Everyday Healthy Meals is a vibrant cookbook with over 45 appetizing recipes, most of which incorporate a generous serving of fruits or vegetables. Many recipes are unique and generally appear easy to prepare. Each recipe is accompanied by a beautiful color photograph of the prepared food item.
Recipes all contain a yield, serving size, preparation time and cook time. While most of the ingredients needed are readily available, some recipes include seasonal or expensive items that may need to be substituted in some localities. Recipes additionally include nutrition information per serving, but not in the form of a nutrition facts panel. All recipes and accompanying information are consistent with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Along with the recipes, several resources are also integrated in the cookbook, including a seasonal guide to fruits and vegetables (educators may want to check for accuracy depending on your location), a chart of recommended cups of fruits and vegetables required per day for different ages, a measurement conversion chart, and portion size photographs. Throughout the booklet there are spotlight pages on certain produce native to California – avocados, grapes, peaches and pears.
The cookbook is well organized with an agreeable design and layout. Recipes are logically arranged by their meal type and divided into breakfasts, lunches, dinners, dessert, snacks and drinks. While the recipe photographs are crisp and colorful, some are very large and take up most of the space of the recipe page. As a result, the font is a little small and may be hard for some to read.
This cookbook can be a great tool for nutrition educators to use in cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes, or as an incentive item for SNAP-Ed participants. Educators can access the PDF version for free online or order hard copies from the online catalog.
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