What do you think?
Rate this book
I Quit Sugar: Simplicious
A modern kitchen bible for sugarless, waste-free, nutritious cooking from the author of I Quit Sugar
Sarah Wilson taught the world how to quit sugar in 8 weeks, then how to quit sugar for life, incorporating mindful, sustainable practices across all the pillars of real, whole wellness.
Now she strips things back to the essentials, simply and deliciously. She shows us how to shop, cook and eat like we used to in the days before sugar-laced processed food hit our shelves - with ease and without waste, while honouring that deep sense of pleasure that comes from nourishing ourselves and each other.
Sarah gives us the 'simplicious flow', a modern manifesto that sets out how to buy in bulk, freeze and preserve, and use leftovers with flair. She unashamedly makes scraps sexy again and elevates leftovers to the main attraction.
All 306 recipes - from guilt-free sweet treats to one-pot wonders and abundance bowls brimming with nutrients - expand our knowledge of age-old kitchen processes and tend to our visceral need to be creative with food. Drawing on the latest nutrition research and kitchen hacks, this is the ultimate cooking guide for those who want sugar out of their lives and are ready to embrace the life-affirming, health-giving, planet-saving simpliciousness of real food.
Sarah Wilson taught the world how to quit sugar in 8 weeks, then how to quit sugar for life, incorporating mindful, sustainable practices across all the pillars of real, whole wellness.
Now she strips things back to the essentials, simply and deliciously. She shows us how to shop, cook and eat like we used to in the days before sugar-laced processed food hit our shelves - with ease and without waste, while honouring that deep sense of pleasure that comes from nourishing ourselves and each other.
Sarah gives us the 'simplicious flow', a modern manifesto that sets out how to buy in bulk, freeze and preserve, and use leftovers with flair. She unashamedly makes scraps sexy again and elevates leftovers to the main attraction.
All 306 recipes - from guilt-free sweet treats to one-pot wonders and abundance bowls brimming with nutrients - expand our knowledge of age-old kitchen processes and tend to our visceral need to be creative with food. Drawing on the latest nutrition research and kitchen hacks, this is the ultimate cooking guide for those who want sugar out of their lives and are ready to embrace the life-affirming, health-giving, planet-saving simpliciousness of real food.
376 pages, Paperback
First published September 29, 2015
26 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 7, 2021
I haven't started my review of Ottolenghi Simple yet as so far I have tried four recipes and all of them have been excellent. There is a good chance that my review of Simple will be a 5★, but I want to try a couple more recipes to be sure.
I already know Simplicious isn't a 5★ cookbook for me.
Firstly I made Sustainable Sweet Fish Curry and it was - nice. And nice only because I ignored the directions to put the finely chopped Keffir lime leaves in near the end. Even finely chopped the leaves are quite coarse.* The recipe also said fish sauce or lime juice. I chose fish sauce, but it definitely needed both. Using a mild red chili was my own bad decision though and for the first time I found a recipe for Red Cod (one of the few cheap fish left in NZ now) that wasn't a pie that tasted good.
We are having the leftovers tonight & I will definitely be adding some zing. Edit: I improved the leftovers & created a far nicer dish. I added more turmeric root & lots of lime juice.
* Sarah does freeze her keffir leaves where I have a tree. But frozen keffir leaves wouldn't be much softer.
Sorry to be negative.
Well I was sorry!
Last night I tried Mum's Steak & Kidney Stew With Herby Dumplings - a crockpot meal. The stew itself was delicious but fortunately I didn't trust the amount of beef stock given & added extra. There was still barely enough sauce. (I did have to turn the meal to high though to cook the dumplings) I couldn't see how they would cook at such a low heat.
The dumplings themselves were a disaster. I made following the recipe religiously. I ended up with a bowl of flour & fresh herbs. 1.5 tbsp butter & 1tbsp milk weren't enough to mix this (which I thought when I read the recipe) so I added a little more butter & a lot more milk. My dumplings looked the same as the illustration but they tasted like balls of lead.
Either these recipes weren't thoroughly proofread or they weren't properly tested.
Here is the flour leftover from making approximately twelve inedible dumplings.
I am going to ring my daughter-in-law today. Hannah loves this book. I will try a recipe that Hannah has been successful with & see how that goes.
When I rang the girls, Hannah was busy but Chloe said she thought Hannah had made recipes mostly from the breakfast section. So I thought I would try the Bacon 'n Eggs Porridge - & that was absolutely delicious. I chose the quinoa option & I used leftover Chicken Laksa as I didn't have any chicken stock.
I spoke to Hannah a few days ago. She thought I was the wrong generation to enjoy this book! I guess that is telling me! 😀 She said millennials have a different attitude to cookbooks & are happy with approximate measures. Well, I'm happy to have approximate measures too. I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver & I'm old enough to remember Graham Kerr with their a dash of this & (in Kerr's case) a slurp of that. But certain kinds of cooking need exact measurements - generally anything that has flour. I don't like waste - in particular from someone who is preaching against it. Her blurb on the front French flap of this book even says her cooking is
& I had a quick thumb through (there are very few cookbooks I read cover to cover) I love the presentation & the photos. I love the ideas for using up some ingredients (for example celery leaves)
But on pg 171 I spotted a Celery Soda. I love a good, refreshing celery drink. But at the start of the recipe it says;
* I couldn't find a reason on page 34 for Sarah not to use a juicer. Someone who has read this book, help me out here.
* Sarah hasn't made this herself. I'm not even sure if she has tasted this herself!
I just don't have confidence in this book & I own many, many recipe books where I can trust the recipes. This book is going on TradeMe (our Ebay) tonight.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
I already know Simplicious isn't a 5★ cookbook for me.
Firstly I made Sustainable Sweet Fish Curry and it was - nice. And nice only because I ignored the directions to put the finely chopped Keffir lime leaves in near the end. Even finely chopped the leaves are quite coarse.* The recipe also said fish sauce or lime juice. I chose fish sauce, but it definitely needed both. Using a mild red chili was my own bad decision though and for the first time I found a recipe for Red Cod (one of the few cheap fish left in NZ now) that wasn't a pie that tasted good.
We are having the leftovers tonight & I will definitely be adding some zing. Edit: I improved the leftovers & created a far nicer dish. I added more turmeric root & lots of lime juice.
* Sarah does freeze her keffir leaves where I have a tree. But frozen keffir leaves wouldn't be much softer.
Sorry to be negative.
Well I was sorry!
Last night I tried Mum's Steak & Kidney Stew With Herby Dumplings - a crockpot meal. The stew itself was delicious but fortunately I didn't trust the amount of beef stock given & added extra. There was still barely enough sauce. (I did have to turn the meal to high though to cook the dumplings) I couldn't see how they would cook at such a low heat.
The dumplings themselves were a disaster. I made following the recipe religiously. I ended up with a bowl of flour & fresh herbs. 1.5 tbsp butter & 1tbsp milk weren't enough to mix this (which I thought when I read the recipe) so I added a little more butter & a lot more milk. My dumplings looked the same as the illustration but they tasted like balls of lead.
Either these recipes weren't thoroughly proofread or they weren't properly tested.
Here is the flour leftover from making approximately twelve inedible dumplings.
I am going to ring my daughter-in-law today. Hannah loves this book. I will try a recipe that Hannah has been successful with & see how that goes.
When I rang the girls, Hannah was busy but Chloe said she thought Hannah had made recipes mostly from the breakfast section. So I thought I would try the Bacon 'n Eggs Porridge - & that was absolutely delicious. I chose the quinoa option & I used leftover Chicken Laksa as I didn't have any chicken stock.
I spoke to Hannah a few days ago. She thought I was the wrong generation to enjoy this book! I guess that is telling me! 😀 She said millennials have a different attitude to cookbooks & are happy with approximate measures. Well, I'm happy to have approximate measures too. I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver & I'm old enough to remember Graham Kerr with their a dash of this & (in Kerr's case) a slurp of that. But certain kinds of cooking need exact measurements - generally anything that has flour. I don't like waste - in particular from someone who is preaching against it. Her blurb on the front French flap of this book even says her cooking is
with ease and without waste
& I had a quick thumb through (there are very few cookbooks I read cover to cover) I love the presentation & the photos. I love the ideas for using up some ingredients (for example celery leaves)
But on pg 171 I spotted a Celery Soda. I love a good, refreshing celery drink. But at the start of the recipe it says;
I personally don't use a juicer for a number of reasons (see page 34 for some of them) But if I did, I would make this. So fresh.
* I couldn't find a reason on page 34 for Sarah not to use a juicer. Someone who has read this book, help me out here.
* Sarah hasn't made this herself. I'm not even sure if she has tasted this herself!
I just don't have confidence in this book & I own many, many recipe books where I can trust the recipes. This book is going on TradeMe (our Ebay) tonight.
https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...
February 19, 2016
Loved the recipes, and was really happy that they were:
a) reasonable... you know... intended for humans, not salad eating cyborgs
b) used the whole animal!
c) had great ideas for simple meals, and not simple like "here! Avocado on toast! Magic!" or "This is simple... it only takes 4 months, a sous chef and the nasal hairs of three virgins to prepare"
a) reasonable... you know... intended for humans, not salad eating cyborgs
b) used the whole animal!
c) had great ideas for simple meals, and not simple like "here! Avocado on toast! Magic!" or "This is simple... it only takes 4 months, a sous chef and the nasal hairs of three virgins to prepare"
February 1, 2018
I'm going to say that I've "finished" this book because I've read all the pages, though it's hard to say I'm finished with a recipe book without trying a significant chunk of recipes.
Of the recipes I've tried, some have been hits, some misses, and a few in between. I make the homemade jelly all the time for my son. I recently planted a pineapple top as per Sarah's suggestion. Sometimes the book seems to be a bit too self-referential to really be useful - "Make this easy lunch! With three of the recipes from elsewhere in the book, which you've made earlier and stored in handy reused jars around your kitchen!"
In general, I agree with Sarah's messages around sustainability and health - which is not to say I necessarily follow a similar diet or that I'm great at avoiding food waste.
I also find Sarah's breezy, casual, straight-shooting writing style really irritating. She's clearly poured a lot of herself into this book, which I respect, but I don't think I'd be friends with her. I think we'd bug each other.
Of the recipes I've tried, some have been hits, some misses, and a few in between. I make the homemade jelly all the time for my son. I recently planted a pineapple top as per Sarah's suggestion. Sometimes the book seems to be a bit too self-referential to really be useful - "Make this easy lunch! With three of the recipes from elsewhere in the book, which you've made earlier and stored in handy reused jars around your kitchen!"
In general, I agree with Sarah's messages around sustainability and health - which is not to say I necessarily follow a similar diet or that I'm great at avoiding food waste.
I also find Sarah's breezy, casual, straight-shooting writing style really irritating. She's clearly poured a lot of herself into this book, which I respect, but I don't think I'd be friends with her. I think we'd bug each other.
May 10, 2016
If I could give this book ********** of these, I would. This has quickly become my favourite cook book of all time. Not only Sarah shares her guilt free, sugar free recipes, but she also taps into sharing her tips on how to prepare, preserve, store & just generally make the most of your fruits, vegetables and groceries. Thanks to her I learn more about food, nutritions and even save pounds.
I love this book. Despite it's not being vegan or vegetarian. Sarah managed to make sure that everyone finds something their like. Try the chocolate cake batter protein smoothie bowl for breakfast. Learn how to activate nuts and seeds to make them even nutritious.
Absolutely brilliant. This book is a must-have for every household. A book you never regret buying.
I love this book. Despite it's not being vegan or vegetarian. Sarah managed to make sure that everyone finds something their like. Try the chocolate cake batter protein smoothie bowl for breakfast. Learn how to activate nuts and seeds to make them even nutritious.
Absolutely brilliant. This book is a must-have for every household. A book you never regret buying.
August 27, 2016
This cookbook annoys me. It tries to be trendy with stupidly titled recipe names and banal hand-written scrawl masked as tips. The recipes avoid using ingredients which aren't high on the intolerance list and then feature dairy and gluten. If you have an autoimmune condition, these are the two biggest culprits! I'm all for avoiding sugar as much as possible, but I feel like this is health food good wrong. She claims coconuts aren't sustainable and then features coconut oil in the recipes.
March 26, 2019
We all know adding lots refined sugar to our food and drink is A Very Bad Idea and is frowned upon.
This book seeks to offer simple solutions for suitable substitutions. Loads of recipes use sweet potato purée, grated courgette or parsnip, all of which I love so I was very happy.
A great selection of recipes with lots of hints and tips for reducing waste and making the most out of batch cooking and freezing.
I’m keen to read her other books for more inspiration now!
This book seeks to offer simple solutions for suitable substitutions. Loads of recipes use sweet potato purée, grated courgette or parsnip, all of which I love so I was very happy.
A great selection of recipes with lots of hints and tips for reducing waste and making the most out of batch cooking and freezing.
I’m keen to read her other books for more inspiration now!
October 23, 2018
Hands down the most inspiring and practical cookbook that is absolutely loaded with no nonsense easy recipes and gut health! Totally my cup of tea!! Absolutely love it and can't wait to get stuck into simplicious flow ✌🏼
April 22, 2017
One of my favourite cookbooks, by a wonderful person who I relate to very much!
February 1, 2016
Wonderful book! Full of top tips from the brilliant Sarah Wilson.
Some really interesting recipes as well as hints and tips on not wasting food and quitting sugar!
Some really interesting recipes as well as hints and tips on not wasting food and quitting sugar!
October 26, 2018
One ⭐️ for the clever and thoughtful ideas - whole meal plans including ideas for leftovers and ways to use scraps.
Minus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for wasting my time with recipes that don’t work.
Minus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for wasting my time with recipes that don’t work.
May 16, 2020
This is one epic cook book! It contains a large amount of information on how to cook healthy and sustainable food. If you are already committed to a sustainable and/or ancestral-type diet, then you will likely love this book. The recipes bridge the gap between lofty modern health cookbooks and basic-level standard western diet cookbooks. However, if you are new to this way of eating, this book is overwhelming. It is just a dump of fermenting, sprouting, top-to-tail, bulk cooking instruction and doesn’t really offer much of a roadmap on how to actually implement it all together. There’s sporadic advice on that front, but nothing concise. My hope is that this is addressed in the sequel to this book, “Simplicious Flow,” which is on my “to read” list.
Stylistically the book is also busy. The use of “hand-written” text throughout the book is off putting. I can understand why the author has used this device. It helps personalise the book and make it feel like a family cookbook, rather than a store-bought one. However, visually it’s very busy and is frustrating at times when the handwriting takes some effort to decipher. It also effects the flow of the book as it almost constantly interjects the text. I would personally prefer the amount of handwritten notes be toned down quite a bit. The annotated content could by-and-large remain, but in a mostly printed format would be better. But the idea is endearing.
On the whole there is a lot to love about this book and I would actually recommend everyone own a copy. I just wish it had a little more hand-holding for those just starting out in this lifestyle, and was visually a bit less frenetic.
Stylistically the book is also busy. The use of “hand-written” text throughout the book is off putting. I can understand why the author has used this device. It helps personalise the book and make it feel like a family cookbook, rather than a store-bought one. However, visually it’s very busy and is frustrating at times when the handwriting takes some effort to decipher. It also effects the flow of the book as it almost constantly interjects the text. I would personally prefer the amount of handwritten notes be toned down quite a bit. The annotated content could by-and-large remain, but in a mostly printed format would be better. But the idea is endearing.
On the whole there is a lot to love about this book and I would actually recommend everyone own a copy. I just wish it had a little more hand-holding for those just starting out in this lifestyle, and was visually a bit less frenetic.
February 21, 2019
I heard about this from Art and Matilda's podcast where they interviewed Sarah Wilson about this new recipe book and her key focus on food sustainability. She has a great philosophy about minimising food waste by repurposing and using all the cuts off from vegetables and meat, using a core group of (in-season) ingredients throughout all the recipes while also reducing sugar intake.
It has gorgeous food photography and a nice personal touch with her handwritten comments throughout the pages on top of her images and recipes. Can't wait to try her recipes later.
It has gorgeous food photography and a nice personal touch with her handwritten comments throughout the pages on top of her images and recipes. Can't wait to try her recipes later.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2022
Started and finished within a day. The author demonises sugar,even fructose and avoids pineapple and tomatoes in her food apparently because of how high they are in natural sugar. I’m reading this in 2022 and the whole demonising a whole food group thing is so 1990s that I can’t rate it higher than 2 stars.
January 31, 2019
Great cookbook packed full of all sorts of recipes for how to eat well and enjoy food while still avoiding sugar. Lots of different ideas for using up leftovers and making unusual things like ferments, pickles, etc.
November 11, 2017
I didn’t like her first book at all but this book surprised me! Love her philosophy of minimising food waste.
August 3, 2018
I liked the variety of recipes and the author's attempt to simplify the subject . But I feel the writer is using other types of sugar , which I do not like to use because I think Its harmful .
December 8, 2018
The set up was weird and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I think I was just expecting something different.
June 26, 2023
Yummo recipes that are easy to make
January 16, 2017
Amazing! So many good recipes!
December 17, 2015
Sarah Wilson's new book focuses more on cooking techniques and sustainability than health/being sugar free compared to her previous books. Simplicious is an encyclopedia in size, I've had to regularly used the index with this to find recipes I've wanted to try! There are some good tips for cutting food waste, like did you know that if you put lemons in a sealed plastic bag they will last up to a month? Or that carrots should be covered in water and kept in a sealed container? I'm particularly interested in reducing how much food I waste by not using it in time, I wish there was more information on food waste issue in the book - the recipes look good but don't appeal to me as much as her previous two books, still glad I bought it but there's a lot more recipes than content on sustainability/food waste.
January 31, 2019
Worum geht es in Goodbye Zucker?
In ihrem dritten Kochbuch beschäftigt sich Sarah Wilson besonders mit dem Thema “Reste” – man erfährt mehr darüber, was man tatsächlich noch alles verwenden kann und wie man Reste richtig aufbewahrt. Ausserdem erwarten einen über 200 neue Rezepte und viele hilfreiche Tipps, die es einem erleichtern sollen, ein Leben (ganz) ohne Zucker zu führen.
Neugierig? Meine ganze Rezension gibt es auf dem Blog:
https://readbooksandfallinlove.com/20...
In ihrem dritten Kochbuch beschäftigt sich Sarah Wilson besonders mit dem Thema “Reste” – man erfährt mehr darüber, was man tatsächlich noch alles verwenden kann und wie man Reste richtig aufbewahrt. Ausserdem erwarten einen über 200 neue Rezepte und viele hilfreiche Tipps, die es einem erleichtern sollen, ein Leben (ganz) ohne Zucker zu führen.
Neugierig? Meine ganze Rezension gibt es auf dem Blog:
https://readbooksandfallinlove.com/20...
December 29, 2016
Staying with my mum and she has this on her recipe book shelf, so I plucked it out intending to just quickly flick through it, but ended up reading the whole thing. I was quickly taken in by the writing style (writing style in a cookbook?) and the author's enthusiasm is catching. I soon had a pen in hand, taking notes of hints and recipes right through the book, from how to best use your left over scraps to cheap, sugar free recipes. Very impressed with this, wouldn't mind a copy myself!
February 3, 2016
Loads of great tactics for lessening your food wastage, storage and meal ideas. But also a bit overwhelming with the number of recipes and the layout! Overall beautifully put together though and a great addition to my collection of cookbooks on this health journey!
January 22, 2016
LOVE this book!!! So easy to read and see yourself incorporating the concepts into everyday 'real' life. Great recipes and directions, it will definitely become one of my 'go to' resources.
May 13, 2016
Saffron 2016
December 30, 2015
My favourite cookbook so far!! Love the design <3
October 30, 2017
More practical and quite doable
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews