I was so excited to get this book! I have been following the author’s blog since the days before I really knew what a food blog was, and anxiously awaited the release of this book. So many of her recipes are to die for.
First Impressions
As someone who has followed the author’s blog for so long, I was hoping for a book where her voice really shined, since that’s what drew me to her blog in the first place. I think in that respect, Andie’s smooth and easy writing voice really came through.
The pictures are totally gorgeous in their composition and consistent throughout the book, although, I do feel like the colors are a bit washed out in most of them. Maybe that’s a stylistic choice, or maybe it’s just from the printer, but as someone with nearly 100 cookbooks, I need my recipe pictures to stand OUT, if I am going to be lured into making them. I also wish that every recipe had a picture associated with it. The book is well put together with glossy pages.
The Recipes
I definitely am excited to try several of the recipes. This is not a gluten free book, but most of the recipes are either gluten free on their own, or can easily be substituted.
Some of the recipes I am most excited for are:
- Asian Chicken Salad
- Meatloaf Burgers with Bacon, Pepper Jack, and Frizzled Onion
- Jerk Shrimp Salad with Mango and Avocado
- Chicken and Mushrooms in Mustard Marsala Cream Sauce
- Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki and Feta
If you’re not gluten free, I wholeheartedly recommend the Petit Lasagna recipe. It’s also on her blog and it is amazing! We made it all the time back when I could eat wonton wrappers.
I tried the Smashed Roasted Garlic Potatoes on page 89 and they were tasty, but overwhelmingly garlicky, so next time I will adjust and tone the garlic down just a tad!
All in all, every recipe sounds good!
Final Thoughts
If you like simple-to-make, healthy recipes, then this book is for you! It’s well put together, it’s full of wholesome recipes as the cover promises, and based on my experience with her blog, then everything in it is likely delicious! It’s food that feels healthy, but still bursts with flavor.
For me, personally, this is a book from an author I love, but for whatever reason it doesn’t have the same pull that her blog does. So, in all honesty, it’s been sitting on a shelf since I got it for this review and made one recipe out of it. That’s not really a knock on the book itself, but I’m here to write an honest review, and that’s my honest experience.
Want to look into it more? Here is more info about the book, the author’s bio, and the author’s blog.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.
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