Customer Reviews

The EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook: 150 Delicious Recipes for Simple, Everyday Suppers in 45 Minutes or Less

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My first reaction to this book was one of delight. I thought, this is one cookbook I'm actually going to use and not just read for the pleasure of it! Time would have to tell if that prediction would come to pass.

I've now had this book in my kitchen for over 6 weeks now and every week's meal plan has featured at least two recipes from this book. The "Healthy in a Hurry" concept is an excellent one for modern mothers struggling to prepare wholesome meals with little time to spend in that short window between the end of the workday and the 6:30pm hockey practice. As the book's subtitle suggests, the recipes are appropriate for quick and simple everyday suppers. There is not much here that you'd want to serve for special occasions, but the book is a great resource for an almost endless variety of tasty weekday meals that can be whipped up in minutes.

The author takes his inspiration from a wide variety of culinary traditions. Meals are inspired by Korean, Thai, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Italian, Southwestern, Indian, Greece and North African cuisines. Approximately two thirds of the 150 recipes are accompanied by full-color photos. Each recipe provides information such as prep and cook time and nutrition information, as well as stating whether the recipe is high in fiber, low in carbs, or appropriate for a "healthy weight" lifestyle. "Nutrition Bonuses" are provided for recipes that contain 15% or more of the daily value of specific nutrients.

Aside from the recipes, the book is divided into helpful sections that can be useful in meal planning such as stocking your pantry, seasonal menu suggestions and vegetarian meals. Three sections provide ideas, not strictly recipes, for sauces, sides and desserts "in a hurry." Special indexes help you to select recipes for healthy weight, 30 minutes or less, and kid-friendly meals.

Some of the recipes we have enjoyed are: Vietnamese-Style Beef & Noodle Broth, Grilled Eggplant Panini, Turkey with Blueberry Pan Sauce, Chipotle Flank Steak Tacos with Pineapple Salsa, Tangerine Veal Medallions and Adobo Pork & Potato Packets.

A selection of delicious recipes that are on my list to try soon are: Spiced Pork Chops & Peaches, Grilled Filet Mignon with Vegetable Kabobs, Korean-Style Steak & Lettus Wraps, Shrimp Enchiladas Verde, Turkey & Balsamic Onion Quesadillas and Express Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya.

I love to browse through different cookbooks. I have quite a collection, and usually go to the library to find new recipes to try before I decide to purchase the entire book. I normally look for 3 things in a cookbook, besides delicious recipes that will work for my family. This includes:
1) Pictures of more than 3/4 of the recipes (Color pictures are the best)
2) A spiral binding, or at least one that easily lays flat
3) New & innovative recipes that have ingredients I can easily find at a grocery store

I also prefer if the cookbook lists all of the nutrient information including sodium, fat content, protein, fiber, and carbohydrates.

I picked up this book to find new ideas to make a quick meal in-between working and shuffling the kids to various sporting and school events. Let's face it, eating out isn't always the best for you, especially since you cannot always tell exactly how much fat or sodium you are ingesting. I wanted some new recipes to try, but not necessarily a dish that would have my kids eyeing it suspiciously and saying "what is it?". I was not disappointed.

The book offered many beautiful color photographs, and the pages themselves were glossy and thick...not the cheaper paper that many cookbooks use. All of the nutrient information was included, along with a column called "Nutrient Bonus" that lets you know if the dish contained a lot of Vitamin C, Calcium, etc. The book was hard cover, but the binding was loose enough that my copy easily lays flat, another good bonus so that I was not always struggling to keep my page open. It also contains a rather large vegetarian section.

Some of our favorites include: Seafood Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette, Bistro Beef Salad, Vietnamese Style Beef & Noodle Broth, Mock Risotto, Chicken Stuffed with Golden Onions & Fontina, Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers, Beer-Battered Tilapia with Mango Salsa, and Loaded Twice Baked Potatoes. Enjoy!

This book is pretty good at quick light cuisine, but its not very original, like the magazine from which it comes, the ingredients are often very similar giving many of the recipes similar tastes. I have found at least four good recipes that my whole family have liked though- the turkey and peas is delicious and kid friendly. I recommend buying the magazine first- Eating Well, and then deciding on the book.

I have amassed a collection of more than 30 cookbooks since I began trying to eat healthily and lose weight a couple of years ago. Since cooking was new to me, I needed cookbooks that were healthy but also featured easy recipes with ingredients I can find and afford. I have several favorite cookbooks, including some from the Weight Watchers label, but this one (the newest one to my collection), has now become my all-time favorite. Why?

1. It has thick, glossy pages and lots of color photos. That makes it a joy to flip through while you daydream about what to make next.

2. Everything I have made has been delicious. So far, I have made: Greek Lemon and Rice Soup (I added chicken thighs), White Beans, Spinach, and Tomatoes over Parmesan Toasts (I used kale since this was during the spinach scare), Tofu Cutlets Marsala, Sweet and Sour Tofu, Japanese Chicken-Scallion and Rice Bowl (couldn't be easier and tastes authentic), Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce (tastes like something you'd get in a nice restaurant), Almond-Crusted Chicken Fingers (the best chicken fingers I've ever had and super low in calories), and Honey Mustard Chicken (classic, updated with the addition of capers). Each recipe was great. No disappointments!

3. The recipes feature fresh, wholesome ingredients, and the food is truly healthy.

4. My husband, who also wants to eat healthy but doesn't need to lose weight, finds the food filling and the portions hearty. This stuff is not "diet" food.

I highly recommend this book if you want healthy, delicious food that doesn't take forever to make or require a long list of exotic ingredients and kitchen tools. Beyond the food itself, it's just fun to browse through.

I have had this cookbook for several months now and it is the cookbook I turn to first every weekend as I'm planning my menu for the week. The recipes are easy to follow, tasty and easily fit into my current Weight Watchers plan. As a full-time working parent, I appreciate that these recipes do come together in <45 minutes and most can be made within 1/2 hour. My favorites are the cover recipe (a stir-fry with chicken, asparagus and pistachios) and the spicy beef with bok choy. I've tried so many other cookbooks (including other Eating Well Cookbooks). If I could only afford to buy 1 cookbook, this is the one I'd spend my money on.

Since buying Healthy in a Hurry a couple of months ago, I have tried 10 recipes and every one of them has been a "keeper." It's obvious that the author and editors carefully tested each recipe in the book because the results have been outstanding. This cookbook has everything I was looking for - well-tested recipes that go together easily using easy-to-find ingredients and that deliver delicious, healthy results. It's now my favorite cookbook!

Eating Well Magazine in my favorite cooking magazine and this book is every bit as good. The recipes are easy to do, and are delicious, as well as healthy. My only negative comment is that I already have a lot of the recipes from the magazine.

I wouldn't say I was an inexperienced cook . . . I'd say phobic. No, this might not be the cookbook for you if you're quite the gourmet and enjoy spending an hour or more in the kitchen to prepare a meal. But if you were never really taught how to cook and have spent most nights asking your partner, "Well, what do you want to do for dinner?" back and forth until someone orders delivery, then this might be just what you need.

I love this book and its companion, EatingWell Serves Two. I seem to have two types of cookbooks: healthy (such as the Mayo Clinic) and quick/easy (as in cookbooks that advertise how few ingredients each recipe will use). EatingWell's Hurry cookbooks are the only ones that combine both.

It's been a learning process for me. Sometimes I need to google ingredients (what are fennel seeds? Where will they be in the grocery store? What's a plum tomato?) or get new equipment (Where's the broiler pan? Oh, oops, I guess we don't have one), but that's a joy, because as I do these things step by step I know I am gaining knowledge and experience (and gear and ingredients).

So let's face it; if I can do these recipes, then they are easy enough to be in some kind of cooking for dummies cookbook, and yet they are super tasty and I'm not embarrassed to serve them, even to people who aren't married to me.

If I could be in an infomercial for these cookbooks I would. In my late 20's it was finally time for me to learn how to cook (and force myself to do it more than once a week), and I don't think I could have done it without these cookbooks.

I got this book because I loved - EatingWell Serves Two: 150 Healthy in a Hurry Suppers so much. This book is close to as good, but the portions didn't work as well for me.
Most seem to serve 3 to 5 people depending on your hunger level. Make sure you have a good side dish however and it is the perfect book for finding something great and healthy to cook up for company.
Very easy to follow and the dishes are simple without to many odd (read hard to find) ingredients.

Bought this and Eating Well's other cookbook. Both are excellent. The sauces they've developed using low fat solutions are tasty and interesting. Good food in a short amount of time. My kind of cookbook!