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Skinny Italian: Eat It And Enjoy It - Live La Bella Vita And Look Great, Too! (2010)

by Teresa Giudice(Favorite Author)

3.57 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1401310354 (ISBN13: 9781401310356)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Hachette Books

review 1: I, surprisingly, loved this book. If it were not for a few things (below), this book would have gotten 5 stars.IF you're looking for a book jam packed full of recipes you can just pick out and make without reading the book, this book is not for you. This book has, what appears to be, carefully hand-selected recipes that are mixed in with the stories behind their history and why they were chosen for this book. You must read this book in order to understand the recipes and why things are done a certain way. You must, MUST, must!Also, this book is not all about pasta. I am a Paleo eater so I primarily eat meats, tons of vegetables, fruit, healthy oils, healthy fats (olives, coconut, nuts, etc). I can eat dang near every recipe in this book without even altering it. This... more was amazing news to me after reading this book!One down side to the book (and Theresa's lack of other's viewpoints) is that she tells you to do things like go to your local supermarket and just ask the produce person for the best Italian canning tomatoes. And that farmer's markets always have TONS of tomatoes ready in August just waiting on all the Italians to come and buy them up for canning season. Hi Theresa, newsflash! We do not all live in the heavily Italian populated northeast and our farmers markets are not overflowing waiting for us to come and can 150 cans of tomatoes for the year. A major improvement would be to add a section on "If this isn't available in your area, here's an alternative."She really did change my opinion about Italian food and Italian eating. I'm really happy I read it and now I have to go buy my own copy (I borrowed this one!) so I can go through and write, highlight and mark my favorites!Pros:Great recipes that are actually GOOD!She gives a wonderful history of REAL Italian food and the history behind Italian eating. She gives lots of tidbits about her family and how they celebrate and use food.Compares what is really Italian to what America has called Italian.You can tell she wrote this book. Within 2 pages you realize very quickly that she didn't pay someone to write this for her. It is obviously her own words and her own wording! And you can take this as a good or a bad thing but its pretty obvious no one even went in and checked for proper grammar. (i call this a good thing. its more genuine.)The pictures of food are amazing!There is a HUGE section dedicated to just seasonings and spices!! Heaven! and SO so SO much great information about how, when and in what style to use each type of spice. I implemented the suggestions immediately in my own cooking and haven't looked back!There is also a section dedicated to canning. She outlines the canning process in a very simple, non-scary way for first time cooks or first time canners (me!).An entire chapter dedicated to olive oil!! 'Nuff said!Cons:There are not enough pictures of the recipes. I like pictures of every recipe. This provides many but not all.There is too much profanity (IMHO) for a cookbook. Much of the profanity could have been eliminated and the same point could have been made.For as much as she hates Danielle, Danielle is mentioned no less than 10 times in this book. If I despised a person with that much force, I wouldn't give them two letters in my book!Many of "Joes Juicy Bits" leave you thinking..."Um...and what did that have to do with....cooking?" For instance, one mentioned Danielle and Steve getting it on in a recliner in their Shore home. HUH???She takes a lot of jabs and insults a lot of other reality stars (as well as her family and friends!) in this book. It really makes one lose even more respect for her.There's a pretty big section on ... fashion? huh?
review 2: I actually learned a ton from this book. Enjoyed all the details about classic Italian cooking vs. American Italian. Learned a lot about olive oil. Good, basic, true Italian recipes.BUTAll of the Real Housewives insults and digs were a real turn-off. Just share your knowledge and leave the rest of it behind. Ugh. In 5 years people aren't going to have the slightest clue the drama you're referring to when they pick up this book. Stick to the food. less

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