Book Review: Inspiralized by Ali Maffucci

This is a really fun cookbook. When I first came across it, I thought every dish would be raw, as most spiralizing recipes are. I bought my spiralizer several years ago to add some new textures to raw dishes and a new way to eat veggies and fruits - something fun and different. I had seen zucchini "noodles" at a holistic expo and was so captivated by how tasty they were, I went and ordered one on Amazon almost as soon as I got home.

Those "noodles" were raw and intended for a raw, vegan audience. This is what I was expecting from Inspiralized. But what I found was so much more. There isn't much that Ali Maffucci won't spiralize - zucchini, butternut squash, potatoes, celery root, cucumbers, kohlrabi, apples, even broccoli stalks (something I just tried last night and it worked great)! The list goes on and she has probably tried just about every different fruit or veggie to spiralize, making the workload easier for all of us. And it's all in her new cookbook.

Vegan Buffalo Cauliflower with Sweet Potato Noodles

The book includes a little bit of her story, how to set up your kitchen, detailed instructions on how to spiralize different kinds of fruits and vegetables, options for healthy ingredients, and oodles of noodles. She wanted to keep the recipes as healthy as possible, so she has eliminated milk, butter, sugar and most of the gluten. She specifies which meals are completely gluten-free and the level of difficulty in creating them. Her correlating website, Inspiralized.com, is chock-full of videos, more recipes, instructions, and the infamous spiralizer that she created that's now for sale.

The most fun part of her book is that many of the "noodles" or "rice" dishes are cooked. I hadn't seen this before and when I had tried it in the past, the veggies fell apart. Still delicious, but no longer a noodle. I love that Ali has mastered this part and is sharing it with all of us. And yes, it works. My broccoli stalk noodles came out awesome.

Spicy Spiralized Shoe String Jicama Fries

I am definitely inspiralized by her this book and can't wait to try more of the dishes. If you want to add more fun to your meals, as well as health and vitality, this book is definitely worth a try. As it turns out, spiralizing has been commonplace in Asia for quite some time to add beauty, texture, and interest to dishes. I completely agree. It's a lot of fun and the product comes out delicious. After you decide what kind of spiralizer you'd like (which to me is about size and storage - as they are both easy to use and get the job done), get to it and have some fun!

Happy spiralizing!

*This book was given to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.