"So Easy So Good" Lives Up to the Hype

A cookbook recommendation

Dear readers, I barely have the energy to write anything this week, let alone anything engaging. The weather has simply been too nice. Ryan and I went for two hikes and a long walk downtown this weekend, totaling about 12 miles. We also visited a friend’s house for an outdoor art event where we painted and sketched the scenery (a style called plein air).

All I want to do right now is sleep, eat, and be outside in the sun. Is that too much to ask for?

Every time I sit down at my computer, I can feel my brain resisting the task of writing. This happens during work AND when I’m writing my Substack for fun. I’d abandon it all if I could, but my whole career and many of my favorite pastimes are tied to the computer, so that’s not happening. Besides, I’d feel bad if I ghosted you all one random Tuesday (though I have been thinking about taking a scheduled summer break sometime in the next few months — more on that later).

So, here’s something quick I can share with you this week: a review of one of my new favorite cookbooks. It’s called So Easy So Good by Kylie Sakaida.

This book has been getting a lot of hype since it came out in April, and landed on the NYT bestseller list pretty quickly. The author, Kylie, is a dietician and influencer (@NutritionByKylie) who I’ve actually followed on Instagram for several years now. I preordered her book right after I heard about it because she influenced me to try one of her one-pot rice cooker recipes like a year ago and I got completely hooked.

If Kylie could make one of my favorite recipes in recent years, then I definitely wanted to read more about her other food ideas. And sure enough, this cookbook is a great fit for my current diet — it’s heavy on veggies, filling, flavorful, and easy to make.

So far, Ryan and I have tried three recipes from the cookbook. I think three recipes is enough to know if a cookbook will be good or not. One recipe could be a fluke, two could be lucky, but three is fairly decent proof that the author is onto something.

The first dish we tried was sheet pan gnocchi with sausage and mini peppers. I thought this dish would be too plain for my tastes, but it ended up being a perfect mix of salty, sweet, and starchy. You serve the sheet pan mix over a bed of spinach and top it with parmesan cheese, which rounds it out nicely. It also only took about 45 minutes to prep everything and cook it. I think it will take more like 30 minutes next time, since I’m familiar with the recipe now.

I forgot to take a picture of the gnocchi with sausage and peppers, but the next recipe we tried was too pretty to not photograph. It was a kale, chickpea, and sweet potato bowl with tahini turmeric dressing — a beautiful golden sauce that amplifies what would otherwise be a pretty plain veggie bowl.

I loved having this for lunch and wish I made more of the ingredients to stretch it over a few more days! It was very quick to make. I used pre-chopped kale from Aldi, whipped up the sauce in about 15 minutes, and roasted my veggies in between tasks at work. Ryan thought it made a great dinner, since he decided to have his bowl in the evening.

Then this past weekend, we tried the chicken ranch naan pizzas. These are little homemade pizzas that use store-bought naan as the crust and are topped with marinara sauce, spicy chicken sausages, cheese, veggies, and ranch dressing. I made the mistake of using mini naan instead of the regular full-sized ones so I had to cram a LOT of toppings each pizza. They were a little messy cooking in the oven but otherwise delicious.

I’m not a huge fan of ranch dressing, but I really liked it in this recipe. It adds an extra bit of saltiness and creaminess to the pizza that made it more fun to eat. (I admit that the ranch-on-pizza fans knew what they were doing all along.)

So far, I’ve admired how the recipes in So Easy, So Good are exactly that. Each of the dishes I’ve tried so far are both easy to make and delicious, and also a combination of foods that I would have not previously thought to put together. My favorite cookbooks are like that — uncomplicated, but illuminating in the way they combine obvious ingredients to create something new and exciting.

Oh also, can I just say these have also been super filling recipes, too? And not in a “I ate so much that my tummy hurts” kind of way. Just like, “I ate a good lunch and now I don’t have to eat a ton of snacks to hold me over until dinner” way. This fact doesn’t surprise me given that Kylie is a dietician, but I think it’s a reason to appreciate this cookbook even more. It’s nice knowing that these dishes will satiate me AND delight my tastebuds.

I’m looking forward to trying a few more recipes this week. On deck is a honey glazed tofu bowl that I’m going to make for lunch on Wednesday or Thursday. Mmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

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