Can a recipe with 400 calories be easy, tasty and satisfying? Find out for yourself by looking at the ideas in this book.

There are suggestions for breakfast, lunch and dinner that offer a good amount of variety. You might want to start the day with an asparagus omelette and a citrus salad, for example. Lunch could be shrimp Remoulade,while for dinner there is a chicken shepherds pie. In addition to these and other recipes, the author offers advice, on healthy eating.

I was impressed by the tasty sounding recipes in this book. Even if you don’t subscribe to the 400 calories on a regular basis, you might want to pick up this book on occasion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

For people looking to shed pounds and live more healthfully, eating meals in the 400-calorie range is your secret weapon to weight-loss success. Not only do these meals fuel your energy, rev metabolism, and keep you feeling full longer, but they also help you stick to a daily caloric range of 1200 to 1500 total calories.
Whilst I have not followed this as a means of loosing weight, I have found it useful in maintaining weight. On times when I know I am going to be having a bigger dinner, say out with friends, having some set limits for a couple of days helps keep my weekly balance. There is plenty of choice and is one book that will be dipped into regularly.

Overall I liked this book. The pictures aren't my favourite but you get an idea of how it should look like and how the food gets presented. The recipes are great to give you some new meal ideas, especially on a diet!

A book that lives up to it’s title exactly. I found this really straightforward and simple and I can't wait to try and cook some of these recipes for myself.

I'm very particular about cookbooks. Food doesn't have to be complicated, simple and easy cooking should always be the key for a working mom such as myself.
This cookbook is meant for people who simply want to eat only 400 calories per meal with minimal fussing. The way it's organized is well done - e.g. steak recipes leads into pork chop recipes, and so on.
However, wasn't a fan of some of the recipes, probably because it's just not my cup of tea. They are super super basic: stir fries, tuna gumbo (ew), meals in potatoes, and all the unseasoned chicken your heart can take.
Not very original, and maybe for people who don't mind your basic, slightly flavored american cooking.

Biggest caveat - not a single picture of the food. Not even a drawing. Meh.

The book contains some fascinating recipes that are low in calories, which is perfect for this time of year when everyone is trying to watch what they eat. There are plenty of recipes to try out, so you won't get bored. Personally, I plan on trying some of these recipes because I need to watch what I am eating.

Really interesting recipe book full of low calorie meal ideas. Made it simple and straight forward, without too much thinking.

I’ve been looking to eat healthier so when I saw this for download on Netgalley I snapped it up. Finding healthy and quick recipes that actually taste good is a struggle. I’ve looked through the entire book and examined most the recipes just looks and sounds amazing. (Some of the vegetarian options are a bit questionable but I’m still looking forward to trying them.) I greatly look forward to cooking my way through the book.

There are a variety of recipes and each in color-coded sessions. The directions seem easy to follow. BUT there is not one single picture. I want to know what the food should look like so I know how well I've done.

I’m always on the lookout for a good cookbook, and with a recent diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, my eating habits have changed. Small, light meals that are lower in fat seem to work best for me, so I figured that 400-calorie meals might be just the ticket.

Starting out, Logue explains his own rationale for writing this book, and how he has taken control of his health and some serious health conditions through changes to his eating habits. He also gives a quick breakdown of the different components of a healthy diet, and emphasizes the importance of including whole foods and a variety of brightly colored fruit and vegetables in the diet. Also, the author mentioned that due to his heart health, he does not cook with any salt at home, and did not change that for this book.

The lack of salt in his cooking made me a bit hesitant, but I did my best to remain open-minded. I told myself that I could always add my own salt to recipes, but was confident that there would be plenty of seasonings in the recipe to make up for this.

Recipes are broken down into sections based on meals. I loved the breakfast section, which is broken down into both savory and sweet recipes, and don’t include any boring oatmeal recipes, but does provide some smoothie recipes for those mornings when you’re in a rush and don’t have time to cook. There’s also some seriously delicious sounding recipes that are prepared the night before and then quickly cooked the next morning, so that you can have a fantastic breakfast ready for company on a holiday, like a strata.

Lunches and light meals are another section, and include more than just salads, but since the meals are only 400 calories each, you could easily fit 4 into your schedule if you’re hungry. Dinners are broken down by protein source: chicken and turkey, beef, pork, fish and seafood, and vegetarian, and I loved that vegetarian options were offered. Many of the vegetarian recipes featured cheese or beans, and all of the recipes featured plenty of fresh vegetables, making the meal feel larger and keep you full longer.

I quickly realized that there were no photos included for any of the recipes. I was kind of disappointed by that, since I always like to see pictures of what the recipe is supposed to look like. It helps me gauge my progress, not just with the recipe but with my kitchen skills overall. And I can’t lie, sometimes the picture will be the deciding factor that makes me decide to prepare a recipe I was on the fence about.

It wasn’t just the lack of pictures that I found disappointing about this book. The lack of salt in the recipes, I can understand. But it felt like the majority of the recipes didn’t really use many spices other than garlic, onion, black pepper, oregano, basil, and cumin, and in pretty small amounts. I bookmarked some of the recipes in the breakfast section, figuring that I could jazz them up with my own spices, and change around the veggies to a blend that I prefer. However, I was underwhelmed with the recipes in the rest of the book. The veggies were pretty much the same for most of the recipes (onion, green pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini), and while there was a huge array of recipes in this book, there were only a few that appealed to me out of the total number. A lot of the recipes were for casseroles, which isn’t what comes to mind for me when I think of eating minimally processed items, and while I understand the author’s need to cook with an egg substitute for health reasons, I was confused by his refusal to include the equivalent for real eggs for people who don’t need to cut out eggs, since he emphasized whole foods so heavily in the beginning.

One of the strengths of this book is that recipes are perfect for people who are new to cooking. The list of ingredients are all commonly found in the pantry, and if not, they’re easy to obtain from any local supermarket, and none of the recipe instructions are overly involved. This is a great way to learn how to cook in a variety of ways (fry, stir-fry, bake, roast, use a slow-cooker, etc.) as well as work with different types of proteins. But if you’re a little more comfortable in the kitchen, this probably isn’t going to cut it for you, unless you really love casseroles. Overall, this wasn’t a winner for me, and I wouldn’t suggest it for families with small kids unless they like veggies (since the veggies aren’t hidden), but this would be a great read for people just learning to cook, or wanting to add some more veggies in their diet while cutting out sodium.

I want to thank you and the author for gifting me the ebook.
Wow this recipe book is absolutely stuffed full of recipe books. The recipes seem easy to follow. The photos are beautiful and I can't wait to try some of them! I am looking for new healthier recipes for my family.

This is a recipe (no pun intended) for disaster. A person cannot live on a 1200 calorie diet. They would be in a huge energy deficit and would, over time, cause damage to their body. If someone wants to lose weight, this is not the way to do it. It is unsustainable, dangerous, and perpetuates diet culture and disordered eating.

It can't be easy to make "starving" recipes attractive. Too bad the photos are missing, but praise that there is a translation of American measurements into European ones.

Non deve essere facile rendere attraenti delle ricette "da fame". Peccato che manchino le foto, ma lode al fatto che c'é una traduzione delle misure americane in quelle europee.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Interesting recipes in the book. All low in calories perfect for this time of year when everyone is trying to watch what they eat. Plenty recipes to try out. You wouldn’t get bored

The good:

For the most part easy to find and have on hand ingredients.

Short steps on how to make the meals A+ on that one!

I found aviut 10 recipes I am excited to try.

The not so good:

For someone like me that cooks family dinner with kids. A lot of these recipes are a no kid will touch.

No pictures. I just like to see what the food looks like at serving ....but that's me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to look over this healthy cookbook ARC copy in exchange for a honest review.

Great cookbook when you are looking for variety but low calorie options. There is more than your typical low calorie meals and includes lighter versions of stereotypical “not healthy” meals.

Huge variety of recipes that look super easy to execute. I’m planning to pick several to meal prep for the week and have meals ready to go!

Another great cookbook for people who want to eat healthy and have a bit of fun cooking. Easy recipes, great ingredients, helpful information and tasty to boot.

This is quite helpful to those who want to keep their calorie count low and become healthier but still want to eat food that is tasty and enjoyable. It is helpful, useful and makes being and eating healthy fun.

Thank you NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book had so many fantastic recipes that I got to try out!!! Would recommend to anyone looking for quick and easy dinner meal!

Wow, this has everything a person needs who is following a low calorie diet - just like me!! This book covers all aspects from breakfasts to salads to stews and stir-fries. Absolutely brilliant and so helpful to those doing their best to lose weight.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy to read in exchange for my open and honest review. As always, my reviews will also be posted on Amazon, Goodreads and Waterstones and interaction on Facebook and instagram where possible.