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- Verified Buyer
Can you be in love with a book? I really think I have developed a deep, meaningful relationship with this one!! :-) I have had this book for just a week and have found myself saying, "Where have you been all my life?!" I have made so many of the recipes....Salmon Scramble with Cauliflower and Dill Puree......Vincent Arpino's Clean Brooklyn Sicilian Pizza Pie (Yes! Grain free pizza that actually tastes like pizza!!)......Thai Marinated Turkey Breast......Crunchy Maple Mesquite Walnuts (which I am now addicted to).....Scallion pancakes (awesome to freeze too) ....Zucchini-wrapped whitefish with Chive Oil (restaurant quality dish) .....Mini Raspberry and Coconut Cream Tarts (just don't eat ALL of them standing up in your kitchen like I did. You really should share them).....Coconut Zucchini Noodles and Spiced Meatballs (Heaven!)......Sunken Eggs (OH MY GOD, was that good...I licked the pan!)......and lots of salads, dips and drinks too. Most of the recipes in this book were created by Chef Frank Giglio, a chef who cooks farm-fresh, clean recipes for his community in Maine. There are other recipes by Clean Team folks, celebrity friends and just people who have been helped by eating this way, and they have short little paragraphs at the end of their recipe talking about their experience. It is fun and motivating to read these inspiring, little excerpts and it makes the book more like a story, which I love. So, I cook a few recipes and get motivated all at the same time....and then I sit down to a great meal! Everything that I have eaten or drank this week has come from using a recipe in this book and there honestly hasn't been one meal that I haven't loved. They also happen to be wonderfully easy recipes to make (thank goodness!) and use common ingredients that you can find anywhere. That is a big deal to me, because I hate finding a great, healthy recipe and then having to search Google maps for a special market that carries one ingredient in a 10 pound bag that I'll never use again. This book is simple, straightforward and just has really great food in it.I suppose I agree with some of the other posts here that it would be great to have more pictures in their follow up books...there are 215 recipes and 40 pictures of the completed dishes...but it really didn't bother me enough to downgrade my rating. I made many of the recipes that have no picture, and the directions are clear and even pretty easy to follow for an "un-skilled" home cook like me. I guess pictures aren't a big deal to me because I'm 49 and am used to using my Mom's original Joy of Cooking and other, older, worn out family recipe books that have no pictures.....so all of the photos in this book are just happy icing on the cake for me. I guess if you're used to those cookbooks that have a picture on every page, you might wish for more, but you can do what I did and MAKE the recipe anyway and then take your OWN picture of the dish. Now, I have more pictures....not really because I was missing them, but because I just love the way these recipes turn out so I have to take my own shots of my food!As I said in my title, this is SO much more than just a cookbook and all the information, stories and helpful tips, along with all the recipes in Clean Eats deserve my 5 star rating. I like this book because nothing has been left out! There are pages of tips for setting up your Clean kitchen, more tips about food items, kitchen tools and basic cooking skills. There are 7 short wonderfully motivating essays about Clean eating and making it a lifestyle. It is so much more than just the food. One of the coolest things about this book is that there is an entire 21 day cleanse meal plan, a 21 day clean gut meal plan and a 7 day clean refresh meal plan, all with page numbers for the exact recipes to make for every single meal! That is worth buying the book right there, as far as I'm concerned, and I actually came back here to Amazon today to buy a bunch of copies to give away to friends for that reason...it's got all the info you need and every single recipe to do all 3 meal plans. Very cool!The other reason I love this book, and why it is even more fun to buy copies to share with my friends, is that Dr Junger is donating 100% of all the profits from this book to charity! How many people do that?? Dr Junger talks about the two charities, HealthCorps and Vitamin Angels, briefly in the book and also shares personal pictures of his family and life. This book is about joy and love and giving as much as it is about food. This book makes me feel connected to the people who had a hand in creating it. I like that. With all the medical issues I have been battling over this last decade, I like getting to know a bit about the people who are helping me get my life back. Eating this way makes me feel good....it is healing me and increasing my quality of life. The only problem I have with this book is deciding which dish to make! I think I'll just make a few and invite some people over to eat with me!
