Supermarket Healthy: Recipes and Know-How for Eating Well Without Spending a Lot: A Cookbook

I couldn't resist writing a review on my initial impressions of this cookbook. I've always enjoyed Melissa's recipes, but this book embodies everything that I find makes a cookbook great. It offers healthy (even some great vegetarian) recipes that would appeal to the busy person who wants to get an amazing dinner on the table after work, quick. Or, someone who is passionate about cooking (like me!) and enjoys trying new recipes that are fun, user-friendly, but also offer nutritious ingredients that won't weigh me down. I love that this book also focuses on living frugally while still eating well (another one of my passions!), plus gives great tips on how to put flavors and meals together to allow for your own creativity.I'm a food blogger and buy a bunch of cookbooks... but this one is truly special. I went through it the first time last night and already have a list of about 30 recipes I can't wait to try. This level of excitement rarely happens to me with new cookbooks, and I can't wait to get cooking!

I am on a rant tonight. When something has a four or five star review, I expect it to be better than average. "Supermarket Healthy" has some interesting ideas but, the way they are presented, it is not much more than a cookbook with pretty pictures. With a title of "Supermarket Healthy," I was hoping it would show me how to shop at my supermarket to buy ingredients that I can prepare healthy meals from. I would have liked to have seen "buy these things and make these dishes" instead of a traditional cookbook with occasional tips about the versatility and longevity of an ingredient and chapters like breakfast, snack, your choice of protein (chicken, fish, beef), veggies, sides, and deserts. Many of the recipes in this book use mostly ingredients with a long shelf-life which is great but not particularly healthy. Give me a book with a few fresh ingredients that shows me how to make many meals and snacks using the other ingredients I have on-hand.

I'm an experienced cook (managed a cooking school and taught classes), and I'm enjoying this cookbook. The recipes have been tasty, simple to prepare, and relatively healthy. It seems that the negative reviews are based on her use of kale, lamb, or other "fancy" ingredients. That's why I like the book! It's not just run-of-the-mill meat and potatoes - it's intended for people with a slightly adventurous palate. None of the ingredients are hard to find - and the results are great tasting meals! I think the portions in some of the recipes are rather small for an average American male, so by the time you double the portion to be "normal", the healthiness aspect might be diminished a bit, but overall a very enjoyable book!

I am a big fan of Melissa D'Arabian but this book isn't as wonderful as her first. My biggest complaint is the lack of images. There are 2-3 recipes for every picture. As any chef will admit, people eat first with their eyes so the lack of pictures makes me less likely to cook the recipe. I feel like the recipes are little too posh for the typical family. I have an adaptable palette but my child and husband do not so I'm not sure I'll be able to make most of these recipes right away.

I love Melissa's second book just as much as I loved the first. I am a graduate student who has traveled a lot and I appreciate the recipe selection with flavors and influences from different ethnic cuisines. The recipes are sophisticated enough for my adventurous taste buds and affordable and healthy to boot! I appreciate that this is not a typical diet book, but rather a selection of recipes that are all healthy with moderation (eg none of them call for loads of heavy cream etc). I am not a strict dieter so this book is a great toolkit for me to look through before heading to the grocery store. I do wish the book had more photos of the prepared food.

While I enjoyed looking at the recipes and think that they were laid out nice and written well (simply), I hate to admit it but nothing appealed to me. I judge a recipe book by what I would make from it, and I will not probably make anything from this book. I do not keep a lot of the ingredients in my kitchen and the colors of the food just did not spark interest on my part. I was rather disappointed in the book as a whole.

This is a fantastic cook book, and I am so glad that I added to my collection. Melissa d'Arabian's recipes offer new approaches to favorites, and some truly unique entrees that are delicious and healthy. The Veggie Mains chapter has some of the best. My family loved the eggplant meatballs with marinara sauce and roasted zucchini lasagna, and there are so many more recipes that I am looking forward to trying. Full of great tips and smart advice too.

As always, I love Melissa's tips and tricks. This book has some wonderful and delicious recipes in it, I just wish there were more pictures. This is definitely a moderate approach to healthy eating, and that's great because there is room to cater more specifically to whatever kind of diet you follow :)

Just rec'd this book the other day....have already tried 3 of the recipes, and we really enjoyed the outcome. I love cookbooks; have several dozens of them; and love to cook recipes from different cultures. Sometimes though, I just want to cook something simple, fast but healthy. This cookbook fits those criteria. One of the recipes I tried was a very simple chicken breast pounded flat and dipped in egg and a coating of ground sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and cornmeal. Simple but tasty. I have sticky notes on several pages of "want to try" recipes. This is the second book I have of Melissa d'Arabian and I am not disappointed with any of the recipes I have made so far.

If I had the option I would give it a ten! I have a ;huge collection of cookbooks, however, this is my absolute fave! I have tried about ten recipes and everyone was a winner. Would love to see you write a cookbook without wheat. Bravo for a wonderful book.