What do you think?
Rate this book
Minze, Salbei, Rose: Rezepte mit Kräutern und Blüten
Rare Book
Paperback
Published December 18, 2017
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 10, 2017
This wonderful and unique book will inspire you to wander around a local farmer’s market and try everything! A very different kind of cookbook, Kale & Caramel is a resource gem! Filled with lovely photos and unique recipes for meals, beverages, and skincare, Kale & Caramel focuses on fresh veggies as perfect for summer cooking when you’re craving lighter meals. Lily Diamond’s love of nature comes through on each page and her ingenious ingredient pairings will leave you surprised and intrigued. Even if you don’t make any of the recipes, just looking through the pages and images is relaxing and uplifting. We highly recommend reading Lily Diamond’s personal journey through life in all of its facets of happiness and heartbreak, bitter and sweet—kale and caramel.
June 9, 2018
The recipes are really interesting and yummy sounding, but there is so much annoying unnecessary autobio shit in this book. I just wanted to read recipes, not pseudo-science and to read this total strangers boring and pretentious memoir.
September 7, 2020
I love the idea of this book. I bought it sight unseen and also bought a copy for my sister. To my disappointment most of the recipes don't work very well at all. (as opposed to her blog recipes which I've never had issues with). There is also an embarrassing amount of stories about sex, which given the tone of the blog I was totally not expecting. I'll probably give this away.
May 9, 2017
So those of you thinking that this book is about Kale recipes you are in for something far more wonderful. The point of her book is that whatever you put in your body should be natural and pure enough to use on the outside of your body and vice versa. I really appreciate her approach because when my three-year-old daughter was “helping” me to make the Citrus Blossom Sugar Brightening Scrub I had no reservations when she wanted to lick the “paddle” (her word for spatula. She thought it tasted “fantastic” in case you’re wondering). This was also the first time I had ever made a beauty product — natural or otherwise. Maybe it’s because I’m really cheap but the only things I use are a bar of Dove and Witch hazel but since trying her scrub I can’t wait to try some of her other beauty recipes. What I really loved about the scrub is that when the scrub had done it’s job, the coconut oil (an ingredient in the scrub) helped to moisturize my skin leaving it looking bright and dewy. It also felt really nice to take the time and relax in the shower — I know people swear by meditation but this scrub really takes relaxation to another level.
Each chapter in the cookbook is organized by different aromatics — herbs as well as flowers. All of the herbs I am familiar with: Basil, Cilantro, Fennel, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme. However I had never used (or purchased before the book) most of the floral ingredients: Lavender, Jasmine, Rose, and Orange Blossom. She does a really good job explaining how to source ingredients and how to store them properly (which I discovered that many of the tender herbs I was purchasing had been ill-stored. Tender herbs should be treated as you would a “bouquet of flowers” in case you’re wondering). Trust me — some of these ingredients sound exotic but were easy to find at the grocery store ( orange blossom and rose waters can be found in the international section of many grocery chains, and I was able to get edible rose petals for $7.50/oz at a local natural store here in Halifax). In her book she addresses the issue of cost directly and I felt she really appreciates that home cooks will try these recipes so that ingredients have been mindfully chosen and used well.
I found the recipes in Kale & Caramel to be easy to execute, and each dish with a remarkable taste all it’s own. The very first recipe I tried was the Butter Lettuce w/ Herbes de Provence Vinaigrette — as I typed that my mouth watered slightly at the memory of the delicate, slightly sweet lettuce, the beautiful aroma of lavender shining through the mixture of herbs, with the unmistakable umami of the dressing. A very different experience than the one eating her Blood Orange and Fennel Salad w/ Oil-Cured Olives. The distinctness of the anise flavour of the fennel really works well with the sweet, slightly sour blood orange and the dull saltiness of the olives. Bold flavours in both recipes but with unique pairings and flavour-profiles.
The book is full of mostly vegetarian recipes (cheese, dairy, and eggs are used). For some of the recipes — such as the ice creams — there really aren’t any appropriate substitutions you could make to create a vegan equivalent but for recipes (such as the White Bean Yogurt Dip w/ Warm Citrus Olives & Herby Flatbread pictured below) you can easily use a dairy-free yogurt or omit the cheese component. Most of these recipes lend themselves to flexibility and she does take the time to label those recipes which are vegan.
Getting back to her wonderful writing style — somehow my descriptions of the dishes pale in comparison to the descriptions Diamond gives in the recipe headers. With words and phrases like: exquisite, alchemy of flavor, and nuance, she has a real gift for describing food in a way that just sounds magical. Maybe it was growing up on Maui — salt, wet sand, emerald strands of luminescent seaweed,…shining black lava, …Ocean, sky, the scent of plumeria (p.5)– doesn’t that sound like magic to you? Or maybe it was the influence of her parents, whom she so lovingly talks about in her introduction. With the sad passing of her mother (who wrote Living With Flowers) I can’t help but feel that this cookbook is a bit of an ode to the love between a child and a mother. Feeling her loss acutely, Diamond speaks about her mother often. I can’t image her loss but her emotion is another component found in each ingredient, recipe, and anecdote in her book. If ever there was a pulsing heart to be found within the pages of a book, surely, Kale and Caramel displays this heart on every page.
It seems that each recipe can be traced back to different people who have impacted her on her journey of self-discovery. I thought of Diamond and her mother and admired how she wove her spirituality into the Orange Blossom Pistachio Milk recipe — as she says, Orange blossom is, for me, the way to spirit conversations rooted here om earth. (p. 231) After making the milk I used it to make a simple chia pudding topped with her signature cacao nib – rose petal sprinkles (the recipe for the sprinkles can also be found in the book). There is something about this florally-perfumed pudding that really felt soothing. I think that this is a really beautiful and unique book that appeals to a desire to create and enjoy. When I shared this book at a playgroup get-together I know the other moms were very curious and excited about the uses of herbs and florals in unexpected ways (many also thought it would make an excellent Mother’s Day present). Personally, I think her book lends itself perfectly to a Cookbook Club — intelligent and beautiful prose, delicious recipes. For whatever reason you choose to add this book to your collection, I know I’m excited to continue exploring her recipes.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Atria Books and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
(This review is an excerpt of a longer review posted on www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com)
Each chapter in the cookbook is organized by different aromatics — herbs as well as flowers. All of the herbs I am familiar with: Basil, Cilantro, Fennel, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme. However I had never used (or purchased before the book) most of the floral ingredients: Lavender, Jasmine, Rose, and Orange Blossom. She does a really good job explaining how to source ingredients and how to store them properly (which I discovered that many of the tender herbs I was purchasing had been ill-stored. Tender herbs should be treated as you would a “bouquet of flowers” in case you’re wondering). Trust me — some of these ingredients sound exotic but were easy to find at the grocery store ( orange blossom and rose waters can be found in the international section of many grocery chains, and I was able to get edible rose petals for $7.50/oz at a local natural store here in Halifax). In her book she addresses the issue of cost directly and I felt she really appreciates that home cooks will try these recipes so that ingredients have been mindfully chosen and used well.
I found the recipes in Kale & Caramel to be easy to execute, and each dish with a remarkable taste all it’s own. The very first recipe I tried was the Butter Lettuce w/ Herbes de Provence Vinaigrette — as I typed that my mouth watered slightly at the memory of the delicate, slightly sweet lettuce, the beautiful aroma of lavender shining through the mixture of herbs, with the unmistakable umami of the dressing. A very different experience than the one eating her Blood Orange and Fennel Salad w/ Oil-Cured Olives. The distinctness of the anise flavour of the fennel really works well with the sweet, slightly sour blood orange and the dull saltiness of the olives. Bold flavours in both recipes but with unique pairings and flavour-profiles.
The book is full of mostly vegetarian recipes (cheese, dairy, and eggs are used). For some of the recipes — such as the ice creams — there really aren’t any appropriate substitutions you could make to create a vegan equivalent but for recipes (such as the White Bean Yogurt Dip w/ Warm Citrus Olives & Herby Flatbread pictured below) you can easily use a dairy-free yogurt or omit the cheese component. Most of these recipes lend themselves to flexibility and she does take the time to label those recipes which are vegan.
Getting back to her wonderful writing style — somehow my descriptions of the dishes pale in comparison to the descriptions Diamond gives in the recipe headers. With words and phrases like: exquisite, alchemy of flavor, and nuance, she has a real gift for describing food in a way that just sounds magical. Maybe it was growing up on Maui — salt, wet sand, emerald strands of luminescent seaweed,…shining black lava, …Ocean, sky, the scent of plumeria (p.5)– doesn’t that sound like magic to you? Or maybe it was the influence of her parents, whom she so lovingly talks about in her introduction. With the sad passing of her mother (who wrote Living With Flowers) I can’t help but feel that this cookbook is a bit of an ode to the love between a child and a mother. Feeling her loss acutely, Diamond speaks about her mother often. I can’t image her loss but her emotion is another component found in each ingredient, recipe, and anecdote in her book. If ever there was a pulsing heart to be found within the pages of a book, surely, Kale and Caramel displays this heart on every page.
It seems that each recipe can be traced back to different people who have impacted her on her journey of self-discovery. I thought of Diamond and her mother and admired how she wove her spirituality into the Orange Blossom Pistachio Milk recipe — as she says, Orange blossom is, for me, the way to spirit conversations rooted here om earth. (p. 231) After making the milk I used it to make a simple chia pudding topped with her signature cacao nib – rose petal sprinkles (the recipe for the sprinkles can also be found in the book). There is something about this florally-perfumed pudding that really felt soothing. I think that this is a really beautiful and unique book that appeals to a desire to create and enjoy. When I shared this book at a playgroup get-together I know the other moms were very curious and excited about the uses of herbs and florals in unexpected ways (many also thought it would make an excellent Mother’s Day present). Personally, I think her book lends itself perfectly to a Cookbook Club — intelligent and beautiful prose, delicious recipes. For whatever reason you choose to add this book to your collection, I know I’m excited to continue exploring her recipes.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Atria Books and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing me with a free, review copy of this book. I did not receive monetary compensation for my post, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
(This review is an excerpt of a longer review posted on www.shipshapeeatworthy.wordpress.com)
April 26, 2024
How did she do this? To write so powerfully about loss and light and the determination to build a beautiful life. It’s joyful and deep and light… it travels so far and over so many tastes and textures and smells… it’s generous and so vivid. And wow do I want to eat everything and spray my hair with fragrance and wash my face with honey. Grateful for this cookbook memoir.
December 6, 2017
Rally lovely book with beautiful photos and unusual recipes. I've not made any yet but hope to try Black Bean and Sage roasted butternut squash quesadillas, matcha coconut cream parfait, and chocolate chia mousse. Yum.
May 8, 2017
Yes. This is the loveliest book. The recipes are grouped by herb. I alwayssss have issues with an over abundance of herbs and this has the most amazing and different ways to use them up.
May 21, 2018
Delicious!
December 28, 2018
I liked how the book was structured by herb - all basil recipes, all mint recipes, etc. - and I especially liked the mix of food and homemade beauty product recipes. Lovely photography as well.
January 19, 2019
Still need to try the recipes, but enjoyed the memoir feel of this book and inclusion of beauty DIY and non-alcoholic drink recipes. Beautifully composed book.
November 23, 2019
Lovely book, as much for its recipes and remedies as for the very personal story of herself that the author shares.
February 12, 2020
Neat book divided into several herbs and a few flowers. Recipes for food using the highlighted herb and then skin care recipes.
May 24, 2018
I will probably never make any of these recipes, but the photographs are beautiful!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews