Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals: Delicious, Primal-Approved Meals You Can Make in Under 30 Minutes (Primal Blueprint Series) [Hardcover]

I don't think i've ever written a review before but I have enjoyed the book so much that I think I owe one. I bought the original Primal Blueprint cookbook and found that it had some tasty recopies in there, in particular the Moroccan chicken tangine, beef chili, and a few others. I adapted them to make them faster because they, along with most of the recipes in that book, take quite a while to make (could be 45 minutes+ for many). Prior to starting to eat 'primally' I had followed the low-GI diet for several years, using a cookbook called the Hi-Energy cookbook. The great thing about that one was that the meals were super quick and tasty, and I had lost a load of weight and gained great energy levels. I found that the Primal Blueprint method furthered these gains. So I had hoped for something like a quick version of the original Primal Blue Print cookbook, and to my surprise, it came out! I have had this for a few weeks now and can confirm that my energy levels are good, and my arse remains 'not fat.' The base level of my mood also seems to be generally very content. The recipes in the book are both tasty and fast. So far my favourites are the steak with romesco sauce, meat and veg burrito, which is made out of an ingenious egg crepe as the outer wrap, portobello stuffed mushrooms, asparagus and dried mushroom stea, lamb burgers with pistachio pesto.. I could go on. You can note from some of the recipe titles that these actually have quite a gourmet vibe going on. However I can assure you that they are easy to make, my cooking skills are less than basic and i've managed them without too many problems. And, rarely for a cookbook, the end product actually looks like the photo in the book. Another cool touch is that there are no precise measurements for anything in recipes, apart from cooking times and oven heat. I.e. you don't have 250g or kg weight for anything.. you just have '1 cup of' or '1/4 cup of'. It saves on messing around and gives a kind of looseness about it that is cool when making something.

The other good thing about this book is that it has breakfasts in it. The big criticism that comes up again and again about primal/paleo style diets is that they fall down when it comes to breakfasts. The standard advice given out by primal followers seems to have been that you should abandon the idea of breakfast being different to any other meal, and just eat a light regular meal. To me, this was a real struggle. Maybe if you live in sunny California or something then you can enjoy a salad for breakfast every day. I'm sure it would be a very tasty sald, no doubt about that. But I live in Northwest England, and when it's freezing cold and raining and you're getting up at 7am for work, you want something that makes it a bit easier. Plus before getting into this stuff, breakfast was my favourite meal, croissants, crumpets, sugary cereals, the lot, and it was difficult to curb that stuff (I haven't completely, i'm not a primal purist and still quaff a croissant or two at weekends). So the breakfasts have been a welcome addition - so far i've been very impressed with the berry crumble, which is a load of heated up summer fruits with a load nuts on top, stuck under the grill (you get frozen summer fruits from almost all supermarkets at a good price, go in the freezer aisle of Tescos, Lidl, Asda, Sainsbury, Booths, i've found them in all of these). The bacon frittata is also exceptional, it is basically a super fast omelette. The berry 'pancake' is also brilliant. All in all, the breakfasts are very tasty and i'm beginning to realise that even taste-wise, I quite possibly like them more than the croissants and all the other bad-but-good stuff.

All in all I would definitely recommend this if you want a fast, easy and tasty primal/low carb/paleo cookbook.

This book is very easy to read, follow and enjoy. The recipes are brilliant. Finally more ideas for breakfast alternatives, even snacks that are worth making with things you are more than likely to have in the store cupboard.
Brilliant addition to the primal range.

Go Primal!

I got this book for Christmas and so far have created four of the dishes, all of which have been amazing.

First up, I did homemade burgers with fresh herbs (substituted beef for bison) and the blueberry, walnut and red onion relish. Wow! I took this to a New Year's Eve "pot luck" and actually won the prize for best dish of the night (and I'm not really into cooking!)

Since then I've done spicy chicken, orange and olive salad, and prawn, avocado and raddish salad with fresh mango, lime and chilli dressing. Again, explosions of flavour all round.

Each meal has been quick and easy to make, and has simply required me to pick up a few fresh ingredients from the supermarket. The book is beautifully presented and very practically laid out. Each dish has a photo of the finished item, plus one of the assembled raw ingredients and another of the making in process. This makes the recipes very, very easy to use.

So now I am eating ultra-healthily AND having amazing-tasting food.

What's not to like?