The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith, and the Joy of Eating Well

by Jimmy Blackmon

A beautiful family-centric cookbook for the home chef, from Ayesha Curry. In The Seasoned Life, Ayesha Curry shares 100 of her favorite recipes and invites readers into the home she has made with her two daughters and her husband Stephen Curry. Ayesha knows firsthand what it is like to be a busy mom and wife, and she knows that for her family, time in the kitchen and around the table is where that balance begins. This book has something for everybody. The simple, delicious recipes include Cast Iron Biscuits, Smoked Salmon Scramble, Homemade Granola, Mom's Chicken Soup, Stephen's 5 Ingredient Pasta, and plenty of recipes that get the whole family involved -- even the little ones!

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food

382 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 27, 2017

Reviews

[Anna Elizabeth]

Made the Ridiculously Easy Carrot Salad, Stephen's 5-Ingredient Pasta, Cucumber Salad, and Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies today - all simple enough for a learning-to-cook novice like me, and all DELICIOUS. They also didn't break the bank. I still have Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal on my list but I wanted to go ahead and rate this 5 stars just based on what I've made thus far. I will be purchasing this cookbook for my kitchen for sure!

And I'm definitely not just saying this because the author is married to my favorite basketball player. Based on these offerings, Ayesha Curry is an extraordinary chef in her own right!

[Furrawn]

Someone I love very much made the most incredible coffee using butter. The recipe was from this cookbook... so I bought it a week after having the coffee.

Everything I've made from the cookbook has been yummy. I do tend to be a bit creative with recipes and put my own spin on them often (Unless Marcella Hazan who I devotedly follow to the letter). The recipes in this book are unique and there's much to love.

[Emily]

This is an excellent cookbook with so many recipes I want to try. Usually I find celebrity chefs dull and lacking technical knowledge but Mrs. Curry disproves that quickly. Her culinary kung fu is strong. I love that this book features dishes from many different cultures and that it has SO MANY recipes for fish. A great buy if you want to try some new dishes that don't require trips to specialty stores.

[Trinika Abraham]

The Seasoned Life by Ayesha Curry is a melting pot (no pun intended) of great food recipes. This book however, is not just a cook book, but a window into the life of a lover of food. With her Jamaican-Chinese-Polish-African American heritage, “the seasoned life” perfectly describes the flavors that Curry whips up.

Ayesha Curry shares family recipes as well as those that she has created along the way to becoming a famous television chef with beautifully simplistic photos of home-cooked food and anecdotal tales from her life.

Wife to NBA Champion, Stephen Curry, Ayesha earned her notoriety in the kitchen when her cooking videos online became a cult following, leading to a cooking show on the Food Network and her very own cookbook.

The Seasoned Life features dishes from Jamaica (her mother’s native country) to North Carolina, and everywhere in-between. Turning to page 121, there is a trough of Sweet and Savory Shrimp and Girts topped with bacon and peppers that makes your mouth water. This decadent dish is hands down one of my favorites in the book as I love trying new twists to shrimp and grits.
Still as a mom, Curry fully gets the importance of catering to a younger palate. Page 31 reveals the most indulgent treat, PB&J Cereal French Toast; and yes, it is All of those things in one. Of all the recipes in this book, I find myself most tempted to try this one out with my son and nephews just to see if it meets their standards.

This cookbook has amazing recipes that are simple enough to make with most utilizing ingredients that are easily accessible. Curry’s recipes are not so complex that they don’t allow for substitutions. In fact, plenty of her ingredients can be exchanged for others as she points out. Still, her love for food is evident in the recollections that she shares about her encounters with particular ingredients.
Some added bonuses to The Seasoned Life are the cooking Q&A interviews that Curry does with her daughter, Riley and husband, Stephen. She also includes a few recipes for beauty scrubs that can be made with kitchen products, a “Kitchen Notebook” section with an inventory of the pantry staples she keep on hand, as well as a “What’s in My Kitchen” list of her go to cooking tools.

I would recommend this cookbook to anyone who enjoys reading about, seeing, and especially eating good food. This book will not disappoint you.

[Bernadette]

Very heavily meat and dairy centered, with some suggestions for making some of the recipes dairy-free. I appreciate her taking the time to include these, as it signals her recognition of plant based cuisine being mainstream.
Enjoyable introduction to Ayesha's "seasoned life," from growing up in multi-cultural environments, & their influences on her faith, food and family. She tells how she and Stephen met, and how they are going forward building their family and communities.

From the breakfast recipes, the apple-cinnamon oatmeal recipe lists almond milk as an option for cooking the oatmeal, making it quite creamy. I prefer my oatmeal cooked in water, so this tasted quite rich to me. I substituted earth balance for the butter in the apple compote topping, and date paste for the sweetened condensed milk for serving. Richly tasty!
The Island Cornmeal Porridge is comfort food for the author, and will possibly be also for cornbread fans. Veganized it with soy milk, since the recipe called for whole milk, used date paste for the brown sugar 1:1, and vegan butter. Topped with chopped walnuts - delicious comfort food.
Good looking vegetable and pasta dish recipes, though I haven't gotten around the cooking any yet. Thinking I can just sub plant based ingredients, and it will work.
Not interested in tackling the meats, which are made by the seasonings anyway.
Probably good recipes for carnivores and meat heavy omnivores. The rest of us, not so much. Thus the mid rating.
An omnivorous friend raved about the book, so I checked it out.

[Lola]

I am a sucker for a cookbook you can read cover to cover and the Seasoned Life by Ayesha Curry is definitely that type of book. Yes, you will be able to find plenty of simple and (from the photos) very delicious looking food but you also get to know Curry and her family more as well. Included in this cookbook are funny anedotes about Curry's childhood and a glimpse into her life with Steph Curry, made even more enjoyable with the inclusion of photos from her past.

With that said, I do wish there was more variety in her Mains sections. The recipes were very meat heavy; I wish she had included more vegetarian mains for some added diversity. But overall, I am really looking forward to trying a few of these recipes out, especially the drinks included in her cocktails section.

[Lee]

I enjoyed reading through this cookbook. The author does a lovely job sharing stories about her life, and the recipes are a unique collection of tastes and dishes. I especially appreciated the vignettes with each recipe, offering her insight into why she chose or likes that recipe. Her passion for food and for cooking shines through.

I didn't find a whole bunch of recipes that I wanted to try, but that is more reflective of my style of cooking than it is the appeal of the recipes. All of them sound delicious, even if they aren't ones I'd be interested in trying in my own kitchen.

[Bethany]

Fun to read little snippets about Ayesha and the Curry family, and the recipes are nice too. Relatively simple, good ingredients, a few interesting touches but nothing crazy out of the box. A good "intro" cookbook for someone who maybe doesn't cook as much or wants to try a few things! Very much represents what one family might eat on a semi-regular basis

[Ani]

I am thrilled with this cookbook. So far I have made a couple of recipes and they have turned out great. There are several more I want to try. I initially got this cookbook because a friend owns it and made a tasty cocktail based on one of the drink recipes. Any recipe book that has 3 (and hopefully even more) very good recipes is keeper!

[LadyS]

Good for Ayesha! she obviously loves cooking and has shared basic to advanced recipes that will help novices like me become a gourmet!!! The recipes were really well presented and easy to follow. If I can cook 25% of these recipes really well I think i'd be considered a good cook by my family! :D

[Nakia Sutton]

I've used numerous recipes from this book & they have all come out great! The recipes are easy to follow and very delicious. Ayesha knows how to blend the perfect herbs and seasonings to deliver a delicious meal that anyone can prepare!

[Jessica]

Lots of great recipes, especially some I wouldn’t have thought of trying. Plus I loved reading all of the little stories about Steph and Ayesha Curry that were added with each recipe. I’m considering purchasing this book for myself.

[Jazmine]

I love the Curry family, but I wasn’t sold on this cookbook. There was only a few recipes I was interested in but this is purely my personal feelings. I did like that she included a section about pots & pans she uses.

[abbi✨]

Everything I have made so far in this book has been AWESOME. My whole family loves these recipes. Our favorite is Mama Alexander's Brown Sugar Chicken. You can tell Ayesha knows her flavors and how to mix them to create a wonderful treat!

[Monique Daly]

Pretty good.

Old school Caribbean recipes, as well as some modern ones. A little laughter and reminiscing too for us readers that come from yard. More than a cook book as body products are here as well. I recommend it to all inspiring cooks. It’s worth the cost. Enjoy, I did.

[Miranda [hangryforfiction]]

I really enjoyed the bits of Ayesha and her family's personal lives. The photos of her family and the food are exceptional and there are lots of really yummy sounding recipes and a huge array of dishes to try!

[Kim]

I made at least three recipes from this book and they were all hits. Island Cornmeal Porridge was the biggest hit of them all......

[angel]

Amazing!

This is a great pickup if you're looking for easy to cook delicious and healthy meals! :) drinks as well

[Margaret Dee]

Beautiful pictures, good recipes. I especially liked the cast iron corn bread and the Sticky Honey Garlic Baby Back Ribs

[Susan Bury]

great recipes from simple to more interesting ingredients

[Alyssa]

Lots of yummy looking recipes to try out. Love Ayesha's relaxed and easy vibe throughout the book.

[Windy Kahler]

A lovely cookbook. I had borrowed it from the library and realized it was one I was going to have to own.

[B Humphrey]

Great cookbook!!

This has become my favorite go to book when I want something different. This is great for cooking, drinks, and even a few homemade body care recipes!

[Rachel]

There were a few recipes that I really look forward to trying.

[Alison James]

Several really yummy recipes. I little seafood heavy (which I don't cook), but otherwise a good mix of recipes.

[Pooja Singh]

Lots of yummy recipes that I cannot wait to try out!

[Chelsea]

Sweet- in writing content and recipes

[Erin]

Not enough photos and recipes are not special or unique enough.

[Beka]

Definitely some tasty looking recipes.

[Veronica]

Great recipes