Take a Look. It's In a Book. A Reading Rainbow!

Reading Rainbow was a great show.  I just Wikipedia'd it and I guess it existed from 1983 until 2009!  Why do I have this growing suspicion that future generations are doomed?  Because Reading Rainbow doesn't exist anymore, and shows like Jersey Shore and Skins do.  Listen to me... I'm slowly but surely approaching "Stay off my lawn, you damn kids!" ranks.

ANYWAY!  The original intent of this post was to talk about cookbooks, so I'm going to steer back in that direction now.

I try to eat as healthy as I can as much as I can, but if the healthy food I'm eating doesn't taste good, it becomes less likely that I'm going to continue the trend.  It's really hard to stay focused on eating smart in today's world where everything seems to be drenched in fats and oils or smothered in cheese (mmmm... cheese)... especially if you eat out a lot!  Want a sure-fire way to make me bitter?  Take me to a restaurant when I'm "being good", order a bacon cheeseburger with fries, and watch me scoff at you from over my grilled chicken salad (dressing on the side, please).  It's so hard to stay focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle sometimes!  I want to eat food that tastes good!  I am not a bunny... I do not want to exist on a diet of lettuce and carrots.  I want things like mac n' cheese, burgers, potatoes, etc.  Fortunately, if you tend to cook your own meals most of the time, there are SO many resources out there for making healthy foods that still taste fantastic!  Here are a few of my favorites, and you'll probably see a lot of the recipes I post come from one of these:

Weight Watchers - Make it in Minutes
This one is great for weeknights.  Everything in it takes 30 minutes or less!  Recently, we made the tortellini with prosciutto (we omitted the peas, bleck) in creamy sauce, and it was deeeelicious!  I also have another Weight Watchers cookbook that I like a lot, but I bought it 4-5 years ago and it appears they don't sell it anymore.  I'll just have to post my favorites from that one in here!  :)

Cooking Light - The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook

Brian gave me this one for Christmas.  I'd say this one is probably my favorite of my healthy cookbooks.  It has pictures, and everything I've made from it so far has been fantastic!  My favorites so far have been the chicken chilaquiles and the chicken thighs with roasted apples and garlic.  So so delicious! 

The Essential EatingWell Cookbook

Brian also gave me this one for Christmas.  The only negative is that it doesn't have as many pictures as I would like.  Cookbooks with pictures of the recipes tend to get used more in my house.  However, almost all of the recipes in here sound delicious, and the couple that I have tried were excellent!  I can't remember which recipes specifically came from it, though.  I think maybe the mini meat loaves?

 

Now Eat This!
Okay, so I haven't actually tried making anything from this one yet, since it's brand spanking new, but I can already tell I am going to love it!  The hunk on the cover caught my eye while meandering around Borders one day, so I looked it up on Amazon and saw it got rave reviews, so I ordered it (right there in in Borders using my Amazon Droid App... gotta love technology!).  I can't wait to try making the mac n' cheese they show on the cover!

So... if you're trying to eat better, but still want your food to taste more like people food than bunny food, and you like to cook, then I would highly recommend any of these books!  Now, I've made myself pretty hungry, so I am off to find some lunch!