Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy : How to Put the Food Pyramid to Work for Your Busy Lifestyle Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a primo resource book written in laymen's terms. It is equally informative for those very familiar with what food pyramids and healthy eating are all about, as well for those who may be a novice to the subject. The book is organized in such a way to make quick and easy reference something you want to do to refresh your memory once you've read through it and gotten the gist of the goals. Keep it nearby your favorite chair or on your cook book shelf and use it when you make up your grocery list. "De-mystify" is an over used word but really describes this book. Best of all, it's backed by the American Diabetes Association and thus, one of the most reliable for this subject. I bought my first copy nearly a hear ago as a newly diagnosed Type II diabetic and have bought other copies for friends, recommended it to others, and refer to it very often, still. I feel it was very instrumental in helping me to obtain my hard won goal of great sugar and weight control (sugar formerly 235, since I've been following the book it's mid-80's and I lost 44 pounds in about 4-5 months). I am a walking advertisement for why you should buy - but most importantly - USE this book.

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Putting the food pyramid to work sounds simple enough, but frequent changes in nutrition recommendations make it important to stay well informed and up-to-date. This revised second edition of Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy reveals:

the latest information on the six food groups and how to incorporate them into a healthy diet
how to make smart choices about sweets, fats, and dairy products
how to shop smart at the grocery store
and more.

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Easy Freezer Meals Review

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(More customer reviews)This is more than just another freezer book, it's a way to manage food! Not only will I not waste any food, I will eat better then I ever have as the recipes are just great! I was worried I'd gain weight with all this extra food in the freezer just waiting to be eaten, but, as Cheri explains, with freezer food much of it is portion controlled keeping you from over eating. There are many more lessons to be learned about how to cook, store and reheat the great recipes this book has to offer. I also read she's started a new blog, [...] where I'll find more great recipes.

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"Freezers are your friends!" Freezers allow busy home chefs to plan their family menus a weekend, a week, or even a month in advance. Now expert chef and flood blogger Cheri Sicard presents recipes for 120 delicious, healthy meals that can be frozen and then reheated-and still taste fantastic. • Over 120 delicious, unique and easy to prepare recipes • Great cooking tips designed to help the home cook • Flexible menu planning from a weekend to a full month

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Make-Ahead Meals Made Healthy: Exceptionally Delicious and Nutritious Freezer-Friendly Recipes You Can Prepare in Advance and Enjoy at a Moment's Notice Review

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(More customer reviews)I like the concept of making meals ahead and having them in the freezer for those busy times or when I just don't feel like cooking. An issue I've had with some make-ahead cookbooks is that so many of the recipes rely on canned condensed "cream of" soups and other processed ingredients, and end up being high in fat, starches, and sodium.
This cookbook is different with its focus on real, healthier ingredients, all of which can be found at any larger grocery store. The recipes themselves are not complicated so cooks of any level will be able to master them. Included are casseroles, meats, poultry, and seafood; soups, stews, and chilis; side dishes and vegetarian options, breads, rolls, and pizzas; appetizers, breakfast dishes, desserts, and sauces and condiments.
The book starts with helpful tips on freezing and organizing for a cooking session. While one doesn't have to spend an entire day cooking for a month, suggestions are given for making multiple dishes at the same time in order to have several meals ready for the week(s) ahead.
There are several recipes I look forward to trying, including an unusual butternut squash and chard lasgagne, three-bean Italian minestrone soup, turkey sausage and broccoli rabe calzones, low-carb mini quiche, creamy turkey casserole with broccoli and cauliflower, raspberry-lavender crumb cake, and dark chocolate mint cake. I did make a modified version of the All-Occasion Sloppy Janes recipe with good results.
There are many color photographs which always makes a cookbook nicer and although it isn't spiral bound, it does lay open while in use which I also appreciate. This is a cookbook I recommend for those who like to plan ahead and have meals ready in the freezer that are also healthy.
I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher but the opinion of it is my own and was not solicited, nor was a positive review required.

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Currier's Quick and Easy Guide to Saltwater Fly Fishing Review

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(More customer reviews)Currier's book is a great place for beginning salt water fly fishers to start. He presents his subject in an easy to understand manner and backs up his words with well drawn diagrams. If you are planning your first trip to the salt, get this book now.

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Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals Review

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(More customer reviews)Jamie Oliver's cookbook is beautiful. It is full color, complete with step-by-step pictures and easy to follow traditional recipes but with a definite twist. Jamie's cooking hook is that the recipes are fairly quick, good for you and easy. So easy in fact, that Jamie has rounded up a bunch of every day folks who would never consider themselves cooks and challenged them to cook the recipes in his book. He challenged them by teaching them how to make the dishes. Jamie believes that non-cooks can cook these meals and proves it by including some of these folks, in full-color glossy glory, with their now-mastered meals!
The result is brilliant. The reader is tempted, inspired, and motivated, just as I was last Sunday, when I attempted "The Perfect Roast" on page 192. I followed the recipe to the letter and served my family a delicious roast dinner complete with horseradish sauce, p.210 and evolution cucumber salad p.114. (note to Jamie, as you suggested I improvised and added bacon bits to the cucumber salad and it was delish!)
You see, Jamie's cookbook has a challenge attached to it. He wants folks to start cooking again in their own kitchens! So... he challenges his readers to "pass it on." He asks readers to try some of the recipes in his book and then teach someone else the recipes and so on and so on and so on, you get the idea. Although I will probably skip signing that actual pledge which you can find on his website at [...] I will continue to try delicious recipes from this book and will pass them on to my friends and family.
Some of the other recipes that look terrific: Classic Tomato Spaghetti, p.43, Hardly Any Prep Shrimp Stir Fry, p.66, the entire Chopped Salad section p.120-p.125, Baked Creamy Leeks, p.123, and Pork Kabobs, p.238. Oh heck, the entire cookbook is full of terrific recipes. The desserts, including the Mega Chocolate Fudge Cake, look pretty awesome, too. Jamie combines traditional cooking with conventional time and money constraints making this book a pleasure to work with. I also love that fact that Jamie tells us, with more gorgeous pictures, the equipment we will need to get back to cooking and the essential ingredients we will need to stock in the cupboard for cooking success. Cooking this Fall is going to be a breeze!

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I Love Trader Joe's College Cookbook: 150 Cheap and Easy Gourmet Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)While the title points this book towards the college crowd I would like to point it toward the work-at-home-full-time-dad-crowd, I know there are some of us out there.
I've had this cookbook a week now and have used it more than probably all my others combined. I love the one stop shopping aspect: all ingredients are at Trader Joes which is also affordable. The recipes are easy: more than a few of the ones I have made so far have made me say "why didn't I think of that" - the answer is because I am not Andrea Lynn and she deserves the credit. The recipes are delicious, period.
I remember being excited when my local Trader Joe's opened but I felt a little lost, thanks to this book not only have a rekindled my excitement for Trader Joe's but I now have the time to shop and prepare meals that are tasty and satisfying. I've even remembered to eat lunch this week and I didn't even have to wait until my daughter fell asleep to prepare it. Now if you'll excuse me I am off to make a Very Berry Smoothie.
PS I recommend the Pork Buns with Broccoli Slaw, The Avocado Toast, Parmesan and Bread Crumb-Crusted Tomatoes, Chicken Salad-stuffed Tomatoes and well pretty much everything else I made this week.

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Man with a Pan Review

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(More customer reviews)
There's Stephen King whose "weapon of choice is the frying pan." As he says, "You can call it sauteing if it makes you feel better - but it's really just educated frying." It seems you can give him a fry pan, a hunk of butter, and he can cook anything. His tips on preparing an omelet are not only on target but as fascinating to read as his fiction. Mario Batali's kids are served monkfish liver and foie gras for breakfast - why not?
We thoroughly enjoyed every story from the dad who managed to cook with a toddler crawling around his ankles to the fellow who simply can't seem to get enough to eat and doesn't understand why everyone isn't the same way.
Each commentary is followed by a recipe or three. These range from the extremely simple to gourmet. Writer John Donohue is also a cartoonist of note and peppers his book with smile producing illustrations ( a favorite shows a torture chamber with the victim bound and at the mercy of a villainous looking fellow who says, "You can stop the pain, Marcel. Just show us how to crust a sea bass."
Don't miss "MAN WITH A PAN"!
- Gail Cooke

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The Busy Person's Guide to Permanent Weight Loss Review

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(More customer reviews)I love this book! It is not going on my bookshelf--it is staying on my kitchen counter. Reading it, I felt that at last, I could succeed in taking off weight for good. After all, Dr. Jampolis's other patients did and their problems were exactly the same as mine. She shares their stories and offers practical solutions. She showed me how I could lose weight even when I was travelling, or eating out, or celebrating the holidays. In her down-to-earth style, she even outlined what to order at fast food restaurants. And finally, she demystified the glycemic index. She is practical, easy to read and her advice is coming from a real doctor who is also a certified nutritionist. All this--and delicious recipes, too! Five stars, indeed!

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The Busy Person's Guide to Permanent Weight Loss reveals a weight-loss plan busy people can successfully use in the real world.

Busy people see to everything and everyone-except themselves. The result is unexpected weight gain. But few people have the time to lose weight. This revolutionary approach to weight loss embraces the hectic lifestyle and provides realistic strategies for staying on target, including:

a program that is easily tailored to fit individual dieting needs
helpful dining options for eating out
healthy, flavorful, and FAST menu ideas for eating in, and
time saving strategies to maximize results.

No two people lose weight the same way, and busy people need a plan designed for their schedule. Dr. Jampolis has developed variations of the plan that will work with every lifestyle and every schedule. You can even create your own plan by applying her seven principles into a plan that suits your lifestyle.

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Skinny Soups: Over 100 Hearty Entrees, Meal Starters, and Vegetarian Creations, Plus Special Soup Express Recipes for Cooks on the G (Skinny Cookbook) Review

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(More customer reviews)Skinny Soups by Ruth Glick and Nancy Baggett is possibly the best lowcal cookbook ever written. I love soup and thought the recipes in this book were fabulous. Each soup I made was delicious, spicy and yet very easy to make. I have been making soups each week from this book for the last three months. I have experimented with fish stock for the first time, carrying home a halibut carcus large enough to fill my kitchen sink. Ruth Glick and Nancy Baggett have a award winning cookbook. I am purchasing several copies to give as gifts. I am looking forward to purchasing the entire Skinny Books series. Happy cooking!

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Here are over 100 hearty entrees, meal starters, and vegetarian creations, plus special "soup express" recipes for cooks on the go. With over a third of its recipes new or updated, this second edition of Skinny Soups provides a variety of healthful, great-tasting soups that all meet American Heart Association low-fat guidelines. 25 b&w illustrations.

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The Hollywood Wrap: 100 Quick and Easy Meals to Fuel Your Workout and Help You Lose Weight, from Celebrity Fitness and Nutrition Expert Review

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(More customer reviews)Recommendation for this book came from NPR's Faith Middleton. Fabulous,quick, easy receipes with ingredients that are common in most kitchens. Just a little extra shopping if you're not used to cooking light. Substitutions are easy to make. I love the breakfast wraps with tofu and leftovers can be refrigerated. I'm eating healthy all summer, losing weight, and feeling great. Oh yeah, they taste great too.

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When it comes to eating on the run, it's not always easy to make smart choices. In her new book, celebrity fitness trainer and nutrition expert Nancy Kennedy introduces her foolproof solution for weight-conscious dining at home or away with 100 recipes for sleek and sexy wraps. You can put together these nutritious, low-calorie meals in minutes and pack them along wherever your busy day takes you.

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On a Stick Review

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(More customer reviews)I will say up front that I know Matt personally, and he is a friend of mine. I review cookbooks on his website. In a way that might make me biased, however, I believe it makes me qualified to comment on this book because I see hundreds of cookbooks a year, pulling out only the best for review.
I never thought I'd be a food on a stick person, but this book has convinced me of exactly how versatile, easy, and valuable food on a stick is for entertaining. Matt has taken some classic food on a stick (corn dogs, a favorite of mine!!), and has made new recipes- bacon wrapped shrimp, mojito melons, fried mac n cheese, to name a few.
What I like about this book:
- It contains the perfect mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, suggestions on how to adapt some of the meat recipes.
- There is a wide range of recipes, all of which are simple, ingredients are easy to find, sophisticated, and many of them unique (you won't find them elsewhere)
- Each recipe has a photograph, so you know what you're preparing
- The recipes work.
I used to swear by my Martha Stewart Hors D'oeuvres Handbook, which is still a formidable book but which often requires quite a few steps and loads of prep. On A Stick! has taken over the number one go to book for me for its simplicity, range of recipes, and layout.
This is a great book for someone who entertains a lot for children and adults alike, or even someone who has one important party to throw and wants to make a great impression. Many of the recipes can be prepared in stages ahead, so suited to catering.
I've ordered several copies for friends who I know will wear the pages thin, especially going into the summer outdoor dining season!

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Real Simple Meals Made Easy Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a "been there, done that" cook. So I use very few cookbooks. If I am baking a cake, sure, I pull down "Joy of Cooking" or better yet, I am likely to make a genoise from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I have about 10 cookbooks, but those two plus "The New York Times Cookbook" are the only ones I refer to. Otherwise, I am making my standard fare most nights. For parties, I pull down my three or four tried-and-true recipes from my card box.
BUT...."Meals Made Easy" is a cookbook I think I will be adding to my slim pile of regulars. Wow! I found page after page of easy but elegant meals, from corn-scallop chowder (a variant on my standard crowd-pleasing corn-potato chowder), and a number of composed salads of great merit like tuna and white bean, Greek Salad. The Greek salad is not the usual romaine-and-feta-and-olive, either. This one has cherry tomatoes, pear tomatoes, cheese, pepperoncini and cucumber cubes. And there were sauces and variants on chops and steak that go from boring to glorified. And there are variations on meatballs, chops, steak strips, stir fry that are a twist on the usual but are absolutely easy. The pictures are appetizing and inspiring, which helps you decide, yes THAT'S what's for dinner.
The book is divided into the following sections:
1. One Pot Meals
2. No Shop Meals
3. 30 Minute Meals
4. No Cook Meals
5. Freezer Meals
6. Shortcut Meals
7. Reliable Sides
There are a few basics like lasagna and roast chicken. There are money saving ideas (from boning chicken breast to those no-shop meals that save a budget-busting takeout night or restaurant night.) There are no desserts. There is a section on suggested kitchen equipment, including the mandoline for fast slicing (I use a version attached to a bowl and I do agree, it speeds up salad and side dish cooking tremendously.)
I think this is a must-give for weddings and graduation-just-starting out. Anyone can enjoy this book (except the passionately vegan) and it's full of easy but beautiful ideas for fine meals whether you alone, you and yours, or with friends for entertaining. I highly recommend this book as a standard for any cookbook shelf.
Joanna Daneman

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Wildly Affordable Organic: Eat Fabulous Food, Get Healthy, and Save the Planet--All on $5 a Day or Less Review

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(More customer reviews)I live in the same city as the author, and have followed her work ever since she was featured in the local paper. Previously she had e-books which covered much of this same material. However, I was excited to see she was finally publishing. Reading about how the project evolved was fun -- it was not easy at first but she figured it all out and passes it on to us. She lists what brands to buy, and how to organize your cooking to minimize time in the kitchen.
If you are a vegetarian who likes beans, this is a great book. She has adaptations for vegans. If you want to learn to make no knead bread, this is a great book. My husband liked it the first time I made it and he is a meat eating man who has never liked my bread before. Even I did not like my bread before.
The book is hugely practical, and rest assured, you really can do it for $5/per day/per person. The author regularly shops the local stores to see what the current pricing is. You can do it for less if you go non organic.
In posts on her web site, Linda talks about buying all the equipment needed for cooking (basics: pans, knives, etc) for less than $100. I would like to see Amazon package the collection plus the book for persons starting out in their first home. Page 55 lists the essentials.

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BuyGreen. Eat Green. Save Green.

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