Unfortunately I was unable to open this book. Therefore, I was unable to read or review it. Thank you for the opportunity, as I was very much looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

For a vegan cookbook or paleo cookbook, this very solid and includes paleo recipes and useful general cooking recipes. It is a solid effort with inviting recipe such as Weekend Waffles and multiple fresh takes on standard shakes and smoothies and that ever tricky vegan baking. However I've been reading recipes for Morning Glory Muffins for 25 years and so on occasion for me, this cookbook lapses into the tried-and-true. Maybe that's just because those recipes are tried-and-true and so they've been included. But what is offered here that is new looks terrific, useful for easy to find ingredients, and as always actual food that will nourish you.

When a lot of people think about clean & healthy eating, they think words like boring, or flavorless. Good For You diminishes all of those stereotypes. This cookbook offers so many healthy recipes, but all of them are flavorful. It uses ingredients that you know are healthy, but probably have no idea how to use on your own, and crafts wonderful recipes that you can use again and again. I'm excited to cook some of the recipes and impress my family and friends.

Good for You by Akhtar Nawab is a beautiful cookbook, in the subset of cookbooks I call “Whole Foods Cookbooks.” Which is to say, big and beautiful and full of sumptuous recipes, often with obscure ingredients and/or complicated, lengthy preparations, billed as healthy. But the term healthy in books like these is nebulous, a sort of Whole Foods healthy, wherein meat and fish are still consumed (despite the misleading subtitle about vegetarian and vegan diets, most main dishes are meat -or fish-centric), and olive oil by the cupful, and eggs are frequently praised. But there’s no gluten or dairy, and the author recommends bison instead of beef and cashew-based sauces instead of dairy. Occasional mentions are made of environmental benefit from choosing certain ingredients, but only for those ingredients which are actually environmentally friendly. No mention of the other, more environmentally harmful aspects of other frequently used ingredients. This is not an environmentally friendly cookbook overall, nor, by my definitions, is it particularly healthy. More healthy than McDonalds or fried foods at the county fair? OK, sure. But ingredients like acai juice and a lack of decadent dessert recipes does not necessarily qualify food as healthy.

Does this mean that I hated the cookbook? No, actually, not at all. I bookmarked many recipes in hopes of trying them before my digital advanced copy expired. There are some lovely soups and sides, for instance, and a number of sauces and other staples that sound quite promising. Everything seems a little fussier than my preferred every day recipes (Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger and Chile, for instance, has 16 ingredients listed!), but the recipes I did bookmark seem worth giving a try on my days off. Ginger Blueberry Smoothie sounds delightful, as do Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burger, Black Chickpeas and Lentils with Spinach, Lentil Hummus, and Cardamom Almond Milk, as well as basics like Cremini Mushroom Sauce, Mojo de Ajo, Romesco Sauce, and homemade Tomato Paste, not to mention the Vegan Soubise that is central to so many recipes in this book. Oddly enough some of the recipes I am not interested in trying are the very gluten free ones I came here looking for–the texture of his gluten free breads, pastas, and crackers, as described, sound very unappealing and not worth the extra work.

I also appreciated all the little informational asides throughout the book, explaining the benefits of toasting spices prior to use or of soaking meat in brine or marinade, for instance, or how to make the best basic marinade, or the benefits of coconut flour, as well as a handy key at the beginning of the book for labeling recipes as Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian, or Vegan (Those keys are used not only on each qualifying recipe’s page, but also by the recipes listed under each chapter heading, which certainly makes locating applicable recipes more efficient.) and a thorough index at the back. As mentioned before, the book is just lovely too, full of gorgeous food photography and sweet photos of Akhtar with his daughter Ela, or of a fit and healthy-looking Akhtar by himself.

Akhtar, as you might guess from his name, is of Muslim Northern Indian-American heritage, and he devotes a lot of space to talking about that, mostly about how it influenced his cuisine, as well as other aspects of his background, from his childhood as an overweight brown-skinned boy growing up in a mostly white rural southern area of the USA, as well as his experiences working at restaurants around the county, starting and running restaurants of his own and visits to rural areas in Mexico and Italy to learn about their cuisine. The resulting cuisine of the book is a sort of Northern Indian-Mexican-Italian fusion. Sometimes his stories start to feel like name-dropping, when he mentions yet again the chefs with whom he’s worked and restaurants at which he’s worked or which he’s run. He also seems to exist in that Whole Foods economic bracket wherein running to places like Whole Foods for koji or a bottle of acai juice or a jar of ready-made fig paste is realistic logistically and economically. Alas, we don’t all live in that bubble. My husband and I probably spend too much of our income on food, and even we don’t keep the kind of expensive and somewhat obscure ingredients he often calls for (I love trying new spice blends, but even I’d never heard of Tajin seasoning.).

Overall a nice aspirational cookbook, pretty to look at and full of interesting ideas, but maybe not practical for everyday cooking for the non-chef working adult on a limited food budget. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it and looking at the photography, and appreciate #NetGalley and Chronicle Books lending me a free digital advanced copy of #goodforyoucookbook . This is my honest review.

Fabulous cookbook, great vegetarian dishes. Beautifully photographed, well written and easy to follow recipes.

Good For You is a cookbook that has a variety of recipes suiting a wide assortment of dietary needs. It's probably better suited to people looking for healthier alternatives to recipes than people with a particular dietary need just because it doesn't focus on one diet. I really enjoyed the simple but colourful pictures and layout of this book and the recipes are easy to understand. The biggest constraint with this cookbook is some of the ingredients were a bit obscure so much so that I've never heard of them. So many recipes would need prior planning and ingredient buying.
Overall its a great cookbook and I look forward to cooking from it.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Chronicle books for my eARC copy.

This is such a unique and inclusive cookbook. You can find vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and even paleo options. The recipes blend Indian flavours with more American recipes and I found a lot of unique and new recipes. I love the little introduction before each recipe that describes either what it is, why he loves it, or how to use it. The photos are also beautiful, but there are a good few recipes that don't have pictures, and I always prefer having photos for each recipe. The flavours might not be for everybody, but if you're even a little bit interested you should check it out because the recipes are so full of bold flavours and might be some of your new favourties.

Lots of pretty pictures of what probably is some great-tasting food. Recipes available for vegans, vegetarians, and those, like me, who are allergic to dairy, but not totally free for all recipes. Some recipes I would like to try but not sure about some of the ingredient availability but may be able to find if willing to make the drive to find. I love salmon so salmon recipes always catch my eye. The use of spices in this book is great for those like me who do not use salt. For those that have time, there are some recipes that really sound wonderful. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Cooking with Fresh new ideas in the middle of a Pandemic, this book is a must. Loved the recipes. This book offers ideas and recipes to change up food. I loved this and my family have enjoyed eating all the new meals I have cooked.

Beautiful pictures in this cookbook! I like that it is separated to fit different dietary needs. This one wasn't a good fit for me though. My picky palate, time constraints in my busy life and some hard-to-find ingredients make this one I wouldn't pull out often. But again- the photography is amazing!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Good For You is a cookbook with recipes that not only are good for you but also taste good! Nawab believes that healthy eating doesn't have to mean eating boring foods, and he uses his background in various cuisines to put together a diverse cookbook of filling and satisfying healthy meals. The cookbooks is also filled with gorgeous pictures of the recipes included. At the end of the book, there is an indexed list of all recipes featured so you can find one easily.

I love that the first chapter is dedicated to recipes of sauces and similar things that will be used in the recipes listed in the rest of the book, as building blocks for your meals. These recipes are definitely for those who love cooking, not for those looking for quick, simple meals to make for their family. I believe this cookbook will have a niche market among those who love making meals entirely from scratch and fans of Iron Chef America.

The food might be "good for you" but the book is not. At least not if you're a regular person who has a kitchen full of regular ingredients and doesnt want to have to hunt down obscure "health" foods just to try a dang recipe. Disappointing. Where are the cookbooks for the person who gets home after working all day and needs dinner on the table for her two kids in under half an hour? Where is that book.

Akhtar Nawab's Good for You is just the kind of cookbook that I needed. Our household consists of vegans, vegetarians, carnivores, and those on specialized medically prescribed diets. Good for You contains menu items that everyone will eat. No more cooking several separate meals! The recipes are easy to make and exhibit the ease in which whole foods can be incredibly tasty with a few simple techniques. Having made several of the recipes alongside a budding teenage cook, I can tell you that these recipes are not finicky and can withstand a few mistakes while still tasting good. My aspiring chef was chuffed at being able to make healthy and beautiful food even though he didn't do everything "perfectly." A cookbook that instills confidence in the kitchen is invaluable. I would recommend this cookbook for that alone.

This is a beautiful book filled with exotic flavors, and I found it a pleasure to read. Sadly, I didn’t find very many recipes I could use because I have nightshade intolerance, and the majority of these recipes include nightshades such as tomatoes and peppers.

The recipes are well written with clear instructions and many helpful tips. I tried the Keema Muttar with Peas, omitting the Serrano chile, and it was delicious. Most of these recipes require more time and effort than I am typically willing to devote to cooking, and sometimes they require ingredients I don’t have on hand. (I had never heard of Tajin seasoning or aji amarillo before.) However, I might use this cookbook on special occasions. Most of the recipes serve 4 to 6; I can imagine a lovely dinner party based on these recipes.

The visual design is sumptuous. You won’t find pictures for every recipe, but there are many photos, and they are gorgeous!

I loved how both the table of contents and the individual recipe pages specified whether the recipe is gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, or vegan. Most of the recipes are both gluten free and dairy free, and many are vegan or vegetarian, except in the main dish section, where only 4 of 17 recipes are meatless.

I wouldn’t recommend this book for those with busy schedules or for beginning cooks, who are likely to feel overwhelmed. If you’re a more accomplished or adventurous cook looking for new ideas for gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian or vegan recipes, this might delight you. While it wasn’t the best cookbook for my needs, I think it will appeal to many others, so I am giving it 4 stars.

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

Beautiful pictures and easy to follow recipes will help chefs of any skill level make delicious meals!

This is such a fun cookbook! It is full of delicious recipes and beautiful photographs! The recipe index easily indicates if the recipe fits within a special diet (gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan). The recipes are unique and use flavorful ingredients however there is nothing obscure that will be difficult to find at the store (you may have everything you need already in your cabinet). A must have for anyone looking for healthy, flavorful recipes!

Thank you, Chronicle Books and NetGalley, for a digital ARC!

Good For You is a beautiful cookbook for the person who really loves cooking and has time for it and a healthy budget. Many of the recipes in this book require you to have made your own ingredients (tomato paste, mayo, soubise, etc.), and while I would love to learn how to make my own pasta, it’s just not practical for my lifestyle. But I can see how someone with more time would really enjoy trying out these multi-layered recipes. This book also requires a variety of pricey or difficult to find ingredients (like matcha powder, cocoa nibs, shredded unsweetened coconut), which makes it less useful for those with busy schedules or tight budgets. This is definitely not a cookbook for mid-week meals if you work.

On another note, for a cookbook that was pitched as having plant-based recipes, I—as a vegetarian—was disappointed to see that most of the main entrees are based around meat. I’d like to say that this cookbook would be a good fit for someone looking to transition into a vegetarian diet, but I think the ingredients and recipes might be a little overwhelming for someone who isn’t already familiar with nut-based sauces and the health benefits of seeds.

Overall, the recipes in this book look delicious and are made with good, wholesome, healthy ingredients, and they are supplemented with gorgeous photos. I think this would be an excellent cookbook for someone who loves cooking and trying new things who also has a little extra time and money.

Chef Akhtar Nawab has produced a wonderful cookbook that will be sure to be popular addition to any kitchen! The back story of how he came to be a chef , from Domino's Pizza to Ton Colicchio's Gramercy Tavern in NYC, was quite interesting to read. His stories were the background for his love of cooking and discovery of how to make popular recipes more healthy. I enjoyed the Foundations chapter as it has some really great recipes to start building other great clean-eating foods. The photographs accompanying the recipes are in themselves enough to want a person to try the recipe. I found that none of the recipes seemed overly difficult or had such unusual/hard-to-find ingredients. Definitely a cookbook that will be used in many kitchens. Thanks to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC of this cookbook in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley #GoodForYou.

What a lovely cookbook! I really like how he introduced simple building block foods in the opening chapters and incorporates them in recipes throughout the book. Of particular interest to me is that all the recipes are dairy and gluten free. As someone who is allergic to dairy, it's always a pleasure to find new methods for replacing the dairy.

Thank you to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I received an advance reader’s copy of Good for You from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After reading the new cookbook Good for You, I baked my first loaf of gluten-free bread and learned how to brine salmon!
Good for You is a fabulous new cookbook for food lovers and healthy eaters. The authors, Akhtar Nawab with Andrea Strong, created thoughtful and full-flavored dishes. Chef Akhtar Nawab has a varied cooking expertise- he grew up in Kentucky with an Indian heritage and takes additional cooking inspiration from Mexican and Italian foods. This plus his dedication to healthy foods created such an interesting cookbook!
I found the book itself to be easy to follow and put together with thoughtfulness. It felt conversational to me and I loved hearing the chef’s personal stories. I also appreciated the approachable ingredient list.
I was very excited to try out recipes from the book. My favorite so far is the gluten-free bread recipe and I am hoping to try his rice pudding recipe next. I have served dishes from this book to family who have enjoyed them as well. Overall, I think this is a great cookbook and one I am excited to continue to learn from.