The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook: Over 300 Delicious Low-Fat Recipes You Can Prepare in Fifteen Minutes or Less

My health educator recommended this book as I enjoy ethnic food prepared as a Vegan. While some recipes may appear bland, you can always add your own variations of spices. The recipes are relatively simple & easy to follow, but take me longer than 15 minutes to prep. Supposedly most of the ingredients can either be found in a grocery or health food store. If not, there is always the McDougall Store that I have not tried. The author also gives a list of other web sites to order from. There are healthy tips to improve you health and helpful cooking hints which I find interesting. This book tries to be family friendly. There are no pictures of the recipes listed in the book, but that does not bother an old seasoned cook like me. I have made Disorderly Lentils, Mexican Lasagna, & Barbequed Beans & Rice so far. All of which I have enjoyed. These are brightly colored dishes & very visually appealing. There are many other recipes that I have yet try. I suspect that this will be one of my go to books to for years. I have also served these dishes to the members of my Health Class with confidence.

After reading a compelling book of scientific research ("The China Study" by Colin Campbell PhD), my husband and I were thoroughly convinced that minimizing dairy and meat intake could significantly reduce our chances of getting Western Diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, etc). Though we didn't have any of these problems (yet), we still saw health benefits within 6 weeks of minimizing dairy & meat so are hooked. But "The China Study" is not a HOW TO book. Thank goodness for "The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook." It is a superb HOW TO book that put the ideas, methods and recipes into our hands for a much easier transition to this healthy and tasty style of eating. The DVD "McDougall Made Easy" is even better for getting up to speed (though much fewer recipes than this cookbook). Now we're 8 months down the road and wouldn't dream of going back.

This book is awesome! Full of healthy recipes, good information, easy to follow instructions. Makes me feel empowered taking good steps to good health. Biggest bonus of all: the whole family loves to try these new things with me. And, so far, the recipes work! I am not left scratching my head thinking what did I do wrong with this recipe like in some healthy cookbooks. Easy to follow instructions, mostly easy to find ingredients, something for every taste bud!

This is not a new book (originally published in 1999); it is just new to me. We have had the NEW McDOUGALL COOKBOOK for years and refer to it several times a week, so when I noticed that they had another title as well I purchased it without hesitation. The McDOUGALL QUICK & EASY COOKBOOK contains "over 300 delicious low-fat recipes you can prepare in 15 minutes or less," although this just refers to prep time, not necessarily cooking time. It is divided into chapters titled Breakfast, Salads and Dressings, Soups and Stews, Sauces, Dips and Spreads, and Desserts. Then there are four chapters for main dishes, one each for Grains, Beans, Pasta and General. The extensive index also is useful for finding just the recipe you are looking for. This cookbook is consistent with the McDougall philosophy, but contains a few recipes that contain what I consider "questionable" ingredients. These include bottled fat-free dressings, ketchup and BBQ sauce, and some fake meats, such as vegetarian sausage. I think they sacrificed a bit of "whole foods" to achieve "quick and easy." There aren't a lot of recipes that include processed foods, and you just don't have to make them. The whole foods recipes far exceed the number of recipes including processed foods, so don't let this fact stop you from purchasing this book. Most of the recipes contain whole foods including fresh fruits and veggies, herbs and spices, tofu, rolled oats and legumes. All are consistent with the McDougall philosophy of no added oils and no eggs or dairy. The organization of this book is very user friendly. Every three or four pages they have devoted a whole page to a healthy eating/living topic, such as "Lower Your Blood Pressure," "The McDougall oil embargo," "Protein Is Plentiful," and "Heart Disease and Cholesterol," and many, many more. These pages help to educate those new to the McDougall philosophy and serve as a reminder to the rest of us. Every few pages you find other helpful bits of information in a small, highlighted box. These include "Quick Tip," "Health Tip," "Planning Tip," and "Shopping Tip." Overall, the McDOUGALL QUICK & EASY COOKBOOK is a good addition to anyone's cookbook shelf. If you are practicing plant-based, whole foods eating or you are just someone looking for some good low-fat recipes, this is for you!

I love to cook and have many vegan cookbooks that are gourmet, but I also work really long hours and kept finding myself eating vegan takeout and junk food after a long day. The weight gain was depressing to say the least. Enter this book, lots of really easy food that relies on healthier canned or frozen ingredients that allow me to have a healthy meal ready in the time it would take me to get my oil laden food at the takeout counter. Many have said that the taste is bland, I disagree. When a recipe tells you to use salsa, get a great flavorful chipotle salsa and the flavor is really good! Buy good quality spices, remember that on Asian food sriracha and sambal oelek are so good. I've been cooking out of this book for 2 weeks now and really see this as my Monday through Friday after work cookbook.

Wonderful recipes!

The book looked useful when I borrowed a print version from the library, but I bought the Kindle version, which is proving almost useless. It requires scrolling through an entire chapter to find a recipe. The index does show individual recipes, but then one must use the search function to find a specific recipe. If the recipe includes a sauce of something from another recipe? Go through the same roundabout process. Very different from flipping through a print book. If you buy this, don't bother with the Kindle version.

This book has given us a lot of confidence to give up the meat and dairy and eggs and oils and coffee and stop adding salt during the cooking process Potatoes are back on the menu, along with rice and corn and beans and legumes. We have yet to try tofu or pasta recipes. Note that it does not say "Gourmet Cookbook." It says "Quick and Easy Cookbook" in the title, which is accurate. Over time each recipe could be tweaked, and made more gourmet if desired. Also, curry powder does a lot to make cooked vegetables yummy. On the website if you click on the McDougall Newsletter and go to January 2008, it offers "McDougall Favorites". These include the following: Bean Burritos, Bean and Corn Enchiladas, Lasagna, Tofu Tacos, Baked Penne Florentine, Creamy Pasta Primavera, Peanut Dressing, Falafel Wraps, Reuben Wraps, Bean Soup, Garbanzos a la King, Brazilian Black Beans and Marinated Tomatoes, Pumpkin Muffins, Pancakes. Fourteen recipes. Not necessarily all quick and easy, but apparently all proven winners. We have found we can simply blend a raw apple and use it anytime an oil substitute like Wondaslim, pureed prunes or apple sauce is called for. This substitution alone makes it easier to have the basics in stock. She states that for whatever mysterious reasons, beans always taste better when cooked from scratch. Even so, you will need to have a variety of canned beans on hand. Also, they encourage you to keep it simple and make your meals monotonous. That is a huge time saver! The crock pot is an invaluable tool. Right now we are enjoying eating more simply and filling up on starch and fiber. Already seeing results! This fine book will NOT be gathering dust!