Member Reviews
So Good is a cookbook of balanced recipes created by a nutritionist. It is meant to kickstart healthy eating.
This is a fantastic cookbook! The recipes are unique and easy to follow. The photos are beautiful. I'm really excited to try all the recipes in this book and would recommend it! Special Thank You to Emily English, Hachette Book Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Wonderful, healthy and just plain good cookbook. The recipes are simple to follow. The ingredients easily accessible. The pictures are terrific and included for most recipes.
Nice photos, interesting recipes, I can't wait to try some of them--especially the Smoky Black Bean soup! A nice mix of different nationality recipes, and healthy without being boring.
Tjhank you Netgalley and Hachette Book Group | Seven Dials for the ARC!
I made the Smoky Mexican Black Bean Soup and it was delicious! Simple instructions, and I loved how the flavors combined together. Very easy recipe for the weeknight. I will definitely be making it again!
I wanted to love this book. It has so much going for it. The creamy coconut thai green noodles were delicious. The single serve peach cobbler will stay on rotation. I liked the meal plan section. The photography was good. Very few other items were things that jumped out at me and said "MAKE THIS NOW". If you are new to cooking, this would be a good start on healthy-ish eating. Thank you to the publisher for the early review copy.
I have never wanted to make almost every recipe in a cookbook, but WOW, this cookbook is AMAZING. The recipes are fresh and healthy, but absolutely mouth watering with a nice mix of Mediterranean, Asian, and everyday recipes such as tuna melts, fish and chips, and tomato soup. If you’re looking to transition into a healthier way of eating, I think this book would be a game changer for you; it even includes a meal plan at the end. I also love that it has a photo for almost every recipe. Pick this one up; you won’t be disappointed!
Thank you to Hachette Book Group | Seven Dials and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book!
Healthy eating has been really trendy for over a decade, and hundreds of cookbooks have been published on the subject. For those who are still on the healthy eating bandwagon, Emily English, a registered nutritionist with a degree from the prestigious King’s College, London, has published yet another healthy eating cookbook, So Good: Food you want to eat, designed by a nutritionist.
Almost everyone tries to make healthy meals. This cookbook uses substitutes for ingredients that aren’t so healthy with more healthy ones, i.e., yogurt instead of mayonnaise. The recipes are fairly appealing, but a bit disappointing because some of the ingredients many of us really like are eliminated. Sometimes taste is more important to some of us than nutritional aspects.
The recipes are written in the traditional manner with ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for everyone – beginning to advanced cooks – to make the dishes successfully. They vary in flavors and have nuances from all over. There are recipes for everything such as appetizers and snacks, salads, soups, side dishes, and desserts. There are dozens of vegetarian dishes also. There are also some beautiful, professional photographs of many (not all) of the dishes; it would be better if every dish were pictured, but most of us will take what we can get.
All told, this is a nice cookbook for those who are diligent in making nutritious meals. The recipes are mostly appealing, but they aren’t particularly unique or exciting. This is just another okay cookbook that will appeal to some, but not all.
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
Interesting, nutrient-dense recipes for all parts of the day!
I enjoyed inspiration for adding more nutrients to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. The recipes are interesting and accessible, and fairly easily adaptable to dietary needs (I have to eat gluten free). I tried a few of the lunch recipes; Caesar Salad, Sushi Salad, and "I have no time" Tuna Salad. All were good, but I don't know that I would make them again. I also wished that there were more nutritional details besides calories and protein. It would be helpful to have carbs, fiber, fat, etc. as well for those who need to track these things.
It's a nice cookbook, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to add some nutritious variety to their recipes!
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A well photographed cookbook with accessible recipes. This isn't a dig against the book but I do find myself paging through new healthy cookbooks and feeling like I am looking at the same recipes over and over again. That being said, her recipes are well laid out, great thorough instructions and beautifully shot.
This cookbook would be perfect for anyone who is looking to track their macros and include more protein and fiber in their diet. It's organized by meal times with a good variety of recipes. The photography is stunning. We made a few different recipes from the book and found it easy to follow. The amount of ingredients in each recipe was a bit more than I typically like in a cookbook, especially living with such a tiny kitchen.
It's a great option for healthy eating and people who like being in the kitchen and trying different flavors. I liked the recipes we made, but I don't know if I'd make them again just due to the amount of things required for each option. I would have liked a little more spice as well.
Gorgeously photographed with delicious recipes! I tried cooking the Brick Almond Chicken with Honey & Lime sauce for my family tonight. It was a big hit! Looking forward to cooking my way through this book.
*I received an arc of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.
So Good by Emily English is exactly that - SO GOOD! I really love that the cookbook contains pretty easy and quick healthy meals as well as noting the macros if that is something you track. I am a pescatarian and found plenty of recipes that align with my dietary restrictions. 5 stars!
A big thank you to NetGalley, Emily English, and Hachette Book Group | Seven Dials for the advanced copy.
A gorgeous and helpful cookbook that makes me want to be in my kitchen. I felt inspired as I poured over English's recipes. They weren't complicated and they actually had me excited to cook. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
I've been cooking from this from the past few weeks and have been enjoying it so much! I was in a cooking rut, something that happens in the dog days of summer for me, but this made me actually WANT to be in the kitchen!
With so many healthy options this book has something for everyone. I really enjoyed the way everything is easy to make and foods you can have in the fridge to just grab and graze. The pictures are beautiful and the recipes are easy to follow. The fact that ingredients are common to use and easy to find really helps make this a useful guide.
So Good by Emily English is a delightful cookbook that masterfully blends simplicity with fresh, healthy ingredients. The recipes are crafted to help you find balance in your meals, keeping you both satisfied and full. Emily’s approach to cooking feels approachable, yet the flavors and combinations are anything but ordinary.
A few standout dishes that I can’t wait to try include the Chocolate Orange Oats with Citrus Honey, which promises a refreshing twist on a classic breakfast, the Skin Glow Omega Bowl, perfect for nourishing your body, and the Brick Almond Chicken with Honey and Lime Slaw, which sounds like a deliciously satisfying dinner option. Whether you’re new to cooking or a seasoned home chef, So Good offers something for everyone looking to enjoy wholesome, tasty meals.
Thank you for the ARC of this beautiful cookbook. I can't wait to go out and buy my own copy!
There are some delicious sounding recipes here, with gorgeous photos of nearly every one. They are made with whole foods and lots of vegetables, though also a lot of wheat and animal products that are fairly easy to swap out for those with dietary restrictions. Quite a few of them involve at least one slice of bread. Each recipe lists the calories and protein, but no other nutritional information like carbs, fat, sodium or fiber. Considering the author is a nutritionist, this was especially disappointing. I’m guessing she thinks protein is the most important macro but that seems kind of random and is certainly not the case for everyone. Some reviewers have said that the calorie counts are incorrect and I didn’t do that math, but that would be even more disappointing.
One small complaint I had is probably only an issue with the kindle version. The recipes tend to take two or three pages and then the photos usually come at the end. I kept flipping forward to see what they looked like and then flipping back if the picture looked good to read the recipe in detail. I really prefer recipes to be on only one page for that reason and also because a multi page recipe feels like too much trouble even if is just because of big text and lots of talk, and it makes it annoying to have to turn multiple pages while cooking.
The recipes really do seem delicious and rather healthy. They tend towards a fair bit of work though, even the ones described as very easy. I cook from scratch every night and am a very experienced cook, but a lot of these recipes seem like a little more work than I would want to go to on a typical weekday, other than the many that involve bread (which my husband and I avoid, and needs to be gluten free for two of our kids). English clearly doesn’t have a problem with carbs and that makes most of the recipes not well suited for my husband and I too (there are lots of soft tacos, sandwiches, giant homemade croutons on salads and soups, pasta, etc.). She apparently ran a food delivery business during covid that was wildly successful and I believe it, since these recipes check so many boxes. If you’re up for the work and want healthy but rather standard American diet (though she is British) food, this will be a fantastic resource.
I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.
This is a very comprehensive cookbook full of nutrition information with do-able recipes.
‘So Good’ includes the classics alongside more adventurous meal ideas.
This is a good cookbook with a lot of valuable information, especially for those trying to lose weight, like myself. The pictures are vibrant and beautiful, and the recipes are mostly easy to follow. There are some with ingredients I’ve never heard of before that I doubt I could find here in the Deep South at my local mom-and-pop grocery store, but that wouldn’t stop me from recommending this book.