure it helped that the two grew up on these foods and knew what they were designing when writing it all out, but there's a reason paleo-friendly versions of these recipes didn't exist before now. They are damn hard to make according to food allergens while still maintaining the authenticity of these foods' tradition. Miller and Robins ought to be very proud of what they have produced here.

If you'd like to order a copy, The New Yiddish Kitchen is available now on Amazon.

Oh yes - they're also letting me share a recipe, straight from the book! Give it a shot while you wait for your copy of The New Yiddish Kitchen to come in the mail.

Creamsicle Macaroons

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 25-30 minutes Total time: 35-40 minutes

Yield: 18 cookies

Directions

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites until medium peaks form.
In a large bowl, combine the shredded coconut, coconut milk, honey, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla and salt.
Fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Using a small ice cream scoop with a lever, or two spoons, drop the mixture onto a cookie sheet, about 2 Tbsp (30 ml) in each.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown on the edges. Allow them to cool before removing from the pan.

2 egg whites

12 oz (340 g) unsweetened shredded coconut

1 (14-oz [414-ml]) can full-fat coconut milk

1/4 cup (60 ml) honey

Zest of one orange (about 1/2 Tbsp [7 ml])

1 Tbsp (15 ml) orange juice

2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract

Pinch salt