It’s a new year, and I should be posting about a new cookbook. But right now I have been pretty stuck on The Fresh and Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook. I even bought my own copy, which is rare. I already posted the Crunchy Lentil Salad, which I’ve been making a lot. The recipes in this book are simple, healthy, and tasty! So if you have an Instant Pot, I highly recommend you get a hold of this book. Korean Chicken Bowls Serves 4 1/2 cup soy sauce of tamari 5 tablespoons maple syrup 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1 tablespoon Sriracha 1 clove garlic 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 cup white rice 1 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons 1 red bell pepper 1/2 red onion 1 cup fresh baby spinach 1 tablespoon arrowroot or corn starch 1/2 cup chopped green onion Sesame seeds, for garnish Add soy sauce, maple syrup, ginger, Sriracha, and garlic to the Instant Pot and stir to combine. Place chicken on top of the sauce in a single layer. To cook the rice at the same time, position the Instant Pot trivet over chicken breasts and place a 7-inch oven-safe bowl on top. Add…

Thanks to Amazon Prime day, I finally got an Instant Pot. So far I mainly use it for cooking rice and making hard boiled eggs. I have to say it may be worth it just for the eggs! Oh, and I made some really delicious pork chops. The only thing I don’t like about the Instant Pot is the directions. It took some You Tube videos for me to really understand how it works. Now that I’m getting the hang of it, I am looking forward to trying some new and exciting recipes! I picked up The Fresh & Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook at the library. This cookbook does have some simple instructions for how the Instant Pot works, and some great tips, like don’t place your pot underneath your kitchen cabinets, unless you need to steam off a sticker or something! I really think you can just read the beginning of this cookbook and skip the manufacturer’s directions. Another nice thing about this cookbook is the focus on healthy foods. There are a lot of veggies in these recipes! I will be back later in the week with one of the recipes I tried out. In the meantime, I…

I don’t know when we started to eat food (that’s not soup) out of bowls. Did this all start with Chipotle? No matter how it started, I am a big fan. Currently, I have been making my lunches by combining rice and a couple of store bought items (right now I’m liking Panera Black Bean Soup and ready-made guacamole). It’s not super difficult to come up with bowl ideas, but if you want some inspiration you should check out The Lazy Genius. She has a blog post and a podcast with lots of info on this topic. When I saw Buddha Bowls: 100 Nourishing One-Bowl Meals at the library, I immediately picked it up to get some more bowl ideas. As I read through this book, I saw so many recipes I wanted to try, especially all the great sauce recipes. Sauces are very important for making tasty bowls! Some of the recipes seem a little complicated since a big part of the appeal of a meal in a bowl is that it will be easy to make. But I did try out one of the simple breakfast recipes, and I will share it on the blog later this week.

OK, this is an interesting cookbook! I am always looking for good “healthy” cookbooks. I have problems with this category, because my idea of healthy is pretty broad. I just eat a lot of different things, including fruits and veggies, and I make most of what I eat, so not a ton of processed or restaurant food. But I do eat all the “bad” things, like meat, carbs, dairy, sugar, etc. Thug Kitchen, like the Whole Foods cookbook I reviewed recently, is vegan, but it’s completely different in attitude. It’s totally irreverent and fun, and it was much easier for me to get excited about the recipes in this book. So, let’s get at it! To Read: Yes, but only if you don’t mind a lot of cussing. There are bad words in every part of this book, so some of you might find this off putting. I live with two teenage boys and hear a lot of rap music, so I’m sort of past being scandalized by bad language. 🙂 To Look At: Sure, there are some photographs of recipes and then some random photos that I guess are supposed to add to the L.A. vibe of the cookbook….

If I had tried, I couldn’t have picked two such completely different cookbooks to review for this week and last. In case you missed it, last week I reviewed Chrissy Tiegen’s Cravings: Hungry for More. That book is irreverent, with recipes that are full of flavor, but not guided by dogmatic nutritional rules. The Whole Foods Cookbook is all about nutritional rules. The ingredients that are not used in this cookbook include all meat, eggs, dairy and any type of sweetener (except fruit pastes, which I have questions about). Since this is the time of year when a lot of people (including me) are trying to up their game when it comes to healthy eating, I thought this cookbook by the founder of Whole Foods Market would be a good one to review. But TBH, this was not the easiest book for me to find recipes that I wanted to try. I have a few criteria for recipes. They need to be something that my family might want to eat (that they will at least try), and the ingredients, for the most part, should be things I would normally buy. Luckily, as I was flipping through the book, my oldest…

I have a huge sweet tooth, so I love when I can convince myself that the sweet treats I eat are also healthy. Of course, when I saw Clean Sweets: Simple High-Protein Desserts for One by Arman Liew at the library, I had to pick it up. I have to admit, cooking just for myself (instead of making sure everyone in the family is happy) sounded like a nice break also. Author Arman Liew is the creator of  The Big Man’s World blog. He started out writing about travels and his recipe experiments; he lost a lot of weight and wanted to eat dessert but stay healthy. Eventually, his recipes were so popular they became the main focus of the blog. Clean Sweets contains recipes for breakfast, mug cakes, cookies, frozen treats, and more. All of the recipes have gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, and paleo options. I don’t follow any of those diets, but I find it doesn’t hurt to leave out wheat and sugar on occasion. I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I did skim and all the recipes look delicious. I will report back later this week!    

Here’s my verdict for Eat a Little Better: Great Flavor, Good Health, Better World by Sam Kass. To Read: Yes. Do you want to read stories about the author hanging out in the kitchen with the Obama girls or cooking for the president on Air Force One? Then you should read this book. Kass also writes about nutrition and food policy, but he doesn’t really hit you over the head with his opinions. To Look At: Sure. The photos are fine, but this book definitely has that hipster vibe, where the photos are toned down and are more about ingredients than the recipes. There aren’t photos for every recipe, and there is only one photo of Michelle Obama. Oh well. To Cook From: Yes. The recipes are quite simple. Kass believes in taking fresh ingredients and using spices and cooking techniques that will best highlight the ingredients. One section of the book that I found really interesting was called “Eat More Grains and Beans.” Kass takes a variety of beans and grains and provides four seasonal recipes highlighting each ingredient. Just like with vegetables I often get stuck in a rut with rice, quinoa, beans, etc., so I plan on trying…

I am very excited to review this week’s cookbook. First, I need some more healthy cooking books in my life. I have really enjoyed trying out new recipes from Run Fast. Eat Slow., so I’m looking forward to some new ideas about healthy cooking (to make up for all of those dessert cookbooks!). The second reason I’m excited is because this cookbook was written by the Obama’s personal chef! If you keep up with publishing, there are a lot of Obama staff who have written books. I have read one really funny memoir from an Obama staffer (Who Thought This was a Good Idea?) and listen to some other former Obama staffers’ podcasts. Regardless of your politics, these staffers all seem so funny and smart. When I heard there would be an Obama cookbook, I couldn’t wait to check it out. My kids are not so excited about this. Their schools made some changes to the lunch menus because of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Somehow they found out that these changes were due to a law that Michelle Obama helped pass. Whenever they complain about their school lunches (mainly they don’t like the new chicken nuggets), they blame Michelle…

Here’s my verdict on Run Fast. Eat Slow. : Nourishing Recipes for Athletes. To Read: Yes, if you are an athlete or want some inspiration, but it’s not a particularly interesting read for non-runners. It is interesting to read about the real-life of an Olympic athlete, and one of the authors, Shalene Flanagan, is an Olympic medalist. But there is not a lot of depth to what they cover, just a few interesting stories about the authors’ friendship and their athletic feats. To Look At: There is not much to look at. Some of the recipes have photos, which are pretty standard. Again, if you want to be inspired to work out and eat healthy, these photos definitely serve that purpose. To Cook From: Yes, there are so many recipes here that I want to try. As I wrote earlier in the week, the recipe for Parmesan and Herb-Crusted Cod worked great. I really like that the recipes seem pretty simple, without too many ingredients that you would have to make a special trip to the health food section to get. Since I have already bought this book, I will definitely get the chance to try out more of the recipes,…

OK, I am not a runner. At all. I have tried Couch to 2K several times and never made it past week three. So why am I reviewing Run Fast. Eat Slow.: Nourishing Recipes for Athletes? My fifteen-year old son is a distance runner, and my mom mentioned this book to him. We happened to be at Barnes & Noble the other day and saw this book. He has been working on eating healthier, so I decided to go ahead and buy this for him. I almost never just buy a cookbook without doing a lot of research first. I usually like to check it out from the library and test it first. So let’s hope this cookbook is a success. Run Fast. Eat Slow. was written by Shalene Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky. Flanagan is marathon runner and Olympic medalist. Kopecky is a runner and a nutritionist. They both argue that nutrition plays a big role in their success as runners. Even though I am not runner, I am always looking to incorporate more healthy habits. But I do hate restrictive or gimmicky diets. When I quickly glanced through this cookbook at the bookstore it appeared that the recipes were…