Nealy Fis­ch­er set out to write a cook­book with more than just fixed recipes. The ethos of Food You Want For the Life You Crave is about the flex­i­bil­i­ty of your kitchen and how to make cook­ing easy, ver­sa­tile, and healthy. This is appar­ent from the first few pages in which Fis­ch­er pro­vides a list of swap­pable ingre­di­ents, so that we can still make that meal even with­out some elements.

Not only does this book have delec­table meals like ​“Smoked Salmon and Onion Frit­ta­ta Muffins” for break­fast, and ​“Thai Green Cur­ry Chick­en” for lunch or din­ner, but it also gives them all a healthy spin. Pref­ac­ing the book with her jour­ney to main­tain­ing a healthy lifestyle after failed food fads, Fis­ch­er lets us into her secret of how to keep food inter­est­ing but guilt­less­ly deli­cious. How does a healthy cook­book have an entire sec­tion ded­i­cat­ed to ​“Breads and Muffins”? The answer is sub­sti­tut­ing reg­u­lar bak­ing ingre­di­ents for ones that don’t give us that car­bo-loaded sen­sa­tion. Fis­ch­er uses almond flour and flax meal for her ​“Herbed Every­day Bread” that promis­es to hit the spot when we crave a slice of toast ​“minus the after-bloat.”

The book turns tried-and-true fried chick­en schnitzel into an equal­ly deli­cious ​“Unfried Chick­en Schnitzel,” that requires a long mari­nade, corn­flakes crumbs, and bak­ing in the oven. We no longer have to think twice about that burg­er crav­ing with Fischer’s ​“Sneak­i­ly Good-For-You Beef Burg­ers,” which incor­po­rates a cup of fine­ly chopped veg­eta­bles into the beef so that we ful­fill that crav­ing while get­ting nutri­ents in the process.

While Fis­ch­er gives us the clas­sic Jew­ish food recipes like ​“Sarah’s Melt­away Brisket,” she also loves food from var­i­ous walks of life and pro­vides recipes from her adven­tures around the globe. From ​“Melt-In-Your-Mouth Moroc­can Hal­ibut” to ​“Viet­namese Veg­gie Spring Rolls,” we have the option to poten­tial­ly try new foods, with the bonus of her tips to help flip the ingredients.

Just because Fis­ch­er keeps it healthy doesn’t stop her from hav­ing fun. She ded­i­cates chap­ters to dessert for ​“sen­si­ble indulging,” includ­ing her ​“Unbe­liev­ably Dairy-Free Cheese­cake” and ​“Rockin’ Rasp­ber­ry Haman­taschen.” The book includes a ​“Drinks and Nib­bles for Friends” sec­tion which has bev­er­ages and fin­ger foods fit for a din­ner par­ty. We get tips for ​“Flex­i­ble Host­ing with Flair” fol­lowed by cock­tail recipes like ​“Pas­sion­fruit Bub­bly” and snacks like ​“Car­rot Croquettes”.

As a busy, work­ing mom who tries to main­tain a healthy lifestyle, Fis­ch­er knows the feel­ing of being too exhaust­ed to cook but want­i­ng to avoid take­out. This book helps those who want to eat deli­cious and healthy food, but can’t spend hours in the kitchen. With tips on how to make your dish the best it can be, while being adapt­able, this book gives you the ​“food you want for the life you crave.”