American Heart Association Quick & Easy Cookbook, 2nd Edition: More Than 200 Healthy Recipes You Can Make in Minutes

I'm always looking for easy healthy recipes, and the American Heart Association has traditionally put out some decent cookbooks. Especially as I get older, I don't have the time or energy to spend house on meal preparation, so "quick and easy" definitely appeals.Let's cut to the chase here: these are definitely easy recipes, and with few ingredients (most have fewer than 8 or so, including things like a tablespoon of oil to sauté something), these take little prep time, mostly chopping/dicing/etc. and even then there's not much involved.My biggest complaint is that they're also rather bland, at least for my taste. I generally like big bold flavors -- I'm not afraid of a little heat/spice -- and I realize that's not to everyone's taste. But I honestly feel that the good folks at the American Heart Association maybe erred on the side of caution and we end up with recipes that show a lot of promise but don't deliver much in terms of flavors. That said, I do like the book -- so 4 stars.My usual practice when reviewing a cookbook is to try three recipes. Here are the ones I made from this book:Spinach-topped SalmonSalmon poached in a mixture of water & white wine with green onions and bay leaf for added interest, then topped with spinach and mozzarella cheese and broiled until cheese is melted.A bit bland for my taste — worth making again but I’ll add some salt-free lemon pepper or garlic/herb seasoning either to the poaching liquid or sprinkled on before topping with spinach. It was good, but it could be better.Lemon-Sauced Chicken with AsparagusA pretty basic stir-fried chicken with fresh asparagus & red bell pepper in a rather nice lemon sauce. You quickly sauté the veggies, remove from pan, then stir-fry the chicken cut into bite-sized pieces. You add the lemon sauce to the chicken, cook until thick, then add back in the veggies.Very basic, very fast, tasty, but I’ll add some finely minced garlic next time with the veggies. I served this over brown rice.Let’s try a dessert …Yesterday was the 4th of July, so I was grilling anyway. I had some fresh peaches leftover from my CSA basket (local farm produce delivered every 2 weeks), so I decided to give “Grilled Peaches with Almond Liqueur” a try. You make a sauce of lemon juice, sugar, and Amaretto liqueur, then grill peach halves for a few minutes until heated through. Top with sauce, let stand 10 minutes while occasionally re-spooning the sauce over the peaches. Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some slivered almonds. Again, VERY basic, very easy, and rather tasty. I liked this a lot, and will very likely make this one again with no changes.So that’s it. These are easy basic no-frills recipes. As I mentioned earlier, I found the main dishes lacking flavor — based the two I randomly selected as well as reading through the rest — so you may find you need to “punch them up” a bit. I use a lot of salt-free seasoning blends in my own recipes, plus additional fresh herbs and garlic and things like sriracha to add heat, so I’m used to tweaking recipes to suit my particular taste.Overall, solid 4 stars.

This is my new go-to cookbook for most night's dinners. I do add salt to the recipes (it's designed for a low-sodium diet, but none of us have to watch our sodium intake too closely), and the resulting recipes taste great. There's a really great variety of recipes, and although I've used it only for entrees so far, it has side dishes, appetizers, snacks, beverage, and desserts that also sound good. It am actually excited to try them (and I'm not someone who adores cooking).In the few weeks I've had the cookbook, I've made Beef and Vegetable Soup, Chinese-Style Chicken, Coriander-Coated Chicken, Chicken and Rice, Plum Good Chicken, Quick Cassoulet, Chicken Jambalaya, and Summer Succotash. (I just realized I haven't tried any seafood recipes from this book yet, but there are several I want to try.) Most were super tasty; only the Plum Good Chicken was disappointing (a bit too sweet, and noodles were overcooked). The recipes use ingredients I hadn't thought to use before, like instant brown rice (so convenient), molasses, and fruit to sweeten a beef dish. I sometimes make double batches to share with my parents, and they have been impressed with how good the recipes are. I also have a picky eater, and she has liked most of the recipes.At first I thought the lack of photos was a drawback, but now, I'm actually glad they aren't in there. The book doesn't waste space with them, so there's space for so many really good, healthy recipes. The book is small enough that I often take it with me to the grocery store and flip through it to stock up the fridge or freezer. The meal planning tips are helpful, and I now plan to add vegetarian and egg-based entrees to our dinner repertoire. This cookbook is more creative and has greater variety than most of my many cookbooks. I love it!

When I was getting focused on healthy eating to lose weight, the doctor focused me on the Mediterranean Diet or at least the general principals of it. After some web browsing I was buried in information about really complicated meal prep and dozens of foods (mostly vegetables) that I have never heard of. Having lived off of simple meat and potatoes for all of my life, I was not thrilled with really complicated and lengthy meal prep. I bought this book looking for down to earth, practical advice. The intro chapters where helpful to me. The menus are better than most you find for Mediterranean Diet, but still more complicated than I wished for. Overall, it was a pretty good thing to buy

I bought this book for my dad who recently had heart surgery. My retired father sees cooking and food as just a necessity of life, so any recipe too complicated or time consuming would never be cooked in his kitchen. Healthy eating is daunting for him as well, but now required for him, so I tasked myself with helping him find some healthy recipes he would cook. The recipes in this book were perfect for him. Although, he's been taking baby steps, he at least has tried a few recipes in this book and that his HUGE. He said they were tasty, quick, not too complicated for him and he would cook them again.

Very easy recipes. I was skeptical but very very happy! Yummy food, low sodium and most use ingredients in our very basic pantry!! I love how easy the recipes are and how much flavor there is! I also love the use of spices that are not salt!! Will take time to stock up on low to no sodium items but most items are staples in our home!

I have an earlier version of this cookbook which I enjoy very much. I bought this one as a gift for my father. He is not as happy with it as I am with mine. He thinks many of the recipes have more ingredients than necessary. So he uses it for ideas and then makes a simplified version. He said to give it four stars because it has provided him with inspiration for many meals.

I think the recipes are good, but there aren't many pictures so it is difficult to see what the finished product is going to look like.It gave me some good ideas to try different things, and quinoa won't be one of them.

Although the recipes were easy to follow, there was not a lot of food in there that I like to eat.