• Loueeza on June 11, 2017

  It's a great book, but the portion sizes are way off. Between 2 of us we could usually eat 3 portions of a "serves 4" recipe (oops), but deliciously Ella "serves 4" is enough for 8. Great for having leftovers though!

• sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

  Pea and cannellini bean soup Not bad, although required quite a lot of salt to give it some zing. A beautiful bright colour, and the beans definitely made it more creamy.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Medjool dates stuffed with nut butter

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    very yummy and simple snack

• Warm wild rice salad

  • erin3107 on July 24, 2022

    I used white rice instead and the recipe came out really well!

• Quinoa tabbouleh

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    Really good, I put raisins in cause thought it would be nice

• Mexican quinoa bowl

  • erin3107 on November 10, 2022

    wasn't bad but the portion sizes are way off. And I've had way better cashew creams made in a blender instead of food processor tbh

• Quinoa and turmeric fritters

  • sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

    I made the mistake of using red quinoa, which made it far too heavy. They need to be reasonably flat in order to cook through.

• Simple oat cookies

  • sharifah on March 15, 2015

    I was a little sceptical about the recipe ingredients but I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious and filling these cookies were! I used porridge oats, and probably best to melt the coconut oil first if solid. Follow her instructions to flatten the cookie so that it turns out crispy. I didn't so mine was a little 'cake-y' but nevertheless still yummy! Would make this again.

  • sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

    Incredibly quick to prepare, and quite tasty, although a bit of cinnamon wouldn't go amiss to provide more flavour. Definitely needs to be a small, thin cookie as otherwise it doesn't cook through and go crispy, and will be difficult to get off of the baking sheet. A big hit with my small people.

  • eeeve on April 30, 2024

    Pretty standard banana/oat cookie recipe, added some cocoa powder and ground flax seed. Were still a bit chewy in the centre, but 7yo thought they were delicious. Would make again.

• Chia breakfast pudding

  • sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

    Once you get past the slightly slimy feel of the chia, a great quick breakfast. I've tried blueberry and also the mango version. Both version are sweet enough to appeal to kids.

• Cinnamon pecan granola

  • sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

    Extremely seedy - beware if going for job interviews, as you will be finding pieces lodged in your teeth all day! I found that it baked far quicker than the recipe states, and also needed a lower temperature. Lacks flavour.

• Superfood bread

  • Alro9 on May 29, 2015

    I think this one is largely a matter of taste, the recipe makes a dense seeded cake-loaf with a good crust. If that's what you are after you'll like it, if you were hoping for something lighter (or more like bread!) it may not be what you are looking for. I eat it with soup on the day I made it and it was very filling and pleasantly flavoured. I should have added more salt would be my only observation.

  • Hellyloves2cook on February 02, 2026

    Easy to make.This is not made in a tin- you simply shape the dough with your clean hands into a rectangle shape about 5cm high. I left the loaf in the oven about 15 minutes longer than instructions to ensure a nice crunchy crust. It has a great taste.. dense, moist and very filling indeed. I will put more salt in next time. I thought I had put in enough at 1/2 tsp -but it needs more in my opinion. Also I will add more herbs as I didn't have quite enough ( as stated in recipe) left in my mixed dried herb jar . Still -I am very happy with how it turned out. I have sliced it up to put in the freezer otherwise it will go off before I get round to finishing it. Delicious with avocado, tomato and basil.

• Brazil nut and rocket pesto pasta

  • louise_mxmygw on January 20, 2026

    I felt that the rocket overpowered the taste, made it too bitter overall.

• Chocolate chia cookies

  • SugarFree_Vegan on February 08, 2015

    I made these with half and half sprouted buckwheat flour and quinoa flour. One warning however, if you make these as directed using tablespoon blobs of dough then instead of the 12-15 cookies you'll get more like 30!! (calculated from the recipe using the weights measurements that the dry ingredients come to 600g so 12 cookies individually would weigh in at over 50 g each which is a pretty hefty cookie. Be careful not to scorch them whilst they are cooking too as being brown it's hard to tell if they are done plus they firm up a lot when cold. They taste delicious however :-)

• Beetroot hummus

  • raybun on May 23, 2016

    Very tasty! I halved the recipe and there was plenty for 4 adults and 3 children with leftovers. Even my beet hater of a husband was converted. I might add a little heat next time.

• Roasted tomato with red pepper and basil cannellini soup

  • eeeve on October 13, 2025

    This was so-so. Thought it created too much washing up for such a simple meal (roasting tin, blender, saucepan). Didn't have enough tomatoes, so substituted with a can of chopped tomatoes, and now the soup is too tomato-y! It's alright though, and we'll finish the leftovers, just don't think we'll make again.

• Pea and mint cannellini soup

  • sharpcatherine on May 13, 2015

    Not bad - as with many of these recipes, lacks flavour. Very quick and easy to do. Needed a lot of salt.

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    this was fine but not amazing

• Lentil, courgette and mint salad

  • Hellyloves2cook on December 23, 2015

    Delicious and was given a big thumbs up by guests and my family. Will definitely remake!

• Black and kidney bean chilli

  • Allie80 on June 04, 2018

    I found it a bit bland but with some additional spices it's now become part of our regular rotation. Added the following: 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp dried marjoram, 1 square dark choc or 1 tsp sugar

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    found this quite bland but I did skip the jalapenos

  • eeeve on September 15, 2025

    I had been prepared for this to be bland due to the previous reviews, so I added 1tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin and a square of dark chocolate as per the below reviewer’s suggestions. It came out really really good! Admittedly, I did cook it for longer than the stated 10 minutes.

• Coconut Thai curry with chickpeas

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    this was pretty good but the portion sizes were way too big

• Pan con tomate

  • Neen84 on February 07, 2015

    This is delicious. So simple but so tasty. Added a bit of dried thyme as well and had on toast. Yum.

• Carrot, orange and cashew salad

  • SugarFree_Vegan on January 30, 2016

    Pg 139 I decided to make this into a warm salad by spiralizing my carrots and baking them in the oven for 15 mins or so (I dusted them with cumin and sprayed with rape seed oil). I also toasted the cashews at the same time for a few minutes. I then tossed the all the ingredients together in a big bowl at the end. It's a lovely tasty salad and one I'll make again.

• Beetroot carpaccio

  • etcjm on October 22, 2019

    Very good. For my taste it needed a touch more maple syrup. Was even better the next day. Have tried raw beetroot carpaccio before which I just didn't like. Lovely side with chesnut loaf. I suppose you could just use cooked beetroot out of a packet but it seems like cheating.

• Roasted squash, olive, avocado and rocket salad

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    really yummy, I used sweet potato instead of squash

• Warm winter salad

  • swegener on June 14, 2015

    So good! I used slow roasted tomatoes instead of sun dried, and added assorted young greens from the garden. I also grilled the eggplant. So I kind of made this my own, but it was quite good!

• Veggie lasagne

  • Hannaha100 on January 03, 2021

    We made this to use up some butternut squash and this was pretty popular with my kids. The squash is steamed and then pureed to make a creamy sauce. I think we will probably do this again - an excellent way to get veg in them. Although it says 2 squash, I only needed slightly more than 1 to get the weight stated. I added some oregano and sage to the veg and added aubergine and chopped tomatoes because I didn't have quite enough of the right veg (the aubergine wasn't popular but kids ate the rest). Without precooking the lasagne it took 35mins in oven.

• Cauliflower and potato curry

  • Hellyloves2cook on July 12, 2016

    A delicious tasting curry for the family. All the spices required 3 tablespoons worth as stated in the recipe, which I thought may be a little excessive but it was definitely not overkill. As I didn't have access to fresh julepeno peppers I used the jarred variety that come pre-sliced which worked well. The whole family liked this served on a bed of brown basmati rice.

• Broccoli with a tahini dressing

  • erin3107 on February 18, 2023

    pretty good

• Sweet potato pancakes

  • eeeve on February 03, 2026

    These were alright. Liked the subtlety of the sweet potato in there. But just weren’t as nice as the banana pancakes we usually make (with eggs and regular flour). The 9yo wasn’t impressed at all…

• Key lime pie

  • katie_6n41lt on April 28, 2026

    Would make again! Easy! Swapped base with any nuts I had available - mixed seeds and walnuts- and still worked well.

• Best breakfast smoothie

  • sharifah on April 11, 2015

    Like this smoothie very much, filled me up until lunchtime. I also added 1 tsp spirulina powder. As with Ella's smoothies, it is a little bit on the thick side so I added a little bit more liquid.

• Simple banana and spinach smoothie

  • raybun on May 03, 2016

    Very tasty, and not too sweet. I added some strawberries. Bit of a murky pond colour, but will make again.