Cathy Connally's Blog
April 10, 2022
Free Kindle Version of Flavour with Benefits: France
In celebration of one year from launch, April 10 and April 11, 2022 the kindle version of the book is free.
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Kirkus Reviews says "Ingenious, delightfully presented recipes that give a healthy take on French cuisine....Get it!
Click here
..........
Kirkus Reviews says "Ingenious, delightfully presented recipes that give a healthy take on French cuisine....Get it!
Click here
April 9, 2022
Flavour with Benefits: France now on Air Canada
We are pleased to announce that Flavour with Benefits: France audio version is now available on Air Canada flights on the inflight entertainment system.
Thank you Air Canada for this honour. We hope your passengers enjoy a "trip to France" no matter where they may be going.
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Air Canada Inflight Entertainment
Thank you Air Canada for this honour. We hope your passengers enjoy a "trip to France" no matter where they may be going.
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Air Canada Inflight Entertainment
March 16, 2022
Finalist in 2021 Foreword Indie Book Awards
We are so pleased to be a finalist in the travel genre for the 2021 Foreword Indie Book awards . See details.
Flavour with Benefits: France
This whimsical road trip through the French countryside features breathtaking photos of France, touching stories of intrepid women who built the formidable food and beverage industries, accompanied by exceptional food styling and ingenious takes on iconic French favorite recipes. If you cannot escape right now, this book will transport you to France and inspire you to book your next trip. A beautiful gift for those who love to travel and cook...even vicariously.
Flavour with Benefits: France
This whimsical road trip through the French countryside features breathtaking photos of France, touching stories of intrepid women who built the formidable food and beverage industries, accompanied by exceptional food styling and ingenious takes on iconic French favorite recipes. If you cannot escape right now, this book will transport you to France and inspire you to book your next trip. A beautiful gift for those who love to travel and cook...even vicariously.
July 18, 2021
Congratulations to the Winners of the June/July Giveaway
Thank you so much to the great interest in our giveaway of 10 copies of our latest book Flavour with Benefits: France.
The final tally was 6455 people who entered. In recognition of the interest of this contest, we have lowered the price of the hardcover to $24.95 and Ebook on Amazon until July 25 to give people a chance to read the book at the attractive price of $.099.
Of course there is no experience like the hardcover as our many buyers and winners know. The feel of the cover and the book and the top quality printing by Friesens Corp is top notch.
The final tally was 6455 people who entered. In recognition of the interest of this contest, we have lowered the price of the hardcover to $24.95 and Ebook on Amazon until July 25 to give people a chance to read the book at the attractive price of $.099.
Of course there is no experience like the hardcover as our many buyers and winners know. The feel of the cover and the book and the top quality printing by Friesens Corp is top notch.
July 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews: "Flavour with Benefits: France - Ingenious, delightfully presented recipes that give a healthy take on French cuisine."
French food can taste good without the animal products and other dietary no-nos, according to this cookbook-and–gastronomic travelogue.
Connally and Best recount their journey through France from the Champagne region in the northeast down to Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, tasting the regional cuisines and culture and collecting ideas for recipes. Their musings on the tour are haphazard but charming.
They toast the prominence of women among the heads of Veuve Clicquot and other legendary Champagne-makers; recollect a year Connally’s family spent in the city of Metz in Lorraine when she was 5, when she contracted a liver ailment that she cured by eating artichokes; and visit Julia Child’s old haunts in Provence, noting that Child’s first recipe was for a shark repellent used during World War II.
Each chapter culminates in a selection of regionally inspired recipes the authors reengineer to “achieve positive health returns,” mainly by replacing flesh, dairy, and oils with plant-based ingredients. (Connally reports that a similar diet has conferred many health benefits, including “greater sexual vitality.”)
Of the 59 recipes, only three—roasted spatchcocked chicken, coffee-rubbed grilled rib-eye, and sea bass cassis—feature meat or fish, while 43 are straight-up vegan, 35 are gluten free, and 47 are free of even plant oils.
The duo contends that their alternatives to animal-product ingredients are flavorful and great tasting in dishes like cultured cashew “cheese” logs spiced with herbs, crepes made with flaxseed “eggs” and French onion soup with a “beef” broth made from vegetable broth.
(While sugar is allowed, the book suggests replacing it with monk fruit as a sweetener.) A nutrition table accompanies each recipe with data on calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium content.
Connally and Best present the recipes in a clear, easy-to-follow style. Many of them have an intriguing Gallic spin, such as a blueberry cheesecake decorated to mimic van Gogh’s The Starry Night and a confection called “Tétons de Vénus,” a pair of cakes shaped like breasts complete with blueberry nipples.
The book’s sumptuous color photos of food and French towns and landscapes are a visual feast, and the prose is equally evocative. (“The creamy texture coats my tongue,” Connally recalls of a cheesecake at a Provencal restaurant. “Something is building. I can feel it. Then it happens. I am not sure whether the creamy filling is getting my attention, or the dripping blackcurrant sauce bursting with tiny wild blueberries, or the sweet, nutty almond date crust, but it’s magnificent….The only thing more pleasurable would be eating it in the arms of a lover.”)
And yet, something seems naggingly un-French about the culinary philosophy behind such recipes as Vive la France Cheesecake, which features a filling of “plant-based yoghurt,” ”plant-based cream cheese,” and 300 grams of non-GMO tofu, and sports saturated-fat levels “75% lower than a traditional cheesecake.” Still, readers seeking well-considered vegetarian-ish versions of French classics will love Connally and Best’s cookery.
Ingenious, delightfully presented recipes that give a healthy take on French cuisine.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Connally and Best recount their journey through France from the Champagne region in the northeast down to Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, tasting the regional cuisines and culture and collecting ideas for recipes. Their musings on the tour are haphazard but charming.
They toast the prominence of women among the heads of Veuve Clicquot and other legendary Champagne-makers; recollect a year Connally’s family spent in the city of Metz in Lorraine when she was 5, when she contracted a liver ailment that she cured by eating artichokes; and visit Julia Child’s old haunts in Provence, noting that Child’s first recipe was for a shark repellent used during World War II.
Each chapter culminates in a selection of regionally inspired recipes the authors reengineer to “achieve positive health returns,” mainly by replacing flesh, dairy, and oils with plant-based ingredients. (Connally reports that a similar diet has conferred many health benefits, including “greater sexual vitality.”)
Of the 59 recipes, only three—roasted spatchcocked chicken, coffee-rubbed grilled rib-eye, and sea bass cassis—feature meat or fish, while 43 are straight-up vegan, 35 are gluten free, and 47 are free of even plant oils.
The duo contends that their alternatives to animal-product ingredients are flavorful and great tasting in dishes like cultured cashew “cheese” logs spiced with herbs, crepes made with flaxseed “eggs” and French onion soup with a “beef” broth made from vegetable broth.
(While sugar is allowed, the book suggests replacing it with monk fruit as a sweetener.) A nutrition table accompanies each recipe with data on calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium content.
Connally and Best present the recipes in a clear, easy-to-follow style. Many of them have an intriguing Gallic spin, such as a blueberry cheesecake decorated to mimic van Gogh’s The Starry Night and a confection called “Tétons de Vénus,” a pair of cakes shaped like breasts complete with blueberry nipples.
The book’s sumptuous color photos of food and French towns and landscapes are a visual feast, and the prose is equally evocative. (“The creamy texture coats my tongue,” Connally recalls of a cheesecake at a Provencal restaurant. “Something is building. I can feel it. Then it happens. I am not sure whether the creamy filling is getting my attention, or the dripping blackcurrant sauce bursting with tiny wild blueberries, or the sweet, nutty almond date crust, but it’s magnificent….The only thing more pleasurable would be eating it in the arms of a lover.”)
And yet, something seems naggingly un-French about the culinary philosophy behind such recipes as Vive la France Cheesecake, which features a filling of “plant-based yoghurt,” ”plant-based cream cheese,” and 300 grams of non-GMO tofu, and sports saturated-fat levels “75% lower than a traditional cheesecake.” Still, readers seeking well-considered vegetarian-ish versions of French classics will love Connally and Best’s cookery.
Ingenious, delightfully presented recipes that give a healthy take on French cuisine.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
May 6, 2021
April 23, 2021
Reviews are in for Flavour with Benefits: France
NUMBER ONE NEW RELEASE ON AMAZON including Gourmet Cooking, Travel Tips, Solo Travel, European Travel Photography and Tourist Destinations and Museums in April, 2021.
We are so pleased to see the reviews for our new book, Flavour with Benefits: France. We worked to strike a balance between, beautiful enticing food, intriguing stories of audacious women set in the world’s number one travel destination: France. Thank you to everyone who has read the book and thank you to those who have posted a review.
Here are some of the headlines on Amazon sites around the world, so far:
"The Most Delicious Book!"
"This Book has it all: Fascinating Stories, Gorgeous Photos and Healthy Food"
"Gorgeous pictures, delicious food!"
"France – Passion abounds with Food"
"The Next Best Thing to Being in France!"
"A very human tale about is and our relationship with food"
"Stunning photography and fantastic story telling"
"Easy enjoyable read…great recipes that offer a tempting taste of France"
"A love affair with France"
Your comments are quite humbling. It is indeed a love letter to France along with some new takes on food that never sacrifice on flavour or health. It is so much fun to hear on social media that you are trying the recipes and loving them.
Many years in the making, as all you authors know, we were concerned about every detail. We wanted to share our food journey for the past two years and let people know that you can take control of your food portfolio. You can be healthy and never sacrifice flavour. Food should be a source of pleasure and nourishment. The book works to achieve both.
One of my favourite recipes is The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. I posted the one from the book on Instagram. But one adventurous person, Emily Ko did her rendition. I love it. She even ate it for breakfast. Vincent would approve.
We hope to see more posts of the recipes. But most of all, please enjoy the book until we can travel freely. You can find me on Instagram @flavourwithbenefits and Facebook flavourwithbenefits.
You can also check out latest blog entry on ThriveGlobal Does your food portfolio give you positive returns
