The description online is: Food Network star and New York Times bestselling author Melissa d'Arabian proves that healthy eating at home is easy, achievable, and affordable. Everyone wants to feel good about what they are eating, serving guests, and feeding their families, but most of us don't do our weekly shopping at pricey specialty stores-- we do it at the local supermarket and we don't want it to break the bank. In her second book, Melissa demystifies the task of preparing nutritious and delicious food by showing exactly how you can make your grocery store work for you. She offers helpful strategies for shopping, cooking, and entertaining, as well as meal blueprints and nutritional information throughout. This book will make you confident about the food you're buying, preparing, and eating. Delicious recipes like Almond Waffles with Raspberry-Basil Sauce, Kale and White Bean Caesar Salad in a Jar, Slow-Roasted Tomato Spaghettini, Flatiron Steaks with Quick Cauliflower Kimchi, and Flourless Fudgy Dream Cookies have something for every type of eater at every meal of the day. No matter your favorite flavors or dietary needs, cooking on a budget is empowering-- and now you can learn how to make every bite count. If cooking at home is the key to healthy living, Supermarket Healthy is the only tool you'll need.
The book is broken into chapters with different foods covered in each such as the following:
Breakfast
Snacks
Soups and Stews
Salads, Wraps and Sandwiches
Veggie Mains
Pasta
Fish and Seafood
Chicken and Turkey
Beef, Pork and Lamb
Sides
Dessert
I think that the title of the book is misleading because it make you think that you are going to get items from the supermarket and make food for the whole family. I believe that this book has a particular audience but sadly, I am not that person. I am not trying to make fancier food then I currently make but looking for meals that we can make quick and easy that are also healthy. There are a few dishes in the book that seem interesting like the Almond Waffles, Cinnamon Popovers, Vanilla and Blueberry Cheesecake Pudding and Enlightened Potato Bacon Torte but even though they sound tasty, they are a little more complicated then I will probably ever make. If you are looking for fancy recipes, there is Lamb Tagine with squash and prunes and roasted fruit with homemade ricotta which seem like many people would enjoy this fancy restaurant style dish at home but not my family. Since the majority are not meals that I would ever make for my family, the cookbook probably wouldn't be the best choice for me.
I did think that the recipe for Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken was something that I might try because it seemed easy and fun. The recipe calls for boneless chicken breast, salt, black pepper, bread crumbs, dried thyme, and non-stick spray. The honey mustard calls for dijon mustard, honey, light mayonnaise and hot sauce. The only thing that I don't have from those two lists is the light mayonnaise but I might have at least one tablespoon of miracle whip which I think would work. I think that this recipe has promise of being something that we might be interested in eating that I might also take the time to make. If you want to check out the recipe, there is a picture and recipe online through Food Network here. If you are interested to see if this is the right cookbook for you and your family, there are a bunch of recipes online that you can see on the Food Network site here.
**I was provided a copy of this for my honest review and opinion but all opinions are my own.
Thanks for the review, Alison. I hadn't heard of the book and I don't watch the Food Network since we don't have cable, but I'm always interested in trying new recipes... as long as they're relatively simple. I think that for us, women who want to cook something simple, relatively healthy, and not too expensive, fancy recipes titles are a turn-off instead of being a come on. I mean "Almond waffles with raspberry-basil sauce", albeit delicious-sounding, already tells me that I'm probably going to need almond flour or meal ( i.e. expensive), raspberries (expensive if not in season), and basil (expensive if you don't grow it yourself) and that's just for a breakfast item. I don't even cook breakfast 99% of the time. However, it is something that I would definitely order from the restaurant.
ReplyDeleteThe honey dijon chicken tenders is something that I would try, but I've been more lucky pan-frying my breaded chicken than baking it, in the past (maybe it's my oven because it's ancient). The Miracle Whip would definitely work as a substitute for mayonnaise. I have more fun substituting ingredients for things that I have on hand, when I cook, than by following the recipes to the letter. Sometimes it makes them less healthy, but most times it works out OK.
I think that it's funny that most of the recipes that ended up intriguing you sound like dessert recipes :) I was going through a big stack of recipes that I had clipped from magazines, recently, to find new recipes to cook for dinners over the next month, and realized that the vast majority of what I had clipped were dessert or baking recipes!
I got 14 new magazines to scour for recipes from the library's donation pile yesterday and I'm excited about it because I find it easier to just go through clippings to make my menus, than through the many notebooks and cookbooks that I have.
Do you have to return the books to the publisher once you've reviewed them or do you get to keep them?
I get to keep the books after I reviewed them. It is a nice bonus at the beginning but it is sort of troublesome after doing this for awhile because I have so many books that I don't know what to do with. I started a pile on the ground next to my bookshelf because it wouldn't hold them anymore. You aren't supposed to sell them so I don't know if I can even donate them to the library because they sell them to make money for programs so I just pile them up. There are a few cookbooks which were really good but I do like desserts and dessert recipes way better then meals. I have to specifically go looking for meal recipes because I would much rather bake then cook!! If we could only live on baking, I would be a happy camper but I cook so that we have good food to eat!!
DeleteMaybe you could donate them to a local retirement home?
Delete