The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat

Erin Clarke's The Well-Plated Cookbook features a range of classic recipes with a healthier approach. I bought this cookbook after noticing many other Instagram accounts of the success of her dishes. I was not disappointed! From chapters on breakfast and party food, to soups, sandwiches, salads, and desserts, Clarke offers lessons on how to become a better cooks while also making healthy choices like using more fruits and vegetables and swapping in more nutritious ingredients. Along with recipes, there are sections on helpful topics like ideas for use of a can of chickpeas; ways to use Bolognese sauce; and many ways to make stuffed sweet potatoes. So many creative and healthful ideas! The photographs by Becky Hardin enhance the attractiveness of the dishes and present a goal for your own food photos. Recipes I have made to the acclaim of my family include: --Caprese Chicken Skillet: Sauteed chicken breasts are finished with balsamic vinegar, red onions and cherry tomatoes before being topped with fresh basil and mozzarella balls and additional drizzles of balsamic. --Italian Turkey Sausage Skillet with Farro, Greens, and Bean: Crumbled turkey sausage is sauteed with red onion, garlic before chopped kale, white beans, tomatoes, and farro are added to the skillet. The finished dish is a flavorful, one-dish meal perfect for an easy and healthy dinner. --5-Ingredient Maple Dijon Salmon: The easiest approach to cooking salmon perfectly with a coating of maple syrup, Dijon mustard and olive oil. A quick oven roasting yields a delicious entree. --Chicken Shawarma Wraps: An ideal way to make the most of leftover chicken. Shredded chicken is sauced with yogurt, a spice blend, and lemon juice before filling pita with hummus, sliced cucumbers, and feta. --Grammy's Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas: Another way to employ cooked chicken. Sliced peppers and onion and Mexican spices are mixed with shredded chicken to fill tortillas. The tortillas are topped with a cheese-yogurt sauce and homemade green enchilada sauce before being baked until bubbling. Garnishes include avocadoes and cilantro. --Autumn Sheet Pan Sausages with Apples and Harvest Vegetables: A combination of Brussels sprouts, red onion, garlic, sliced turkey sausage, sliced apples, and herbs are oven-roasted. Another easy and flavorful one-dish meal. There are many other recipes on my To Try list from The Well-Plated Cookbook. It is full of many promising approaches to familiar dishes. I recommend it to any level of cook, and it would be a great gift. A new favorite cookbook!

I originally found Erin's food blog after googling how to make a few things in the Instant Pot, and I always ended up going for her recipes as opposed to others' because I could tell she had thoroughly tested everything. I am so excited about this cookbook! To give you a sense of my cooking style, my other favorite cookbooks are from Ina Garten, Smitten Kitchen, ATK, and Mark Bittman. I share that because why I love Well Plated is a result of what I'm not getting enough of from those old favorites of mine. There are a few easier and healthier recipes in all of those cookbooks, but Erin's Well Plated Cookbook is entirely focused on more accessible and (at least somewhat!) nutritious recipes. For the record, I can tell Erin is influenced by those greats! This book is filled with satisfying and straightforward dishes that my meat-and-potatoes-preferring husband will love. On a Sunday night, I live for diving into an multi-step Smitten Kitchen recipe with special ingredients and many steps. I love treating us to an indulgent or involved Ina Garten or America's Test Kitchen meal. I'm a confident cook who eats all foods and flavors and doesn't mind sometimes buying a unique or exotic ingredient that might not ever get used again. But over the years, I'm realizing that I need more everyday and easy recipe inspiration at my disposal. Front to back, that's what Erin Clarke has achieved. "No orphan ingredients", as she says. The book's description is very accurate. Most of the ingredients are things I buy regularly, and Erin helps inspire me with how to use them. As much as these recipes are crowd-pleasers, you can definitely tell they've been written by a thoughtful, health-conscious, modern young woman with contemporary tastes. Like me, I daresay! So far from her book, I've made the buffalo chicken burgers and the macaroni salad. SO GOOD and instantly going to be regulars in the rotation. Next up is the Book Club salad. I'm a cookbook snob, and I highly recommend Well Plated. Keep em coming, Erin!

My family LOVES Erin’s recipes! I started following Erin Clarke, the author of "Well-Plated", a few years ago on Instagram and was pleasantly surprised that she was a local Milwaukee blogger. I printed off quite a few of her online recipes and they were all fantastic! When I found out she was releasing a cookbook, I immediately pre-ordered back in February. That being said, I had done away with most of my cookbooks as I solely relied on Internet recipes. However, I knew that having the Well-Plated cookbook on-hand would be useful. So far, I have made about 10 recipes from the cookbook in the two weeks that I have had it and none have disappointed. Upon receiving the Well-Plated cookbook, my 11-year-old went through it and immediately put Post-it notes on almost every single page because she wanted to help me in the kitchen to make Erin’s recipes. My daughter made the Every Day Apple Cinnamon Pancakes, and they were phenomenal! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Erin’s countless hours agonizing over every little detail do not go unnoticed in this book. It’s beautiful to look at AND the recipes reach every palate. This cookbook has greatly helped with meal planning and I love that her recipes aren’t grossly covered in cheese…even though she (we) are from Wisconsin! The recipes are family friendly, and healthy, but not so healthy that kids turn their noses up to the food (believe me - I have three kiddos with all different palates). I already purchased an addition copy of the “Well-Plated” cookbook as a gift. I see myself giving this to quite a few people for Christmas, too! Buy this...you will not be disappointed! I absolutely love how the cookbook is laid out. The food photos are stunning and my daughter pays great attention to how things are plated, and Erin’s cookbook definitely lives up to its name “Well-Plated”!

I know most people get their recipes off the internet, but this is a cookbook worth buying! Erin is the only food blogger I follow and I've been following her for quite awhile. I've never made a recipe of hers that wasn't fairly easy and delicious! My favorite thing about her recipes is that they are normal, classic recipes that she has made healthier without using strange ingredients. And her blog is fun to read and full of pictures and very clear directions. I've been waiting for months for the cookbook to come out - I don't buy cookbooks anymore, but thought I would try hers since I love her blog. The cookbook was more delightful than I imagined!!! Its fun to just sit and read through it and the layout is so beautiful! Her cookbook reads just like her blog - I feel like Erin is a friend of mine because she is so natural and personal. I definitely have never met her and I was not asked to write this review. I bought 2 of her cookbooks because I knew I would want to give one as a gift. If you don't use cookbooks yourself - this would make a beautiful gift for someone else!

Enjoying reading this cookbook. The author has a warm and engaging conversation with the reader.

I picked this cookbook up shortly after I purchased Erin Clarke's new book,"well plated every day." I guess you could say I liked that book so much I wanted to try her first book so I could have the set. I know this book has so many reviews already but it's terrific so wanted to share. After making many of these recipes I learned the flavors are good which makes the meal more enjoyable. The recipes are easy to follow along with but some require lots of time to complete. The average cook time is 30 to 45 minutes for the majority of recipes. There are some that will take over a hour. I suggest you read thru the whole recipe before making so you know what you are getting into especially if you are in a hurry to eat. Each recipe has a photo but no nutritional info is provided. Most appear to be on the healthier side. These are recipes you can repeat like the taco mini peppers, butternut squash casserole and the spaghetti pie. I like both of her books but this one might have the slight edge over the other one for me.

(Note- my reviewer name belies my trim frame). I’ve followed the Well Plated blog for a few years, and I’ve cooked at least several dozen of the recipes. It’s one of the few food blogs that’s actually accessible to cook, beautiful, well-written, and DELICIOUS. Seriously, whenever I’m hosting or need to bring an item to a party, Well Plated is the first place I go for a good recipe because they are crowd favorites and simple to prepare. In the 5 days since the cookbook’s release, I’ve tried 6 recipes, and they’re great. No surprises there. And they’re all NEW recipes, I should add. The biggest delight has been the photographs—another consistent carryover from the blog. They’re vibrant, exciting, and appealing. Think Ottolenghi-level photography with more familiar food for most Americans (no disrespect to Ottolenghi—one of my favs!). The writing is conversational like a blog. I somewhat prefer more efficient prose during the actual recipe, but the author has tons of tips and tricks in the steps so I actually have been reading the recipes in whole. Overall this cookbook is home run. I honestly think is will become as well-worn (or more!) as my Moosewoods (Mollie Katzen) and How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman). Lastly, the Well Plated blog recipes have managed to grow with me even as my skills have increased substantially. I do tweak things here and there (as cooks do) but I have grown to trust the author’s base suggestions for what to use and how to prepare. So far, this cookbook has only been an extension of that. I highly highly highly recommend this cookbook. Thank you to the author, Erin Clarke, for your tremendous effort and CONTRIBUTION to home cooks everywhere. In the words of Jacque Pepin, Happy cooking!

I preordered this cookbook months ago, and nearly forgot about it until it arrived on my door step. I was thrilled when I started reading it! It reads like a friend is talking to you. I can imagine Erin sitting with me in my kitchen, walking me through a recipe, and telling me the story behind each one, which she lovingly does before each recipe. What I appreciate most about this cookbooks is the middle ground it strikes between healthier foods, reasonable fast weeknight meals, and semi-indulgent hearty meals. I've followed her blog for years now, and her approach to health food is extremely approachable: swap a few whole grains in, add lots of savory veggies, and please savor some yummy fruits and chocolate! As a pediatrician who works with families on healthy nutrition, this cook book is perfect, and would be a great first step in a journey towards health! New to cooking? This book is for you. Erin breaks down recipes into their most basic forms. No weird ingredients. I have almost every stock ingredient she'd already mentioned, and she does a great intro of suggesting which staples to invest in! Her recipes are easy to read and instructions are explicit and clear. She never makes you feel like you couldn't accomplish a meal. Expert chef? This book is for you. (also invite me over) Erin has many novel and creative recipes that I'm very excited to try out! (Say beet and sweet potato hash?) She has pro tips as well as ways to "one-up" your recipes for extra flair. Bonus, she gives meal planning suggestions at the end, to tie it all together. Working mom? You should get this. As a fellow working mom, I've been cooking Erin's meals for years. I nearly always have most of her ingredients on hand already. She sorts meals out at the end if they're 30 min or less, instant pot, or slow cooker, so you can come home and have it ready! Definitely, this book will be my counter top cookbook for years to come!

I love this book and the recipes! it changes from what i usually cook!!

Love this book. Erin thought of everything. She even gives ideas for how to jazz up any (unlikely!) leftovers.

Lots of lovely new things to try, the few vectored have been easy and very tasty, clear instructions

This is one of the best cookbooks I’ve had in a long time. A great variety of recipes that are healthy, tasty and easy. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a range of different food without complicated jargon. These recipes are doable and actually taste good too!

Love the recipes in this book - easy to follow, make and healthy - I understand the book is in American measurements - I wish there was the option to buy a conversion chart with the book rather than buy it separately.