Customer Reviews

Hot Off The Grill: The Healthy Exchanges Electric Cookbook (Healthy Exchanges Cookbooks)

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We bought my mother a George Foreman grill for Mother's Day, and she wanted a cookbook too, but Mom's cooking style is best described as "All American comfort food". The available cookbooks by Mr. Foreman and others had too many recipes for Moroccan or Cajun or Tex-Mex meals using condiments that aren't in her pantry. Hot Off The Grill came up when I did a search on "George Foreman Grills" and when I read the names of some of the recipes, I knew that this was the book Mom was looking for! So far she has made some of the burgers and grilled vegetables and they taste great, and she is very happy with the grill and this cookbook. And I am going to buy a copy for myself too ....

I love my new Cuisinart Griddler but, frankly, the instructions that came with it were pretty skimpy. So I went looking for a good cookbook that would explain how best to prepare fresh, healthy, delicious dishes using this marvelous appliance. `Hot Off the Grill' looked like just the thing: the focus appeared to be on HEALTHY eating, it had full nutritional info for each recipe, and the few pages I saw in the online preview (mostly for grilled veggies) looked interesting, with useful tips for cooking techniques.

Sadly, it proved not to be what I need or want. Here's why...

TOO MANY PROCESSED FOODS: Nearly every recipe calls for prepackaged and processed ingredients rather than for the fresh (and tastier) originals, with dishes such as pizza burgers made with catsup, "Italian" chicken made with fat-free Italian dressing, plus too many other recipes using onion flakes, dried parsley or basil, canned mushrooms, Bacon Bits, etc.).

TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON BRAND NAME: The book reads like it was produced by the marketing department for Kraft/General Foods. Lund's list of preferred ingredients/brands in her introduction is more than enough to give the novice cook an idea of what to buy. Those endless references to Kraft or Oscar Mayer in so many of the recipes are pointless unless there's a commercial tie-in. Is there?

TOO MANY "HAPPY HOMEMAKER" RECIPES: A majority of the recipes look like they came from the back of a box of something or from a 1960s ladies magazine...with cutesy names and ersatz flavors: Grande Fish Fillets (fish in a mix of Catalina dressing, chili powder, dried parsley, and Ritz cracker crumbs) and Caribbean Ham Salad Sandwiches (processed ham, raisins, coconut, carrots, mayonnaise and cheddar cheese), Even those recipes that include fresh ingredients among the processed foods (and yes, there are many that do) seem bland and unimaginative to someone (me) who loves cookbooks by Rosso and Lukins and reads Cooking Light magazine cover to cover.

I bought this at my local bookstore the other day. It follows the usual format for Joanna's cookbooks which can be very helpful for people following most weight loss or health programs. Carb grams, fat grams, fiber, calories, diabetic exchanges are all given for each dish. And they're always easy to prepare. She's got lots of grilled veggie ideas and other side dishes, burger variations galore, and and main dishes PLUS some tasty-sounding dessert ideas.

Here are a couples of the ideas: what about "Sunshine Sandwiches" which have a (fatfree) mayonnaise, all-fruit orange marmalade, and shredded carrot filling grilled on raisin bread? Doesn't this seem like a novel way to get those veggies? I've always loved carrot & raisin salad but I haven't had the chance to try it yet. But I'm going to pick up the carrots and raisin bread on my way home today! There are other recipes for grilled Reubens and several grilled chicken &/or tuna salad sandwiches. AND at the back of the desserts section there's a "Peanut Butter Cup Shortcakes with Hot Chocolate Sauce" that made my husband & daughter go 'hhhmmmmm' in a more interested way than usual when I told them about it!

Anyone who's bought her cookbooks before knows what to expect but for those who haven't (and who do have one of those George Foreman type grills)you would probably enjoy lots of the recipes she's put together. [And, NO, I do NOT work for Joanna or her publisher!! I'm just someone who needs lots of input for weight loss/maintenance ideas.]

Hot Of The Grill: The Healthy Exchanges Electric Grilling Cookbook by television talk show host JoAnna M. Lund showcases 150 easy to make, hearth and body healthy recipes specifically intended for use with an electric grill. These low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar, high-quality, superbly tasty recipes range from Italian Grilled Tomato Slices; Western Egg Salad Sandwiches; German Pretzel Burgers; and Shepherd's Pie Patties in Potato Mounds; to Horseradish Beef Hash; Frankfurter Salad Bowl; Josh's Grilled Corn Dog Snacks; and Pita Dessert Wedges. If you have an electric grill, then Hot Off The Grill is the spiral bound kitchen cookbook for you!

There is not as much variety in the recipes in this book as I would have hoped. The ones that are there are, however, very good.

I didn't expect much from this book -- so it was even more enjoyable to realize that the book not only was full of recipes geared for my electric grill BUT included nutritional information for most of the elements I have to watch -- sugar content, carbs, protein, calories, fat. I heartily recommend this for people who are trying to eat healthy but find most cookbooks geared only to carbs or only to fat or only to calories, etc, who have electric grills (like the George Foreman) or who are looking for an economical cookbook.

I needed this as much as I needed my George Foreman. Wonderful recipes using items I have in my home. Not complicated, just down home cooking (and unlike the outdoors, my kitchen has air).

There exist no words to accurately describe the decadence of this low-calorie, common-folk, butter-flavoured-aerosol-grease-sprayed haute-cuisine. Do yourself and your loved ones a favour... memorize this entire book and never, NEVER stray from its pages of wisdom. If God himself were to write an instruction manual to life, this book would be plagiarised. If you do not understand English, learn it immediately so you too can find sanctuary between the covers of this masterpiece. Ms. JoAnna M. Lund is a most remarkable visionary; her voluptuous use of Kraft singles is surpassed only by the wanton references to cultural insensitivity in her recipe titles. The only problem with this magna carta of the culinary world is that it does not come in a miniature form with which I could travel the world, feeling comforted in its oasis of sheer, unadulterated brilliance.