Inspiralized: Turn Vegetables into Healthy, Creative, Satisfying Meals: A Cookbook

I'm a huge fan of this author's blog, so I was extremely disappointed to have gotten my preordered copy of the book and find that the the experience of a book, instead of being more exciting than the blog, is actually somewhat less so.The biggest bummer for me was the lack of photos. In this day and age, no blogger would ever consider putting up a recipe without at least one photo of the finished product, and when I am paying for a recipe book, I expect the same quality as what bloggers everywhere are putting up for free. Only about half of the recipes had a photo to illustrate it, and I was disappointed that many of the recipes pictured were not ones that particularly needed a photo (such as salad with some spiralized shavings on top), while others that were more complex, such as tilapia tostadas with tomato corn salsa, were not pictured. I have no idea what a spiralized tostada made of plantain rice might look like, and one photo would have made this recipe a lot more useful.Then, I was disappointed in the quantity of cheese. While I do eat cheese and generally follow a primal diet (and expected to find some cheese in this cookbook), I would go so far as to say that the majority of the recipes here include cheese, and indeed rely on it as a key part of the flavor and texture. I expected something more similar to the breakdown of recipes on her blog, where there is a wide variety of dairy free options to supplement the cheese ones. For me, cheese is an occasional treat, not something I consider healthy every day eating.In her casserole section, for example, there is a Mediterranean beet and feta skillet bake which relies on the feta cheese as the focal point of the dish, a zucchini manicotti which again relies on Parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella as the focal point of the flavor, a vegetarian carrot enchilada bake which has one and a half cups of cheese and in my view really needs it to balance the rest of the ingredients, a rutabaga turkey casserole with a cup of gruyere cheese, finally a vegan option with chipotle carrot macaroni and cheese which uses cashews and nutritional yeast, a parsnip and kale gratin using a stunning 3 cups of shredded Gouda cheese, a grape leaves casserole with no cheese, a fennel sausage and butternut squash casserole with half cup of Romano cheese, and a chicken and broccoli skillet bake with a cup and a half of shredded cheese.Of all of these recipes, only three of them seemed like they would still be tasty without the cheese - the two that already didn't include it, and the butternut squash casserole with fennel sausage. When you look at her blog, the breakdown of dairy free options versus other options is much different, and when I buy a cookbook from a blogger, I expect to generally find the same types of dishes in the cookbook as on the blog, maybe with more options for how to dress it up or fun variations on how to make it slightly different using different herbs or ingredients, and better photos.That said, there are still a lot of recipes in the book that I would like to try. My favorites:Huevos Rancheros with plaintain rice tortillasspicy jicama strings, which look a little bit like French friesspicy butternut squash nachosTomatokeftedes and cauliflower tabouli saladbeet rice nori rolls with chipotle teriyaki saucechicken banh mi with Sriracha Greek yogurtApple potato cheese bunvegan chipotle carrot mac & cheesefennel sausage and butternut squash casserolepork bibimbap with ginger gochugarualbondigas and chayote with tomato serrano saucevegan celeriac Alfredo with broccoliniPlaintain coconut rice puddingOverall, there are a lot of great ideas here, but the book was really hindered by a lack of photos and an overreliance on cheese. Given my experience reading her blog, I would've expected about a quarter vegan (possibly containing breadcrumbs or beans), half paleo, and a quarter containing cheese. I think if she had taken the time to develop just a couple of interesting sauces to substitute for cheese and mix things up a little bit, her cookbook would've been far better for it. She doesn't even have to eliminate the cheese, just say "substitute the coconut cream sauce on page 59 for the cheese if a dairy free dish is desired", or give us some other creative options to help us substitute on our own, as many other recipe writers have done. I am sure she is 100% aware that a HUGE number of her readers are either paleo, vegan, or are watching their weight and don't want to use 2 cups of cheese in a dish. A little bit of creative help in substituting would have served ALL of her readers without compromising the dish she wanted to share,That said, I feel that I got my money's worth given the fact that there are at least 10 recipes that I intend to make. I also appreciated having the opportunity to support a blogger that I love by purchasing her book. I only wish that her editors had pushed her to go outside the box just a little bit more, and had allowed the author to use ample photos, as I imagine she would have wanted to do.

Lots of info and recipes to try.

Truly amazing book! I never write product reviewes, but I have to write this one because I was absolutely "inspiralized!"I'm not Italian, but I'm a 40 year old woman who loves pasta and bread, and you don't have to be a genius to know what pasta and all grains in general do to your body, especially for someone like me who doesn't have time to excersize regularly. Also, I'm an average cook, and have limited time on my hands. However, I do love vegetables of all kinds, shapes, colors, and sizes, and I love trying new recepies. I also like to look good in my clothes and maintain my weight, minus a few pounds ( in an ideal world) without sticking to any particular boring and expensive diet plan. So I wanted to give spirilizing method a try after reading about it in one of my cooking magazines. After all, spiralized veggies look so cute!!!! So, of course I needed a cook book to help me with my cooking adventure. After researching on Amazon, "Inspirilized... " by Ali Maffucci caught my eye, and I'm so glad I made that choice. I got it all in one delivery, and ran to local Publix to get some zucchini just to play with it a little bit. And I don't want to lie, but I made the most delicious creamy mushroom zucchini noodle soup ever by using my own recepie and cooking tips from the book. And after I started reading deeply into the book, I just couldn't put it down. It was like Ali made all the "homework" for me, and all I have to do is just to put it together and not to be afraid to try. It's so easy to read, so personable, funny, witty, and it's written so well, and it also gives you a feeling like an old friend sharing some recepies with you and encouraging you to try something different and refreshing for your own health benefits. And she doesn't stick to one diet, instead, she mixes things up for everyone's taste, and also gives you plenty of choices to substitute ingredients to your liking. No wonder it's a bestseller! I used a few recepies already (in 5 days since I had the book), and have no intention to slow down. My husband and I loved it, kids did too, and we all felt full but not heavy after eating our meals. I also want to try all the veggies Ali suggested in her book that are "spiralizable", but I used to avoid before because they looked ugly or weird, and now it's my chance to do it because I feel brave. After I realized that I can incorporate my own recepies using her suggestions and methods, I got really excited and can't wait till my next cooking adventure. Now I can honestly say that my cooking possibilities are unlimited, and hello bikini bathing suit without working my buns off on a treadmill.I'm so forever grateful for this wonderful cooking masterpiece. Thank you, Ali, you are like my sister I've never had, good luck to you, and I can't wait until you'll write another one to inspirilize me even more! Highly recommend it to all veggie lovers and adventurous cooks out there!A. Touma

Me encanta este recetario. No son las típicas recetas insulsas donde usan puros vegetales sin sazonar para conseguir una receta 100% natural, pero 0% sabrosa. Este recetario combina sabor y salud, utilizando ingredientes de origen vegetal como base y centro del platillo y agregando todas las salsas y condimentos a los que estamos acostumbrados y que nos gustan, tratándolos de hacer un poquito más saludables. La introducción es buena y la información muy ampliada.

I thought it would just be a recipe book

Lo estoy usando.para mejorar la nutricion mia y de mi familia.

Muy buenas recetas, fáciles e inspiradoras para crear las propias, además para aprovechar bien el aparato necesario para realizarlas, saludos

Excelente libroLas recetas riquísimas, para todos los gustos.Ligeras, veganas, fáciles y algunas más elaboradas.con preciosa fotografía .Si compraste el spiralizer, te dará ideas para agregar variedad a tu menú