Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide
- ISBN13: 9781605294421
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Did you know the average dinner from a chain restaurant costs nearly $35 a person and contains more than 1,200 calories? That’s hard on your wallet and your waistline, and few people understand this better than the authors of Eat This, Not That! After years of helping consumers navigate America’s daunting culinary landscape – and literally thousands of weight-loss success stories – Dave and Matt have finally turned their nutritional savvy to the place with t… More >>
Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide
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Tired Mom of Two said :
February 20, 2010 at 8:14 am
I really enjoyed the original book in this series and keep it handy for dining out, etc. That said, I didn’t find this one particularly interesting or useful. It’s pretty much a collection of recipes that replicate lower calorie versions of restaurant dishes. I thought it was going to be healthier versions of home cooked meals. I don’t typically cook these dishes and most of them are still pretty high in calories and fat and not things my family would eat.
In the long run, if you’re looking for a very limited cookbook, this is it. But if you want something that goes more of the distance, as I did, you’ll be disappointed. The most interesting thing in the book for me was the cereal comparison. Other than that, I found it fairly useless, although well-written.
I won’t buy any more of the series. I think they’ve run out things to say.
Rating: 3 / 5
Shanna Sullivan said :
February 20, 2010 at 10:04 am
There are so many words to describe this book, but I will keep it simple:
WOW!
Very informative, very easy-to-cook recipes, and the writers act like a blunt support system, NOT an unreasonable diet guru.
Rating: 5 / 5
! Aesop - Sam SONG said :
February 20, 2010 at 12:08 pm
This book shows readers the effective ways to cook America’s most popular restaurant dishes, so, readers could eliminate body fat and enjoy happier lives.
The authors, DAVID and MATT, are experienced editors, so they did very good job for the book.
Surely this is an excellent book for many people to keep one in the kitchen.
Sam Song
Author,
Learning Chinese The Easy Way with great fun and joy!
Rating: 5 / 5
Brian Connors said :
February 20, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Where does one even begin with this book?
I’ve avoided the “Eat This Not That” series overall, since it really isn’t of much interest to me. And then they wrote the cookbook, which, well… let’s put it this way. I wasn’t really expecting to like it, but it was one of those things I just had to write a review of. The book has its upsides and its downsides, and in both cases they’re very polarizing — in otherwords, whiplash-inducing.
First off, the cynicism of the book is palpable — it’s so obviously capitalizing on yet another diet idea that it’s hard to take all that seriously. And Rodale isn’t a publisher known for their high-quality medical information — they’re on Quackwatch’s “Nonrecommended Sources” list, and also published the inexcusable A Man, a Can, a Plan series, and their focus on altmed goes back to founder Jerry Rodale’s original half-informed, excessively vitalistic concepts of organic agriculture (for which much better information can be had from Jeff Gillman’s books). And, indeed, the chapter introductions lean towards a weird stroking of the stereotypical Middle American ego, and the focus of the book is on replacing the food of big chains. (The latter is reasonable; the former is… creepy.) And the design language of the book? Some of the most eye-burningly awful page layout I’ve seen in an American cookbook since the mindbogglingly ugly 12th edition of the BH&G New Cook Book, and a near-clone of the hyperkinetic Maxim-look lad mags of circa 2000. The appearance of this book just screams “literary junk food”. It doesn’t help that a lot of the recipes really aren’t that much like the foods they’re supposed to replace — alternatives are always nice, but there are times you just have to satisfy a craving, and books like The Best Light Recipe or the Weight Watchers Cookbook do this much better by taking the food you want and lightening it instead of throwing a bait-and-switch at you.
Which is a shame, because there’s a lot of very interesting recipes in here — gyros, Asian-tinged salmon, squash soup, and even a whole selection of side dishes and desserts. Nutrition information is a bit sparing compared to most cookbooks in its genre (just calories, fat, and sodium), but it’s enough to get a rough handle for portion control use. The food is mostly from scratch, and covers everything from the mundane to the avant-garde without ever dragging the reader outside home kitchen territory. And it isn’t just a list of recipes — although somewhat gimmicky in its presentation, the book focuses heavily on techniques, even beginning each chapter with a “matrix” that covers an entire class of dishes (the most useful ones probably being the Skewer, Pasta, and Wok matrices) and shows how to improvise them from the ground up.
This book, overall, should be a lot better than it is; it’s got all the ingredients for a truly kickass light-cooking bible. But it’s severely compromised by Rodale’s desire to shoehorn it into an existing marketing scheme, and the cover price is a good five dollars more than it’s really worth. It isn’t a bad book, but the subtle condescension and the whacked-out design means that there’s a lot of books out there that do what it sets out to do in a far less in-your-face manner. I’m not saying it’s a bad book by any means (star rating aside), but if you buy this book at all, don’t spend any more money than you have to on it, and definitely don’t pay cover price.
Rating: 3 / 5
Trent Johnson said :
February 20, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I wanted to try out all the recipes in this cook book before I reviewed it but I can’t. I have tried a handful. The very yummy breakfast sandwich, great guacamole, potato chips (that didn’t work out for me) and others but the main one that might be a hint for some people is the cookie recipe.
The cookie recipe has many issues, and I have tried other recipes but this one seemed to stand out for my review. The problem is that the cooking times (This one doesn’t have any, just said what they should look like when done) and ingredient lists don’t all include the recommended ones (featured in the Eat This Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution) You are left a little in the dark making in certain areas making the next book in the line, the gotta have. The books are good and easy read and this cook book is one of the best ones. The cookies overall are praise worthy, I make a batch for special occasions, and its nice that it isn’t straight sugar.
I do wish they would comply more information like how they updated Eat This Not That! 2010: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution
If I were to suggest any books in the series, It would be the supermarket one, because it’s not so much the brands you learn, its why the certain brands are good. This book on the other hand, features some tasty recipes that I can’t wait to try! Maybe I’ll cook some Dr. Pepper ribs this weekend.
Rating: 3 / 5