Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life

Oprah's cookbook is filled with gourmet flavors and beautiful pictures that will draw you into fantasizing about making her recipes. The best way to approach this cookbook is to read the entire book and then to choose 6-8 recipes you want to make. I say this because many of the recipes require special ingredients. For the 8 recipes I chose to make I needed 6 special ingredients. I bought ground chipotle chile seasoning, 6 cans of San Marzano tomatoes from Italy, white rice flour (for the lavender cookies), 6 cans of Lychees, Sabatino Truffle Zest and Sabatino White Truffle Oil. Cooking with these ingredients was really fun.Here are the recipes I tried and my experience:Summer Corn Chowder – There are so many flavors going on in this chowder I decided to skip the thyme. Instead of making the recipe for chicken stock I just used six cups of water and six teaspoons chicken base. That saved a lot of time. The garnishes are the highlight of this soup and I chose bacon, pimentos and corn seasoned with chipotle chile seasoning.Mashed Cauli-Potatoes – These are better than plain mashed potatoes. I admit I doctored them up a bit with more butter, paprika and seasoning salt and added 5 green onions, sliced and sauteed. The recipe called for Yukon gold potatoes but I used russet and cubed them before boiling.Skinny Cornbread – This is a more savory cornbread and if you like you can still serve it with butter and honey. Definitely with butter. It has onions and jalapeno chiles in it. My husband ate 3 pieces and I admit to having two. Since I don't have a cast iron pan I just used a 9-inch glass pie plate.Turkey Lasagna – OK this recipe is very challenging because you have to use a mandoline slicer. I suggest you get a slicer with cut-resistant gloves as I did. This recipe calls for San Marzano Italian tomatoes and I must say they are the best canned tomatoes ever! With just three regular zucchinis and one medium Mexican eggplant I was able to make the dish. You layer the vegetables, sauce and mozzarella cheese. The dish you should use is a 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Also I didn't have any granulated garlic or onion so I just used one teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder. I also used one tablespoon dried parsley and one tablespoon dried basil in place of fresh. Instead of minced garlic I just pressed three garlic cloves. I also used less pepper and salt. One teaspoon of seasoning salt was perfect. So that was the most complex recipe in the book!Lavender Shortbread – Making lavender shortbread is a very aromatic experience. The orange zest and crushed lavender are heavenly scented. I found that I did not need to refrigerate the dough and could bake it immediately. Instead of regular salt I used crushed Fleur de Sel. Instead of a vanilla bean (mine had dried up) I used two teaspoons vanilla extract. I cut the shortbread into 24 squares.Lychee Sorbet – This recipe is worth making because it is so exotic. If you don't have an ice cream machine you can also do a few tricks to make it work great. I froze the lychees and refrigerated the syrup. Then the next day I put everything into my food processor and spun it all around. It turned into a lovely Lychee Ice.Twice-Baked Potatoes – Making this recipe takes a little time but these potatoes are delicious. You first need to bake the two russet potatoes, then you scoop them out and add in sour cream and cheddar cheese. Then you bake them again. I found that a 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish lined with foil kept clean up to a minimum.Romaine Hearts with Warm Mushrooms and Truffle Vinaigrette – It is way worth the effort to order truffle zest and truffle oil for this recipe. The fresh romaine is so crunchy and the lemon based dressing is a perfect contrast to the other flavors. Parmesan cheese substituted great for the hard to find Pecorino Romano. This is the most delicious recipe in the book!Each recipe has prep time, cooking time and how many servings plus Weight Watchers points per serving. Calories are also given per serving.Some of the things you need to make the recipes include a pasta roller, pastry bag, high speed blender, microplane, Kitchen aid mixer, cast iron skillet, splatter guard (for tomato sauce), food processor (7-cup) and whisk for salad dressings.The ingredients you might have to order include lavender flowers, anchovy paste, truffle zest, Old Bay seasoning, red curry paste, Thai fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, curry leaves, mascarpone cheese, star anise, oat flour, xanthan gum, truffle flour, fresh truffles, sea salt and frozen truffle cheese.One recipe requires you to find a 5-gallon bucket to brine a 20-pound turkey. Most of the recipes serve 4, 6 or 8.Some of the other recipes include:Mushroom SoupMaya's Smothered ChickenTruffle TortelloniFresh Cherry CrostataCrab CakesTuscan Kale and Apple SaladFettuccine Bolognese with PeasWhat I really loved about this cookbook was all the personalized hand written notes by Oprah. You also learn a lot about Oprah's life and her struggles with weight loss. Oprah is a very creative writer and she excels at the headnotes. One story she tells is about how she first tasted a pasta dish at an Umbrian castle after a truffle hunt. This type of information makes the book so entertaining.A lot of love and expertise went into this cookbook. I highly recommend it for adventurous home cooks who want to cook like a chef. I vote this one of the most exciting cookbooks I've ever found. The only thing I'd skip is the alcoholic drink recipes as alcohol causes disease.~The Rebecca Review

The photos and Oprah’s commentary are the best part. Most recipes I’ve tried taste nice, but nothing is fast. All recipes will require at least one expensive or hard-to-find ingredient. All the way through, it’s clear we’re dealing with rich-people” food. I would adore these recipes if I had a cook to prepare them for me. The results are pleasant to the eye, tasty, and quite healthy. Many fresh ingredients are involved, particularly multiple fresh herbs per recipe. If you like fancy ingredients and large grocery bills, and enjoy using your food processor, this book is for you. Also note that after all the expense and effort, the recipes make enough to serve 2-4 people, so you actually have to double or triple the amounts to actually feed anybody.

This is an absolutely beautiful cookbook with so much encouragement from Oprah and tons of fun pictures. But… I have to say that for the average working girl, there's just too much involved in making these recipes. You'd have to have a sous chef to get them accomplished. For example, the Thai Green Chicken Curry has 15 ingredients for the curry paste and 15 more (!) for the curry.I bought this book because it's Oprah's and because I wanted to improve our eating habits, especially with the WW points already assigned. But sadly, I'm going to return it. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with what all's involved with these recipes.

4.5 starsOver the past year, Oprah Winfrey has joined Weight Watchers, purchased stock in Weight Watchers, become a pitch woman for Weight Watchers and, now, has written a life style book about weight and happiness. She has lost 41 pounds in the past year, and she says she is finally comfortable with her food and her weight.For those not familiar with Weight Watchers it is based on food smart points per your body weight and height. You can eat whatever you want, though they do espouse healthy eating. All foods have a point value, and after using it for awhile the point system becomes a part of your daily life. You can join Weight Watchers or do this life style on your own. This is not a diet, it is a change of your life style habits.This book has 231 pages, and is very well written, photographed and has excellent recipes. I particularly like the format. Oprah has written an introduction where she discusses her history with food and her food philosophies. She mentions Maya Angelou, her mentor and friend in life in many of her stories. Along with her stories she brings us recipes. Each recipe has prep time, cook time, serving size, smart points, and calories.Her first chapter is about soups, the comfort and love they bring. There are many delicious sounding soups, and most soups have a corresponding photo.Second chapter is What are you really hungry for? Discussions of what food means to her. She gives others recipes and then her reduced calorie recipe of the same food. And, then desserts.Chapter three is Faith of a mustard seed. Stories of meeting her first diet chef, Rosie Daly, and how these new foods changed her life.Chapter four brings A world of possibility. A trip to India brings into her conscious the different types of food and what it can bring into your life.Chapter five brings A healthy indulgence. You can have a cupcake, you can eat what you want, recipes that bring great taste but not heavy calories. And a bevy of delicious alcoholic drinks.Chapter six has Greens, Glorious Greens. The importance of fruits, vegetables and salads in your diet.The last chapter has Oprah's favorite kitchen gadgets. Most of them are a little pricey, but there are less expensive models available.And Oprah ends her book with her new found philosophy of consciousness, and how it has helped her to achieve her goals. This is a lovely book containing important information about food and lifestyle. Much of it centered around the Weight Watcher's model, but it can certainly be used without any Weight Watchers philosophy. It contains a well balanced and healthy lifestyle, and that is what most of us are looking for.Recommended. prisrob 12-04-17

The book is used, some pages are loose and the covers dirty and damaged

Print is a bit small. Recipes good for most part and high in ww smart points which is not so good.

This book is wonderfully put together. Nice little stories from Oprah and the recipies look amazing, i've already made 3 which were all great. Treat yourself or give as a gift to someone who wants interesting was of making some healthy (and a few unhealthy for the it's ok to have a day off days) meals.

Ottime ricette e facili da cucinare

mi aspettavo qualcosa di meglio. Alcune ricette sono carine ed interessanti, altre troppo impegnative e non sempre scontrano i miei gusti.