Rocco's Healthy & Delicious: More than 200 (Mostly) Plant-Based Recipes for Everyday Life

The book was larger than I thought it would be and chock full of photographs for almost every recipe. The recipes are clear, concise and easy to make and under 450 calories each. Most of the ingredients I already owned in my cupboard, but I have to avoid grains so I already own alternatives, ‘Bob’s Red Mill’ makes a lot of products I use and they’re easy to get on Amazon. This cook book excludes most grains, all wheat, dairy and sugar. It uses a monk fruit substitute sugar occasionally. Most of the recipes are very low fat and chock full of vegetables / healthy ingredients. Toward the end there is some meat but it is used sparingly and mostly for a little flavor / texture. There is an entire section with yummy veggie burger recipes and even how to make a healthy bun for them. There is an entire section with soups.I was very impressed at how much the book contained for the low price. I own a lot of cook books, but this is my new favorite.I noticed when I came to pre-order the cook book that some people had already left negative reviews in advance because they did not like his use of the words, ‘plant-based’ — first I think that is ridiculously unfair to review a book you have not purchased and don’t plan to even flip through — and secondly, the cook book is indeed plant first in its thinking and execution. It was clear to me that Mr. Dispirito is passionate about food and cares where it comes from. An excellent book.

I would consider myself a foodie. I value great food and food that is of good quality. I love to try different things.Additional to this, I am health conscious. I love to work out and eat a clean, high protein and vegetable diet.It has been tough to find recipes in the past that satisfy both of these desires. Many recipients claim to be healthy, but when you do into them, they are loaded with fat or simple carbs.This book is FULL of great tasting, clean foods. Rocco is very creative. I have used more recipes out of this than any other source. It’s great to have found someone who takes the principles of truly eating clean, and turning it into GREAT FOOD.Highly recommend. There is something for everyone in here.

After buying two other cookbooks after this one I realize how good this book is. Not complex and loads of nice color photos to show what you are making. I cannot believe there are cook books these days that don't show what you are creating and how to make it look. Not in this case!FYI: (reasons I took 1 star off) 1. No consideration of cholesterol is made in this book (whole eggs often used). 2. Almost the entire book is filled with recipes for FOUR servings (except smoothies). Since I assume we should be cooking meals fresh, what does one do for one or two? I do understand that often you have to make more for it just to be possible - but not everyone is on board with eating this stuff or maybe you need a meal for one or two. It seem quite difficult to get most down to a serving of one or two without a lot of waste. Unlike other cookbooks there is no advice on how to store or how long you can keep stuff. So for me this book seemed to be a disappointment. I wanted to get started quickly and get with it, now, I have to go through each recipe and see what I can do to get it to a one or two server somehow or how long it will keep. I think I will get some use out of the book, but a small fraction of what I thought and a lot more work than I thought. I also eliminated recipes that use too many eggs. I am new to cookbooks and many have been disappointing such as Irving's impossible to read tiny print Fit Fuel. So such books are causing me harm because I am trying and they are road blocks and delaying my efforts. Since I might get a few things from the book I will keep it and try to figure out how I can make use of some very good recipesSo far I made only the first recipe three times and it came out looking just like the photo and tasted great. Easy too! However I did do things slightly different that worked for me the second time. My wife actually liked it too! The book was worth it just for this recipe.#1 Protein Pancakes . The Blueberry Syrup recipe makes about four servings as stated while the pancakes are one serving. After making this three times and trying to make one serving of the syrup I realize that making it for four servings makes a lot of sense time-wise and usually the berries come in a pint though some or much less. I have no idea how long I can keep the leftover syrup - it would have been nice to state so being we are making more than we need. I looked up how long the syrup might last (I am not going to tell you in case I am wrong) but it seems it will be no problem for me. Organic blueberries cost 5X the normal ones where I live. Not his fault but I wish it weren't the case.The blueberries were the most costly ingredient.No reason to use a 6" skillet. Using a 6" pan means you have to cook one at a time - I don't get it, who makes pancakes one at a time?. It also meant for me medium heat was too hot for the little pan.I actually bought a 6" pan for this as to stay true to the instructions first time around. Also using the 6" pan made it harder to look under it to check and to take out. So here are the few changes I made that made it easier to make for me. I did not use a mixing bowl. I have a very large 4 cup plastic measuring cup. I whisked the eggs in it then added the applesauce, whisked it in, then add the dry ingredients, and whisked them in. I did not use the little 6" skillet. I used a regular large square pancake skillet, heated to 375 (checked with my IR temp reader as I do for pancakes) . I poured from the measuring cup three at a time (as I was learning), I think 5" pancakes. Have enough room on the skillet I checked the edges and under to know when to flip them not counting down time but know it should not be more than 45 seconds or so. (I suggest making one a time to learn).All I have to say that these pancakes were easy to make, tasted great, and on top of that a fulling breakfast. Mine even looked just like the photo in the book. I impressed myself!I used his protein that I bought here on AMAZON. It has the scoop you need right inside. I really suggest using his if you want to get this to taste like his recipe, at least at first as not to change anything. I bought the Munk Fruit In the Raw, again right here on AMAZON but I am told many local places have it. Everything else was local. I actually found Organic Non-sweetened applesauce and Blueberries, once I realized same chain stores do not always stock the same stuff. All and all it was not low cost to make this but you are getting what the book states, Healthy and Delicious. I realize many people may not be able to afford better food and that explains one reason we have a obesity problem in the country. As I said in the beginning my main issue is that is not portioned, most being for FOUR servings, but I both can understand why but don't know how long any of it can be stored. His syrup is the most healthy recipe I found and is not hard to make. It is actually easier than any other one I found.

I so appreciate Rocco's philosophy and it's one I'm adapting for myself. After years of yo-yo dieting and failed attempts to lose weight, I started to make a lifestyle change about 6 months ago, but was running out of ideas on how to make food healthy and nutritious, but still taste good. Now, with the help of the fabulous recipes included in this book, I can continue on my journey to living a healthy lifestyle that's sustainable.I think this book has a lot of added value - it includes the calorie content, fiber, carbs, protein and fat for each recipe, along with pictures of each dish. This I appreciate!!! I made the Eggplant and Turkey Bacon Hash for dinner last night and it was a big hit! Also, the house smelled great! I can't wait to try more fabulous recipes.

While this cookbook offers many healthy and tasty choices that are simple and quick to make, several of the recipes rely too heavily on microwave cooking. Most chefs don't do that. I personally think the microwave is fine for reheating something for about 30 seconds, and that's it. When I am preparing a meal, I would prefer to take the time and do things the old fashioned way. More nutrients and better tasting dishes that way. I know many reviewers commented on the fact that this is not a vegetarian cookbook, however, to Rocco's credit, he did not say it was. It says MOSTLY plant based, not entirely, so it's not really fair to ding him for that. The majority of them are vegetarian, but the ingredients for quite a few are not readily available at your local supermarket. Some of it takes a little hunting to find, and some I even had to order online and it was pricey! However, the end result for some of the recipes was worth the extra effort. Overall a good cookbook, but next time, maybe offer alternatives to making dishes in the microwave.

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100 % good

On balance this is a good book with some novel and inspiring ideas for eating healthily, but I was disappointed to find that only 6 of the 31 mains dishes didn’t centre on meat or seafood. Put another way only 20% of the mains recipes are plant based. There is a nice veggie burger section. IMHO too much content is devoted to how to make porridge, salads and desserts.

Great chef of course. Really disappointed how much animal products were included in recipes especially bulk of main courses. Not recommended for vegans.