Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat: A Cookbook

I've never thought to or wanted to count a cookbook as a book read on GR but I am literally read every single page in this amazing cookbook. Well worth the actual read. Chrissy comes through on every page! I took my time and read through each recipe. Her little paragraphs at the beginning of each recipe are just classic Teigen. lol. My first recipes from the book were Perfect Seared Scallops with Warm Corn Salad and Sour Cream and Broccoli Potato Cakes. It all took a bit longer than I had anticipated and the broccoli needed more time to cook to become mashable so I ended up throwing it, along with the potatoes and sour cream (and other ingredients for the cakes) into my Nutribullet for a quick mix. Worked well. I did not have the frozen corn I thought I did (I ALWAYS have frozen corn...grr!) so it was a warm pea salad. lol. Luckily we both like peas. But all in all, very delicious! The scallops were the shining star. Then I made Rotochick Chicken Noodle Soup which was deliciously flavorful due to the rotisserie chicken. The only other flavorings were the thyme, salt, and pepper! I skipped the bay leaf. I made the Crab Cakes Benedict and Bacon Hash Browns (pictured) and was so pleased with how they turned out! My first time poaching eggs too! My favorite meal so far but the Chinese Chicken Salad is a very close second, we ended up putting it in a tortilla wrap and damn, such a good idea! The Buttery Glazed Beans were too sweet and buttery for us. I like my veggies to taste like veggies, not sugar. My next recipes will be the King's Hawaiian BLPTs and the Vegetarian Tortilla Stew. Really love this cookbook and once I've exhausted these recipes, I will be buying the second one! I can't recommend this book enough!

I saw the Craving reviews and had, of course, heard of Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, but I had no idea that A) she is an extremely good cook, and B) she is hilarious. Seriously hilarious. Her recipes are thought out and easy to understand because she is so articulate in explaining the details but the way she sets up each recipe with her wicked sense of humor takes this book over the top. She has clearly been up-close-and-personal with all the recipes in Cravings. Her ability to create such crave-worthy recipes and equally appreciate those recipes she received and shares in the book from the people in her life makes Cravings -- and her-- all that more special. And believe me, these are some incredible dishes and she is no lightweight in the kitchen. There is complexity to a good share of her recipes but her easy-going way of taking you through the steps gives you the confidence to explore. The photography is gorgeous and each recipe comes with one or more photo to give you a complete picture of what is in your future. The recipes are a global mix of yumminess that are meant to be comfort food in every sense of the word. All that said, the added bonus is how she brings you into her life. You get to know her and there is a lot to love there. But the fun factor puts Cravings through the stratosphere in my opinion. I cannot remember the last time I laughed out loud when reading a cookbook. Repeatedly. Like every page. She hooks you from the very first paragraph in her introduction and doesn't let you go. I have not made any of the recipes yet but am going to try her Stretchy Artichoke, Spinach and Buffalo Chicken Dip with Spiced Pita Chips and King Hawaiian BLPTS tomorrow to kick-off my in-home pre-season football tailgate for two. I just bought a copy for my best friend for her birthday and pre-ordered her next book coming out on September 18. I rarely do reviews but this was simply too good to not share. Hats off to an amazing book and even more amazing author and chef.

I had the opportunity to get this book from blogging for books and passed it up. My first thought was "Oh, no another cookbook from a celebrity who probably can't even cook. Nothing in this one I'd be interesting in making." Boy was I wrong! After reading several outstanding reviews for this book and learning that Chrissy even has a foodie blog, I realized I might have made a mistake. Since I had an Amazon gift card I decided to purchase a copy of my own and see what all the hoopla was about. One of the best decisions I've ever made. I love this book. I'm already made 25 of the recipes with many more marked to try. Almost all of the ones I've tried were hits at my house. We didn't care that much for the meatloaf, but it was a taste preference and not anything to do with the actual recipe. Also amazing is the stories of the food in this book. Chrissy uses some off color language that I'm not particularly fond of, but in this book it works. She often had me laughing out loud while reading this book. So it's a fun read as well as to cook from. There is even a chapter of Thai inspired food from her Mom. Haven't tried any of those recipes yet but if I can get the ingredients I'll be trying those as well as we enjoy Thai food. Some of our absolute favorites of the 25 were Sriracha Caesar Salad and dressing, Cobb Salad with Honey Mustard Ranch Dressing, Chinese Chicken Salad with Crispy Won Ton Skins, Roasted Jalapeno and Chroizo Queso, Steak Bites with Melty Blue Cheese Butter, Cheesey Jalapeon Bacon Cornbread, John's Breakfast Sandwich, Spicy Cajun Sausage Peppers and Cabbage, Cheesy Jalapeno Tuna Casserole with Potato Chip Topping, and Everything Chicken Sandwich Melts. If you'd like to see my reviews and photos of all the recipes I've tried from this book check me out on Cookbooker.com where my handle is southerncooker.

Can I just tell you how much I love this book? Because I do. I'm a certified cookbook junkie. There's probably about two hundred in my growing horde. And of all the books I have, this is quickly becoming a favorite. Not only do I love Chrissy's frank and humorous take on things, but her recipes are solid. And damn... There are just so many of them that I have bookmarked! The book is laid out perfectly. Starting from breakfast leading to salads, soups, noodles and carbs, party snacks, foods inspired from her Thai heritage, and supper. My only complaint is that I wish she had a section for dessert. I found myself actually chuckling at her little blurbs before each recipe and honestly felt like I was just sitting with a friend and chatting about all things delicious. Tonight I made the Pad Grapow Chicken, Smashed Papaya Salad, and a side of Sweet & Salty Coconut Rice out of the Thai Mom section. I ate it up. The boy ate it up. And both of us finished our meal wishing we had room to fit more. It was just that good. She's great. This book is great. Treat yo self. Tip: Chrissy doesn't mention seasoning too much in her recipes, which is fine. I actually found that all of the flavors in the food were great and as someone who is trying to eat a little more cleanly, I appreciated her using full flavors to substitute for the fact that there isn't any salt or pepper. However, as a professional chef, my palate is a bit trained having my food seasoned so I did end up slipping a little salt in here and there. For those of you cooking out of this book, be aware and taste before you serve!

I got this book for Christmas, along with 6 others. I was a little skeptical since it’s a celebrity cookbook. A month later, I am reaching for this book almost exclusively over my other new ones. Everything I’ve made has hit it out of the park. I’ve cooked 15 things in here so far. These are truly delicious recipes. I’m a very experienced home cook, but even for those with less experience, these recipes are manageable. I laughed a bit at some of the modelesque photos of Chrissy (not that she doesn’t look amazing) because I rarely see that in a cookbook. At least the ones I own. The food photography is gorgeous. I’m wondering how she maintains her figure if she eats like this very often. The recipes aren’t healthy by any stretch, but I think that is fairly clear in the book description. Know this isn’t a diet book. It’s called “Cravings” for a reason! On the negative side, some of the ingredients in the Thai section may be hard to find if you live in a smaller area. The ingredient lists are fairly long, and I feel like the recipes take a bit longer to prepare than the recipe states, so just know that. Might not be what you reach for if you want a quick weeknight meal. There are no dessert recipes in this book, which is kind of a bummer. The print is very small, but that’s just nitpicking. Try the biscuits and gravy recipe! There isn’t much new to be brought to biscuits and gravy, but her maple cream takes it to a whole other level. I had never heard of or tasted Pad Grapow, but I made it last night. So good! I love being introduced to new things. I feel like many of the recipes in here are things most people will have tried in some iteration, myself included. In my case however, most of the things in the Thai section are new to me, and I can’t wait to try everything in it! Thanks for introducing Sambal Olek into my life Chrissy! Yum. This book was the one I was least excited to use out of the ones I received for Christmas, but it’s the one I like the most! I really do love this book. Would recommend to anyone, or buy as a gift for someone else! This book exceeded my expectations by a long shot. I hope she comes out with another book, and I would love a dessert section.

Honestly this purchase was worth it for the recipe descriptions/intros. It's very Chrissy, so if you like her, you'll think it's funny and will enjoy just reading through the book. Compared to other cookbooks, I don't think it's super substantive (depending on what you want a cookbook for). There are a lot of dinner recipes that I'm just not interested in (including tuna casserole and pea soup), a lot of 'party food' recipes (which isn't generally what I want in a cookbook, although most of them sound pretty good!), and a few salads that pretty standard salads with one little twist (Caprese... but add prosciutto! Caesar... but with kale!). All that said, everything I've made from this book has been delicious - Actual Drunken Noodles, Jok Moo (I do wish there were more Thai & Thai-ish recipes), the Veggie tortilla stew, the Chinese chicken salad, the skillet salmon. This definitely isn't my go-to cookbook, but it is a fun one and hasn't disappointed when I have used it.

I'm a huge Chrissy Teigen fan and I'm also a culinary student so when I heard she was coming out with a cookbook, I was overjoyed. I kept up with her food blog somewhat and was looking forward to the growth of her food career. Well, I just got the cookbook for my birthday last month because I'm a poor college kid who couldn't justify buying it buttt it has been worth the wait! Some of the recipes are online (looking at you, popsugar) but the pictures and Chrissy's commentary are a huge part of the Cravings experience. The first thing I made was the pot pie soup. My boyfriend and I are the best young cooks I know and make delicious food often (humble too). My boyfriend said it was his favorite soup he's ever consumed. That's HUGE coming from him. We spiced it up with some Cajohn's Trinidad hot sauce and ate it for several meals straight. I've made a few other things and plan on making a couple of the recipes tomorrow for a family get-together. These are the perfect recipes for that type of celebration and I'm confident they will go over well. People are saying that they're sad these recipes aren't "healthy" or "vegan" (who expects a book called Cravings to be vegan friendly??? Also, do you have any idea who it's written by?). Yes, some of them are decadent, but that's what cookbooks are for! You don't need someone to plan a meal of boiled chicken and steamed broccoli for you. Someone was complaining about the amount of cream in her recipes...maybe I've done keto one too many times or maybe it's because I'm from Iowa, but I love that she uses whole milk and cream and real ingredients. There are also a decent amount of healthy recipes mixed in with the indulgent ones. The recipes aren't pretentious or intimidating and they're things you genuinely WANT to eat. At the top of my to-make list are the pineapple-grilled short ribs and the coconut sticky rice. Also, I don't even LIKE pancakes but I really want to try the dutch baby, which look similar to the thin pancakes I can get in my German founded hometown. Oh and I love that she includes the "Thai Mom" chapter. It's hard to find decent, authentic asian recipes that I feel like I can trust. My only complaint is that I wish she used more sweet potatoes in the book, but that opinion may or may not be influenced by the fact that I bought a 6 lb bag of them at Costco and they're going to go bad soon.

Lately I've been participating in a Cookbook Club at one of the branches of the Free Library of Philadelphia. This month's go-to was "Cravings". As a librarian and adept home cook I've had ample opportunity to review many, many cookbooks, from the sublime (Hari Nayak's "My Indian Kitchen" to the ridiculous (Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook Book"). I, like many other readers, are suspicious of celebrity cookbooks. Nonetheless, I'm going to give you my general impressions, based on the food I tried at Cookbook Club. 1) Chrissy Teigen clearly likes spicy food. I prepared the Skillet-Charred Fish Tacos, which included sriracha mayonnaise to spread on the tortilla, a hot spice rub with which to prepare the fish, and a peppery green sauce (I used jalapenos) for a topping. Other recipes used liberal amounts of similar spices and peppers. The tacos, btw, were AWESOME--and benefited from all the toppings I had to prep (radishes, red cabbage, scallions, avocado, tomato). Old El Paso it ain't! 2) The recipes as a whole weren't vetted for current "healthy trends", but everything I tasted (12 recipes from Cravings, including the Meat Loaf, Coconut Rice, French Toast Casserole, jalapeno cornbread, eggplant pasta bake, "dump and done" ramen salad, queso dip, fish tacos, Roasted Cauliflower salad, and an absolutely killer mac and cheese) was delightful and as far as I'm concerned, perfect for company. 3) Ms. Teigen's personality shines through in this book. Yes, there's some NSFW language issues, but that's kind of part of the fun. It doesn't get in the way of the food, and that's what's important. You don't like recipes like SH*T ON TOAST, or other of George Carlin's seven, black them out. 4)There's a lot of prep work involved in a number of the recipes. I found myself grateful to own a food processor. 5)Yes, she uses stovetop stuffing (crushed) to coat pork chops,and frosted flakes as a topping for the French Toast Casserole, but come on people, this isn't Escoffier. Why re-invent the wheel? Personally I love the idea of re-purposing prepared food. I've used leftover soft pretzels for poultry stuffing. 6)It's clear that she loves her family (immediate and extended), food, and sharing the love. What's not to like? Five stars. Can't wait to see the sequel.

Even if you're not going to cook from this book, it's worth getting. Every recipe includes a note from Chrissy which is not only entertaining, but endearingly relatable somehow. I think it's great and not intimidating for beginner cooks and is different from the usual list of ingredients and drone of instructions one is usually used to. Enjoyed the beautiful photos, one of my favorite cookbooks to date.

El libro tiene pasta dura y muy fácil de leer cuando estás en la cocina preparando la receta, las recetas son muy fáciles y todo es muy rico y ella añade notas de inspiración sobre cada receta lo cual lo hace muy interesante.

Ich liebe einfach ihre Rezepte

Well spent

J'adore Chrissy Teigen, et je voulais commander son livre depuis longtemps. PAS DÉÇUE. Les recettes sont géniales, certaines faciles, d'autres moins. Seul hic : je regrette de ne pas avoir de four pour certaines...