Member Reviews
I was going through my NetGalley books yesterday and I discovered a few that I had read but forgot to review, and I found this gem that I had forgotten to add to my NetGalley list (sorry!). It just so happens that while I am not on the KETO program, but I have been trying to find recipes and ways to eat fewer carbs to help me with my diabetes.
This book is a cookbook, not a novel or true fiction in the sense of reading a person's biography or autobiography; however, the <i>Introduction</i> in the front tells Lisa's story of how she used to eat ANYTHING she wanted but never gained an ounce (jealous!). But, that didn't end up being a good thing for her after all because in her mid-twenties she gained weight quickly due to an overactive thyroid. She was eventually diagnosed with Grave's disease. Her motto is "keep it simple" so that's why the 5-Ingredient recipes which I love. But her story is encouraging and inspiring.
There are recipes galore in every type of food one could ever want: main courses, desserts, appetizers, breakfast meals, side dishes, soups, salads and so on.
What I really love about this cookbook is that it gives everything a person would want to know about the recipes: prep time, cook time, total time, servings and (of course) the recipe itself. Then (my favorite part) it gives the NUTRITIONAL DATA.
As someone who has eaten keto on and off for over two decades, I'm always game to try a new cookbook. I've used keto to "cure" my autoimmune disorder, or put it into remission with no traces of the disease. So, I'm a fan.
I follow strict keto, one that's approved by my nutritionist. So I'm always surprised when keto cookbooks offer advice about net carbs (removing fibers from your carb grams to lower your carb amounts for the day), or suggesting that low carb is the same thing as keto (it's not). Therefore, in a keto cookbook, there should be zero conversations about eating a diet with 150g of carbs, a day. That's not keto, and that's not low carb, either.
There were a lot of knowledge bits shared in the introductory chapters that put me off. Like substituting flavored coconut oil for butter, or almond milk for heavy cream (on NO planet is almond milk keto; it's way too high in carbs).
So, the technical aspects of this book? Not great. This isn't technically a keto cookbook, but a low-carb one.
On to the recipes.
Most of the recipes, as already shared, were not keto but low carb. On a keto diet, the fats in a should far exceed both protein and carbs, or else you won't get enough fat. Some recipes, the carb counts were so high for one portion, they would've blown my entire day of carbs.
Some recipes were misnamed; I think perhaps to entice folks, but upon reading them, I felt deceived. Breakfast Pizza isn't breakfast, it's an omelette (or maybe a quiche, based on how the author suggests cooking it).
Of the recipes themselves, none were earth-shattering, new to me, or put in my stash for future meals. The photos, however, were beautiful and enticing.
I've given this book three stars, as I start all books at three and go from there. I didn't feel there was anything harmful or worry worthy to deduct a star, but there also wasn't anything in this cookbook that made me want to buy it or recommend to others, either.
I really enjoy recipes with few ingredients. It makes for an easy and quick meals while trying to watch diet. This is such an underhyped cookbook and I think more people would appreciate how the recipes are low-maintenance.
Really great and easy to follow Low Carb cookbook and advice. A great guide and resource for the whole family, with lots of recipes that work for kids and non-low carb/keto family members. Wonderful addition to our collection.
Loved the recipes in this low carb cookbook. The recipes were easy to read and follow. The minimal ingredient list makes these recipes ideal for chefs of any level. Healthy and tasty recipes!
This book contains healthy recipes with easy to find ingredients and beautiful colorful photographs. There are a wide variety of recipes. I haven't made any dishes yet but so many look delicious and I bookmarked many to try at a later date.
I am a big fan of Lisa MarcAurele and her blog. So, she's already a winner in my book, but what I really like about this cookbook is the number of pictures. I would say 90% of all the recipes have pictures and Lisa does a great job explaining the recipes. I love the simplicity of these recipes! These are the type of recipes that keep you on track and stay health. Not a lot of fuss but lots of yum!
I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was very excited for this cookbook because I wanted to get back to eating keto. For someone that doesn’t really enjoy cooking, 8 like that these recipes hav3 very minimal ingredients and they are very easy to make. Well, most of them.
I’m a visual person, and I appreciate when there are pictures to go with each recipe. It helps me visualize a bit better.
My only criticism at this point, is that I did try out a couple recipes and they are lacking in flavour. They may not have tasted how I imagined them to taste. But I’ll try a few more and just get a bit more creative with the spices.
This book is just like all the other keto books. There are not enough recipes and it doesn’t make it easy to follow the diet. Recipe some selves were OK but nothing that I could live on.
Good cookbook for keto beginners! Great food with 5 ingredients or less. Nice photos throughout! I would definitely recommend!
I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Simple easy to make recipes that don't need a ton of ingredients. The book is well laid out with all the macros and pictures of every dish.
Needs to be seriously proof-read before being published. Some recipes are mixed together, directions are mixed with ingredients, etc. Once these issues are fixed this is a definite winner.
You are given options for using the keto diet according to exercise level and diet preference. You are given a formula to figure out your basal metabolic rate too.
In most of the recipes, you may use almond flour and coconut flour, stevia, heavy cream, eggs, and meat.
There are so many keto recipes for comfort food you will not go hungry! The breakfast options go from coconut flour waffles with maple syrup to breakfast pizza made with eggs, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese!
For lunch you can have chicken chili, that uses zucchini instead of beans to fried spinach with mushrooms and tortilla chips with cheese sauce!
Dinners are heavy on the meat side with veggies, choose from chicken broccoli casserole, made with heavy cream, cream cheese and cheddar cheese, to beef fillet with mushrooms.
The desserts are scrumptious; crustless baked cheesecake, chocolate fudge balls, and no churn vanilla ice cream made with heavy cream, eggs and gelatin!
Enjoy eating keto and staying healthy!
Very nice collection of versatile recipes. The instructions are easy to follow and the photography is a great addition that many books in this genre exclude.
At first I wondered why a book with "yum" in the title seemedso light on the sweets I'd think of a yummy. But then I looked at the reipes. There arwe plenty of delicious and easy recipes for every part of your meal and for every meal or snack. Recipes that are great for potlicks, parties, and other events aren't neglected. It has lots of great ideas!
This is a fairly good keto cookbook that does keep to its promise of offering recipes that are 5 ingredients or less (not counting cooking oil, salt and pepper). They are generally not particularly healthy ingredients in my book, which I know isn't supposed to be the point anymore but just seems wrong to me. As an example, one dish is a giant slab of ham on top of some collard greens mixed with olive oil, heavy cream and garlic. Also, since there are so few ingredients there are not a lot of flavors in most of the dishes. In some cases, extra fat calories are added to recipes that wouldn't ordinarily need them just to up the fat calorie content, like fish that is cooked in an entire stick of butter. MarcAurele notes that if you're using keto to lose weight you still need to watch calories, though. She says that the extremely high fat content of the recipes will keep you from needing to eat much. I can't say if that's true or not.
The author has been blogging about low-carb cooking for 10 years now and says that she used low-carb dieting to lose weight after she had her thyroid destroyed to treat Graves Disease. She did lose weight and has kept it off through low-carb dieting (including keto at times) but she also admits in the book that she is suffering from new health problems and autoimmune illnesses so she has recently switched to the AIP diet in addition. I'm not sure that speaks well to the health benefits of this kind of diet, personally.
All that said, there are lovely color photos of many the recipes (perhaps about 25% of them). Basic nutritional information is provided for each recipe. The author goes into information about keto diets, dairy substitutions, sugar alternatives and such. Many of the recipes seemed tasty and simple. With the exception of the desserts section, most of them rely on pretty standard, real foods (almond meal, meat, heavy cream, cabbage, broccoli, etc.) and liquid stevia. The desserts sections utilizes a lot of processed keto sweeteners that I can neither pronounce nor spell but they look tasty.
If you eat keto and enjoy the Standard American Diet kind of food, this will be a great match.
I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.
Great book, nice and easy recipes. Very well organized and colorful. The recipes look pretty good even for who is not doing keto. I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review
Low Carb Yum 5-Ingredient Keto is an amazing cookbook for anyone starting the ketogenic diet or someone who has been doing it for years! This cookbook is full of easy, quick recipes and most include ingredients you have on hand.
I love the beginning of the book because it gives so much information regarding the ketogenic diet. If you’re just starting your keto journey this is a great resource. The book offers tons of information about how to start, foods to avoid, foods you’ll want to consume, exercise, and so much more. I would highly recommend this cookbook to anyone on a keto diet!
A great cookbook for someone who is looking for easy Keto recipes. Each recipe gives the macros, which is very helpful for someone who is counting. Very good recipes.
The best thing about this book is the simplicity of the recipes, and the small list of ingredients. However the tastes are geared more to the US market so if you don't mind this or are happy to substitute for your own palette then it is wonderful. The mouth watering pictures for many of the recipes were a huge bonus and not all recipe books manage that. Lots of great information, tips and idea for the keto lifestyle so it is a good book for anyone just starting out down this path. But it shouldn't be restricted to this as the recipes are very good in general for any healthy lifestyle, you can just swap any ingredient that doesn't suit. Overall a lovely inspiring recipe book, well written and structured that should appeal to a wide market.
I ate low carb for over 20 years. My mother has been diagnosed diabetic and needs some new ideas of what to eat. I saw this book and thought I need to check this out.
The easier the better when cooking. This has recipes with 5 ingredients. Can't get much better than that.
Also includes helpful tips for people new and old to keto lifestyle. Menu plans, inflammatory foods, keto basics, easy breakfast.....