The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat
Known for her incredibly approachable, slimmed-down, and outrageously delicious recipes, Erin Clarke is the creator of the smash-hit food blog in the healthy-eating blogosphere, Well Plated by Erin. Clarke's site welcomes millions of readers, and with good reason: Her recipes are fast, budget-friendly, and clever; she never includes an ingredient you can't find in a regular supermarket or that isn't essential to a dish's success, and she hacks her recipes for maximum nutrition by using the "stealthy healthy" ingredient swaps she's mastered so that you don't lose an ounce of flavor.
In this essential cookbook for everyday cooking, Clarke shares more than 130 brand-new rapid-fire recipes, along with secrets to lightening up classic comfort favorites inspired by her midwestern roots, and clever recipe hacks that will enable you to put a healthy meal on the table any night of the week. Many of the recipes feature a single ingredient used in multiple, ingenious ways, such as Sweet Potato Boats 5 Ways. The recipes are affordable and keep practicality top-of-mind. She's eliminated odd leftover "orphan" ingredients and included Market Swaps so you can adjust the ingredients based on the season or what you have on hand. To help you make the most of your cooking, she's even included tips to store and reheat leftovers, as well as clever ideas to turn them into an entirely new dish. From One-Pot Creamy Sundried Tomato Orzo to Sheet Pan Tandoori Chicken, all of the recipes are accessible to cooks of every level, and so indulgent you won't detect the healthy ingredients. As Clarke always hears from her readers, "My family doesn't like healthy food, but they LOVED this!" This is your homey guide to a healthier kitchen.
Reviews (186)
Best Cookbook I Own
I preordered this cookbook months ago, and nearly forgot about it until it arrived on my door step. I was thrilled when I started reading it! It reads like a friend is talking to you. I can imagine Erin sitting with me in my kitchen, walking me through a recipe, and telling me the story behind each one, which she lovingly does before each recipe. What I appreciate most about this cookbooks is the middle ground it strikes between healthier foods, reasonable fast weeknight meals, and semi-indulgent hearty meals. I've followed her blog for years now, and her approach to health food is extremely approachable: swap a few whole grains in, add lots of savory veggies, and please savor some yummy fruits and chocolate! As a pediatrician who works with families on healthy nutrition, this cook book is perfect, and would be a great first step in a journey towards health! New to cooking? This book is for you. Erin breaks down recipes into their most basic forms. No weird ingredients. I have almost every stock ingredient she'd already mentioned, and she does a great intro of suggesting which staples to invest in! Her recipes are easy to read and instructions are explicit and clear. She never makes you feel like you couldn't accomplish a meal. Expert chef? This book is for you. (also invite me over) Erin has many novel and creative recipes that I'm very excited to try out! (Say beet and sweet potato hash?) She has pro tips as well as ways to "one-up" your recipes for extra flair. Bonus, she gives meal planning suggestions at the end, to tie it all together. Working mom? You should get this. As a fellow working mom, I've been cooking Erin's meals for years. I nearly always have most of her ingredients on hand already. She sorts meals out at the end if they're 30 min or less, instant pot, or slow cooker, so you can come home and have it ready! Definitely, this book will be my counter top cookbook for years to come!
Not for gluten free
To be fair I have not actually tried any of these recipes so they might be absolutely delicious but so many of these have gluten or some kind (over 35) I can’t make them. I wanted to write a review so gluten intolerant people would be warned. I only tabbed a handful of the recipes to try so I will update the review after I try them. Over 20 recipes had the pictures on the page after the recipes which threw me off sincE usually it’s next to recipe. Some of the ideas look really creative, others are repetitive - smoothies and salads, overnight oats, etc. but may be a different take on them than you’ve seen!
Quality recipes from a blogger I already trust!
I've been following Erin's blog for several years now and she has yet to let me down. Many of her recipes are on constant rotation in our little household (in fact, our all-time favorite blog recipe was one of the very few to make it to the cookbook! Such a pleasant surprise; now I can throw away my stained printed copy!) So the first day I could preorder her first cookbook, I did. Everything about this book is a delight. The pictures are stunning and really drive that "I HAVE to make this!" instinct. Many recipes include a "Market Swaps" text box giving tips on what ingredients can be swapped out for others (i.e. tofu for chicken, seasonal veggies for ones that may be out of season). She even offers suggestions for how leftovers can be used. Plus there's so much versatility offered for things like simple shredded chicken and a bolognese sauce. Erin clearly cares about making your family meals delicious, healthy, and easy. I was reading through this book last night and realized this may be the first of my MANY cookbooks where I end up trying everything at least once. Truly, if you're only going to buy one cookbook (I don't know how anyone does that but hey, you do you!), "The Well Plated Cookbook" should be that one. I can't imagine being disappointed.
First recipe was amazing!
I pre-ordered The Well-plated Cookbook as I have been following the authors blog for quite awhile. The first recipe I made was a slow cooker pork carnitas with pineapple. Oh boy, was that delicious. My husband took one bite and said “that is full of flavor”. There are so many great recipes and ways to vary them, freeze them, make them ahead, etc, and all great tasting healthy food. I am so excited to try more. This will be a great addition to my collection of cookbooks, but will probably be used more than others. The photos are amazing, and I am very fussy about lots of photos in my cookbooks. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for new ideas for healthy cooking.
If you like to spend more time than your effort is worth, then this book is definitely for you!
I was so excited to receive this book based on the rave reviews. The recipes looked delicious as I paged through the book. I purchased many ingredients with a plan to make recipes throughout the week. The first recipe “the Santa Fe salad” was pretty darn good. Lots of ingredients for a salad IMO, as well as needing to marinate the chicken which I found annoying, but also normal enough. So I was happy with that recipe. The chocolate mouse... tons of work and tasted decent, for a healthier dessert I was still ok with this. The oatmeal cookies. I only had old fashioned rolled oats so I used those instead of the quick oats she recommends. They were pretty delicious, I made them again with the quick oats and I did not like the texture at all. Also, toasting the walnuts seemed like a pointless extra step to me Here it gets not so good. The Asian chicken salad. Tons of work and ingredients. Its GROSS and not satisfying in the least. I had to eat more after that lunch to even feel full The caprese chicken skillet... nope. Again, lots of ingredients for such a mediocre meal. The thyme she has you add, yuck! The whole thing took forever to make and just didn’t taste good Lemon chia seed muffins are a NOPPPPEEE. Disgusting dense chewy yuck consistency with a less than decent flavor. And again, more time consuming to make than a freaking muffin needs to be! Tonight I made the chicken pot pie soup. That was the final straw to my lack of enjoyment from making recipes from this book. It doesn’t taste good, I don’t know what else to say about it. I followed the recipe exactly and it just doesn’t taste good I wanted to love this book. I’m a mom of 2 trying to get a healthy meal on the table, but ain’t nobody got time for this.
Essential and Must-Have Cookbook
I was so excited to receive my copy of Erin’s cookbook last night. I’ve been anxiously awaiting it for months and it definitely did not disappoint! The book is beautifully made, very sturdy and most of all exceptionally written and illustrated. I have been making many of Erin’s recipes and they are always easy to make with ingredients that I most often have on hand. I also appreciate the fact that her recipes, whether they are main dishes, breakfast foods or desserts, are not only delicious, but they are made with wholesome, budget-friendly, and easily accessible ingredients that are healthy for my family. Erin has a special talent for swapping out higher-fat, higher-sugar and higher-carb ingredients for more natural and minimally processed alternatives. Every recipe I’ve made has been delicious and nutritious. I also have several food restrictions due to a gastrointestinal disease, but am able to improvise when needed with Erin’s recipes. I am looking forward to making the Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes (her vegan ones are amazing) as well as the Whole Wheat Blueberry Banana Bread, the Almond Crusted Trout, the Maple Dijon Salmon and the decadent Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies. The photos and storage tips she includes are very helpful and appreciated as well. I’ve been following Erin on her Instagram page and blog for several years now and she is a sweetheart. She is very friendly, down to earth and approachable. She interacts with us and answers any questions you may have. I would highly recommend the Well Plated Cookbook... you will be very happy and 100% satisfied!
Destined to be a regular family favorite
(Note- my reviewer name belies my trim frame). I’ve followed the Well Plated blog for a few years, and I’ve cooked at least several dozen of the recipes. It’s one of the few food blogs that’s actually accessible to cook, beautiful, well-written, and DELICIOUS. Seriously, whenever I’m hosting or need to bring an item to a party, Well Plated is the first place I go for a good recipe because they are crowd favorites and simple to prepare. In the 5 days since the cookbook’s release, I’ve tried 6 recipes, and they’re great. No surprises there. And they’re all NEW recipes, I should add. The biggest delight has been the photographs—another consistent carryover from the blog. They’re vibrant, exciting, and appealing. Think Ottolenghi-level photography with more familiar food for most Americans (no disrespect to Ottolenghi—one of my favs!). The writing is conversational like a blog. I somewhat prefer more efficient prose during the actual recipe, but the author has tons of tips and tricks in the steps so I actually have been reading the recipes in whole. Overall this cookbook is home run. I honestly think is will become as well-worn (or more!) as my Moosewoods (Mollie Katzen) and How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman). Lastly, the Well Plated blog recipes have managed to grow with me even as my skills have increased substantially. I do tweak things here and there (as cooks do) but I have grown to trust the author’s base suggestions for what to use and how to prepare. So far, this cookbook has only been an extension of that. I highly highly highly recommend this cookbook. Thank you to the author, Erin Clarke, for your tremendous effort and CONTRIBUTION to home cooks everywhere. In the words of Jacque Pepin, Happy cooking!
EVERY RECIPE WORKS!!!
I love this cookbook! I love the recipes and have been able to get a handle on "clean" eating finally. I am excited to have a cookbook that encourages positive eating. I have always hated trying recipes that did NOT turn out and regretting the time and ingredients wasted. I have not had that experience yet with this cookbook, and I have tried several items from pancakes to smoothies to main dishes. I even tried Brussel Sprouts, which I was SURE I would not like, but they were yummy too. THANK YOU, Erin. The only disappointment for me is that I am still watching my calories and nutrition input and would have dearly loved the nutritional facts at the end of each recipe like they are on the blog. But it does not deter me from using these recipes. 5 Stars, for sure!!!
A Delightful Book!
I have been following Erin's blog for about 6 years now and I love the way she creates recipes and talks to and with her blog followers. She is a master in the kitchen and I have loved every single thing I've ever made from her blog! And, her cookbook is AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL! (I really hope I don't get stuff on it!) Delicious recipes page after page after page and everything looks so delicious I just want to make everything! Erin - This book ROCKS!!!
Fast & Healthy Recipes You'll Want To Eat!
I absolutely LOVE this cookbook, and I'm not easy to impress. Erin Clarke's recipes are healthy but they're not so strict-healthy that your finicky kids or your I-must-have-meat-and-potatoes husband won't eat them! You know what I mean... let's talk kale for example. If your kids normally say no to it, I challenge you to make her "Garlicky Sauteed Kale with Almonds", I'm tellin' ya, your kiddos will gobble it UP! This cookbook is organized, Erin's style is fun and interesting (I love all her stories about each recipe!), plus there are many colorful pictures throughout the book. In addition, she added "Pro Tips", "Storage Tips", "Leftover Love", "Market Swaps" and "Next Level" . . . tons and tons of add-ons that you don't normally find in cookbooks. You won't be disappointed in this cookbook!! P.S. This picture is of her Blue Ribbon Chili .....it's DAH BOMB!!
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