This cookbook had some really great recipes. The recipes were easy to understand and not too complicated for the average cook. I enjoyed the illustrations and look forward to making these recipes for years to come.

f the word “healthy” is a major turnoff when looking for recipes, you are about to be pleasantly surprised! Carrie Forrest MBA, MPH, who has authored several cookbooks and focuses on healthy dishes, has outdone herself in The Quick & Easy Healthy Cookbook: 125 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less. This excellent cookbook is full of dishes that most of us actually want to make and serve.

Today I made the Coconut–Green Curry Soup with Beef and Vegetables; the recipe is easy to follow and the results are yummy. There are actually a dozen or more recipes from this book in my queue: Mediterranean Beef Bowl, Kung Pao Shrimp (several other shrimp dishes, too), Mediterranean Couscous Salad, and Whole Wheat Parmesan Drop Biscuits, to name a few, and none of my family members will have any idea they are eating healthy.

The recipes are mostly easy to put together, have minimal ingredients, and the instructions are quick to follow. I also found that several of them were easy to adapt to my slow cooker, Instant Pot®, and air fryer. This is a bonus when trying to save time. There is something here for everyone.

The only negative to this cookbook is that there aren’t enough photographs. There are so many great dishes, and readers will be at a loss as to what they are supposed to look like. However, reading the recipes and adding the ingredients together in your mind will help you picture what they should look like, and preparing them will certainly make it possible to make your own pictures – not ideal, but suitable.

Highly recommended, this cookbook takes healthy to a new realm and readers and cooks will enjoy serving “healthy” without the recipients knowing what they are actually getting.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

The cookbook had easy to prepare healthy recipes. Each recipe was something that was not complicated to prepare. Pictures were appealing.

I thought this cookbook had a lot of nice recipes in it and appreciated that they are ready quickly as life can be a bit crazy in the evenings. It was nicely laid out.

This book is chock full of easy-to-prepare dishes that are healthy, in addition to fast. I found several recipes that I'd like to try, including Balsamic Roasted Vegetables, Scallops with Lemon Butter Sauce, and Waldorf Chicken Salad. Each recipe is easy to follow with few steps and easy-to-read directions. I would love to see more photos in this cookbook, as so much of the appeal of food is its appearance. But, this would be a great gift for someone who's just starting out on their own. It makes cooking seem do-able.

I am impressed by the number of good cookbooks I have seen by this publisher.  This is yet another one based on fast, not too complicated recipes. The section on breakfast includes vegan tofu scramble breakfast burrito, breakfast bacon sausage patties and a strawberry banana smoothie.  Next come soups and salads, for example, curry chicken salad, lemon quinoa vegetable salad and coconut green curry soup with beef and vegetables.  Are you hungry yet?


The chapter on vegetable mains has everything from a Mexican corn tortilla and beans casserole to vegan coconut and mushroom risotto.  There are seafood mains like Parmesan and tomato foil baked halibut and pesto baked salmon with vegetables.  For poultry think turkey Parmesan meatballs, loaded chicken and black bean nachos and orange chicken stir fry. Meat recipes include barbecue meatloaf muffins and one dish pepper steak skillet.  The book even has recipes for deeserts and snacks.


This cookbook includes so many recipes and they all look very easy for those who are not kitchen whizzes. I recommend this one.  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

Super helpful, easy to make and learn recipes that help with eating healthy even when busy. That couldn't be more perfect. They're veggie-heavy and plenty of ingredients and spices that you'll already have on hand. The nutrition and health tips and info were very helpful too - straightforward and simple to remember.

2 1/2 stars

We are at that time of year when “healthy” cookbooks hit the market, each offering the change many are searching for with their resolutions. Obviously, like with everything else, some are better than others.

The philosophy behind Carrie Forrest’s The Quick & Easy Healthy Cookbook seems good: eat whole, unprocessed foods. The recipes are quick; this is true. But healthy? Some recipes contain processed foods. So I’m not convinced that these are healthy recipes in the way most of us think of as healthy. The fact that some of the ingredients are processed, i.e. store-bought mayonnaise, bacon, and salami means that they don’t qualify as whole foods.

The calories and the amount of sodium also have me questioning the healthiness of some of the recipes. For instance, the “Vegetable Minestrone with Penne Pasta” recipe has a whopping 1,387 mg of sodium. Considering that dietary recommendations from the American Health Association suggest an ideal limit of no more than 1,500 mg per day for most adults, one serving of this soup would take up an entire day’s worth of sodium intake.

Likewise, if a serving contains 700 calories and you’re trying to lose weight, you won’t lose it this way.

Where this cookbook works is taking the hand of people who don’t cook or have never cooked and guiding them toward a more healthy lifestyle than one provided by eating out or eating frozen meals. The recipes are simple with simple ingredients. New cooks won’t be frustrated by difficult techniques or recipes that don’t work. That said, they might be frustrated by how bland some of the flavors will be. Guac without tomato and chili pepper?

I would have loved to see the incorporation of more nuts and leafy greens.

Advanced cooks won’t find anything new here.

The recipes have good notation, indicating whether the recipes is kid friendly, soy free, nut free, etc. There are also suggestions on how to modify the recipes for certain dietary requirements.

If you’re a new cook looking for quick and easy, this might be the cookbook for you.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This cookbook does exactly what the title suggests: provides a large number of recipes, most with very few ingredients, that can be made quickly and easily. Although it has recipes from around the world (Thai, Mexican, German, etc.) the emphasis is more on basics and the author doesn't try to do anything too fancy here. The recipes are cleanly presented but the book only has about 4 images, so you'll have to use your imagination as to how these will look when prepared.

The book has ten chapters: Overview, Breakfast, Soups & Salads, Vegetarian Mains, Seafood, Poultry, Meat, Snacks & Sides, Desserts, Basics & Extras. Also included are the usual measurement conversions, Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list, and resources.

Recipe variety includes: Mexican corn tortilla and bean casserole, curry chicken and chickpea soup, Italian pasta salad, cinnamon raisin breakfast cookies, whole wheat parmesan drop biscuits, balsamic roasted vegetables, raspberry chocolate chia pudding.

Each recipe has a large font and is easy to view. A main title is large and in a blue font, there is a brief description, then allergy/restriction info in green (such as gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, etc.), active time and total time to make, yield and serving size, ingredients listed separately in red font, then simple numbered steps. There are tips in a green callout box and then per serving info such as calories, fat, carbs, sugar, fiber, etc.

The recipes do live up to being easy but it should be noted that each is very simple - there are no revelationary recipes. The focus is on healthy, quick, and decent food. Also, the lack of images of the dishes is keenly felt: there are only a few photographs, usually 1 at the start of the chapters. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

There were so many great things in this cookbook. They included tips for most of their recipes between how to store it or reheat it. They also included nutrition facts which is great for anyone who’s trying to track. I personally loved the Chicken Tortilla Soup. I just wish there were more pictures included.

The Quick & Easy Healthy Cookbook by Carrie Forrest is a recipe collection and cookbook for healthy nutritious meals based on whole, unprocessed, organic ingredients. Released 17th Dec 2019 by Callisto on their Rockridge imprint, it's 186 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

Each recipe has a header with special symbols such as nut-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, with a short description of the recipe and approximate prep-times. The ingredients are listed bullet style in a sidebar. Measurements are given in US standard only. (There's a metric conversion chart in the appendices). Special tools and ingredients are also listed, along with yields and cooking directions. Alternative preparation ideas and tips are listed in sidebars. Nutritional information is also given in a footer at the end of the recipe instructions.

The included recipes are made with easily sourced ingredients and the instructions are crystal clear and easy to follow. The photography is not abundant; most of the recipes are not illustrated, but the photographs which are included are clear and well done. I wish there had been more photographs and serving suggestions, but I do understand that extra photography increases the price of book projects very quickly.

Most all of the recipes are sensible and family friendly. They're arranged thematically: breakfast, soups & salads, vegetarian mains, seafood, poultry, meat, snacks & sides, desserts, and basics/partial ingredients/staples.

This is a traditional time of year to consider making healthful choices and this book will provide some good starting points for whole food eating and nutrition.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes