Home Page

Autobiography / Biography   Travel / Places   Cooking / Food   Other / General   Crafts / Home Improvement   Humor

Real Women Eat Chiles
by Jane Butel
Northland Publishing
ISBN 0-87358-897-5
Published March 2006 - Hardcover - 194 pages - $21.95

I don't know about "real women" eating chiles - to me, it takes a special kind of person who can eat and enjoy chiles.  However, author Jane Butel says, "My goal in writing this book is to show health-conscious people how chiles do so many good things for our bodies", and "In addition to helping control the desire to overeat, chiles help our bodies burn calories".  She gives a little background to the chile - for example, in Egypt, a mummy had been "buried with several dried whole red chiles".  Chiles were (are) also used to preserve meat, as in jerky.  Also, there are over seven thousand varities of chiles, and reading her words on their healing properties, is extremely interesting.  I'm definitely going to eat more chiles!  They may just become my saving grace.  Jane's dishes using chiles are found under Appetizers; Main Dish Salads; Beef, Pork, & Lamb; Chicken & Turkey; Seafood; Vegetarian; Pizza & Pasta; Soup; Wraps; Complements; Sauces & Salsas, and Desserts.  She says most recipes require an average of about five ingredients and shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes to make.  They include Guacamole; Pinto Pâté (a great idea); Grilled Chicken and Chard Salad; Chicken Rice Salad with Jalapeño Lime Cream Dressing; Aztec Style Pork Chops; Sweetheart Barbecued Chicken; Turkey Chili with a Margarita Splash; Southwestern Barbecue Pizza; Fall Harvest Soup; Creamy Ranch-Style Dressing, and Spicy Hot Chocolate Mousse.  Mouthwatering!  All recipes have nutritional guides and many are beautifully illustrated.  Capsaicin, found in chiles, produces an endorphine rush, much like chocolate does, so now I know why and how the strange combination of chile and chocolate as a dessert came about!  I loved her line, which she shares with her cooking school students, "Chiles act like Drano in our vascular system, augering out plaque that clogs our arteries".
For information on Jane Butel's schools and spices, visit her at: www.janebutel.com or www.pecosvalley.com.
Conclusion - I have to try eating chiles as their benefits, so it seems, far outweigh their getting used to.  Fabulous book.

"I am so proud of and pleased with this book.  My editor, Claudine Randazzo and graphic designer, Katie Jennings really outdid themselves to make this book my most beautiful of the 18 I have previously published.  The healthful information included is extremely helpful for everyone to know.  It is truly amazing how beneficial chiles are to our bodies both inside and out.  Just including chiles in our diets the majority of the time is proven to truly benefit health.  The recipes are all very easy to prepare - using five ingredients on average and requiring about 20 minutes or less to cook and the nutritional information is included for each".  Jane Butel