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alisarae's review
5.0
Love this cookbook because it has a lot of prep options to make weeknight meals fast. I modify the recipes to include beans and rice, and all the recipes are naturally gluten free--essential for a cookbook to be useful for me. Will probably end up buying this one.
maryanneross's review
5.0
Whether you follow a Whole 30 lifestyle, you're doing your first reset, or you have have some resets under your belt, this book has great recipes. In fact, I would recommend it for anyone, no matter what kind of diet they follow, perhaps barring vegans or vegetarians. The book also contains beautiful photos and the recipes are all easy to follow.
sci_mom's review
3.0
I love this cookbook! My husband and I have been on the Whole 30 Program for about 3 weeks now with amazing results. My allergies have improved significantly, his heartburn is gone, and both of our backs feel significantly better, not to mention our clothes fit better now. I expected it to be hard to follow, but with recipes I found online, collected from friends, and those in this cookbook, it has actually been fairly easy. I am looking forward to reintroduction as much to find out what foods cause our issues as to add dairy and some grains back into our diet!
I do agree with others who have commented that it is expensive to eat this way if you are trying to try these recipes, but the plan itself is easy to follow and you can keep costs down if you keep it simple (fish, chicken, veggies, some fruit, and healthy fats). I think this cookbook is still worthwhile, though, just substitute the expensive/hard-to-find ingredients with their cheaper counterparts (e.g. coconut aminos replace with soy sauce or cream instead of coconut milk). The recipes really are very good. So far, my favorite is the easy Greek lemon potatoes; they taste just like potatoes we used to get at our favorite Greek restaurant that closed several years ago.
I do agree with others who have commented that it is expensive to eat this way if you are trying to try these recipes, but the plan itself is easy to follow and you can keep costs down if you keep it simple (fish, chicken, veggies, some fruit, and healthy fats). I think this cookbook is still worthwhile, though, just substitute the expensive/hard-to-find ingredients with their cheaper counterparts (e.g. coconut aminos replace with soy sauce or cream instead of coconut milk). The recipes really are very good. So far, my favorite is the easy Greek lemon potatoes; they taste just like potatoes we used to get at our favorite Greek restaurant that closed several years ago.
lagobond's review
5.0
We've been cooking our way through this book, and what a delicious journey it's been. So far we've made:
Good Stuff
Piquillo Pepper Chicken Patties on Grilled Eggplant with Caramelized Fennel Mayo; Bison Burgers with Roasted Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Shallots. These two recipes were reasonably tasty, but too fussy for the result and therefore not worth a repeat. The "confetti" chicken patties were very pretty. Only the fennel mayo and the crispy shallots have been added to our family cookbook.
Great Stuff
Apricot-Stuffed Pork Chops with Arugula Pesto (we took the "spicy" out of the recipe and added a side of sauteed cabbage); Jicama Street Tacos with Barbacoa (this tastes died-and-gone-to-heaven-good), Salmon-Avocado Salad; Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (who knew raw cabbage could turn into manna from heaven); Thai Red Beef Curry; Classic Pork Meatballs/Italian Meatball Soup (both of these are perfect comfort food). The Pork and Tomatillo Stew also made it into our recipe collection, however we use half a habanero because jalapeños aren't our thing; also we remove the habanero before blending the flavorings because the stew is inedibly (!) spicy otherwise.
If you've read this far, you might find it interesting that we chose our recipes randomly (by picking a page number or just opening the book to a random page). So there's no pre-screening happening, and yet everything we've made (except for the weapon of mass-destruction that was round 1 of the "Blended Habanero Soup") has been tasty. Fun cookbook with nice little intros of the various contributing cookbook authors. Mouthwatering photos, too.
This is a keeper, and I can't wait to check out Melissa Hartwig's other cookbooks.
Update (January 2022): The Asian Sesame Chicken Salad and the Classic Pork Meatballs/Italian Meatball Soup have become staples at our house. Always delicious. We are now on round 2 of recipe-testing. Results below.
Churrasco Skirt Steak with Grilled Tomatoes and Cilantro Sauce: way too much clean-up for what's basically steak with garnish. Also, the whole thing tasted noticeably bitter. The bitterness came partly from the meat itself and partly from the cilantro sauce (I'm guessing because the recipe calls for using olive oil in a food processor, which can cause the oil to become bitter; but perhaps it had something to do with the parsley). The grilled tomatoes were yummy and really added to the other flavors, but overall this recipe wasn't good enough for a repeat.
Pan-Seared Scallops with Bacon over Braised Swiss Chard: The dark, heavy flavor profile completely overpowers the poor scallops. Overall this dish was edible, but certainly nothing to write home about.
Good Stuff
Piquillo Pepper Chicken Patties on Grilled Eggplant with Caramelized Fennel Mayo; Bison Burgers with Roasted Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Shallots. These two recipes were reasonably tasty, but too fussy for the result and therefore not worth a repeat. The "confetti" chicken patties were very pretty. Only the fennel mayo and the crispy shallots have been added to our family cookbook.
Great Stuff
Apricot-Stuffed Pork Chops with Arugula Pesto (we took the "spicy" out of the recipe and added a side of sauteed cabbage); Jicama Street Tacos with Barbacoa (this tastes died-and-gone-to-heaven-good), Salmon-Avocado Salad; Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (who knew raw cabbage could turn into manna from heaven); Thai Red Beef Curry; Classic Pork Meatballs/Italian Meatball Soup (both of these are perfect comfort food). The Pork and Tomatillo Stew also made it into our recipe collection, however we use half a habanero because jalapeños aren't our thing; also we remove the habanero before blending the flavorings because the stew is inedibly (!) spicy otherwise.
If you've read this far, you might find it interesting that we chose our recipes randomly (by picking a page number or just opening the book to a random page). So there's no pre-screening happening, and yet everything we've made (except for the weapon of mass-destruction that was round 1 of the "Blended Habanero Soup") has been tasty. Fun cookbook with nice little intros of the various contributing cookbook authors. Mouthwatering photos, too.
This is a keeper, and I can't wait to check out Melissa Hartwig's other cookbooks.
Update (January 2022): The Asian Sesame Chicken Salad and the Classic Pork Meatballs/Italian Meatball Soup have become staples at our house. Always delicious. We are now on round 2 of recipe-testing. Results below.
Churrasco Skirt Steak with Grilled Tomatoes and Cilantro Sauce: way too much clean-up for what's basically steak with garnish. Also, the whole thing tasted noticeably bitter. The bitterness came partly from the meat itself and partly from the cilantro sauce (I'm guessing because the recipe calls for using olive oil in a food processor, which can cause the oil to become bitter; but perhaps it had something to do with the parsley). The grilled tomatoes were yummy and really added to the other flavors, but overall this recipe wasn't good enough for a repeat.
Pan-Seared Scallops with Bacon over Braised Swiss Chard: The dark, heavy flavor profile completely overpowers the poor scallops. Overall this dish was edible, but certainly nothing to write home about.
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