My very first cookbook was released by Harper Collins in August of 2014, and I’ve been thrilled to finally share all my hard work with everyone! I seriously put my heart and soul into this book, which includes 5 “guidebook” chapters and over 100 wholesome recipes (most of which are new and not found on the blog), and I am so happy it can finally be in the hands of the families I wrote it for!
My goal was to make this book your complete guide for cutting out processed food—everything except a personal chef included. :) Here are all the details including the new cover with New York Times Bestseller at the top. Exciting stuff!
Cookbook Launch Video
Where to Purchase
If you want to support an independent bookstore and get yourself (or someone else) a signed copy then check out Park Road Books.
The Cover
–
The Contents
Introduction: How It All Began
Part 1: The Plan
- What Is Real Food?
- Shopping for Real Food
- Making Changes: Don’t Overthink, Just Start
- Getting Your Family on Board
- Food Budget Tips and Meal Plans
Part 2: The Recipes
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Snacks and Appetizers
- Salads and Sides
- Simple Dinners
- Special Treats
- Homemade Staples
The book also includes lots of fun extras like a real food substitution chart, my typical weekly grocery list, family dinner questions, a “make your own” party guide, and a school lunch packing chart.
The Recipes
Some of the recipes I am most excited about are: Fruit Salad with Orange Zest, Cinnamon Raisin Quick (Whole Grain) Bread, Cajun Alfredo with Shrimp, Slow Cooker Potato Soup, Cheesy Broccoli Casserole, BBQ Sauce, Fish Cakes, Homemade Dried Onion Soup Mix (for Onion Dip), and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Bites. And just for the record, I counted and determined that about 70% of the 100+ recipes are brand spanking new – i.e. not previously shared on the blog. I told you I’ve been busy! Plus here’s the part I know many of you will love. I did some more counting and figured out the following…
- 71 recipes are (or can easily be) Gluten-Free
- 79 recipes are (or can easily be) Vegetarian
- 49 recipes are (or can easily be) Dairy-Free
Also,
- 42 recipes are Freezer Friendly (my secret weapon when it comes to packing wholesome school lunches!)
Plus you can expect to see a beautiful color photo with every single recipe! Here’s a little teaser…
A Peek Inside
It was hard to narrow things down, but here are a few fun pages to give you a “taste” of what to expect! Simply click the pictures below to enlarge… –
Media Coverage
A few media outlets have been kind enough to cover my book …here are a few links if you want to check them out!
Access Hollywood | Good Day New York | Today.com | Parents.com | Dr. Oz | Jamie Oliver
Once Again, How To Purchase
I can’t thank you enough for your support with this project. I really hope you’ll love this book as much as I do, and that it will help make your life easier!
Hi- I work for a wellness center and we wanted to purchase a few as incentives for participation in our wellness programs. Do you have a discount for purchasing more than one?
Thank you-
Holly
how did you get your food photograph to include in your book. I want to write a cook book but can’t afford food photographer. Can one do their own photos for the book.
your advise will be appreciated
thank you
Congratulations on 1 year, Lisa! This is definitely a “go to” cookbook for our family, I love it….thank you for helping us eat healthier and having fun in the process :) ….there is no doubt that your website and recipes are a staple in my house!
Lisa, thank you for the wonderful recipes in this cookbook! It has served our family well this year!!! It is the most useful cookbook I have ever purchased!!!
We have a nut allergy. How many of the recipes use nuts?
Hi Susan. Only a few. 8, I believe. :)
Is this available in E-book?
Hello Rinny. Yes, there is a Kindle version available.
Hi Lisa,
Many of your recipes include whole wheat. What do you recommend for people who are gluten free?
Thanks,
Janis
Hi there. There are many gluten free recipes in the cookbook and others can be adapted to be gluten free. We do not have specific instructions for adapting recipes, however.
Do you have low sodium recipes?
Please email. Have cousin with AL amyeloidosis and consider it haerat failure. IUndergoing chemo and on 1500-2000mg sodium restriction which is critical in her process. trying to help her find recipes.
Thanks Julie Walker
Hi there. You can adjust the sodium content to meet your own particular needs but we do not have recipes that are specifically meant to be low sodium.
Do you have or can you recommend resources for educating children on these concepts of eating healthy? I’m specifically looking for kid friendly literature as well as worksheet type info. Thank you!
Hi there. This is what we have used: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/19/how-to-talk-kids-about-real-food/ and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/10/23/food-marketing-to-kids/.
Thanks! I’ll check it out!
Has the cookbook been published in Spanish?
Not to my knowledge – sorry!
Hi, I just attempted to make the whole wheat banana pancakes from your cook book and followed the directions very carefully. Any other tips you can provide would be great because they did not turn out good at all. First thing is in step 2 where I add the wet ingredients in the hole of flour, when I started mixing together it was lumpy. Then when I added the mashed banana the batter got much thicker so when I went to cook them in the pan on medium like the directions said to the pancakes got very dark brown and the middle of the pancakes were not cooked all the way through.
HI Krystina. It sounds like you didn’t use enough liquid?
My favorite, favorite cookbook. Have tried many of the recipes and would give just about all 5 stars. Love the way I feel after eating healthy too. Excellent way to realistically change your food habits for the better. She doesn’t cut carbs or take away all the sweet flavoring you’re used to– she just uses better ingredients like maple syrup and honey to sweeten things. Trust me, your tastebuds wont even care and you’ll probably realize how nasty the old food your used to starts to taste. This is all good! So happy with this book.
I forgot to mention I love the email with how to organise your fridge, freezer and pantry. So encouragingI’m gonna set mine up the same. Thanks
I purchased the book awhile ago & when I’ve educated myself better to go more organic in my food purchases & less processed food I’ll start. Very soon. Im really interested in the pledge program if it still operates. I’m clearing the pantry out slowly. I know I should have just started but throwing long life food items out is $ to me. Very sOOn…..
Trying to make healthy lifestyle changes for me and my family
Hi there, my husband and I ordered your cookbook for one of our Mum’s on Mothers Day and are so excited to receive it. It may take me a little while to actually give the gift to my mother in law!
Thanks for all your great work Lisa. You’re an inspiration for my blog.
Anna
This book is truly on my wish list and I will purchase it soon! Thank you so much and congratulations for cooking healthier daily for your family and providing this information for us so we can start helping ourselves, loved ones and friends :) I do have a question though. My boyfriend and I are allergic to soy, corn & peanuts. Is there a way that I can do a search for items on your website that are free of these ingredients?
Also, I’m am now a huge fan of doing my best to look for and cut out any ingredients that might possibly be GMO’s. Any help would be appreciated and again, thank you so much. Your website is so detailed and full of wonderful ideas. I especially can’t wait to try my hand with the freezer meals :)
Thanks again,
~Jill Holliday
Hi Jill. No, you would have to look at the recipe ingredients separately. Sorry. Regarding GMO’s, buying organic is the best place to start. Beyond that, looking for certified non GMO can be done here: http://www.nongmoproject.org/.
I just purchased 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook. What an inspiration! I love to cook and I’m very excited about cooking even more consciously thanks to Lisa’s book. It just makes sense. The recipes look absolutely delicious!
I am very interested in pursuing a diet consisting of real foods (no processed !). I’m very curious if there is an ebook version of your real food cookbook?
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Vincent Reagan
:-)
Hi. There is a Kindle version.
There is also a Nook version.
Are the banana muffins in the cookbook?
Hi there. Nope, they aren’t. The pumpkin muffins are, though. :)
Hello Lisa!!
Thank you so much for creating your Cookbook! It’s extremely informative in the journey to reduce/eliminate processed and refined foods. Since I learned of your blog and challenge, our family has experienced better health. I am only slightly disappointed that more of my favorite recipes are not in your book. I was hoping I wouldn’t need to print them out!! However, I am enjoying the recipes that you did include in the book. Especially the lunches that my children are enjoying!!
Blessings!
I ended up using regular whole wheat (Bob’s organic, hard wheat) and needed to add milk so that it would mush better. Came out really great. Thank you for the recipe.
Absolutely love the 100 Days of Real Food Cookbook. It has been a great resource as we try to eat “real food”. The crepes are amazing!!! Just made the banana muffins and they were a huge hit, even with my wheat flour reluctant family. I have found that grinding my own wheat berries for wheat flour has made a huge difference in the taste. I also love that you substitute honey or maple syrup for white sugar. It has made a big difference in our eating habits. Keep the tips coming!!
Are the banana muffins in the cookbook?
Hi, will the book be coming out in paperback? If so, when? Thanks!
No plans for a paperback version at this time!
I have 3 daughters ages, 11, 11, and 6, thankfully I have been feeding them real food since infancy. I know they truly enjoy real food and they definitely prefer it to processed foods. Recently they have experienced some teasing because of their lunches and refusal of birthday treats at school (I give them the choice to eat these or not, but we do discuss what is in those kinds of foods regularly). Have your daughters experienced anything like this and do you have any advice. I don’t want to put down their friends parents, but at the same time I want my kids to know that how we eat is better for your body and you should be proud of that. Thank you in advance:)
Hi Kelly. We’ve all faced a bit of that and I think it is great that you are teaching your girls to be proud of their choices. It is also important that they not put down what others might be eating, so it is an important example to set. This post might help: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/07/24/being-polite-vs-honoring-your-values/. :)
you mention the internal temp of the breast meat but in your recipe for lemon chicken and cauliflower roasted you don’t mention the dark meat. your recipe does not have enough information. if the white meat is done after about 30 min is the dark meat done too. It would seem that more time is needed for the dark meat. also you don’t mention if the pan should be covered or uncovered. A few extra comments would have made such a difference.
Yes, the dark meat will be done as well and you roast it uncovered (which is why the recipe doesn’t mention anything about covering it).
Hi Lisa.
I was diagnosed with ceoliac about a year ago after being misdiagnosed for over 15 years however due to being a trained chef and an avid nutritionist at heart time has been spent researching everything about natural foodz, herbs etc that have health and even long term and sometimes short term medicinal benefits. Therefore I would love to read your book but also would like some advice and support in writing a book called food 4 Medicine based on years of research and supporting evedince from universities around the world including numeroysw nutritional articles published in many countries. My aim is to do something very similar simply advertise food as our longterm preventative medicine and bring back to so many people a trust in natures food stores to make people well. There are so many many stories about young and old suffering due to long term damage due to chemicals GMOs sugar etc which is by far the greatest epidemic of progressive I’ll health.
Thank you for being such a fellow pioneer for natural healthy foods we need more people to champion it.
Kindest regards
David – Food 4 Medicine chef. England.
Hi-I am new to this and just completed Day 2 of eating real foods. I selecting some recipes to try but I am confused by the use of oils. I was wondering if the “Wildtree” brand grape seed oil is okay to use. Their product is expeller pressed and no external heat is applied and no chemicals are used in the process. Thanks for helping me out!
Hi Beth. Grape seed oil is not one that Lisa uses. This article offers one perspective on why it might not be the best choice but you really have to come to your own conclusions: http://authoritynutrition.com/grape-seed-oil/.
Hi Lisa, Love your blog and all that you are doing! I live in Oscoda County, Michigan and we are trying to bring the “Real Food – Real Health” message to the people of our community where obesity is high and knowledge about how what we eat affects our health is low. We are having a “Real Food-Real Health Workshop” on April 25th and would like to use some of the information from your blog pages for our workshop. Would this be ok? Would we be able to get 100 of your 10 days of Real Food bracelets to give out at our workshop? Our hope is to get the attendees to take some small steps to improve their eating habits and health and the 10 day real food pledge fits this perfectly. We would like to refer attendees to your blog too.
Thanks for taking the time to consider our request. Keep up the awesome work of getting this important message out!
Sincerely,
Molli McCarthy
Hi Molli. We love when people share 100 Days info and commend you for your efforts! We encourage you to spread the message of real food. Here are our terms of use: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/terms-of-use/. We can only give the bracelets to those who have completed the challenge but you can definitely refer them to the sign up challenge page: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/take-the-10-day-pledge/. Wishing you lots of success!!!
My husband has a wheat allergy and I just found out recently that my son has allergies to soy, corn, eggs and peanuts. I’ve been wanting to buy your cookbook but wasn’t sure if the recipes would work for people with so many food allergies.
Michele – See if the local library has it for you to look at first. Also, can you use rice flour in place of the wheat? Just a thought.
May I suggest Garbanzo bean flour (chickpea flour)? Bob’s Red Mill makes some and it is gluten-free, although made in a facility with soy. You can find some in Indian grocery stores as well, although the potential allergens may be suspect as well. Or you can make your own:
Make Chickpea Flour at Home
All you need to make your own chickpea flour is a blender or food processor and dried chickpeas, which you can find with dried beans and peas at any supermarket. Rinse the chickpeas with clear water, then either let them dry overnight or spread them on a cookie sheet and toast them for 15 to 20 minutes in a hot oven. Process the dried chickpeas in a blender or food processor in small batches until they are the consistency of flour. Store the chickpea flour in a closed container in your refrigerator or freezer. A 1-pound package of dried chickpeas makes about 2 cups of chickpea flour.
Using Chickpea Flour in Recipes
You can substitute 7/8 cup of chickpea flour for every 1 cup of wheat flour. Depending on how you’re using the flour, you may get better results by mixing it with other flours. Try mixing bean flour with rice flour, or if you’re baking something sweet, mix chickpea flour, sorghum flour and sweet rice flour. Sometimes you’ll need to adjust the amount of fluids because chickpea flour may absorb more or less fluid than other flours. For yeast breads, add xanthan or guar gum to replace the gluten.
Hello!!
Looking for some help. My husband is a meat and potatoe kind of guy and doesn’t really eat many fruits or vegetables. I can get him to eat carrots, yellow beans as cooked vegetables any suggestions on how I can sneak vegetables Into meals? Or change up the vegetables to make them taste better? Any help would be great. Thank you!
Hi there, Nicole. I hear ya! I think these might help: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/02/29/a_guest_post_-from_my_husband/, http://www.yourtango.com/experts/nancy-lee-bentley-wholistic-health-expert/10-sneaky-tips-getting-him-eat-healthier, and http://mrshealthyeverafter.com/2013/06/19/5-ways-to-get-your-husband-to-eat-healthy/. ;)
I checked out Lisa’s cookbook from the library thinking I might try a couple recipes, but didn’t need another cookbook on my already overflowing shelf. Boy was I WRONG! I started putting tabs on the recipes I wanted to try that aren’t on the website, but after about 50 tabs of recipes I wanted to try I gave up and am going to buy the book this weekend. I might as well throw all my other cook books away-this is one of the very best cookbooks I’ve read. We are vegetarians and I was happily surprised at the number of vegetarian recipes or recipes I could modify to make vegetarian. Thank you Lisa for making cooking with real food fun and adventurous again!
Your comment is music to my ears – thank you SO much for taking the time to share! :) I’m thrilled you’re enjoying the book.
Do or can you provide your cookbook in iBook forma?
Hi Jonnie. It is available in Kindle format. With the Kindle app, it can be used on an i device.
Hello. Are any of the recipes in you book low sodium Lisa?
Thanks!
Hi there. There us not really a category in the book for low sodium recipes, but you can certainly adapt recipes for your needs.
I love your blog! It has opened my eyes to how unhealthy my families eating habits have been. I started small but now I have very little processed foods left in my kitchen. It’s a work in progress but thanks to your book and blog I know I can do it!
I am on week 3 ! So far so good. Is there a list of the processed food to stay away from. Sharon
Hi Sharon. No, not really. We just avoid as much of it as possible and everything that is highly processed! :)
I just made the Cajun Alfredo pasta with chicken instead of shrimp. Wowza! It is better than any pasta I’ve cooked at home or had at a restaurant. I used part regular noodles and part whole wheat so as not to freak my husband out. The chicken I used was from the best whole chicken in a crock pot recipe. I’ve got orange yogurt pops freezing for later. I love this cookbook!
Please send more information email
Hi
My husband has diabetes and hi cholesterol it seems as most of the recipes have hi fat creams in them. Is there a way to modify these for his health ? Any thoughts on this would be great.
Thanks so much
Tammy
Hi just wondering if i could use something else instead of honey for the banana bread and pumpkin bread cause i’m nursing or breast feeding and they say nohoney until baby is a year .i’m going to try your way thank you sound great molly
Hi Molly. You can use maple syrup instead.
Molly,
When you’re told “no honey until baby is a year,” that means don’t give any honey *to the baby*. You as a nursing mom can still eat honey, even raw, unpasteurized honey. I hope that makes your life easier! :)