The book was archived before our group could download it. We are sure that we would have enjoyed the book judging from the reviews it has received.

Healthy, attainable recipes, with delightful backstories!

So many wholesome healthy recipes in a single book..............

A nice collection of healthy-sounding, but very hipster-y recipes.

With so many people having food allergies, this will be a lovely cookbook when cooking for guests, yourself, and family can be overwhelming, which can be a daunting task! Finding recipes that are simple and fun and tasty can be hard when you can only eat certain ingredients. This books will make it so much easier to handle this task!

This book was really interesting. I'm not a big cook - simply because I don't have time - so a lot of the recipes seem complicated. However, I really enjoyed learning about the different varieties of sweetener and about alternatives to gluten. I'd definitely recommend this book for public libraries and those wanting to change up their diet.

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Interesting and different approach to cooking than I am used to. I did try a recipe and it was very good but it was also pretty expensive to make.

The cookbook I received for review is called Tasty. Naughty. Healthy. Nice. written by Susan Jane White. White lives in Ireland and changed her eating ways when faced with a serious immune disorder. Her cookbook includes over 135 recipes that are gluten-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free. Her book promises "whole food made sinfully delicious."

It's important to note that this is not a vegetarian/vegan cookbook, but a lot of the ingredients found in typical vegan cooking can be found here. If you're not familiar with plant-based cooking, things like nutritional yeast, brown rice syrup, quinoa, agave, buckwheat, etc. might seem very foreign to you. Since I've been cooking plant-based for a few years now, I had the majority of ingredients on hand. There were, however, quite a few ingredients that I had not heard of and couldn't find easily. Ingredients such as pea protein, nettle leaves, wild garlic leaves, black garlic, coconut blossom sugar, etc. were very new to me and I was only able to locate them online. Some were quite pricey, as well. That was definitely one of the downfalls of this cookbook. I think a reader who is new to whole foods cooking would be overwhelmed by such oddities and the expense that comes with them. In White's defense, perhaps these ingredients are easier to find and more commonly used in the UK and Europe as opposed to the US.

Another thing I disliked about this cookbook was that not all the recipes have photographs. I know that is pretty commonplace to save publishers money, but I'm one of those cooks who needs to see what I'm supposed to be making. Not only will a pretty plate get me to try a recipe I'd normally pass over, but it helps me feel more confident in the kitchen. I need to have an end picture in my mind for comparison. Especially when readers are cooking with unfamiliar ingredients, they may need the extra support that a good photograph can provide. More than half of the recipes did have photos and they were gorgeous! There were also several pictures of White herself and old-timey kitchen utensils throughout the book which I felt were unnecessary. Instead of seeing a can opener or the author smiling and standing with a bowl of fruit in her hands, I could have benefited more from another recipe picture.

I enjoyed White's backstory and felt that she gave a lot of good information about whole foods in the intro. She did an excellent job with her recipe descriptions, especially when it came to why you were doing certain things to the food. For example, for the "Mango, Blackberry, and Buckwheat Porridge", she explains that soaking the buckwheat overnight breaks down the acid in the cereal and makes it easier to digest and quicker to cook. I haven't seen many cookbooks like that before and enjoyed picking up new facts about the food I was cooking.

There was also a lot of variety when it came to the plants and grains that White cooks with, which I liked a lot. More diverse fruits and veggies means a variety of vitamins and nutrients. When it came to the proteins, however, it was a different story. The non-plant-based proteins used in this cookbook are predominantly types of fish. If you're not a huge fan of fish (raw and cooked), then most of the main dish meals won't work for you. There is only one chicken recipe and one lamb recipe.

Before I felt like I could give an honest review, I had to try some of these recipes myself.





From the "Snacks & Other Nutritional Hits" section, I made the "Strawberry & Banana Shoelaces". The shoelaces were very simple to make. I just threw some strawberries, a banana, and some flax into a blender and then spread onto a pan. The recipe suggests cooking for 6-8 hours, but at only 4 hours, mine were already overcooked. As you can see from the photo, my shoelaces did not have a leathery texture and instead are more like fruit chips. They tasted great either way, but I would have preferred them chewy as they were intended to be. ★★★☆☆

From the "Soups" section, I made the "Smoky Black Bean Soup". I need to preface this by saying I'm not a big soup person. I tend to stick to chicken and noodle and the creamier, the better! However, my husband loves soups of all kinds, so I decided to have this for dinner one night because I love him and all that jazz. It was super simple to make and I had everything except for the leek already. This soup included leek, garlic, black beans, and some tomatoes. A creme fraiche type topping was made using garlic, coconut yogurt, and parsley. It had a decent flavor and I really enjoyed the depth the leeks brought to the dish. It felt like it was missing something though. Maybe it needed more heat or some noodles? Because I'm hard on soups in general, I'm going with my husband's review on this, which was "3.5 stars because it is good, but I wouldn't ask for it again." ★★★☆☆

From the "Tasty Healthy Treats" section, I tried the "Lemon Whoopie Pies". There were a lot of delicious looking treats from this section, so it took me a little deliberating before I could decide on these little sandwiches of sunshine. The recipe was quick and easy to whip up without any over-the-top ingredients. I made a half batch because too many of these lying around would be dangerous for my waistline. I was able to make 3 medium-sized pies. When I was blending the cream, I couldn't quite get the smooth consistency like in the photo because my Ninja blender is just not powerful enough. I wish I had $800 to drop on a Blendtec or Vitamix right now, but I don't, so I'm okay with the results. The cream was supposed to firm up once it was refrigerated for a few hours. I left it overnight and it still had a runny consistency in the morning. I ate a few bites of one and left the rest for my husband to eat. I was a little disappointed I didn't like these better. ★★☆☆☆
My recommendation is that this is not the cookbook for those brand new to plant-based or whole foods cooking. The ingredients and tools required for these recipes could be very daunting and expensive for even the most determined of chefs. Without pictures for every recipe, it's easy to be unsure about how your dishes should turn out. The dinner recipes are very fish-centered and I do not think many children would find them appetizing. If you know what you're in for because you are experienced with this kind of healthy cooking, then you might be able to find a few recipes you like in this collection.

My Review: ★★★☆☆

*Thanks to Shambhala Publications, Roost Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Beautiful book with amazing photos for reference. Truly divine recipes and ideas to go forward with!

Excellent resource! Love the different spin on healthy snacks and meals with unique flavor profiles not found in similar texts. The Protein Grenades were an explosive hit in my house and the Harissa Quinoa was a potluck sensation.

This cookbook doesn't include anything I haven't seen before. Therefore, I feel the book, as far as recipes and content, is just okay. I will never stop mentioning that every recipe should include a photo and this book falls short there. I also found the font very difficult to read. I never complain about font and have perfect vision, but I struggled to read the text of these recipes.

For those who are looking to learn how to eat in a healthier way, this book could be very helpful. The photography was beautiful and the author's story of regaining her health is inspiring.

Nice easy healthy recipes for a healthy diet that you will enjoy.

Beautiful pictures and a plethora of easy, delicious recipes made with whole foods. Every public library should own this title.