It's All Easy

May 30, 2016
Continuing her restorative eating approach, actress and cookbook author Paltrow (It's All Good) presents a collection of 125 favorite recipes for "the chronically busy." Recipes have a family focus and feature kid-friendly, healthy breakfast dishes such as almond-orange or chocolate cinnamon overnight oats and a ginger chia pudding. "Pick-Me-Ups" include prepare-ahead chicken or shrimp chopped salads, wraps, and vegetable-rich Mexican and Thai style noodle pots. Main dishes include polentas and pasta with rapini or curry lime roasted cauliflower, and there are plentiful seafood dishes. For "Something Sweet," choose fruited shakes or coconut-heavy confections such as pudding, key lime tarts, and cookies. Paltrow's trick for uncomplicated, delicious meal-making is her list of go-to pantry basics from specialty food shops: Asian sauces and pastes, a spectrum of vinegars and oils, gluten-free whole grains, and other items such as kuzu root, bonito flakes, hemp seeds, and coconut sugar. Not all the recipes are quick to assemble, but they are "approachable for cooks with any lifestyle and any skill level," making it easy to eat well and mindfully. Paltrow's recipes offer refreshing ways for home cooks to regain balance in their lives and on their plates in face of today's on-the-go lifestyle.