Luscious, Healthy, and Easy to Prepare Recipes
347087
This is a sumptuous, imaginative cookbook, while at the same time keeping nutritional values high on its list of priorities. I have never seen such healthy meals with such beautiful presentations, and so lusciously delicious to the taste.

Most of the recipes are very unique, and they will take your breath away as you read the ingredients, with their marvelous blend of flavors, and look at the wonderful photography. But wait until you try them! If you want to impress your friends or family with a fabulous meal, make them something from this book.

Another plus considering our busy lives is that the recipes are not complicated to prepare. All the recipes are relatively easy to make (some of them incredibly easy), and don't take long to get from kitchen to table. The ingredients are few compared to the long lists that accompany many gourmet recipes, and make no mistake, these meals may be healthy and simple, but they are also gourmet deluxe in taste and looks.

When you see "Kosher" on a book title, you might think "Jewish food," but these creations have the flavors of the world, with many delectable Asian, Italian, Mexican, and other international dishes, as well as Middle Eastern fare, and even a knock-your-socks-off burger.

My main interest in getting this book was for the soups, and they exceeded my expectations. Those on a budget will really appreciate these wonderful bowls of goodness. Some of them will cost you next to nothing, like the Peasant Soup, Cabbage Soup, and Velvety Roasted Vegetable Barley. Put them together with the incredible Honey Oat Challah, and you will be in gastronomical heaven.

The book has a superb layout, starting with Supermarket Savvy to descriptions of the healthy ingredients that are used in the recipes.  It also lists the useful gadgets that will help you in the kitchen and has Ideas for Entertaining. The recipe chapters are: Appetizers; Soups; Salads; Poultry; Meat; Fish; Eggs, Pasta and Dairy; Side Dishes; Desserts. The photography by John Uher is terrific throughout, and also adding to the book with her expertise is Bonnie Taub-Dix, who is spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "Kosher by Design Lightens Up" is perfect for a Holiday or new house gift, and an absolute must for a new bride.

Susie Fishbein needs no introduction. She has consistently delighted us with her "Kosher by Design" series, and for my money she is The Ultimate Kitchen Diva.  Thank you Ms. Fishbein, for this exciting, fabulous cookbook!
4554028
I really enjoyed this recipe book. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. I could tell that the book encourages a healthy lifestyle because of the ingredients it suggests. I can't wait to start adapting some of these recipes. I plan on trying one a day, especially since most of them take under 30 minutes to prepare. A neat book and well-worth the price.
249382
5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness by Camilla Saulsbury is the cookbook I've used most often this summer, which is saying something when you're a cookbook junkie like me! It's packed with recipes that are simple, delicious and healthy, a winning combination if there ever was one!

Everything I've made so far has been delicious and I've got lots more recipes bookmarked to try this fall and winter.

Recipes I've tried: Pumpkin Yogurt with Quinoa Crunch, Waldorf Salad, Mesclun Salad with Dates and Goat Cheese, Chopped Greek Salad, Broccoli Carrot Slaw with Cranberries and Sunflower Seeds, Southwestern Sweet Potato Salad, Lemony Lentil and Quinoa Salad, Summer Salmon Panzanella, Summer Vegetable Orzo Soup, Sweet Potato Bisque with West Indian Spices, Winter Squash and Goat Cheese Enchiladas, Eggplant Parmesan Melts, Easy Ratatouille with Poached Eggs, Lentil, Mushroom and Kale Burritos, and Farfalle with Tuna and Tomatoes

Recipes I want to try: Whole-Grain Blueberry Maple Muffins, Multigrain Cranberry Breakfast Cookies, Chewy Cherry Granola Bars, Thai Curry Pumpkin Soup, Tabbouleh Soup with Lentils and Bulgur, Green Club Sandwich (with hummus, avocado and watercress), Spicy Salsa Joes, Greek Pizza, Speedy Black Bean an Quinoa Skillet, Spicy Skillet Chicken with Avocado Mango Salsa, Wagon Wheels with Broccoli, Turkey and Parmesan, Soba with Shrimp, LIme and Cilantro, Spiced Date Bread, Pumpkin Biscuits, Maple Oat Drop Scones, Decadent Chocolate Cake, Whole Wheat Maple Applesauce Cake, Spiced Carrot Cake with Currants, Maple Pumpkin Micro-Pies, and Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies and Cocoa Truffles made with dates.

All the recipes include nutritional information and cooking tips. And you'll find informative health notes and superfoods highlights scattered throughout the book. There's also a very useful chart on cooking whole grains that provides grain/water ratios, cooking times, and expected yield, which I keep meaning to copy and stick on the fridge for easy reference.

There are not lots of pictures, but the 25 full-page photos appearing in the middle are mouthwatering.

5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking covers all the bases, with recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, bread and snacks. Chapters include:

Breakfasts
Power Snacks, Spreads and Nibbles
Salads
Soups, Stews and Chilis
Wandwiches, Warps, Burgers and Pizzas
Meatless Main Dishes
Poultry and Lean Meat Main Dishes
Fish and Seafood Main Dishes
Multigrain Pasta and Noodles
Side Dishes
Natural Sugar Sweets

This is a very useful, cookbook for those of us wanting to eat healthy food that is also easy and delicious. In 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness, Camilla shows us how to make wholesome food that is simple and creative, familiar yet interesting.
336309
This is a beautiful book that is as much about style, beautiful presentation, and ideas for beautiful, fun entertainment as it is a cookbook.  In fact, several of the recipes were already familiar to me - and they are family favorites so I do think it's a good selection.  I can certainly attest to the popularity of buckeyes and blackberry cobbler in my home. There were quite a new pomegranate recipes that were new to me. My son adores pomegranates so I look to treat him with some of these recipes once they are in season again.

The recipes are easy and very affordable.  There are large, beautiful full-size pictures everywhere in this book.  Just looking through this book is so inspiring.  Some of it really doesn't require much work either, just attention to detail, like serving bottled sodas with really festive straws.
490598
I am thoroughly impressed with this book! The recipes are healthy, delicious and they are derived from everyday ingredients that people have in their kitchen. There are many vegan recipes in the book and the recipes that are not vegan can easily be made that way. Each recipe is paired with a yoga pose that is explained in detail. Moreover, the book itself is beautiful to look at because of the layout, as well as the interesting pictures and illustrations. I suggest trying Mama's Pina Colada recipe and the roasted beet salad. I am looking forward to trying the Agape Agave Brownies and the Zucchini Pie next!
3352634
To say I love cooking is an understatement, and it naturally follows that I would have a kitchen full of wonderful cookbooks. I received Rozanne Gold's Radically Simple from the Amazon Vine Program. Here's my take on it:

First, it's a lovely, coffee-table-sized volume with 325 recipes from award-winning chef Rozanne Gold, noted for their simplicity and ease of preparation to the use of just a few ingredients. Obviously, this is no mean feat, but Gold's preference for simple and fat dishes surpasses all others in that one would think her delectable dishes were hours in preparation.

The 340-page book contains juice blends, ten-minute salads, breakfast treats such as Palacsintas (Hungarian crepes) with Apricot Jam and Powdered Sugar-definitely on my list of recipes to try, a homemade cream cheese in the "Set Up Overnight" section, Spiced Salmon on a Moroccan Salad-a beautiful chunk of rare seasoned salmon on a bed of orange slices with red onion and oil-cured black olives. Not only are the recipes delicious sounding, they are artfully presented. Another section covers simple salad dressings, still another cold and hot soups. There's sections for pasta, fish, meat and  poultry (one dish I'm planning to try is Gold's "Almost" Confit Chicken with Melted Garlic which uses bone-in chicken thighs, allspice, nutmeg and fresh thyme.) Slow and Easy provides recipes for potatoes, rice, veggie sides such as Braised Red cabbage with Cranberries-a staple in my German-American family. Ten-minute Desserts offer fruits, flan, Chocolate-Coconut Fondue and my favorite, a simple delight using ricotta with a side of lemon curd. What could be easier?

Photographs of the dishes are liberally sprinkled throughout the book, and no recipe has more than 140 words to describe its preparation.

Buy this book, enjoy it, and you may never go back to your elaborate preparations again.

Brava Ms. Gold. We need Radically Simple recipes. A brilliant idea whose time has come.

Two floury thumbs up.
4332463
"Robin Takes 5" is a wide-ranging collection of 500 recipes that are all simple, fast, and relatively healthy.  None of them have more than five ingredients--except for olive oil, water, salt, and pepper, which are considered staple ingredients and so aren't counted.  (This threw me off at first: "But this one has six ingredients!")

You almost surely already have on hand the ingredients for dozens of them.  There is enough variety in the recipes that you can use the same ingredient (such as a large package of chicken or a bag of frozen asparagus) to create dishes that won't seem repetitive.  It is also easy to adapt the recipes by adding or substituting other ingredients that you prefer or already have on hand.

The chapters are organized by either type of dish (soup, dessert) or major ingredient (poultry, seafood).  Each chapter starts with a list of the included recipes further subdivided in a useful manner (frozen desserts, lobster) and there is an index so you can look up what to do with those two dozen eggs you got on sale. Use the "Search inside this book" feature to see the structure and get an idea of what the recipes are like.

The preparation and cooking times are realistic and nutritional information accompanies each recipe.  The dishes are fairly low on sodium and all have under 500 calories despite normal portion sizes.

A few years ago, I became tired of gravity-defying stacks and molecular constructions of edible ingredients that are artfully designed to appeal to the eye. They must be considered food but they often don't constitute a satisfying meal.  The sections of color illustrations in this book are a reminder of just how visually appealing simple, satisfying food can be when served without pretension.

Overall, this is a very consistently straight-forward and practical recipe book that really works for me and the way I like to shop, cook, and eat.

A copy was provided for review by the publisher.
3129632
I love this book!  I stumbled on Gina's blog when I was googling a recipe, and after trying some of the recipes there, I bought the Skinnytaste cookbook.  It's become my go to book for healthy delicious food that fits into my new Weight Watcher's life style.  I have been using this book to plan dinners for 6 weeks, and I've lost 20 pounds, and got my blood sugar under control.  Right now, my favorites are the house salad made with love, and the coconut chicken salad with honey mustard dressing, but I haven't come close to trying them all, so who knows what my favorites will be next week.
I look forward to using Skinnytaste to make recipes with whatever is available at the farmer's market this summer.  I bet I can find an amazing recipe for every veggie that is in season. Her new book "Skinnytaste Fast and Slow: Knockout Quick-Fix and Slow-Cooker Recipes for Real Life" comers out this Fall, and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
1365930
Delectable Desserts by Wendy Louise and Mary Ann Koopmann is a delightful cookbook of yummy-sounding desserts.  I never learned to bake as a child and never really had the desire to learn.  So I ordered this book for my daughter-in-law who loves to cook and whose cooking skills are off-the charts.  However, when the book arrived, I was captivated by the beautiful, mouth-watering cover and the luscious recipes inside. I like the way the recipes are grouped by month--ensuring that any fruit used is in season.  And I was intrigued by the recipes themselves Fruit Grunt, Cheese Squares, Wild Rice Harvest Cake.  Cake made from rice...who knew?  I thought how much fun it would be for me to try to make a few simple desserts and surprise everyone.  I think I just might have to keep this book for myself and order another one for my daughter-in-law!
2431730
Informative, beautiful pictures, great recipes
1730338
You'd be forgiven for thinking that a diet without animal products, processed foods, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants), alliums (onions and garlic), wheat, and oil would be a particularly cruel form of punishment. Blissful Bites proves otherwise. While it didn't convert me to author Christy Morgan's super healthy way of eating, I definitely did enjoy the colorful and, yes, tasty recipes within it.

Blissful Bites is a collection of over 175 vegan and macrobiotic recipes, including some raw and gluten-free dishes. Most are low in oil and (more importantly for me) can be made in under 45 minutes. There's an emphasis on seasonal, whole foods and hardly a stick of Earth Balance or bag of Daiya to be seen. Also good: lots of glossy, full color pictures to inspire you. Sections, which feature recipes organized by season, include breakfast, salads, soups and appetizers, sea vegetables, grains, and desserts.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't immediately attracted to many of the recipes. The author favors very different spices and seasonings than I do -- lots of recipes call for miso, different vinegars, sea vegetables, brown rice syrup, ginger, coriander, and nutritional yeast. But I rolled up my sleeves and started cooking. Instructions were clear and easy to follow, and although everything tasted very different from what I usually eat, nothing was less than enjoyable. I faced down my tofu prejudices and surprised myself by liking the Southwest Tofu Scramble. The Un-Tuna sandwich filler, which calls for garbanzo beans, was a welcome change from my usual mock tuna recipe with green onions, and the Sweet Carrot-Ginger Bisque had a delicate, mild flavor with a definite zap at the very end. The soup section is my favorite; there are quite a few that I'm looking forward to trying this fall.

A few caveats: I didn't find the dessert section very interesting, since 1) my kitchen is not equipped for vegan, gluten-free baking, and 2) I refuse to believe that tofu has any place in dessert. I also found that a few of the recipes sacrifice a little flavor or time to be healthier. If I make the Sage-Infused Polenta Fries again, I will probably pan-fry rather than bake them. Also, a number of the recipes in Blissful Bites will require either substitutions or trips to Whole Foods for the more obscure ingredients (palm sugar, arrowroot powder, dulse flakes, brown rice flour).

Being neither vegan, macro, low-fat, nor gluten-free, I'm probably not quite the right type of eater to get the most out of Blissful Bites. But macrobiotic vegans and other health conscious eaters might well fall in love with its bright flavors and emphasis on healthy yet tasty meals.
2793746
this is a super cool cookbook.

i am not a master chef by any means, and yet i desire to cook healthfully and seasonally, and make food that is inspiring without being so difficult. well, this book is it!!

first off, it is a joy to read: there is both humor throughout the book and great factual info on veggies, meats, other ingredients, and seasonality; it's also great to look at: the photos are great! the larger size format of the book is comfortable and well designed, and thus pleasurable to read.

the content is inspired: chef Anne Bramley (of the EatFeed Podcast) provides meals, not just individual dishes, and as a plus there are great little accompaniments such as unusual and sometimes funny drink recipes and desserts that truly go well with the meal: ex-lambswool punch!, easy home-made ice creams...

the recipes seem mostly UK-based and ''comforting''(it IS a fall/winter book afterall)--but before you think heavy and starchy--NOT!
Ms Bramley manages to make scottish and english dishes hearty and healthy yet still light--i think it's the great ingredients and unusual english spicing/herbing instead of the over-emphasis on potatos, starch, corn starch, and breads that so often seem a big part of UK cooking. i find that the fats used are combined well with vegetables and other ingredients and they add to, rather than taking over the meal.
there are great versions of savory pies, pasty(!) and souffles and savory meat dishes; yet the vegetables and fruits in general shine in this book. to me it seems that this would be the original cooking of old in the UK, where more greens, veggies, and slow cooking as well as fresh, original ingredients were used. chef Bramley adds her own in the superb combinations of meats, veggies, spices and herbs. the menus are both the simple and unusual, yet healthy; there are complex ones as well--but i never get the feeling i can't handle making the recipe without success. that is a really nice aspect of this book.

in short, with very little skill, and some great ingredients, i can make a wonderful, inspired meal. Currently I'm loving the parsnip souffle and the winter greens tart! can't wait to try the Welsh Rarebit too! i have found this is just a really great book for a fun and tasty fall/winter season, but also for sunday summer suppers and brunches! i find i can't wait to try the next menu..
3729682
What I like most about this cookbook are the beautiful photographs. Each recipe has a large color photo of the finished product, as well as some with pictures of the prep process. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and gives the nutritional value for the finished item (protein, fat, carbohydrate, fiber and cholesterol per serving) Some of the ingredients are given in metric proportions and most of the recipes provide a standard conversion in brackets. For the few recipes that don't already provide the conversion there is a metric > standard chart located in the back of the book, which I found very helpful. Also in the back of the book is a chart that gives the alternative names of some ingredients; such as capsicum = bell peppers. I had to look up some others, such as; rocket leaves = arugala and rock melon = cantalope. I'm learning new, tasty recipes and expanding my vocabulary, now that's a good cookbook! This cookbook will make it very easy to increase the number of vegetarian meals in my families diet.
4893285
Much like the Cookie and Kate blog, this book has interesting, healthy, and easy to manage recipes. Her stuff is generally more reliably tasty and interesting than other food blogs (even, dare I say, Smitten Kitchen).

Update:
I have made a recipe from this book at least once a week since purchasing. Can recommend veggie burgers, chili, tortilla soup, and those almond no bake cookies that I can never make again because I ate them all in like 2 days.

Update 2: Wanted to update in case people want to know what to make.  Moroccan Stew exceptionally delicious and healthy, Black bean/ Sweet potato enchiladas have been made too many times to count. I still make the chili every other week or so. My roommate frequently makes the stuffed sweet potatoes and loves them. The only recipe I wouldn't recommend is the Peanut Soup, which perhaps may have been the kind of peanut butter I used.
4973361
I am already cooking out of this delightful and tasty book.
2936191
I cannot say how much I love this book.  The fresh ingredients, simple recipes, and delicious flavors have forced me to relegate my other vegan cookbooks to the back of the cupboard.  This one is taking center stage, and for good reason.  It is packed with great recipes that are delicious for vegans and omnivores alike.  It also has a number of gluten-free recipes, meaning that everyone will be satisfied. With everything from delicious smoothies (the Gym Rat is my favorite) to Black Bean Sweet Potato Enchiladas, and from fruit crumbles to hearty dinner salads, this book covers it all.  With recipes for basics like hummus and salad dressings, and options like Tex-Mex casserole, this book is ideal for anyone who loves cooking.
4456428
Katherine Hupp delivers one of the Best recipe cookbooks for homemade muffins that I have researched up until now. There are 50 mouth-watering recipes that are easy-to-prepare. Each recipe includes: Ingredients(many are common); Directions, Number of servings; Number of Calories per recipe; And other Nutritional info.

The Recipes we made so far were the Spiced Apple, and the Raison Cinnamon. Both recipes were easy to make, and very tasty, not to mention filling & satisfying. What we love about muffins is that they are not only good with a meal, but great as a snack, or for breakfast. Next, we will be making the Rye, and the Raspberry. My daughter enjoys them as much as I do, and Cook time for all the recipes is not long at all.

Other delicious recipes include: Peach; Pineapple; Raison Bran; Rum; Oatmeal Chocolate Chip; Pumpkin; Jelly corn; Cheesy; Cherry Delight; Cranberry; Date; Harvest Spice; Chocolate Zucchini; Cornmeal; Nutty Fruit; Carrot; Banana; Spice; Raison Orange; Sweet Blueberry; Spiced Molasses; And More.

The sweet aroma of homemade muffins is as delightful as homemade bread. This muffin cookbook is at a great bargain price, and I will be gifting it to friends and family on special occasions. We are happy to add it to our cookbook collection. Highly recommended.