Relish: An Adventure in Food, Style, and Everyday Fun

After reading so many stellar customer reviews, and seeing Daphne cook on Wendy Williams show, I made up my mind to purchase this book. Many reviews complement the actual beauty of this book, and I do agree with them. Yes, there are marvelous pictures of scrumptious looking food, and personal photos of Daphne and her family. I really wanted to like this book, but I regret to say that I am one of the few customers who was disappointed with my purchase. Most of my reviews are very positive; however, Relish by Daphne Oz did not earn a good review.While some may think of the book as a cookbook, I would deem it a "Lifestyle Book." There are chapters devoted to being a stress free hostess, how to organize your closets, simple make-up advice, what kind of kitchen equipment you ought to have, how to hang a picture. To be honest, I really did not gain any new knowledge...any of these topics has been addressed in any mass market woman's magazine, or even advice form your own family.Most recipes are multi-step and involve more "gourmet" ingredients. There are some very simple ones such as Chocolate Fudge Pops and Cheesy "Pizza" Broccoli, which frankly are recipes that your friend/family member could have been making already. I didn't need an official recipe to make these.The first recipe I tried was Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. First, you are required to process the oats to create a "grainy powder." Mix dry and wet ingredients, yes this is a typical baking technique. Next, you are instructed to form the dough into 2" balls, place on parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze at least two hours, preferably overnight. When you FINALLY can bake your cookies, you then have to switch the cookie dough balls to a room temperature baking sheet to bake them and half-way through baking you are instructed to "bang the sheet on the open oven door." The cookies were good, not to die for, especially considering all the steps involved. I will stick to Toll House, or even Toll House pan cookies...at least my kids can have cookies about 20 minutes after I start to bake them.I saw Daphne make the Roasted Cauliflower Grilled Cheese with Jalapeno Aioli on the Wendy Williams show. Wendy raved about the sandwich and you could see that she was really enjoying it. So I decided to make myself a special sandwich. Went to the supermarket to get all the ingredients. Warning: do not make this sandwich if you are super hungry because you will FAINT from starvation before it is ready. First you are to caramelize your onions, 20 to 25 minutes. Roast your cauliflower for 15 minutes. Next assemble your sandwich and cook in a pan for 4 to 6 minutes on one side and then 3 to 4 minutes on the other. That's an awful lot of time for ONE sandwich for ONE lunch. Yes, it was tasty, but not worth time that was required.Another recipe I tried was the Mushroom Leek Goat Cheese Quiche. So I cheated and used a refrigerated pie crust. I make many different quiches, working with what cheese and veggies I have, and this one was nothing exceptional, except for the price--over $5 for 4 ounces of goat cheese and her recipe calls for 6 oz. Don't tell my husband I spent $10 for goat cheese. This make a custardy quiche, similar to what you'd get at a café. I enjoyed the quiche and my mom did too, so I can't dismiss the recipe, I just object to the cost.All in all, Relish is a beautiful book, but lacks substance as far as the knowledge presented. The recipes tend to be complicated and require expensive ingredients.

I am really glad I bought this book. First off, it's much more than just a cookbook. There are chapters about entertaining, living, and just generally being a girl in today's world. I really enjoy that additional content. The recipes, which I'm sure most people would be buying this for, are so far delicious. I've made three meals from it: the Whole Wheat Blueberry Sticky Buns, the Fish Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Coleslaw, and the Black Bean Frittata. All three were very good, my favorite was the cole slaw, it was easily the best cole slaw I've ever had. My husband loves the frittata and wants more. The sticky buns, to be honest, were dry. They were dry coming together though, it's been dry outside so I'm sure that had something to do with it. The filling and topping were great though so I'm going to try again with store bought wheat dough as she suggests.Aside from the recipes being delicious, they were unique in flavor, created with mostly healthy ingredients, and easy enough to put together (I'm a mom of a 4 month old, if that says anything). I appreciate that it wasn't the same old coleslaw or sticky bun, they were really unique recipes. And man that coleslaw is good, I'm probably going to make it again tomorrow. Don't skip the chipotle powder or cumin, it wouldn't be the same without it.I've only skimmed the life hints chapters, they look interesting though and I look forward to reading them when I have a few minutes of downtime. All in all this was a great purchase and my family and I are eating very well with it. I also think it'd make a great gift - it really is very nicely photographed and nice and thick and thoughtfully arranged.

Good

This is a charming, fun, and delightful book. It is not just a cookbook, but Daphne also gives her inspiring thoughts and words on different aspects of life, from family, friends, love, and so forth. And she weaves it all together with delicious recipes, so it is quite a treat to read through, or even just flip through it.I do have some reservations about her advice on life and relationships, because although it is all very inspiring and uplifting, she is only 27 years of age (much younger than I thought!). She talks about her struggles in her "early-20s", which for her was just a couple years ago! It surprises me to see that she has it all "figured out" at age 27, because (being the same age as her) I certainly don't! But then again she is a very beautiful girl that grew up privileged and wealthy, with a famous father, went to Princeton where she met her now-husband (if only it were really that easy to meet the love of our life)... She seems to have been dealt a good hand in life, so her vantage point on life and relationship may be a little skewed.Nonetheless, I am still a fan of her and this book is otherwise a delight and not like many other cookbooks out there.

I saw daphne oz on tv in America and that prompted me to buy the book. It's a good mixture of lifestyle advice and recipes.

Fantastic. Lovin' it :)

Enjoyed reading Daphne’s book! This is not ur typical recipe book! Love her funny and laid back writing style, her lifestyle approach and advice and simply is very inspirational, fun, positive book filled with recipes, stories, advice, lifestyle and positive vibes!!

bought 3 books for my sister, daughter and daughter-in lawmy sister tried her macarone and cheese casserole , it was easy for her to make and it taste goodshe will make it again.my other girls can't wait try her recipes and read some interesting tipsdefinitely recommend this book who likes to cook, or who likes easy recipes reading great lifestyle tips

The book is exactly what I as described on Amazon web site. Very well written and illustrated with lots of useful information.