100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous

by Lisa Leake

In her first cookbook, 100 Days of Real Food, Lisa Leake revealed how simple it is to think out of the box in the kitchen by replacing unhealthy prepackaged and processed foods with “real food”—mouthwatering meals made with wholesome and familiar ingredients. Now, Lisa is back with 100 quick-and-easy recipes and simple cheat sheets that will work with every family’s busy lifestyle.

100 Days of Real Fast & Fabulous gives Lisa’s devoted fans and newcomers exactly what they want, quick and tasty favorites for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and even snacks that are a snap to make. Insideyou’ll find recipes sure to please everyone, from Cinnamon Raisin Scones, Couscous and Tomato Salad, and Corn Muffins to Citrus Salad With Crispy Quinoa, Honeydew Green Smoothie, and Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup to Easy Fish Tacos, Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and Chocolate Banana Pops. While some dishes are blog favorites, seventy-five percent are brand new.

Along with these family-friendly recipes, 100 Days of Real Fast & Fabulous incorporates ideas for adult, big-kid, and little-kid packed lunches and new seasonal meal plans and shopping lists—everything you need for accessible, quick, and real home cooking. Lisa also includes a “CliffsNotes”-style resource section packed with easy guidelines on how to buy real food, supermarket staples (including her Top 10 Shopping Lists by Store), the truth behind more than a dozen grocery store myths, and other handy kitchen tips (such as food prep guides and storage cheat sheets).

Making and enjoying healthy meals the whole family will love doesn’t have to be difficult, boring, or expensive. With this essential cookbook, illustrated with color photos for every single recipe, you’ll see just how fast and fabulous good home-cooked meals can be.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Health, Reference, Diets

319 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 25, 2016

About the author

Lisa Leake is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger and author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller, 100 Days of Real Food. She began chronicling her family's journey on 100DaysofRealFood.com when in 2010 they decided to start seeking out the real food in our processed food world. What started as a simple pledge has turned into a valuable and practical resource that's now read by millions around the globe. Lisa has appeared on Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, CNN, and The Doctors TV Show.

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I keep trying to like this book, as its philosophy is solid. However, the recipes are not quite as mainstream nor as uncomplicated as I would have liked, for myself and for the families for whom I cook. I'll flip through it to get ideas and come up empty. The few I have tried (Apple-Cheddar Side Salad, White Chicken Chili, and Kale, Sausage and White Bean Soup) been just OK. Others seem like odd combinations - Salmon with a red wine sauce, Butternut Squash in a pasta dish, Lamb Burgers, Creamy Mac and Peas, Cauliflower Soup, Lentil and Sausage Stew - they just don't appeal. Sorry.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic book to help you into the world of real food! Highlighting buzzwords to watch for, ingredients that are misleading, and recipes with ingredients you actually own. This is a library book that I will likely pick up at the book store for a keeper.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Home cook Lisa Leake rarely disappoints, and she doesn’t here. Lots of recipes free of processed food or hidden sugars, fats or unpronounceable additives: Just what we all want. Only this time, the recipes take 30 minutes or less. What more could anyone want?

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook I checked out for myself and have kept as long as the library allowed. I have tried several recipes, some more than once, and my family enjoyed them all. I have saved many of the recipes for the future but if anyone needs to buy me a gift, this book would be it! I zoomed through the first part but I like the gist of her belief that we should use foods as close to their orginal form as possible, I just don't feel a huge need to go totally organic at this point. The recipes are simple, few ingredients, nothing too fancy that I don't have in my cupboard already or would be stumped at where to find it at the grocery store. My family has appreciated the inclusion of more spices to my regular bland Midwestern flavor. I also like that her daughters cook with her and contributed to the cookbook. A personal favorite of mine is "Sydney's Roasted Potatoes." I know these aren't hard to make but I have not been overly successful in the past with other recipes I have tried. These have worked multiple times and we all love them. Good food that doesn't take a professional to make them or 4 days to prep, I am in.

[Kimberly Mccune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to start a real food journey, but feels totally overwhelmed. even for someone like me, who has been following her blog for years, the recipes were fresh and inventive without being needlessly complicated.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook was fantastic! Easy to follow directions, easy to make recipes full of whole, nutrient rich foods without anything processed! I’ll definitely be buying this one and checking out others by this author.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of keepers here, starting with the overnight oats, going into the soups and stews (several for the slow cooker), and delicious takes on chicken salads to get you through lunch. There is also an amazing couscous salad. The highlights for me are the salad and soups chapter; the least useful for me was the 'treats' chapter. I find Leake's tone a little preachy at times, and don't fully get her abhorrence to store-bought mayo (there are organic and whole food brands), but these recipes are great. Not only are they made with whole foods, they're fast, very easy (like teens and middle school students could cook a lot of them) and taste good. If you are responsible for cooking on a regular basis, you've got to check this book out. The food isn't exotic, but there are some interesting takes (particularly in the salad chapter) that are really worthwhile. Not only are there a lot of dinner ideas here, there are quite a few lunch meals.

There isn't nutritional informational information; otherwise, this would be 5 stars.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own a copy of the first 100 Days of Real Food cookbook, and have made many of the recipes.
Healthy ingredients, simple recipes and great taste!

Naturally, this book caught my eye when it came out in 2016.
Since that time, Ms. Leake has released another book, keeping with the same theme of how healthier eating habits can be implemented in 100 days.

For whatever reason, I had been slow to check this out from the library.
I've always enjoyed reading through cookbooks prior to purchase.
If the recipes don't seem feasible for my family or include those hard to find ingredients, I'm not likely to purchase.

This one I would purchase!
Ms. Leake has provided helpful tips, to help ease away from the processed food and get into better eating habits and the recipes looked fast and fabulous, as the title mentions.

If you've been considering this book, I'd say to check into it further.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book confusing. It seems to have been written by two different authors. The first chapters about why and how were pointy and opinionated and somewhat prickly. (NB: I bristle at anything that hints at only-one-true-path.) And then the recipes are nearly giddy with cutesy stories, family pictures and kid portraits, and a whole lot of exclamation marks.

That said, I made the strawberry cheesecake popsicles and the raspberry lemon muffins and both were tasty, and the latter was in spite of me not following directions.

I would recommend only reading the ranty bits if they match with your food philosophies, otherwise cut straight to the recipes.

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read her other cookbook or her blog, so to me this is a new author. Looks like lots of fun easy recipes - I'll be making the slow cooker black bean soup and comment on that.

The opening chapters are simply overwhelming with how to find foods at the store that are un-processed, it looks like she has spent so much time on it that in trying to pass along her knowledge she throws too much at the reader.

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

 This book has the exact same text and images as her budget version. It's literally just copied and pasted from the other book. I was hoping for some shortcuts on cooking or anything different text wise, but that didn't happen. 


The recipes however are different and look delicious. Her diy oatmeal packets are pretty smart and easy to do. 

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures of recipes? Yes.
Commentary on recipes? A little.
Nutrition facts? Nope. Sigh.
Recipe Style? Modern staples.
Any keepers? A couple. There wasn't anything groundbreaking here. I suppose I'm at a disadvantage because my HOA won't let me put in my own huge organic vegetable garden.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leakes has a focus on non-processed foods, which is good, but she has not yet embraced some environmental concerns (what would happen if everyone actually ate this way?!). But I found some recipes to try, so the book passes my cookbook test.

[Rachelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

100 days of Real Food... many of the recipes are fussy and require more prep work than I desire for a less processed meal. Nothing unique or exciting stood out to me in this basic collection of recipes. Excellent images and enjoyed reading this family's journey to more real foods. Seems a bit unbelievable.

[Brigette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her style of cooking matches most closely with what our family is trying to do: less processed foods, whole grain, enjoying vegetables. I got it from the library and so many recipes were a success for our family I'm now asking for it for my birthday!

[Deneen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I skimmed her first and third books, devoured this one. Fast and fabulous is what I need. I also appreciated all the checklists and tables to shortcut the info provided in the first book. Can’t wait to dive into all these recipes.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I continue and try to trim most processed foods from our diet this book was so helpful! I love the charts for grocery shopping and the simple recipes.

I definitely have some new things to add to my meal planning!

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for young families. Leake has one section with lunches for kids for school. I checked this out from the library, but I would definitely buy this one as I would like to make many of the foods she showcased. I would not say this is a"whole foods cookbook" but pretty healthy.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was exactly the type of cookbook I was looking for. The recipes are paired with attractive photos. The recipes themselves are laid out well with the ingredient list set off. The recipes are generally simple and attainable.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Very practical whole foods recipes.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really excited to try these recipes.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was disappointed that so many of the recipes in this book involve lots of cheese or sour cream.

[Liz Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super easy recipes and so far every one we've tried the adults have loved. The children have been pretty picky about all these new flavors.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great new ideas for our meals

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives me something to aspire, too, and good advice on how to make the switch and what to look for. I love the idea of only eating real foods.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great find from the library. I appreciate her perspective on real good and try to have fewer processed things on our table. She shares some delicious sounding, fast recipes that I can’t wait to try!

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great ideas - and doable recipes.

[Elsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every recipe I made from this book was fantastic! "Fast" in the title is misleading because of all the required chopping and dicing required. However, my kids and I really like the food.

[Wendya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've tried a number of these recipes and they come out delicious. Loved the oat-peanut butter no-bake bars and the vegetable cornmuffins. Many simple straightforward yummy (healthy) mixtures.

[Christie plasencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy and delicious!

Highly recommend this book for those moms that want fast, easy, and delicious recipes! She is so down to earth and I just love everything about this book!