Okay, so I decided to give this ‘Eat to Live Cookbook Quick and Easy’ thing a try. Heard about it, figured, why not? I needed some changes, wanted food that wasn’t gonna kill me slowly, you know? And the “quick and easy” part sounded good, ’cause who has time, really?
Getting Started
So, I got the book. Flipped through it. Lots of pictures, which is good for me. Seemed straightforward. Lots of veggies, beans, stuff like that. Looked healthy, maybe a bit too healthy if you know what I mean? But I told myself I’d actually try it properly.
First trip to the grocery store was… an adventure. Had my list from the first recipe I picked – some kind of bean burger thing. Took me ages to find some of the specific spices and a type of vinegar I’d never heard of. Kinda annoying, not gonna lie. Definitely wasn’t “quick” that first time.
The Cooking Part
Back home, I started chopping. Lots. Of. Chopping. Seriously, tons of vegetables. The recipe said it’d be fast, but prepping all that stuff took a while, especially since I’m not exactly a pro chef. Mashed the beans, mixed everything up. It smelled… healthy.
The actual cooking wasn’t too bad once the prep was done. The burgers held together okay, which was a relief. Didn’t burn them, success!
Taste test time. It was… okay. Not amazing, not terrible. Definitely tasted like health food. My family was kinda looking at me sideways, like, “Are we really eating this?” But hey, we ate it.
Trying More Recipes
I stuck with it for a few weeks. Tried a bunch of different things:
- Soups: These were actually pretty good. Hard to mess up soup, right? And they did feel filling. Lots of lentils and beans.
- Salads: More complicated than just lettuce and tomato. Lots of ingredients, interesting dressings. Again, lots of chopping.
- Stir-fries: These were probably the closest to “quick and easy” once I got the hang of the prep.
What I found was: “Quick and easy” depends. If you’re used to this style of cooking, maybe. If you’re starting out, the prep time is real. You gotta wash and chop a mountain of vegetables for almost everything. And stocking the pantry with all the specific items takes effort at first.
My Takeaway
So, after using it for a bit, here’s the deal. It’s not magic. It takes work. You have to commit to the shopping and the prep. Some recipes were definitely faster than others. Some tasted better than others.
Did I feel healthier? Yeah, probably a bit. Lighter, maybe? It forces you to eat way more plants, which can’t be bad. But calling it all “quick and easy” feels like a stretch, especially when you’re starting out. It gets easier once you know the drill and have the right stuff on hand, but there’s a learning curve.
I still use some recipes from it, the ones I found genuinely faster and tasty enough. But I’m not following it religiously. It’s a tool, one option among many. It definitely pushed me to eat better, just wasn’t the super-fast solution I maybe hoped for initially. It’s real food, takes real effort, plain and simple.
