New Cookbook to Lift The Spirit

When I first received The LooneySpoons Collection from Hay House publishing for review purposes, I really didn’t know what to expect. Since I personally have a large library of many different types of cookbooks, I pretty much was expecting another run of the mill “healthy eating” cookbook. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this book. Packing in over a whopping 325 recipes in all, I didn’t know where to start, so many of the recipes were appealing. I loved the very witty recipe names the authors used from various tv shows, movies and songs, such as “Bean Me Up, Scotty”, and “Everybody Loves Raysins”. Each page has colorful and comical food related graphics as well as photos of some of the dishes. What I liked was that each recipe is very clearly presented with not only the actual nutrition information for the recipe, but there are recipe tips, nutritional nuggets, trivial tidbits and random jokes all throughout the book. What really impressed me about the recipes was that the lists of ingredients were not too lengthly or exotic. It won’t have you running around to several different stores looking for obscure ingredients that you’ll only use once and be stuck with. When there is a call for canned ingredients, it is either low fat, no salt added or low sodium that is listed. I’ve tried several of the recipes and some of my favorites are the “Thai Beau” (Thai coconut chicken with mango and basil), “I’m Dreaming of a White Chili”, and “The Rice is Right” (veggie fried rice). In the dessert section, which is labeled the “House of Carbs” chapter, there are some great looking recipes to try, like the ”Fantasy Island Cake”  and “Oops! There it is! Chocolate Cake” which are healthier and lower in  calories. There are a few dessert recipes in the back of the book in the “Splurge Worthy” chapter, where there are no calorie counts given because they are richer recipes. The chapter description has a funny warning for the recipes because they are so good and highly addictive. There are only 3 cake recipes and one main dish recipe in this chapter thankfully! The authors were even kind enough not to leave old Fido out either. There’s a recipe in the book for healthy dog biscuits too! All in all, this cookbook is different from most, because you don’t feel as if you’re being forced to eat things you don’t like to stay healthy. This book has lots of variety, with easy, tasty recipes that won’t cost a fortune to make. If I had not received this book for free from Hay House, I still would have purchased it. I was not financially compensated for this post and the opinions are completely my own based on my experience. You can purchase the book here http://www.amazon.com/Looneyspoons-Collection-Good-Food-Health/dp/1401941966/