The Food You Crave

I suppose this is a cookbook review of sorts. I preordered The Food You Crave back in January after hearing about it's upcoming release. I was pretty excited to see a cookbook from Ellie Krieger since I enjoyed her show quite a bit back when we had Food Network still. She has a very pleasant demeanor and features a lot of really great healthy sounding recipes. I had tried a few, which I can't recall off the top of my head right now, and really enjoyed them.

Upon opening this book I was very excited by everything I saw and wanted to make at least 80% of the recipes. This book is jammed pack with tons of great recipes and beautiful pictures. It is hardback and seems very sturdy with nice thick semi-glossy pages. She includes tips throughout the book, but not so many that you are overwhelmed by the information.

Nutritional information is included for all recipes. Also included is what each recipe is an "Excellent source of"(i.e. calcium, fiber, vitamins, etc) as well as "Good source of". While I am not a calorie counter and probably never will be, this is great information to have since I have two young children and try provide a balanced diet.



Tonight, I prepared the Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce. I was not entirely sure how we would like it, even though we like most of the ingredients separately. Sometimes when you puree things together it tends to ruin it for me; I guess it's a texure thing. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. It was the perfect balance of roasted red peppers and feta cheese. All the flavors blended together really nicely and nothing was too strong or off balance.

All the ingredients are pantry staples for me, making it easy to throw together when I am scrounging for something other than sandwiches. It took about 15 minutes to put together, making it perfect for weeknights.

Both of my kids gobbled it up, unaware they were eating red peppers. So, I would say this is winner. [The only change I made was to use plain pasta since that is what I had in the pantry.]



I also made the Aromatic Noodles with Lime Peanut Sauceand the Carrot, Green Apple, and Mint Salad on the side. This was also very easy and quick to put together. The noodles are really tasty, with the right balance of flavors once again. We are all big fans of peanut butter, so I knew we would like this. The kids gobbled this up with Miss "What's that green stuff?" not even questioning the veggies. [I could not find sugar snap peas so I left them out.]

The salad was nice as a side, but the Hub was not crazy about it and said he wouldn't want to eat it just alone. [I could not find mint at the store, so I omitted that and added a handful of raisins instead.]

I am really happy to have added this cookbook to my collection. I have many others planned for this week including: Whole-Wheat Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce, Over Fried Chicken, Parmesan Mashed Potatoes, Salmon Cakes with Ginger Sesame Sauce, and Beef and Barley Mushroom Soup.