Keto Celebrations

by Mary Alexander

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Keto Celebrations is a tutorial and resource guide plus recipe collection by Mary Alexander. Due out 14th July 2020 from Callisto on their Rockridge Press imprint, it's 232 pages (for the print copy) and available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook is available now). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

The introduction covers the basics of keto cooking and essential accessories as well as an intro to the keto lifestyle/diet, including a basic primer on ketosis, macronutrients, tips, ingredients, tools, supplies, and how-to. The following chapters include the recipes arranged roughly by calendar year: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Each season includes numerous celebratory holidays and mealtimes like Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Father's Day, Rosh Hashanah, Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, all the 'major' American holiday highlights as well as a fair number of others which are part of the LatinX, Jewish or other calendars. I found the recipes inclusive and varied.

Ingredient measurements are supplied in American standard measurements only. There's no conversion chart for metric measures included. The nutritional information: fat, carbs, protein, fiber content, macronutrients, etc are listed for the recipes as well as serving sizes. Each recipe has a header with special labels such as nut-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, with a short description of the recipe and approximate prep-times. Extra tips or recipe alternatives are listed in text boxes in the recipes. The recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and are made for the most part with easily sourced ingredients (not all though, sweeteners for example, will likely need to be sourced from specialists). Many are very simple, none of them are overly complex.

The photography is not abundant; most of the recipes are not illustrated, but the photographs which are included are clear and well done. I wish there had been more photographs and serving suggestions, but I do understand that extra photography increases the price of book projects very quickly and the lack is not crippling because this is a fairly simple recipe collection.

This is a nice and varied collection of recipes and even allowing for the fact that some of them are very similar to others in the same category, this will keep keto-cooks going for ages. The resource list includes interactive links to a number of relevant online resources.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes