When I first started looking around on food blogs Our Best Bites was one of the first ones I found and it quickly became one of my go to places for tasty and easy weeknight dinner inspiration and yummy desserts. I thoroughly enjoyed their first cookbook and the Puffy French Toast recipe is borderline life changing.
Lately, they've started going a slightly new direction and I've got to say that I'm loving it! While still focusing on family friendly everyday foods they've started including healthy and low calorie into the mix. What I love is that the food is just naturally low calorie. You're not substituting or using no-fat or hard to find ingredients. The foods naturally rely on fresh flavors and herbs and spices versus trying to take a high calorie recipe and trimming it down. Looking at the recipe you wouldn't think - "oh this is low calorie". You'd just think this sounds tasty!
The recipes lean mostly towards the main dishes with a handful of dessert, breakfast and snack recipes. The snacks are intriguing and I'm especially looking forward to trying the Oven-Baked Cinnamon Apple Chips and Roasted Garlic Chickpeas. Both sound incredibly easy and perfect for packing.
When it came to testing a recipe I had a hard time deciding just what to try! There's a Creamy Cajun Pasta, a Braised Italian Chicken, Crispy Parmesan Chicken Tenders, Banh Mi Tacos and Cheddar Bacon Burgers with Caramelized Onions. Finally after much flipping and mouthwatering I settled on the Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Italian Roasted Vegetables.
The Pot Roast was very simple. You take a 3 lb bottom round roast, season it with Steak Seasoning and seer on both sides. Put it in the slow cooker, top with a sliced up onion, 10 crushed garlic cloves, onion soup mix, 2 cups vegetable both and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours and ta-da your house smells fantastic and you have a tasty main course. Next time I'll probably use a chuck roast instead of the bottom round as those tend to get more tender. Other than that the flavor is amazing and everyone loved it!
Then while the roast was cooking in the slow cooker I chopped up some carrots and potatoes and sprinkled them with a little pepper and Italian seasoning and drizzled with olive oil. After a quick bake in the oven I had a flavorful and delicious side dish.
While the roasted vegetables were delicious and oh so easy I think I would prefer mashed potatoes with the roast to help soak up the yummy broth. Next time I'll probably just roast carrots and throw in some onion and save the potatoes for mashing.
The recipes are easy to follow, the ingredients are easy to find, and the results never disappoint. If you're looking for quick and tasty weeknight dinners that even picky eaters will eat this is a great choice!
I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads
What a cool book! I am putting it on my library list today. This may be one I buy 😊
ReplyDeleteThis cookbooks sounds wonderful. The blog is new to me, too, so I'll be investing them both. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat cookbook looks very inspirational. I'm definitely looking for tasty, lower calorie foods. Your roast sounds great and it leaves out the higher calorie soup and substitutes broth. What a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for a cookbook like this...
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely a great find! I was at B & N this week specifically looking for a cookbook or two that was easy enough, not filled with ingredients I would invest in for just one meal and that was health(ier). I balked at the 30.00 cover price average for the new releases/famous chefs section, so I wound up getting two on the discounted table for 7.00 each. Definitely not haute cuisine, lol, but if I get a few new keepers out of each my job is done :)
ReplyDeleteI am putting this on my cookbook wishlist now, so thanks!
I love slow cooker pot roast! Will have to check out the blog and cookbook. Thanks for sharing. :)
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds great! I tend to cook and eat healthy-ish food and I'm always looking for more recipes suitable for easy, weeknight dinners. A great find for sure!
ReplyDeleteI so need a book like this. I've been having trouble with lower cal recipes. How does this one hold up for vegetarian dishes/sides?
ReplyDeleteMmmmm...And again I'm drooling. Especially loving the sound of those crispy parmesan chicken tenders.Sounds delicious. I should try making those cinnamon apple chips. Try being the key word.
ReplyDeleteHappy eating! :)
Brittany @ This is the Story of My(Reading) Life
Oh boy, this may tempt me into yet another cook book. Especially that pizza on the cover.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the heads up about the cookbook, and the Our Best Bites blog. I already found a couple of recipes I just have to try, including Pumpkin French Toast.
ReplyDeleteBanh Mi Tacos? Yum! I would love to try those. I'll have to look into this cookbook.
ReplyDeletePot roast -- there's a thought.... Cheers from Carole's Chatter!
ReplyDeleteThe front cover alone hooks me in.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a cookbook I could really sink my teeth into! I'll have to see if I can borrow a copy somewhere; I like to test-drive cookbooks before buying them (I have more than I need, given how little I use them!) I might check out that food blog, too. Thanks for the recommendation!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like an excellent cookbook -- I like healthy recipes. Love the cover!
ReplyDeleteOh man, so many of those sound good! I will have to look out for this book. Yay for healthy and yummy!
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