Cookbook review written & photographed by Stay-At-Home-Chef
Life in Balance is available for purchase at local bookstores. For more information on this book please visit Harper Collins Canada.
Dear Donna Hay,
Damn girl. How do you do it? Time and time again you put together these cookbooks with killer recipes that are straightforward yet impressive, relatively quick to prepare and taste amazing. This has created a bit of a problem for me because, you see, I don’t want to stop cooking from your latest book – Life in Balance. And sista I have bookcases full of other cookbooks waiting for a chance to be reviewed. Food blogger problems, I know.
Sincerely,
Stay-At-Home-Chef
Donna Hay’s cookbook are all coffee table worthy, with gorgeous photography that you want to jump right into so you can immerse yourself in the scenes they depict. Life in Balance has a different feel from her other books – dark and vibrant tones with content divided by colour to showcase the culinary rainbow of food. The premise of the recipe collection is healthy eating without resorting to diet food, everyday recipes that utilize the bounty of nature in a way that makes you feel good but still satisfies those cravings. You know the ones I’m talking about.
One of the things I love most about Donna Hay recipes is that they are easy to understand. You might look at the stellar photo of a particular dish and think there’s no way that you could ever make that, but thanks to straightforward instructions you will be taken step by step through the entire process and before you know it you’re eating what you never thought you’d be able to recreate. And it tastes GREAT.
Subsections throughout the book allow you to learn more about specific vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, while a detailed glossary at the end provides information about specific ingredients you might not know a lot about as well as pantry staples. Never cooked buckwheat before? No problem. Flip to the glossary and find out more about this popular seed related to the rhubarb family.
I am not exaggerating when I say I want to make every single thing in this cookbook. Honestly, the thought behind each ingredient results in the recipes reading like a burst of flavours that you can’t wait to try. The gorgeous photos will inspire you into culinary action. I for one will be returning to this book again, and again.
Never before have I given a cookbook full marks across the board for each of the three recipe tests. Until now. Yup – 5 out of 5 for each recipe I tested from Donna Hay’s Life in Balance. This is a historic moment folks – go out and celebrate by buying this book.