Hi! I've only ever used a few of the recipes in the book (the first one mainly) - I recall a shrimp salad and a cabbage salad. I checked out some of the later books from the library and I have made a few of those recipes - a veggie chili, some crab cakes, today's lunch of Romaine lettuce with tuna, edamame and avocado green goddess dressing.
Mostly I just follow the principles and use my own recipes and am always trying more. I get most of my stuff online and from checking out books from the library.
A good place to start is Kalyn's Kitchen, since she outlines everything in terms of South Beach Phase 1 or 2.
Here is the index for the Phase 1 recipes. Other places I find lots of recipes are
MediterrAsian and
Kath Eats Real Food. Sometimes things have to be tweaked - like omit sugar or substitute whole wheat flour or pasta for white - but in general these recipes are almost always inline with SBD Phase 2.
Of course the recipes HERE are great, tested by the people posting on this forum.
I do a lot of bean salads, bean soups, roasted veggies, simple salads - such as Romaine lettuce with radishes and green onions, dressed with a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I've been making my own salad dressings. I do a lot of simple things like grilled fish or tofu with steamed veggie sides.
You can certainly go exactly by the book if you like the structure! But you definitely don't
have to... good luck to you!!