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| The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Ellie Krieger
Publisher: Taunton
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy New: $13.20
You Save: $14.80 (53%)
New (41) Used (7) from $12.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  140 reviews
Sales Rank: 206
Format: Illustrated
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 8 x 1.1
ISBN: 1600850219
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5
EAN: 9781600850219
ASIN: 1600850219
Publication Date: January 15, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Nice cookbook with a good message February 8, 2008
36 out of 44 found this review helpful
The photography is a little stodgy, but the recipes are interesting! Ellie Krieger has a perspective on cooking. She begins by saying (Page 3): "Like you, I crave food that is bursting with flavor and aroma. Food that draws you in and leaves you satisfied. Guess what? That kind of food can be healthy." Thus, she is proposing a cookbook that features dishes that are both delicious and healthy. Certainly, others essay this terrain as well. But this stands on its own pretty well.
Some key points up front: buy fresh food, stay away from foods with lots of additives, keep salt to a minimum, and so on. Pages 12-15 provide information on key nutrients and what ought to be in a well stocked pantry (I have more of these items than not!). The book, then, moves to recipes--Breakfast; Nibbles & Noshes; Soups & Sandwiches; Main & Side Salads; Pasta, Pizza, & Grains; The Main Course; Sides; Desserts.
I just got this book and have only recently read it, so I can't say that I have actually made any of these recipes. But there are some that look doable and also look like they'd be very tasty! Breakfast? The "New York Breakfast" features simple toppings (such as cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes) over toasted pumpernickel bread. I want to make this in the near future. Sounds yummy! "Scrumptious Scramble" features scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onions, dill, etc. Looks easy to make and, again, seems like it would be great! Another dish that I want to make.
Noshes and Nibbles? There are a bunch I'd like to mention, but I'll stick to just one that I find quite appealing. Grilled zucchini Roll-Ups with Herbs and Cheese." This looks really neat--and pretty easy to make. Grill thinly sliced zucchini; place on each slice goodies such as goat cheese, lemon juice, parsley, spinach leaves, and so on. The peanut soup recipe also looks cool (and I expect to make this, too, in the near future). Simple point: I love reading cookbooks where I find myself saying "I want to make that soon."
Main dishes? Some that look pretty appetizing to me: Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce, Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables. And so on and so on.
In short, this is not a greatly visually appearing cookbook. But it has a host of recipes that look awfully tasty! I look forward to starting to play with the recipes herein.
Addendum # 1 (several days after I originally reviewed this book): I just tried out the grilled romaine hearts (using a grill skillet). Very simple to make, very crunchy, and tasty! Simple to make, tasty, and healthy. Not a bad trifecta!!
 Great Book February 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love to cook meals that are healthy, yet not depriving. These are great. They do have a lot of ingredients and aren't "quick" meals, but that's why I save cooking like this for the weekends.
Although I'd never buy a cookbook for the photos, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the exceptional layout and photography in the book. (I'm a graphic designer)
Wonderful February 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really like Ellie Krieger's recipes. There are 1 or 2 we have tried that have not been suberb, but most are. She generally uses easy to find ingredients. The only think I do not like about this cookbook are that she does not include any form of prep time, cook time or total time estimates, which is standard in any other cookbook I have.
Very Nice Healthy Cooking Cookbook February 5, 2008
I'm a bit of a cookbook nut. I collect them and enjoy just reading them from cover to cover. Since I'd seen Ellie's show on Food Network a few times and lately I've been on a mission to cook healthy things, I decided to give this book a try. It really is a beautiful book and met my needs for a cookbook to just look at. It's well laid out and has some nice photographs. Ellie gives us a little anecdote about each recipe which I think is really the best part about cookbooks since it gives you an idea of what the recipe will be like beyond the ingredients and the picture and makes you feel like you're making something really special even if it's very easy. As soon as this arrived, I flipped through the whole thing and there were very few recipes in here that I didn't want to try. I've made 4 now and all have been delicious and easy and made with everyday ingredients that are easy to find. I can't wait to try all the others that caught my eye as I was flipping through the book.
Note that this book is not about weight loss at all. It's about healthy eating. Ellie focuses alot on the nutrients that you get from certain foods and even lists for each recipe which nutrients are abundant in the dish. She talks too about the nutritional bang you get for your buck (i.e. How many nutrients you get compared to how many calories/fat it has). She states that she tries to base her recipes on foods that are nutrient dense and basically complements them with all the others. I agree completely with her philosophy that healthy food should taste great and that is the cooking style that I am trying to develop. This book is definitely helping me in that endeavor.
 WARNING! February 2, 2008
52 out of 144 found this review helpful
This book should come with a HUGE warning to anyone who needs to or is trying to lose weight. Yes, Ellie cooks the food we crave (some of it's okay, but definitley not even close to great) and it is a bit healthier, BUT she sets you up to have ingredients galore in your house that anyone who, unlike Ellie, who wasn't a model in her youth, couldn't handle having in her house. It's easy for a woman who was model thin her whole life then gained to be a more normal woman to eat a few bites of whipped cream and say that that's enough. She's not wired like those of us who have ever been overweight. What exactly are we supposed to do with the rest of the ingredients after we've consumed the tiny piece she call a portion? Do you really think that anyone who's struggled can have the rest of the real whipped cream in the refrigerator? How long does that last before "just a spoonful won't hurt" seeps in and next thing you know you've eaten the whole darn thing. And forget this book if you're single! I mean, heck, check out the tiny plate on the cover. If it was on a plate with a salad and veggies, that's one thing, a real meal, but if you look closely, you'd never stop there if there was more left in the pan and clearly there is.
I got this book as a gift much to my chagrin. I've lost a ton of weight and kept it off and have watched every cooking show their is. And I've found one thing across the board when it comes to healthy ones: any host who's lost weight and is wired the way all of the struggling and/or obese people in this country are, gets it and cooks accordingly. Those who haven't, their so called, "healthy cooking shows" are a joke. Now granted, some of the ones who have lost weight have gross food. That's because, for the most part, they're not chefs. If you're looking for a great healthy cookbook, find an author or tv personality who 1. has lost weight and 2. who is actually a chef. that's when the stuff makes you go, "wow", I can eat healthy...and enjoy it. Ellie's not a weight loss success story AND she's not a trained chef.
If, on the other hand, you're that rare breed that can actually eat 2 french fries and feel satisfied, this book might be okay. Still very vanilla, but okay.
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