From the blurb:
Before you call for that takeaway, pick up this book! It's packed with ideas for simple, easy-to-prepare healthy dishes that will be on the table in a flash. There are recipes for light lunches and substantial dinners, as well as vegetable dishes, speedy salads and soups.
Dip into this book whenever you need healthy inspiration in a hurry.

Releasing at the 2011 BCUK Unconvention in Nottingham.

Had a flick through at the Uncon. It's a nice-looking book, but there only looks to be 2 or 3 recipes that I would realistically make of an evening. That was enough temptation to bring it home though. After all the food I've eaten this weekend, I need some healthy meals :-)

Update: I tried the chicken tortilla wrap recipe which was quite nice, though I confess we ate all 4 portions between the two of us. The portion sizes are so small in this book!

It's now back on the shelf for a while until I try using it again.

Moving house soon - so released this at the meetup.

If you are new to bookcrossing - welcome and congratulations for finding a book! Please leave a journal entry to let me and any other readers know where it has gone and what you thought of it.

Picked up at the monthly meeting on Thursday.

Finally got around to trying some of the recipes in this book. I agree with Littlesuz that there are quite a few recipes in there that look very pretty, but you wouldn't really throw together on a weeknight without a lot of forward planning.

I made the marinated sirloin steak on p.106 and it was very nice. I didn't bother with the skewers but just fried the cubes of meat in a pan. The marinade was very good. I only made half the meat (as I only had two people to feed and the recipe serves four) but left the amount of vegetables the same, served over rice and it was quite filling.

I have plans to make another recipe soon, will update with results!


26/11/13 Edit:

Made the Crab and Asparagus salad (page 44) on 22/11, not with fancy fresh Cornish crab but one tiny pot of fresh and the rest made up with a tin! It was really good, though I don't think it would be enough to feed four people as a main course.

Also made the Spicy Prawn Couscous on the 23/11, (page 52) and was very pleased with the sheer number of fresh vegetables in it. I think your entire 5-a-day are in that one dish. The recipe serves 8 so I made exactly half and it was just right for two hungry people. I don't normally like raisins in my savoury dishes but they went quite well with this.

Made the Chicken with Peppers, Guacamole and Chilli oil on 24/11 (page 60) and it was very, very nice, even though I didn't have chilli oil, I just mixed some Harissa paste with some olive oil and drizzled that over. I accidentally put twice the amount of chilli in the guacamole and my boyfriend found it a bit fiery, but it was just right for me! I would definitely make this again.

Since it was exactly the same ingredients I also made the Chicken Tortillas with Avocado yesterday (page 94) and after reading LittleSuz's comments decided to make the full amount to serve two people, and it was just perfect for us! I didn't bother with the skewers, just grilled the chicken pieces on a tray. I also only had green chilli instead of red, but it was all very tasty and satisfying after a workout session at the gym!

This book is actually much better than I had expected, a lot of books on 'healthy food' aren't actually that healthy at all, they just make everything with reduced fat or sugar free products, but I like that this one incorporates lots of different fruit and vegetables in all the recipes. So I will make some more in the next few days and report back.

I have made the following recipes since the last review:

Made the orange & pineapple smoothie (p 14) on 1/12/13 and it was very nice. Not enough for an actual breakfast though, more of a juice really that you would have on the side of something more filling. Great flavour.

Made the strawberry & raspberry smoothie (p 16) on 20/5/14. This one was more filling and also very nice.

Made the fruit-filled melon shells (p 18) on 3/12/13. A great summer breakfast though most of the berries didn’t really fit into the hollow of the melon half so I had to put them on the side.

Made the compote of dried fruit (p 20) in July 2014. At first I thought it was kind of pointless to reconstitute dried fruit, what is the point of buying dried fruit if you are going to soak it? But I gave it a go and it was actually pretty nice. The yoghurt and seeds make it reasonably filling. I used mango, mixed berries and raisins.

Honey, fruit & yoghurt (p 22): Made 9/5/14. It was really good of course, but it’s not exactly rocket science to put fruit and yoghurt together. I make this kind of thing all the time and don’t really need a recipe for it!

Made the oatmeal porridge (p 24) in January 2013. It was very good honestly. The little splash of cream really made it!

Muesli (p 26) was very nice too, though you don’t exactly need a recipe to put fruit on some cereal!

Tomato, mozzarella & avocado salad (p 30) made 24 March 2014. This is always a winning combination. I’m not a big fan of raisins but this was actually alright.

Pickled herring and potato salad (p 32). Nice lunch or small supper. I can’t handle as much onion as the recipe says so I just used whatever was in the packet with the herrings. It was really tasty (if you like pickled herring of course!)

Prawn, potato and basil salad (p 34) The full amount was enough for two as a main course.

Cypriot salad (p 36) Loved this and make it all the time, or a variation of the theme.

Beetroot and rocket salad (p 38) Really nice as a side dish.
Tuna stuffed bell pepper (p 40) nice and filling lunch, though I had a series of mishaps while cooking! First something fell out the cupboard and smashed my bowl with the tuna mix in it so I had to start over again. Then I picked up one of the peppers by the stem after roasting (don’t do that! It will hold just long enough to fall at the most inconvenient moment). Then I messed up the remaining pepper while stuffing it so in the end I just made a salad of the whole thing. Still tasty though.


Spiced indian crab (p 46) This was surprisingly yummy. It was great as a snack but I made extra and put it over rice and it was super.

Tropical salad (p 50) nice but not very filling, definitely side dish material.

Spicy prawn couscous (p 52) really good and generous portions. Serves two as a main. I don’t really like raisins in my savoury dishes that much but I thought I’d stay true to the recipe and put them in anyway. Didn’t actually mind them that much.

I also made the following but I didn't write down the rewiews at the time so I don't remember now. I did leave post-it note on the relevant pages though:

Spicy noodles with tomatoes (p 54)
Green and red pasta salad 56
Noodles with stir fried vegetables 58
Scallops with guacamole 68
Fisherman’s clams 72
Seared salmon 78
Baked mackerel 84
Steamed fish with chilli paste 88
Grilled tuna & salsa verde 90
Stuffed trout 92
Grilled chicken with cardamom 96
Vietnamese patties 100
Lamb steaks with apricot sauce
Beef and vegetable noodles 108
Mussel soup 116
Chilled avocado soup 118
Spiced gazpacho 120
Chilled asparagus soup 122
Orange carrot and ginger soup 124
Tomato salad 126
Avocado and strawberry salad 128
Spiced yogurt relish 130
Papaya salad 134
Raw artichoke salad 136

Leaving on the book exchange shelf.