Customer Reviews

So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just received this book and read through it. It is even better the first one!
When I got Ellie's first book, I was thrilled to know that healthy food could still taste good.
However, there were still some recipes that I wished I had in Ellie's version.
This book definitely fills that hole. Ellie recreated many dishes in her healthy versions, and some of them are the ones people usually think to be impossible to be healthy. I can't wait until try every one of them.
Another thing that I like about this book is, the recipes were divided into breakfast, lunch, and dinner and each of them were again divided into slow and fast. So, you could pick the recipe that fits your schedule.
Fast lunch has recipes for lunch boxes, so as a working girl who tries to eat healthy, I couldn't be happier. Thanks Ellie for another great book. You are the best!!

Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave" is a terrific cookbook. I enjoyed a number of menus therein. This is a worthy addition to her body of work. One of the pluses of a Krieger book is her dual skill set--her ability to create tasty recipes coupled with her knowledge of nutrition.

Some quotations from her Introduction indicate her approach (Pages 10-12): "If you love food and want to eat well but struggle making it happen with life's hectic pace, keep reading. . .Every recipe here hits the delicious healthy easy trifecta. Deliciousness is first and foremost. . .My golden rule: no food is ever off limits. . .The third part of the trifecta is the easy factor."

One useful touch at the front of the book: what should be in one's pantry. The book, then, is divided into several chapters--two for breakfast, two for lunch, two for dinner, and two for dessert.

"Breakfast is the meal of fresh starts" (Page 19). There are some very nice recipes for breakfast that capture one's attention. A Spicy Egg and Avocado Wrap features eggs, lettuce, whole-wheat wrap breads, an avocado, a tomato, cucumber, Thai chili sauce or hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Accessible ingredients and a pretty straightforward recipe. Yummy! Another: Egg Muffin Sandwich (her take on an Egg McMuffin; her recipe is more enticing!).

"Now that the lunch hour is more like the twenty minute lunch, it is harder than ever to eat right at midday" (Page 65). Some interesting recipes to show how one might have a good meal with little preparation time. Lemon-Cumin Grilled Chicken Breast. Boneless chicken breasts, cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil/cooking spray, and lemon juice. Takes only about 15 minutes to cook this. Other samples: Ham and Cheese Panini; Chicken Paillard with Watercress and Tomato Salad; Open Face Chicken Parmesan Sandwich.

Dinner: As a side dish, Garlic Mashed Potatoes are terrific! Krieger's recipe is simple and delicious. Double dipping--she also has a cool recipe for Herbed Mashed Potatoes. Want a fish dish for dinner? Flounder with Almond Topping, Saffron Rice, and Lemon Broccolini.

All in all, a fine cookbook. Healthy, fairly simple to make. The couple items I have tried have been fine tasting. A good addition to a kitchen library!

I just made our first recipe from this book - the top sirloin with chimichurri sauce - and it was delicious and filling! Since I got her first book, the food you crave, 3 months ago, I've cooked from it 3 or 4 times a week and loved every recipe. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one too - more of the same great stuff!

I want to begin by admitting that my learning to cook from the Food Network shows did not include Ellie Krieger. Why? Because of my experience based prejudice against nearly every other "healthy eating" advocate. They ask us to add too much fantasy to convince ourselves that their bland, boring, and generally undesirable dishes are just as wonderful as the glorious and indulgent dishes you can prepare. I want to say that I was wrong to avoid Ms. Krieger and that I will definitely spend more time with her shows and will explore her cuisine more fully.

Over the past year of learning to cook I learned some other things along the way. I found that when I cook my own food I actually eat less. Not because I am tired or am denying myself anything, but because handling and smelling the food contributes to satisfying my love and need for food. I have lost weight without trying. As my family has explored this new approach to food they have also begun to approach food differently and I am proud of their new attitudes and achievements.

This beautifully done book will further contribute to my cooking adventures by helping me think more carefully about the nutritional aspects of what I am preparing without compromising taste, appearance, and visual appeal.

Krieger provides us with 150 recipes that are divided into our main meals of the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even desserts. One really neat aspect of this book is that each of these meals is divided into a group for quick preparation when you want to prepare something quickly or have it prepared ahead for a grab and go healthy meal. The other group is for the same meals when you have more time to prepare and want to enjoy something a bit more indulgent while still focusing on health and nutrition.

Each of these recipes has a beautiful photo (and I do mean beautiful) and supplies you with solid nutritional information. In addition to serving size and the usual information on calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, cholesterol, and sodium, the author also lets you know the other vitamins and minerals the dish provides.

The ingredient list is clear and the cooking instructions are clear. You will find these recipes surprisingly easy to prepare.

She also has pages offering nutritional advice on a variety of topics. For example, on why skipping breakfast is a very bad idea, how to manage salt in your diet, how to cook dinners ahead and freeze them, and much more.

A very good book that I think you will enjoy exploring.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

I got this cookbook last week and I have made two new recipes-Cherry Vanilla Smoothie and Mocha Java Smoothie. Both were wonderful.

I have already made the Salmon Florentine and Chicken Mushroom Quesadillas on previous occassions. Also the pesto potato salad. All of these recipes were featured on her show and I got them off Food Network. Its nice to have them all in one place though.

The one thing I do not like is for the section of lunches, all of them involve wraps/bread. I try not to eat very much wheat so lunches it would be nice to see options that don't involve it. But I love Ellie's recipes anyways and ALL of the recipes look delicious.

I own many, many cookbooks. However, since getting So Easy, this is the one I constantly reach for. All of the recipes are amazing and amazingly quick! I'm a
Registered Dietitian and also recommend it to my clients. If you are looking for healthy, tasty, and easy recipes, this is the book fory ou!

"So Easy..." is a really good cookbook. I'm giving it four stars, with a few pros and cons. Here goes:

Pro: The author is not only passionate about food, she's a nutritionist. The recipes are healthy (or healthier) and she gives complete nutritional information for each dish, including fiber, minerals and vitamins.

Pro: Lots of different recipes I can't wait to try. Recipes are well-written and easy to understand.

Pro: Excellent forward encouraging home cooks to not throw in the kitchen towel just because life is crazy/busy, that you CAN certainly still gather your family or spouse with you at the table for something delicious.

Pro: Divided into great sections, such as breakfast, fast dinners, and packing lunches.

Pro: Beautiful photos.

Con: I'm a mom, and my kids will not like half this stuff. Too many "weird" ingredients my husband and I will love (spinach, wheat berries) the kids will not. That's ok. I still will make many of these recipes. You can't just cook what the kids will eat or you'll never get any variety.

Con: The chapter on packing lunches is a miss. Unrealistic. The recipes (who needs a recipe to make something to pack for lunch?) are for whole separate dishes. On what planet is a busy American woman going to make dinner, clean up dinner, and then grill glazed salmon and assemble a salad and pack that...FOR LUNCH the next day? That's a company dinner in my house, friends, and if there are leftovers, THAT is lunch. Again, it's okay - I'll make some of the "pack lunches" recipes, but not for bag lunches. I won't be cooking a whole separate meal just to pack for lunch the next day.

Recommendation: A good addition to a home cookbook collection for healthy readers who are looking for something fresh and different.

Reviewer note Feb. 13, 2010: After using this book for a few months, I wanted to add that I really do recommend it highly. It has become one of my "go-to" cookbooks. This is a good one to buy, not just borrow.

While I will agree that most of the recipes in this latest book by Ellie Krieger are "so easy and luscious" I would argue that they may not be so healthy. At least not for those who are watching their fat, caloric and sodium intake. For instance in the breakfast section of this book you'll find a smoothie recipe that has 11 grams of fat and a breakfast quesadilla with 12g of fat along with a breakfast burrito (appropriately named the big breakfast burrito) with 20 grams of fat and 860 mg of sodium. Her lunchtime recipes for lamb and feta pita pizzas (510 calories/29G of fat) and dinner recipes like panzanella with chicken sausage (520 calories/25g of fat, 5g of sat fat) are certainly different and innovative recipes but again offer the diner a meal with a lot of fat content.

I agree with the authors philosophy of eating which is that there is no need to deprive yourself of good tasty food in order to be healthy but I think most of the recipes in this book are a bit over indulgent to be classified as healthy. That said however, many of them with substitutes of a reduced fat cheese, mayo or even just backing off a bit of the amount called for in the recipes would help make them a little healthier and lower the calorie/fat counts.

Now if you're not watching or counting calories and fat grams and you're a meat/poultry/pork eater then you'll probably love most of the recipes in this book. The sirloin steak with grainy mustard sauce and parmesan steak fries, pulled bbq chicken sandwiches with classic coleslaw and the chipolte orange glazed pork chops with maple squash puree and spinach green apple salad are all fairly straightforward easy to make recipes that will deliver a plate full of flavor, texture and color. The same goes for the pork & mango stir fry, steak chimichurri with grilled garlic bread and grilled tomatoes and the chicken paella with sausage and olives. You'll also find pages of tips and suggestions sprinkled throughout the book offering information on everything from buying chicken, types of oils & chocolate, to ten easy exciting sandwich ideas, and taking short cuts in the produce
aisle. The photography in this book is beautifully done which photos of each recipe to accompany the text.

I have never seen Ellie Krieger's Food Network television show, but I am interested in healthy eating, so I thought I'd give this book a try. So far, I've made about twenty recipes from "So Easy, Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week," and they have all been delicious! I like that recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in this book, and that the ingredients are generally easy to find and the recipes easy to make. My picky 7-year-old particularly likes the healthy quesadillas (the cheddar-apple quesadillas for breakfast and the chicken-mushroom quesadillas for dinner). Both recipes are easy to make and appeal to adults and kids alike. My son also likes the peanut butter crispy rice treats and I don't mind serving him this healthy treat that looks and tastes delicious. I was impressed with the low-fat recipes for filet mignon (porcini crusted filet mignon with creamed spinach and herbed mashed potatoes) - with only 14 grams of fat and 450 calories per serving it tasted just as good as its full-fat equivalent. Krieger's chicken paillard with watercress and tomato salad and the lemon garlic turkey breast with roasted rosemary potatoes and brussels sprouts are also winners. The 4-cheese baked penne is wonderful. There are terrific recipes for smoothies (the peach pie smoothie is a favorite in my house) and mini ice cream sandwiches. Krieger even includes a section of 25 meals that can be made in under 25 minutes - something I really appreciate on busy weeknights! In the 25-minute section, the pork piccata, chipotle orange glazed pork chops, steak chimichurri with grilled garlic bread and chicken with warm tomato-corn salad are all favorites in house. They are all very tasty - its hard to believe they are low-fat and healthy.

Krieger's recipes are meticulously crafted - I am a trained chef and bake professionally and I have yet to come across any mistakes or missteps. I appreciate the nutritional breakdown that Krieger provides - along with a list of nutrients - for each recipe. A comprehensive nutritional data index is provided at the back of the book as well, which is very helpful. Her recipes are interesting and creative without being "out there" (if you know what I mean). My very finicky 7-year-old likes the food I've prepared from "So Easy," yet my husband and I are not bored - the book offers the perfect combination of healthy, yet interesting recipes so that no family member is left unhappy at mealtime. I highly recommend it!

Coming from someone who counts pretty much everything I put in my mouth, I get so tired of getting the same thing all the time! I've bought so many healthy eating cookbooks and I like them..my husband who doesn't diet and doesn't want to (or need to) didn't like the food. So I tried her first book and we BOTH loved it! Bought the second one and we both loved it too! I'm always very happy when I can eat something that taste awesome and is good for me! How much better can you get! AWESOME!