Cookbook Club: Giada's Feel Good Food

I rarely feel really great anymore. The times that I feel closer to 100 percent than not, I really notice it and try to appreciate it and wonder what led to the energetic burst. In the name of trying to bottle that energy, I'm taking notice of the types of things that make me feel good. Some of those things are certain types of food, and avoiding other types of foods. We all know that eating an entire bag of All Dressed Ruffles won't lead to feeling like running a half marathon but let's all admit that every once in awhile, it happens.

When I saw Giada's Feel Good Food cookbook at the Richland Library, I grabbed it (because I prefer hard copies of cookbooks!) and started cooking some things out of it that caught my eye. And it's true, her food has made me feel good! It's also made me think about how I am packing lunches for work, including dialing down the midday carbs and dialing up the fiber and protein.

This book is full of recipes that she says she makes at home for her family, the ones that keep her body and mind in a happy and healthy balance. She also goes on to say that this is NOT a diet book, a concept I appreciate because when has anything from a diet cookbook ever been good? Giada has a healthy mental approach to eating that translates to healthful and delicious recipes, at least in this book. Not all of Giada's recipes are so health forward but in this book they are. Some of them are a bit too health-forward, in that I personally flipped right on by them, like her fennel, radish, and chive salad or the strawberry mint omelet. Thanks gurl, but I'll pass on those.

But of the recipes I did choose to make, none of them disappointed!

The lemon-mustard potato salad was very good though it was a bit large for two people and didn't taste as amazing when cold. I liked the contrast between the warm potatoes and cool arugula when it was made fresh. You can't reheat it if you mix everything together as called for in the recipe. No one wants hot arugula. The dressing is excellent and like nothing I've ever had on potato salad.

Next I thoroughly enjoyed the roasted vegetables with chipotle cream over crispy pita deconstructed for lunch a few times over the next week. I felt amazing in the afternoons that I had this for lunch — no coffee or nap needed those days. The proper combination of fiber and protein really hit the spot! It's shown without the chipotle cream or crunched up crispy pita here.

The whole-wheat pearl couscous salad with smoked paprika, sweet potatoes with creamy tofu-lime vinaigrette, and chocolate blueberry brownies were all perfect to make on Sunday on batch-cooking day, as it used up almost all of the spinach. And that has kept me in healthy lunches with a special treat for most of the week! On a week that is very heavy with freelance meetings after work, making sure I have a healthy lunch and no post-work sleepies is one less thing to worry about.

In a crowded cookbook market and as a self-avowed cookbook hoarder, I actually recommend this book so much that I've already purchased it for myself as a home reference! A note though: she does go a bit heavy on the shrimp, salmon and tuna, but there's still enough in here to make the book valuable for seafood haters like myself.

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