I thought that this was going to be a book playing on the idea of girl dinner (a meal that requires no effort/preparation), and based on the cover I thought it was going to be different combinations of foods people already have and can put together almost charcuterie style. Boy was I wrong. This book was all over the place, but definitely not girl dinner. Some recipes took an hour to make! Meal of a girl and girl dinner are not the same, and I think that's the key missing point here. Also, some of the more girl dinner appropriate recipes just felt like too much for a cookbook - no one is buying a book for it to tell them an ingredient list of "box mac and cheese" and for the instructions to be "follow directions on box"... I love the idea behind this, but the execution left me disappointed.

Should have expected that this cookbook would be lacking. The purpose of girl dinner is there is no recipe so I guess the concept was just a miss

I enjoy the idea of foraging a dinner out of the contents of my fridge, freezer, and cupboards. It satisfies some ancient part of the human brain, I guess, to bring together all kinds of ingredients into a meal. As such, I fell victim to the girl dinner trend early on, but I lost faith in it the moment the dinners became nothing more than a handful of grapes, a protein bar, and a cracker. With 'Girl Dinner' I was looking for interesting ways to combine the random staples of a kitchen into fun meals that satisfy the hunger without requiring intense cooking. And to a certain extent this is what the book set out to do, except that the staples they're working with are not the ones my kitchen normally possesses. The moment their "list of staples" in the introduction mentioned having a variety of cured meats and cheeses, I was out. While the recipes in this book sound fun, I just couldn't connect to them because many would still require shopping specifically for that single meal, which spoils the fun of it. However, others may have different pantries, and therefore this might still be the book for you!
Just make sure to actually eat a dinner, not graze!

This mostly just felt like a book that was produced to capitalize on a trend. I don't think I really gained anything from it, especially since I envisioned using the "girl dinner" trend when writing a cook book as more of a spring board to show that cooking doesn't need to be fancy or super time consuming, its okay to throw something together quickly with minimal effort. I think I would have appreciated a book that focused more on easy, low effort / quick recipes to what this book was which is more of a style/ platting guide with "ideas" of what can go on the plate strewn throughout.

Girl Dinner is fine (The book, not the concept. The concept is great.). Lots of attractive food photography. Instructions on how to plate the completed ”recipe” suitable for social media food photography. Lots of simple combinations, with plenty of premade foods or leftovers. I'm not sure that all the ingredients are accessible (I have no idea where in my area I could buy prepared pork belly in order to have leftovers for a later meal, for instance.). Some of the plates involve cooking, which I didn't think was a major element of girl dinners, and some were more like snacks than meals, but I guess the concept of girl dinner is nebulous enough that they fit.

I think this book is for a very specific demographic, and I don't think I'm in that demographic. But if you're really into simple meals and sharing food photography on social media, this might be the book for you!

Thank you to Cider Mill Press and #Netgalley for access to an advance digital copy of #GirlDinner .

I admit I went into this cookbook with certain expectations; I was expecting more cooking, even if the cover does promise no-cook meals. But "cookbook" isn't quite the right vibe for this; it's an entertaining book, for those times when you're the only one you're entertaining. I appreciated learning plating and presentation techniques (there's no reason why you can't make your meal a visual feast too), and the snack plates will inspire you to come up with your own flavor and texture combos, and while I don't consider the suggestion to make boxed mac & cheese and eat it out of a wineglass to be a recipe per se, there are recipes in here, and some light, easy cooking. The ingredients seem like they'd be relatively easy to find, but if there is something you can't locate (or you just don't care for), substitutions can easily be made. This book probably won't appeal to everyone, but it does contain lots of interesting ideas, helpful tips, and inspiration for those days where you don't have the time or energy to do full-on cooking, and/or you just want something comforting, easy, and graze-able.

#GirlDinner #NetGalley

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved the ‘girl dinner’ trend when it was popular on TikTok even participating in the trend and relating to it on a good level. This book feels more suited to teenagers and younger adults and just for beginners in the kitchen. I also have to say that I loved the names of the recipes, lots of them were pretty clever and funny. Also the photos in the book were a nice touch and they all felt like they would come right off my Instagram feed. I loved this book and I would buy a copy for myself.

Thank you NetGalley

Useful book to have on hand when you don't feel like cooking or you just don't have enough time to meal prep. I enjoyed the recipes.

This photos in the book are very nice, but I really wouldn't consider these "recipes" for girl dinner. Some of them are very simple, and others are too elaborate to be considered girl dinner.

The pictures were nicely done. I don’t think I would use the “recipes” included in this book they seem too simple and anyone who has been cooking for a while or knows how to keep their pantry well stocked could create these dishes without this cookbook. Maybe teens who are just beginning to get interested in making their own meals or putting together snacks for friends would benefit from this title more.

Thannks to Netgalley and Cider Mill Press for allowing me to review.

Was this a fun book? Yes. Were the pictures very pretty? Also yes. Will I ever use this book? No. I love the trend of girl dinner but idk the recipes were either too simplistic or didn’t feel like girl dinner to me.

All in all fun concept. Maybe better suited to a younger person.

I thought this would be a cookbook for those with little time and want a recipe that will look nice and be simple to prepare.

I liked the concept of this and the pictures were pretty, however many of the recipes were far too simple or were similar enough to be repetitive. Recipes that consisted wholly of heating up frozen food with the instructions stating only to "follow the instructions" on the packaging should not count as recipes. This seems better suited to be a blogpost rather than a cookbook.

I would not purchase this.

I liked the idea behind this cookbook, but I feel like what you receive it's not really worth the price.

Sure, the main idea of a girl dinner is to be available as fast as possible, which this book has, there are many ideas of really easy to assemble boards and pretty plates, with very nice photos. The recipes sound really tasty too. However, it feel like these recipes will work great on social media, alongside the whole girl dinner trend, but not so much as a book.

That being said, the book is giving exactly what it's promised, so if you really want some ideas for no-cook dinners and nothing super fancy, but pretty and easy to put together, this book might work for you.

Inhalt
Girl Dinner ist inspiriert von einem TikTok-Trend und bietet 85 kreative und einfache Rezepte für Snackplatten und schnelle Mahlzeiten ohne Kochen. Das Buch richtet sich an alle, die wenig Zeit oder Lust auf aufwendiges Kochen haben, aber trotzdem köstliche und ansprechende Gerichte genießen wollen. Von Prosciutto und Feigen über Bagels mit Räucherlachs bis hin zu charcuterieartigen Snackplatten bietet das Buch eine Vielzahl an Ideen, die leicht umzusetzen sind und perfekt zu einem entspannten Abend passen. Es berücksichtigt verschiedene Ernährungsbedürfnisse und liefert einfache Rezepte, die schnell und budgetfreundlich zubereitet werden können.

Meinung
Girl Dinner ist ein unterhaltsames und praktisches Buch für alle, die unkomplizierte, aber dennoch genussvolle Mahlzeiten lieben. Besonders beeindruckend ist die Vielfalt der Rezepte, die sowohl für spontane Abende mit Freunden als auch für entspannte Solo-Mahlzeiten geeignet sind. Die Anleitungen sind klar, einfach und erfordern keine besonderen Kochkenntnisse – ideal für Anfänger oder Menschen mit wenig Zeit. Die „No-Cook“-Philosophie macht es zudem perfekt für Menschen, die schnelle, aber leckere Lösungen für den Alltag suchen. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die wunderschönen, Instagram-würdigen Fotos, die jede Kreation stilvoll in Szene setzen.

Fazit
Girl Dinner ist ein perfektes Buch für alle, die schnelle und leckere Mahlzeiten ohne Kochen zubereiten wollen. Mit vielseitigen Rezepten, die sich leicht an den eigenen Geschmack anpassen lassen, und wunderschönen Fotos bietet es sowohl Inspiration als auch praktische Tipps für den Alltag.

Bewertung: ★★★★★ (5/5)

There was good recipes and the pictures were beautiful! The only downside is that I wouldn’t say a lot of the recipes give ‘girl dinner’, anything over half an hour isn’t a girl dinner to me. Also unless willing to find alternatives it’s not veggie friendly.

Hot off TikTok's 'Girl Dinner' trend is a book full of Girl Dinner inspo! Lots of ideas which I would be willing to give a go

A cute concept that was ultimately a celebration of charcuterie. I loved the tongue-in-cheek recipes (like mac n' cheese in a cocktail glass) mixed with the "premium" recipes that may take a little extra effort.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. It's a nice idea for a cookbook, but nothing extraordinary.

I think I was looking for something ither than what this was. There were a few simple dinners, and the whole point of girl dinner to me is to save tine and not be overly complicated. There were a lot of pretty dishes, and I do l like that, but for giro dinner all I want is simplicity.

Das ist genau Mein Ding!

Besonders neugierig bin ich auf das Rezept für Chicken and Waffles! Die Fotos im Buch sind kreativ und machen richtig Lust auf Kochen.
Mir gefällt, dass die Zutatenliste überschaubar und die Rezepte einfach umzusetzen sind. Der Fokus liegt auf der ansprechenden Präsentation der Gerichte. Das Buch hat mir auch Lust auf neues Geschirr gemacht.

Ich kenne die Autorin nicht, aber es steht, dass sie auf TikTok aktiv ist. Obwohl der Titel „No Cook“ lautet, gibt es doch einige Rezepte, bei denen man tatsächlich etwas kochen muss, wie etwa Nudel- oder Hähnchengerichte.