The Goodful Cookbook: Simple and Balanced Recipes to Live Well

by Goodful

Nourish your mind and body with more than 125 recipes that make everyday meals a more intentional self-care experience, whether you’re an omnivore or you follow a plant-based, keto, or low-carb diet.

The Goodful philosophy is use a foundation of wholesome, fresh ingredients, eat when hungry, and ultimately do what you need to do to feel good.

Holistic lifestyles touted in the media can be expensive, time-consuming, or out of reach. Goodful breaks this mold by lending a helping hand to those interested in living well without pretension, judgment, or breaking the bank. We know that nutrition means something different to everyone. All of our recipes indicate if they are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or dairy-free. We encourage readers to tailor anything and everything to their personal definition of mindfulness that will best suit themselves and their loved ones.

The Goodful Cookbook  offers more than 125 recipes along with 50 beautiful photos, illustrations, inspirational tips, useful charts, and guides for bringing wellness into your whole life such as a “what’s in season?” chart, foods for your mood, a section on meal prep to help manage stress through the week, and a food storage guide. We wrote this book for  you  and your intentions.  The Goodful Cookbook  shows how anyone (yes, even you!) can enjoy a mindful, nutritious, and sustainable lifestyle. Half of the recipes are fan favorites and star performers from our videos and the other half are new and never before seen.

Want to learn more? Check us out on social media. Our audience loves us not only for our easy recipes based on nourishing whole foods, but also for our home hacks like “How to Regrow Vegetables from Kitchen Scraps” and features on self-care, gardening, fitness, and sustainability.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food

256 pages, Hardcover

Published December 3, 2019

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Goodful Cookbook is probably the most relevant, versatile cookbook I have ever read. Recipes cover everything from breakfast to dinner with snacks and drinks in between. There is even an entire section on solo meals, making this ideal for someone who is looking for healthful meals without too many leftovers. Not to worry if you wish to feed more. The solo recipes can easily be adjusted to make more and the rest of the recipes yield an average of four to six servings. The book's recipes are 55% vegetarian with vegan options and 45% meat inclusive. However, I have found that things such as tofu and chicken can easily be substituted depending upon dietary restrictions so mostly all of these recipes could work for vegans. Each recipe also indicates whether it is dairy free and/or gluten free and again, those recipes that aren't can easily be made so with simple substitutions. That is one of the big pluses of this book. Recipes are so flexible that you are encouraged to mix and match and alter the recipes to fit your needs. The focus is on wellness and balance and I didn't find a single unhealthful dish in the book. Recipes that I tried included a buffalo chickpea grain bowl and a 5-minute mint, pea, and feta salad. The salad really did only take five minutes to prepare and both dishes were so delicious and nutritious that I will be putting them into rotation at my house. Some recipes require no cooking and all the ingredients are accessible to most everyone. The only negative that I have about this book is that there is not a photo of each recipe, but I can easily overlook that considering the quickness and quality of the recipes.
Disclosure: I received a free copy from Rodale Books in exchange for a free and unbiased review.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a lot of really great cookbooks lately so this one had stiff competition it just couldn't live up to -- it wasn't terrible, but I wasn't blown away by or drawn to any of the recipes in particular and felt crabby about the inclusion of "paleo" and "low carb" recipes despite the insistence that this book comes with ~*nO JuDgEmEnT*~. It felt sort of like Buzzfeed programmed some A.I. to write a cookbook exclusively for millenials who are still caught in the rose gold web of wellness culture.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goodful Cookbook is an excellent cookbook for those starting out on their cooking journey, or for anyone who is looking for easy, tasty, meals. Most recipes are 10 steps or less and have relatively common ingredients. There are several recipes that are Middle-Eastern inspired, and therefore have Middle Eastern spices, which may not be available in all grocery stories.
The first chapter is very informative, discussing How to Stock Your Kitchen and Food Lifestyles, which briefly defines vegetarianism, veganism, keto, low card, and dairy-free. The writing has an encouraging "you do you" vibe. Other sections in this chapter include Food and Physical Health, Food and Mood, Food and Sustainability, Food Storage, and Cooking Conversions.
Recipes clearly identify if they are vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and/or dairy free. Many can be tweaked to one's liking, increasing the versatility of this cookbook.
One complaint I have is minor. In the Bites chapter, it has a few recipes that I wouldn't classify as bits (read snacks) and would have put them in different chapters (either Prep or Evenings).

I received a free copy from Harmony Books and Rodale Books in exchange for a free and unbiased review.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goodful Cookbook's goal is to help you eat good, healthy food. In the Introduction the goal for this cookbook, how to stock your kitchen, they also explain some of the more common diets (keto, vegan vs. vegetarian, etc.), they also cover sustainability and what is in season. Each recipe is noted if it's vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or dairy-free, but there are notes about how to adjust any recipe for your eating habits/diet. Normally any cookbook that promotes vegan/gluten-free/etc. recipes is not for me, but I feel like this cookbook has a LOT of really great options and recipe ideas. There are several recipes I'd like to try, so if you're trying to start 2020 by eating a little healthier you might get some good ideas here.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found some good, solid information, here.

Each recipe provides information about the dish, ingredients, serving and nutrition details, and for some recipes, there were also ideas for altering the recipe or suggestions for what to do with leftovers. At the end of the book is a "Shopping List for Prep Recipes." There are also small sections at the beginning for "How to Stock Your Kitchen," "Food Lifestyles, Food and Physical Health, Food and Mood, Food and Sustainability, What's in Season, Food Storage, Cooking Conversions, and more!"

[Kandi A. Hudson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of stuff I would not eat

I was disappointed with this book. A lot of ingredients in many recipes. A lot of stuff I just would not make. I saw a lot of recipes with a pretty high calorie count. I am on a 1200 calorie / day meal plan and some of these recipes would be half or more of my daily allowance. I did like some of the sweets recipes, especially the "nice" cream. So I will try a couple, but overall I was not real impressed. I still gave it 3 stars because of the narrative content and do think this book would appeal to many, just not me.

[Sirena Bebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Goodful Cookbook has a nice variety of recipes to help support your journey to live well. Some recipes did include rich, full color photos, but most did not have a photo accompanying.
I am a selective eater (what some may call picky.) I managed to find a few recipes in this cookbook to prepare, but I feel like it fell short for my particular preferences. Because of this, I gave it a three star instead of lower.
I received a free copy from Harmony Books and Rodale Books in exchange for a free and unbiased review.

[Candi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy the kind, shame-free approach to eating that this cookbook offered. It isn’t about good or bad foods/calories, it’s about eating food that makes you feel better (regardless of what that looks like for an individual.) There are great recipes (the teriyaki meatballs are my fave!) and there are great tips on how to add more whole foods into your nutritional planning. This has quickly become the go to cookbook in my kitchen.

[Mary Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve received a free copy from Harmony Books and Rodale Books in exchange for a free and unbiased review.
As a Goodful follower I was excited to get my hands on a copy of this! As someone who is attempting to live healthier this book was exactly what I needed. My family and I are enjoying trying out all the recipes with our favorite being the Balsamic-Soy Salmon and Veggie Bake.

[Maddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad this book has bad reviews bc it is honestly one of my favorite cookbooks! I feel like all the recipes are super simple and tangible to make. I grab this one lots - especially around fall because there are a lot of good fall esq recipes in here.

I would also say this is a great pick for anyone doing lots of solo cooking!

[Gintarė · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not bad, but it’s one of many recipes books that you’ll just open and probably will never use it again. I’ve kind of missed photos and they definitely have more fun stuff on their YouTube channel. I’ve borrowed it from my local library and I would not buy it.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's amazing to me that this cookbook, with "Buzzfeed" as the author, could be so good -- but I highly recommend it. The chicken shawarma (in the oven!) from this has been deemed "better than restaurants" by my family.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordered two books. One for my family and one for myself. To a healthier life. ❤️

[Alana Tabak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is makes it easier to include healthier recipes in my daily life that are still delicious. It's a beautiful book too.

[Ryan Juno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not a lot of photos. Nothing really thrilling.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I were a better eater with a lot more time on my hands, I'd make some of these recipes.

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot of pictures but I did appreciate the shopping lists and pantry breakdown. This would be a good cookbook if you are starting to look into health and different food lifestyles.

[Brie Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made spaghetti squash and kale nests (pg 52), shrimp ceviche and avocado tostadas (pg. 139), and lentil and walnut Bolognese (pg 143).

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excited to try the avocado egg cups recipe with roasted red pepper sauce.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, fairly healthful recipes.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great collection of simple recipes and some great flavor ideas.
i liked the many different parchment package recipes including a tofu one. also some great dressings, one pot meals and drinks

[Honest Mabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will borrow again

There are a lot of recipes I won’t make but some I will and they were interesting enough including the vegan ones that made me go hmm I wouldn’t mind