Does anyone have cookbook recommendations? I like simpler recipes, as I'm a novice chef - if that!
I have some of the Fix It and Forget Its, and a few diabetic recipe books. I really love the 6 ingredient or less diabetic recipe book I have. I'm not big on adding a ton of ingredients.
I'm running out of ideas with regards to dinner. I just can't come up with anything!
I just bought a gorgeous cookbook, it's not a "diet" one, but there are heart healthy recipes in it. It's called Real Simple: Easy Delicious Meals (Real Simple like the magazine).
I decided long ago never to buy another cookbook that didn't have pictures for every recipe - I need to know what it's supposed to look like when it's done!
This one has beautiful full page pictures for all the recipes and the ingredient lists are not at all long.
South Beach Quick and Easy Cookbook is one of my favorites. That and Eating For Life (part of the Body For Life program). Both have easy, quick recipes that have a good balance of carbs/protein.
"Vegan with a Vengeance". I bought it a few years ago when I wanted to learn how to make more plant based meals. I have other pretty good ones but that one has a special place in my heart.
I really like all of the Weight Watchers cookbooks that I have seen. I have the "Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites" and "Weight Watchers Quick and Easy." I love them because most of the recipes are super simple, require simple ingredients that I usually have in my pantry/fridge, AND they have full-page pictures of most of the recipes. Although they do give you the points of each meal, they also give the nutritional value so even if you are not on WW you could still use them. (They also have "Weight Watchers in 20 minutes" and "WW 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook" that I would love to get)
I like Betty Crocker Win at Weight Loss Cookbook and Betty Crocker The 300 Calorie Cookbook. The Win at Weight Loss Cookbook is focused on meals that the whole family will eat so you don't have to cook twice for the kids!
I love the "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker" and the weight watchers, but now I just made my own. Wrote down or copied recipes I liked and used a lot and put them in a 3 ring binder with the clear covers and use that.
The recipes are easy. They have normal ingredients. Most are healthy, normal calorie meals. The ones that aren't you can easily substitute (ie ground turkey for ground beef, etc.) They give instructions for freezing meals to cook later (which works for me - I do a day of putting everything together and then I can pull meals out of the freezer as needed)
My personal fav is the More With Less Cookbook. It's pretty old-school and probably too carb heavy for most, but I still love the recipes (simple). I would say that I am generally a old farm cook. I like simple and cheap.
I recommend that you go to your local library and check out some cookbooks. Then you won't waste money on ones that you end up not losing. You can always buy any favorites after you find out that they are favorites!
I have lots of cookbooks - just got three new ones for Christmas as a matter of fact - but nothing beats recipezaar.com as a resource. There are a ton of recipes and they all have nutritional analysis on the page. If an ingredient isn't included in the calories it will say so. I have found lots of things there than I now make all the time.
I love, love, love eatingwell.com. I really haven't had a bad recipe from there yet. Some of their recipes are a bit more complicated but they are so super tasty!