Cook This, Not That! Cookbook Review

Title: Cook This, Not That!

ISBN: 9781609618735

Website: http://www.rodalebooks.com

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I simply love this cookbook.  To date, I own only two 'Cook This, Not That' books.  I never had the time to really try any of the recipes when I originally bought it but since I had a the time (forced vacation), why not entertain myself?  And this proved quick, easy and healthy.

First chapter, like the other books, went over simple replacements for the pantry.  How one product is slightly better than another and with stats to state the argument.  Then the rest of the chapters were the recipes for breakfast, poultry, fish, etc.  Each section had about 6-8 recipes.  What was especially nice was that there was an image right next to each and every recipe.  Since I'm a visual person, this was a major plus.  The directions were very easy to follow and not overly complicated.  The ingredients are easily available and should be available in your pantry.  I did had to buy a few things but they were on my to-buy list in any case.  

So far, I made 7 recipes -  the cheese fries (p. 78), asparagus with fried egg and prosciutto (p. 110), Italian meatball soup (p. 112 - I've already made this twice in the last week), mac & cheese (p. 150), manicotti (p. 154), the roast salmon with lentils (p. 250), and the molten chocolate (p. 344).  And they were delicious! Unfortunately I don't have pictures since I'm horrible at plating and taking photographs.  But take my word, these were awesomely good.  I did do a few modifications since I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (like kale for escarole) but the recipes were robust enough too handle the adjustments.

If you don't own any others in the series, get this one.  If you do, I can't say if there are a lot of repeated recipes.  In comparison to the other one I own, there were three duplicates. But not enough to turn me away.  There was plenty of well-known recipes that had been healthy-upped without sacrificing taste.  However, this is not a vegan, gluten-free, or anyone with dietary restrictions-kind of cookbook.  The recipes can be modified to your own tastes and diet.  But overall, I'm super happy with my purchase and definitely keeping it in my collection.