Over the past few months, I’ve cooked my way through loads of recipes from these gorgeous new cookbooks which are now plastered with sticky tags so that I can revisit my favourites time and time again. You’ll love these cookbooks for your personal collection or, if you’re looking for a housewarming gift for your bestie, these tick all the boxes.
Feel Good Food, Joe Wicks
We featured two of fitness guru Joe Wicks’ recipes on our website, and our readers loved them – Roasted Spiced Apples With Oats and the heavenly Ginger Cupcakes with Date Caramel – so we were delighted to try out Joe’s latest offering.
The hard cover cookbook includes 100 easy, healthy and budget-friendly recipes – from energy-boosting breakfasts to easy weeknight dinners – which are designed to take the stress out of healthy home cooking and boost your physical and mental health. I personally only like recipe books that include a colour photograph of what the dish should look like and this delivers beautifully on that score. Each recipe is clearly set out and easy to follow – another win, win for me.
Joe includes information on what building blocks to strive for when aiming for good, healthy eating. He includes a list of ingredients and their specific benefits and a list of pantry essentials – most of which are available at your local supermarket.
The recipes cover a range of cuisine for all times of day and occasions – breakfasts and snacks, baking, hearty crowd-pleasers and a few guilt-free sweet treats.
So far, my favourites include the Ginger & Coriander Salmon Fishcakes, the One-Pot Lamb & Vegetable Biryani (perfect on a cold winter’s night) and the scrumptious Date, Walnut & Carrot Loaf Cake (served with lashings of butter!)
Dinner Express, George Georgievski
George Georgievski is best known as the hugely popular author of bestselling books Air Fryer Express and Lunchbox Express and has attracted followers from all over the world. He’s also a proud ambassador for Jamie’s Ministry of Food.
George got the inspiration for his latest book from when he was growing up. He used to spend hours after school in the kitchen while his mum prepared dinner. For him, it was a special time where he learned the family stories behind the meals she was preparing. It was also a great time to connect and chat. Years later, with a family of his own, George and his wife found themselves working full time, which meant the couple often struggled to find hours to prepare dinner. To ease this pressure whilst still incorporating inspiration from his mum’s cooking and the special memories he had of dinnertime, George worked out time-saving shortcuts and included them in this cookbook.
Dinner Express includes 60 fast, fresh and easy dinner ideas, most of which can be whipped up in 30 minutes or less with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and fridge.
Whether it’s hearty pies, quick ideas with mince, meals with hidden veggies for the kids, simple pasta and rice dishes, or how to pimp up a supermarket roast chicken, this book will help you create fast dinners the whole family will love. There are also time-saving hacks and tips to help you get prepared for the week ahead and a host of ideas for how to turn leftovers into an awesome adults or kid’s lunch the next day.
Bosh! On A Budget, Henry Firth & Ian Theasby
Unhealthy in their 30s, friends Henry Firth and Ian Theasby decided to make the change to a healthy plant-based lifestyle and it wasn’t too long before they had over a billion views of their recipe videos and became bestselling vegan authors in the UK.
In Bosh! On A Budget, they share over 100 delicious and hearty recipes, proving once and for all that great tasting food doesn’t have to cost the earth. The book is packed with money-saving hacks and batch cooking tips and tricks that don’t compromise on flavour or variety.
This cookbook is a great manual for the new vegan and includes useful information in the ‘nutrition’ section – including the often asked question: ‘where do you get your protein from?’
Don’t be put off the recipes that seem super-complicated at first glance. The recipes are really easy to follow and, pleasingly for me, often looked exactly like the accompanying pictures. Favourites of mine included the Indian Spiced Cauliflower Wings, Chunky Mushroom Turkish Pide and the super-simple Chocolate Ganache Pots.
Guilt-free Snacks, Luke Hines
Luke Hines, a finalist on My Kitchen Rules, is one of the most popular health and wellness personalities in Australia and his recipe books are certainly on my ‘Most Favourite’ list.
Acknowledging that many of us have a sweet tooth, Luke created a delicious collection of 60 sweet and savoury snacks that are gluten-, grain- and refined-sugar-free. Different to his other cookbooks which focus on vegan meals, Luke has created a few of the recipes with meat.
In Guilt-free Snacks, Luke creates snacks that can be enjoyed between meals or as a meal replacement when you’re short on time. The snacks can be made and stored in advance or whipped up in a flash, making it easier to stick to health goals. There’s juices, smoothies, an array of bliss balls and there’s an entire chapter on chips, dips and crisps – perfect for the next time you’re hosting drinks and nibbles.
My favourite recipes included the Roasted Macadamia Protein Cookies, Turkish Delight Bites and the Pumpkin Hash Browns.
