Oh She Glows and Slimming Meals that Heal: A Double Coobook Review

First off, I want to give a shout out to all my wonderful family and friends for their lovely birthday wishes last weekend. I was so fortunate to have my entire family be in Toronto with me, where we shared many laughs, love and way too much good food (if you've never had brunch at Le Select Bistro on Wellington, run there now!) To top it all off, we had the most perfect weather on Saturday. The only downside to my birthday? Realizing I am now 25 and halfway to 50!

To celebrate this milestone, I thought I would try something new on my blog and provide my personal reviews on two new cookbooks, Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon and Slimming Meals that Health by Julie Daniluk. DISCLAIMER: I was not sent a free copy or asked to provide these reviews, and this post is based solely on my own opinion.

Let’s start with Oh She Glows.

I attended one of my best friend’s birthday parties at the beginning of June and was extremely jealous when I saw her unwrap a copy of Canadian Food Blogger Angela Liddon’s new vegan cookbook, Oh She Glows. Being the frugal student I am, I began taking pictures of some of the recipes using my iPhone. Luckily, my amazing friends took note of this and bought me my own copy for my birthday last weekend!

Don’t let the vegan word fool you into thinking this is some weird hippie, tasteless cookbook full of strange ingredients you will have to search every health food store in Toronto to find all the ingredients. Instead, the recipes are simply, easy to follow and chockfull of healthy ingredients. Plus you can always sub the vegan substitutions for non-vegan substitutions (i.e. real eggs for flax eggs) if you don’t have all the ingredients on hand.

The thing I like the most about this cookbook is the layout. The pictures are beautiful, the text easy to read and she takes you on a journey through her kitchen from start to finish. I’ve already made several of her dessert recipes, granola bars and vinaigrettes, and everything was easy to prepare, cook, and turned out exactly like the photos, something that doesn’t always happen! N.B. this book is not 100% gluten-free, but Angela offers lots of gluten-free substitutions, and I have already used organic unsweetened, sunflower seed butter in place of almond butter in several of her recipes as I manage a fantastic kid’s bike camp called Pedalheads during the summer and we have a strict nut-free policy. I definitely recommend picking up a copy in store or online as this will be a great go-to cookbook for years to come. Next up, I plan to buy some green lentils and make some of her lentil-walnut meatloaf and taco meat for some delicious Meatless Monday meals! Below is a picture of her beat the heat dessert pizza, I made this for Father's day and it was a big hit.

Slimming Meals that Heal

I had the opportunity to meet holistic nutritionist Julie Daniluk earlier this year at a food show. She is truly an amazing woman, extremely successful and passionate about sharing her knowledge of food and healing with those around her. I bought her new cookbook, Slimming Meals that Heal online after reading several outstanding reviews on amazon. This cookbook is touted for those looking to lose weight, but I was personally interested in adopting an anti-inflammatory diet to help heal my gut and continue on my journey towards better health. The thing I like most aobut this book is the amount of sound, scientific nutritional advice and information she provides in the first half. This is really more of a textbook on how to heal inflammation, with recipes that support this process and aid in weightloss along the way. I’ve made several of her salads dressing, which all turned out delicious and were easy to make in my mini food processor. I plan of making more of her recipes in the Fall, as many focus on nourishing soups and stews that look delicious, but don’t currently sound appetizing as it’s supposed to be 38 degrees with the humidity next week! If you’re looking to eat better, reduce inflammation or lose weight, this is a great resource to have on hand. If you’re more interested in cooking great food, I would recommend Angela’s cookbook as it focuses more on the recipes than the science. OR if you’re like me, buy both and enjoy the benefits of both worlds.

If you have any more questions about either cookbooks or the recipes I’ve tried, send me a PM and I’d be happy to assist.