Have you ever had a friend that is just perfect in every way, but you just can’t hate her because she is so darned nice?  I have several of them.  They know who they are because I tell them all of the time.  They always seem to have it together and they are beautiful inside and out.  That is how I feel about Lisa Leake from 100 Days of Real Food.  Although, I have never met her in person………..I have read every word of her blog and really feel like I know her and her family pretty well.  Her girls are the same age as my younger two kids, so I really feel like we have a lot in common.  If nothing else………our love of real food really brings us together.

 

I have followed the story of her cookbook with great interest.  There have been plenty of highs and some lows during this progress.  It is not easy to get a cookbook or any book published these days.  Lisa has wanted this book published for a long time and has plenty of great ideas and recipes to fill a whole slew of books.  I was absolutely thrilled when she found out the release date for her book and asked me to write about her “3rd baby”/ cookbook.  I am so excited to celebrate with her!  Dreams really do come true………..if you work really hard for them as Lisa and her family has worked to make this book a reality.

 

100 Days of Real Food: : How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love is born out of Lisa’s blog.  There she chronicled her family’s transition to real food.  She fills the book with lots of great information to convince you to make the transition to real food and gives you all of the tools you need to really make the change to real food for good.  The world of food can be very confusing.  How do I define processed food?  What oil should I use?  What should I look for when buying meat?  What grains are actually “whole” grains?  She has helpful advice for all of these questions in her book.

 

The other thing you need to successfully make the change to real food is a whole arsenal of recipes to try.  Let’s face it………….your entire family is not going to like all of your new recipes so it’s important to have lots of recipes to try so they don’t give up on your new real food cooking and start demanding their processed food again.  Yes, this is the voice of experience talking here.  Lisa’s recipes use ingredients that you can find at your grocery store.  There is no need to go crazy shopping for a lot of unusual ingredients.

Lisa includes 100 recipes in her book.  She breaks the recipes down into categories which include breakfast, lunch, snacks and appetizers, salads and sides, simple dinners, special treats, and homemade staples.  Each recipe has a beautiful picture so you know what your dish is supposed to look like when it’s done.  Pictures are so helpful to me.  I find that I never make recipes unless I have a picture to go with it.  In addition to the recipes, Lisa includes 4 seasonal meal plans.  It is so much easier and enjoyable to eat real food when you have a plan that really works with the seasons.

 

Another really cool section of the book is Lisa’s section on label reading. Yes, clearly I am a real food geek if I think label reading is cool!  She includes lots of real world examples of foods that are commonly purchased.  She gives the real food pros and cons to each one.  It really gets you thinking about what real food really is and helps to keep you on track as you head out to the grocery store.

If you are a person looking to start a real food journey or you already are a seasoned pro looking for some great new recipes, Lisa’s book is for you.  Put it on your birthday list, your Christmas list, or just go out and buy it because you are that awesome.

Make your own granola……try Cajun Alfredo with shrimp….how about veggie corn chowder and breakfast tacos?  Yep, you can find those recipes and more in Lisa’s 100 Days of Real Food book.  You are going to love Lisa and her book as much as I do.

Have you followed Lisa’s blog?  Have you purchased her book yet?  Where are you on your real food journey………..at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, a seasoned pro………..or still need some convincing?

If you purchase Lisa’s book through my Amazon affiliate link, you will be supporting the future of this blog as I receive a small commission from your purchases at no additional charge to you.  You will also be supporting Lisa’s blog.  How great is that?  You get to help two real food blogs for the price of one!  You can also find Lisa’s 100 Days of Real Food book at your local bookstores.  You are going to love it!