Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Imus founded the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology, a program that aims to identify, control and ultimately prevent environmental factors that cause adult and, especially, pediatric cancer. She rounds out this collection of basic vegetarian fare with a lengthy essay about life on the Santa Fe, N.Mex. ranch where she and her husband, radio personality Don Imus, practice "healthy living and healthy cooking" and teach self-reliance and horsemanship to kids who have "known too much sickness and too much death." Imus's diet is "organic, whole-food, ovo vegetarian, meaning that we don't eat dairy or animal products, but we do eat eggs," and she explains it with a rundown of the ranch's organic "vegan pantry." The informal recipes focus on basics like Orange Poppy Seed Muffins and Cowboy Potato Chowder, and fast sandwiches like I-Man Chimichangas. Dinner selections feature nostalgic favorites such as Spanish Rice updated with brown rice and olive oil, and Imus cleans up desserts (including Carrot Cake and Jeannie's All Out Brownies) by substituting unbleached flour and unrefined sugar. In addition to healthy lifestyle prescriptives and thank-you notes from some of the camp's young alumni, Imus includes sidebars on topics ranging from non-toxic head lice remedies to green cleaning agents to the dangers of PVC in children's toys. She ends this informative book with a complete nine-day menu, spanning the average duration of Imus Ranch guests.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
The Imus Ranch transports the reader to a unique place that the author and her husband, talk-show host Don Imus, created: a 4,000-acre working cattle ranch set in rolling hills and mesa country 50 miles east of Santa Fe. The children--who have cancer--visit the Imus Ranch and work alongside authentic western ranch hands, learning to ride horses and rope calves. The experience refuels their bodies and their spirits, and they leave stronger than when they came. As Deirdre Imus explains: 'We welcome kids who have known too much sickness and too much death, and we give them something they urgently need: a sense of in-de-pen-dence and purpose through healthy, vigorous living.'
About the Author
DEIRDRE IMUS, co-founder of the Imus Ranch, is founder of the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center, the first hospital-based program whose mission is to identify, control, and ultimately prevent environmental factors that cause cancer. She lives in Manhattan, Connecticut, and New Mexico.
