Growing at the Speed of Life by Graham Kerr

Remember the Galloping Gourmet tv show? I do. Graham Kerr's was a popular cooking show in the 1970s,decades before they became ubiquitous.

In the preface of this new book, Growing at the Speed of Life, he says that Weight Watchers gave him an award for his cooking and recipes, but not the good kind of award.

Now in his late 70s and with some pretty dramatic health scares behind him and his wife, Kerr is fully into gardening and eating well.

I received a review copy of the book and have enjoyed reading through the recipes over the past week. Tomorrow I'm preparing one for supper.

When Kerr stepped away from the butter and started his own garden, he learned the satisfactions and joys of growing food, building his soil with compost, and putting up a little greenhouse. The first 60-pages cover his journey of learning and applying what he learned.

The book is arranged by plant name, starting with apple, and ending with turnips. Over the course of 300 pages, sixty fruits and vegetables are covered, followed by herbs you can grow and use in the kitchen.

For example, lettuce
The types of lettuce are defined, growing tips provided, and then 2 pages of recipes follow, for lettuce soup, mesclun salad and romaine salad.

Kerr gardens in Washington state so his gardening tips are slanted toward their weather, not southern gardens, but the big appeal of the book is the recipes for how to grow and then deliciously use what we grow.

Bonus: In the back there is a set of recipes for ethnic seasonings such as Poland, Shanghai, Thailand, etc.

Watch the video clip of Kerr on Rachel Ray's show = click here.

Published by Penguin, the paperback has an easy to read layout and typeface. $18 list price.