Customer Reviews

Cooking Healthy Across America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My husband bought me this for Valentine's Day. I love it! I recently started Weight Watchers and there isn't a single recipe in this book that is more than 7 points per serving. (That is better than the cookbook that I bought at Weight Watchers!) I have made four of the recipes so far and they have been fantastic. Some people may need to "tweek" some of the recipes to suit their tastes, (Crab cakes need a little garlic salt,etc.). But hey, I do that with all of my cookbooks anyway. Its really nice to have some choices when it comes to eating healthier! I intend to take a look at some of this author's other cookbooks

The recipes in this book aren't terrible, but there are so many other "healthy" cookbooks out there that are far better and more original -- try any of Don Mauer's cookbooks, for example, or if you care about exchanges, I have a recent Weight Watchers cookbook that is far more interesting than this one. Moreover, I was disappointed that a cookbook with the word "healthy" in the title would include recipes that call for ingredients such as nutrasweet and diet Mountain Dew. And the fact that many of the recipes call for brand name ingredients without any explanation makes me suspcious, too. On the whole, this just isn't a cookbook I'm interested in coming back to, and it will not be getting a permanent spot on the shelf in my kitchen.

This book was a total disappointment. Several of Joanna Lund's books were recommended to me, so I thought this would be a sure winner. The recipes looked easy, straight forward and relatively appealing and healthy (aside from frequent use of artifical sweetners, including saccharin!). For Easter, I made several of the recipes and they were a complete and total disaster! The Key Lime Pie was so bitter, it was inedible (thankfully, my family has a good sense of humor). I would not recommend this book at all-- it is, by far-- one of the worst cookbooks I have ever purchased.

I'm absolutely shocked that this book received any bad reviews. I LOVE this book. It's my favorite of JoAnna Lund's and I love all her books and newsletters.

I rarely ever have any of my family ever complain about any recipes of JoAnna Lund's. I will admit though I do spice and season to my families own taste, IE often adding garlic, or onion even if not in the ingredient list.

As for desserts this book has some of the best. Every one loves the pineapple coconut bars, however I make it in a 8x8 dish instead of 9x9 they are more moist this way and I serve it more like cake. And the fruit pudding salads are heavenly!

The recipes call for name brands because some ingredients off name brands are inferior, for instance instant milk can be down right inedible when you purchase off brands, you really do have to buy the name brand if you want the desired taste/texture outcome. Other times for instance with soda pop you probably could use other lemon lime sodas, but JoAnna's favorite soda was Mountain Dew, and again other soda's won't taste exactly like it, so if you want the exact flavor she was going for you should use the Mountain Dew, if you are ok with a variation on that flavor, it's totally fine to use the brand you like most. But, she was going for certain flavors and certain textures, and she had to give the name brands if you want to get the same end result she had. However, the previous reviewer would of realized this if they had taken the time to read the forward in the book, which explains exactly why name brand products were listed.

I have a larger then average family, I've been cooking for upwards of 20 people (yes many children) and so far have been getting quite a few home runs out of this book. My family absolutely raves about the spaghetti-yes I add garlic and extra seasonings, but the base recipe is the same! They adore the green bean bake-just like the real green bean casserole! However, again I adjust to my families own taste, I omit the cheese and double the onions. All it takes is knowing your own families likes, these are good base start recipes. As JoAnna Lund again mentions in her forward to the book, make adjustments to your families taste. If your family doesn't like onions, don't use onions, if they love green beans, make the green bean recipes, etc. Tonight we'll be indulging in the tuna noodle casserole tonight! We love frozen peas, so I'll be adding a small amount and readjusting the exchanges and calories for such.

As for this being a suitable book for diabetics, if you are a diabetic and not using this book you are missing the boat. Low "carb" is not good on diabetic kidneys. These recipes are based on the American Diabetic Association's diet! I am a type one diabetic, I've been using these recipes for years now, my A1C went from 11 to 4.9! I went from large amounts (over 150 units!) of insulin each day, to barely any-less then 10 units! To say this book is not for diabetics, is a very misinformed statement! I recommend it to all my diabetic friends and family.

I discovered Joanna Lund's cookbooks about two months ago quite by accident. Now, they are all we eat in this house. I've lost 14 lbs. in the last month! They are all great and very few recipes ever get a frown. Most, my family cleans their plates and begs for more! You cannot go wrong with her books, or her newsletter!

For anybody needing traditional food recipies created in a newer-day, low-fat, low cholesterol way, have a look at this book. It is divided into several regions of the USA: New England, Southwestern, The Heartland, etc. Each section has recipies for entreés, side dishes, soups, salads, and desserts, and each recipie is charted at the bottom with the number of servings, calories, and dietary "exchanges". "Cooking Healthy Across America" has been of huge benefit for keeping my family's weight down and health up!

This looks to be a great book for low fat cooking, unfortunately my husband is diabetic and it is not really suitable for low carb cooking. We received it as a gift.