Customer Reviews

The Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: Simple Solutions for Eating Well

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is your book. Most of the items take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare and then 30 minutes of cooking time. Unlike other cookbooks, particularly vegan or vegetarian cookbooks, the recipes use easy to obtain ingredients that you can get anywhere. This is key in the short preparation time.

If you have kids, and want them to get a wide variety of vegetables or make them a meal that combines certain nutritional necessities, the book discusses foods, portions, and servings for a variety of different health needs. It also tells you exactly what's good and bad about different foods.

For instance, an avocado has three times the amount of potassium as a banana.

I've had this cookbook for ten months now, and for the most part it now sits on the shelf, gathering dust. Why? Although the recipes are unique and creative and the pictures look great, the results for almost all of the recipes I've tried are a great disappointment. I believe that healthy, fat free, low sodium cooking doesn't have to be bland, but that's what the majority of these recipes are. And while other readers have found the recipes to be quick, I found them to be quite time-consuming. There are a few recipes in the book that I like and frequently return to, but too few to justify owning the book.

I use this book when I need a quick side dish or a simple entree. But the most of the recipes are pretty boring and bland. My other "healthy cooking" books make wholesome food delicious by using creative seasonings. The Mayo Clinic puts the grated zest of a citrus fruit in every other recipe and leaves it at that. Haven't they ever heard of herbs and spices?

The photography is the best part of this book. The pictures make the dishes look extremely appealing, but unfortunately the taste doesn't follow through. For example, none of the recipes include salt in the ingredient list. This allows the nutrion list to look nice in the sodium category, but who cooks with NO salt?

I do find the book useful for ideas; for example, there's a recipe for black bean chili over polenta. That's a nice combination which I would never have considered. But I followed the recipe for the chili, and it was tasteless! The addition of some imaginative spicing turned the chili into something which had taste.

This book strikes me as the ultimate in health books which make people think that healthy food has to be tasteless and a chore to eat. It's not that way at all! There are many other cookbooks available which describe dishes which are both healthy and delicious.

Absolutely beautiful dishes you can't believe you made yourself in a fairly short time frame! The best part is eating healthy and it tastes great.I've made recipes from this book for two weeks now and haven't missed meat at all. Just bought one for my mother and she bought one for a friend. Highly recommended especially for the host or hostess that likes to make an excellent presentation and impression!

As a fan of healthy eatting, I have discovered that there are not that many cookbooks that have healthy selctions that are truely wonderful. They generally tend to be the same old thing with a new herb or something! This book has been wonderful. Everything I have made in it has been great, and different.

In less than one week this has become my favorite cookbook in an already extensive collection. Full-color, glossy photos accompany each recipe. Every recipe is easy to prepare, healthy and flavorful. I served a five-course meal to guests on a weeknight after work. They raved about the entire meal and told others, who have been sending e-mails asking for the name of the cookbook.

My step-daughter, who does not cook frequently, prepared a fabulous soup and an exquisite vegetarian entry while caring for a three-month old child. In other words, the recipes are simple to prepare and practical for working people. As a graduate of the Mayo Medical School and a practicing Family Physician, she also attested to the qualifications of the Mayo co-author and to the nutritional content of the recipes.

If you want to eat healthy meals, but think that means giving up great tasting food, the recipes in this cookbook will convince you otherwise. Most items can be found even in small-town grocery stores, though a few may require a broader search. Any urban or suburban market will carry all of the ingredients required.

I am buying this as a holiday gift for everyone on my list.

This cookbook just won the prestigous James Beard Award. How can a cookbook merit such a coveted award and garner such bland reviews? I was planning to order it today online until I read these reviews. I highly recommend the Lean Star Cuisine cookbook published by Lake Austin Resort in Austin, Texas. Spicy, easy and delicious recipes fill the pages.

Wow! If you want great tasting healthy food this is an excellent resource. The recipes use great combinations of spices that are completely satisfying. Despite the perceived "restriction" of eating healthy there is no restriction on taste or texture. On top of this, the recipes have been quite simple to make. This cookbook has been a welcome addition to our home/health.

I read the other more critical reviews of this book on Amazon and I'm surprised. I love this cook book. The recipes are easy, fast and really tasty. The ingredients are easy to get and if you don't have fresh, you can use frozen or dried (such as herbs). I love the book and have recommended it to friends who were equally satisfied.