400 Best-Ever Recipes: Fat Free, Low Fat

I am on a fairly strict no-dairy, no-fat diet now that I've been having issues with my gall bladder.  I have had to take several old recipes and take out all of the good stuff and substitute fat-free or very low-fat wherever I can.  So when I saw the book, 400 Best-Ever Recipes: Fat Free, Low Fat, by Anne Sheasby, I was SO EXCITED.

There's a problem though.  And it seems to be a broken record from nearly ALL of my other cookbook reviews.  THE RECIPES ARE TOO FANCY!!!  I do NOT keep fennel, sunflower margarine, or ground lemon grass on hand!  I do not keep cooking wines around the house, just because I wouldn't use them often enough (and my husband doesn't like the idea of cooking wine... but then again, he doesn't like the idea of using curry, either!).  There was one recipe in the beginning of the book that called for THREE red peppers.  What kind of a budget would I have to have to make things like are in this book!

Okay, here are the good things.  PICTURES.  Beautiful PICTURES.  I am very visual, and love a good picture.  It looks to me like ALL of the dishes have at least one picture taken... and many of them have some in-between-step pictures included. 

If I had a larger food budget and a family who were interested in the more "fancy" foods, this book would be an AMAZING find.  Unfortunately, we're simple folk who need to reduce our fat intake and this book just isn't for us.  If YOU like fancier foods, you might want to take a more in-depth look.  I found a couple of soups that I copied down, but maybe you'll find much more. :)

Vicky Lansky's Kids Cooking

A cookbook review!  We had this one on our shelves.  My three-year-old was napping (on my bedroom floor!) and my five-year-old wanted to hang out.  So we pulled out some cookbooks that had the word "kids" in the title.  He settled on Vicky Lansky's Kids Cooking...  And we made some... cookies... that appear to be of the oatmeal variety.  I can't have any... because of health issues, I've had to swear off almost all fat, and almost all milk.  So when these cookies came out SWIMMING in butter (they were VERY easy to remove from the pan......), there was no way.

The book LOOKS like it would be fantastic.  There are a few pages up front with pictures of things kids could make, and it includes the page number.  Also, the words are easy-to-read.  Scotty did just fine reading through the instructions (except for the word, "margarine"), BUT.  And this is big.  It doesn't matter how good the book is for kids, or how many up front pictures there are if the one recipe we try comes out as greasy as this.  Gross.

So this cookbook is a NO-GO.  Especially since it's listed new on Amazon for some $36.  That must be somebody's idea of a joke. ;)

The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook

Title: The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook
Author: Mireille Guillano
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Atria Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster
Pages: 298, including your obligatory italicized French words, and an index.

I've been lax in posting reviews; after finding the Food Nanny cookbook that had so many great recipes (that I'm STILL trying!!!), I haven't had motivation to find new cooking fodder.  I was poking around for French stuff for my kids (we homeschool) with French as the keyword, and LOOK at what I found.  Of COURSE I ordered it through the library.  I've been low-energy (ha ha, you can tell because I haven't posted hardly ANY recipes!!!) but the book is due this coming Thursday... I guess it's TIME.  :D.

Things I Like About This Book:
Well.  I like that there's an index.  I like that there are many recipes to choose from.  I like the idea that if I eat moderately what's in this cookbook that I could (finally!!!) lose weight.  The book is chic with modern illustrations. 

I liked the food she put into context.  She said that probably the two most unhealthy foods are doughnuts and bagels... and with bagels, we load them with cream cheese, sometimes jam.  We have cut doughnuts almost completely out of our diet (I have to say "almost" because my sister-in-law brought some homemade doughnuts over and we devoured them!!).  Bagels, we don't eat very often.  I like that she advocates eating breakfast, and that it be a balanced meal.  We don't just eat carbohydrates and call it good.  We need to have protein, maybe some fruit. 

This leads to the ONE recipe we might use, Magical Breakfast Cream.  It's healthy, it's complete, and it looks yummy, in spite of the flaxseed oil! :D

Things I Don't Like About This Book.
Man cannot live by modern illustrations alone.  I liked one recipe and the rest were too fancy for me.  Behold some recipe titles:

Fusilli with Spinach and Anchovies
Beet and Ginger Gazpacho
Carmelized Chicken with Vegetable "Pancake"
Prosciutto Wrapped Around Grissini
Mackeral with Curry and Leeks

I can't imagine my husband's face if I were to tell him we were eating "Prosciutto Wrapped Around Grissini!"  Maybe if we were fancier folk.  I am seeing a pattern to my cookbook reviews........  if it's too fancy, it's OUT.  :) 

I'm Going to Buy a New Cookbook! (and so should you)

**Click here to be taken to any Food Nanny recipes I have uploaded**

I have to say that this is NOT a paid advertisement.  :)  Just in case you were wondering.  I will tell you if someone is actually paying me to review their book.  If that is the case, there will be no mistaking, even if I DON'T tell you because I will write the entire! review! with! myriads! of! exclamation! points! lol 

Liz Edmunds,
The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner: Easy Family Meals for Every Day of the Week

Love her.  I saw her on BYU TV, and not only is she adorable, SHE CAN COOK.  We had some creamy chicken soup today that everyone raved about. 

Normally when I find new recipe books, I pick out some recipes it looks like my family will go for and then return the book to the library.  This book is going back to the library, but I'm going to BUY it off of Amazon ($15, whereas it's selling for $25 at Borders and they'd have to special order it for me) next week.  This is a can't-live-without book!

What I Like: I like that Liz does dinner by assigning theme foods to each night.  They don't change.  You pick two recipes from each section then go to the grocery store.  You have everything you need for two delicious weeks of food.  Recipes are creative, NORMAL (a common problem I have with cookbooks is that we are not fancy food people) and delicious!  I like that she has suggestions for what to serve with each main dish.  That's an area where I've been lacking.  This afternoon, we had a loaf of freshly-baked bread with our lunch at her suggestion. :)  Most recipes are money-conscious, too.

What I Don't Like: I'm not sure if this will be a problem yet, but we need leftovers!  Daddy needs to be able to take dinner with him, and we need some extra food for our lunches.  The fact is that I can prepare double, but that also means spending double the money in groceries, which we just don't have.

Cookbook Review: The Six O'Clock Scramble by Aviva Goldfarb

Title: The Six O'Clock Scramble: Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Dinner Recipes for Busy Families
Author: Aviva Goldfarb
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York, NY
Pages: 321, including a brief author bio, an index and dozens of yummy-sounding recipes!


One of my favorite things about going to the library is being in a... "culinary" mood and picking out a cookbook.  I put culinary in quotes because that does NOT describe me, nor does it describe my family.  I have a very picky clan and somehow I can't envision them eating something exotic like... couscous and savory vegetable casserole with feta (p. 64).  It's not just that... the price of some of these one-use recipe fillers scares me away.  And with this example, I have to admit I'm not crazy about couscous, but that's beside the point!

That disclaimer of bias aside, I loved looking through Ms. Goldfarb's book. The first thing that caught my attention was that she organized the meals by season.  I'm terrible at cooking for the season!  If spaghetti sounds good in summer, I make it.  I know it's a little heavy for summer, but I can't quite keep my seasons straight when it comes to cooking!  Having recipes sorted for me is quite the revelation!

The next thing I noticed (and liked) is that the recipe titles are sorted by weeks.  Fall has 13 weeks of recipes, and all of them look amazing!  The rest of the seasons have 13 weeks, too, making a year-total of 52 weeks.  A sample week? I thought you'd never ask!

Winter, Week 4
Easy Baked Ziti (it looks good, but I already have a delicious baked ziti recipe)
Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
Mediterranean Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives
Baked Sausage and Egg Casserole
Southwestern Bulgur Pilaf

Here's a week six months later from

Summer, Week 4
Grilled Sausage Kabobs with Summer Vegetables
Lime-Garlic Shrimp with Black Bean and Corn Salad
Rigatoni with Asparagus and Lemon
Celia's Honey Chicken
Japanese Eggplant and Green Beans in Garlic Sauce

Believe it or not, but each of these meals is simple, taking about 30 minutes per dish!

The book wraps up with a few notes and a comprehensive index.  One other worthy note--Ms. Goldfarb fills the book with little sticky-note-like tips.  They're for families of every age, one case in point being the example of puréeing a portion of dinner and freezing it in ice cube trays--then labeling and using thawed out for baby.

All in all, it's a lovely book!  I wish I could have found more recipes suited to my family, but you may be fancier than I am!  The book is available on Amazon.com, both used and new: The Six O'Clock Scramble.  New books are $12.21 (from Amazon) and the least expensive used book is currently $8.99.