Customer Reviews

Party Hearty: Hot, Sexy, Have-a-Blast Food & Fun All Year Round

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been following Marilu Henner's plan for a number of years and I was counting the days for this book to be released. I am so thrilled to have it and have already given some away as gifts.

The food is the main event of course, but there is so much more to this book. First and foremost the emphasis is on enjoying the holidays and making them a celebration. And I just love the fact that maintaining a healthy lifestyle gives us more energy for doing just that. The recipes in all of Marilu's books contain high quality ingredients. When I first started following this plan I wondered what I would eat if I wasn't eating meat dairy or sugar. I found out that the answer is GREAT FOOD !!!

This book also contains a lot of tips and suggestions for parties, even mentioning ideas for invitations and scents. What I love about that is that it adds another dimension. It's not just about the food. And those lists can inspire you to come up with even more ideas. The creativity in this book makes it so much fun to read. So much more than just a recipe book !!!

I love to entertain and this book is giving me so many ideas for ways to make entertaining more interesting and special.

I have so much more energy, and love life so much, since starting this plan. I have Marilu to thank for that. And now I can thank her for making my holiday shopping so easy !! I am giving copies to anyone who may have me to dinner this year !

As an avid follower of Marilu's books and nutritional ways for the past two years, those that know me know that I spend only the time I need in the kitchen, and mostly that is food prep and fruit and veggie prep!! I received a copy of Healthy Holidays as a gift two weeks ago and already I made a whole PILE of stuff from the Halloween section...my kids were DELIGHTED to follow the recipes on their own for GOBLIN CRUNCH and CREEPY SPIDERS while I made the BRAINS and SKELETON and WITCHES HANDS..what a wonderful way to spend time with the kids and for the FIRST TIME EVER, I brought food to a function....my friends were SHOCKED!!

I think I will entertain more often as this book makes it so easy to prepare the recipes AND has such fun and silly suggestions to lighten up the holidays! Enjoy!~

I am a big fan of the THM lifestyle. I have been waiting for this book since it was first discussed on her website. I wish I could give this book more stars but I think I am being nice giving it two. The recipes are good but they are much like the other books and then there are those lists...for example on Mother's day she reccomends listens to a vintage Pink Flyod album simply because 'mother' is in the title and she reccomends watching 'The Last Temptation of Christ' as an easter movie?! It seems like she just did a computer search for matching names. I gave up reading anything but the recipes when I got the Passover song that went to the tune --'There's no business like show business'.
In conclusion the recipes are OK but if you don't have any books go for some real gems like the healthy Life Kitchen, the 30 day one or THM or even get 'Dairy Free Cooking' all have great recipes without the junk. I hope her next book is better.

I wanted to add a good review for this book because people have written negative things about it. The recipes are so good! I made several for different parties and everyone loved them. There's lots of other info, but if you're not interested, don't read it! Yes, it's true that the index is not thorough enough for a book that's organized differently like this one is, but that's the only drawback to this healthy cookbook.

I have all of Marilu's books, and if you're looking for great recipes, this is the one for you. It has dishes that are more gourmet/restaurant quality. Grilled Tuna with Washabi Whip was on the menu this week, as was Tofu Olive Wraps (sun-dried tomatoes, olive spread, watercress, fresh rosemary, carmalized onions). Everytime I cook from this book, my hubby can't stop raving.

I use this cookbook daily, not just for holidays. However, it does have some great holiday ideas. Not just for food, but for decorating and music and games. But, the recipes are what's the best part....

Marilu Henner has a winner here! This book is packed with ideas to help us plan special parties and celebrations throughout the year. New Year's, Super Bowl Sunday, Valentine's, - even an Academy Awards Party! Name a special day - Marilu covers it. She explains the tradition of each holiday. She offers delicious and healthy menu suggestions and recipes. She also helps to plan the invitations, set the atmosphere, create activities, and propose the toast! And she makes it all so much fun with great personal stories along the way. This is a great book for anyone planning a special celebraton day - Marilu shows us how to do it all!

Having been a fan of Marilu's books for over two years...and eating the THM way for that length of time, I am FAMOUS for never wanting to spend time in the kitchen beyond fruit preparation....HOWEVER, I picked up my brand new copy of HEALTHY HOLIDAYS on Halloween afternoon and my children and I made "Witches Hands", "Goblin Crunch", "Bugs On a Log", "Creepy Spiders", "Vegetable Bones With Brains" and we had a BLAST! I am excitedly looking forward to what to do for Thanksgiving.

I almost feel as though I can ENTERTAIN IN MY HOME! I never do this...but am excited to try now!

great book - love all of her books - easy to follow and great ideas!

Marilu Henner is a real dynamo, and her books supporting a healthy diet and lifestyle are generally first-rate. This book contains many excellent recipes for various holidays, but much of the additional material is silly stuff about how to have a party on each occasion. For instance, lists of songs and movies with that theme, and games - including suggestions for couples such as St. Patrick's Day: "Get edible, non-toxic body paints and doodle shamrocks on each other's lucky charms." You get the idea. A lot of the book is filler. Again, I highly recommend the recipes - I have already made and enjoyed a couple. The only problem with the recipes is that some of them are in large party quantities that might be difficult to size down. If you have her other books, you will want this one. If not, start with something like Healthy Life Kitchen.

I absolutely loved Marilu's previous books and couldn't wait to receive a copy of her new book "Healthy Holidays". Unfortunately, the book is very disappointing.

"Healthy Holidays" is very disorganised. Recipes are not categorised like normal cookbooks eg entree, soup, dessert etc. Instead, the recipes are listed under each holiday eg Valentine's Day, Christmas Day etc. Too bad if you are looking for recipes for a "non-holiday" or you don't like her suggestions for the Christmas menu. I was looking for inspiration for a salad one night and had to go through every holiday in the book to find a salad I liked. She should have simply stuck with the normal categorisations and then given a list of suggested menus for each occasion.

The book should have also included a glossary and a conversion table. There are lots of ingredients which I have never even heard of! Moreover, there were no conversions at all. I am Australian and when I refer to any recipe in "Healthy Holidays" I have to refer to my other recipe books to find out the conversions!

In addition, possible substitutions would have been good. For example, I have been unable to find maple sugar - can maple syrup or honey be used instead? What is whole-wheat pastry flour? Is that just what we Aussies refer to as wholemeal plain flour?

The book was also filled with lots of "mumbo jumbo". I don't care what Marilu ate whilst filming a movie in Spain - I doubt anyone does. We simply want to have great recipes to work with.

I was desperately disappointed with this book. If you want a good recipe book, buy "Healthy Life Kitchen". Give "Healthy Holidays" a miss.