The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well

Love this cookbook! The recipes are tasty, satisfying, natural, healthy, clean eating, attractive dishes that are easy to follow, easy to digest, make use of ingredients you likely already have, and enable you to put a balanced meal on the table quick and easy to leave you feeling both satisfied AND energized. The captivating, "delicious" photographs adorning the pages of the book alone would give you more than enough motivation to keep cooking (and eating) and trying new enticing recipes from the book! This book is chock-full of appetizing recipes inspired by historically-proven, sound Ayurvedic principles. It bursts at the seams with wisdom about foods, your individual body, and the unique interactions between the two, all presented in concise and easy-to-read text. Suffer from uncomfortable digestive symptoms or ineffective unnatural medical remedies no longer! Simply use the tools and recipes in the book to titrate your diet to the food and drink that make you feel great year-round, season-by-season, naturally! Your family and friends will devour them along with you. You'll never again run out of ideas on how to eat the way humans are meant to eat. The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well

I am loving this book! I am pretty new to ayurveda, and this book has made it so easy to take steps in the right direction. The pictures are gorgeous, the information is really accessible, and the instructions are clear. The background information about ayurveda provides a great first step along this path. So far I have made many of the "everyday" recipes, some of the summer recipes, and some of the fall recipes. Everything is easy and delicious. (Well, I should qualify that - if you're the kind of person who likes the taste of veggies and fairly simple foods, everything is delicious. If you want amazing flavors that explode in your mouth and fancy gourmet meals, you may want to look elsewhere.) But most importantly, the food is very nourishing. It's hard to explain, but after a few weeks of this I feel like the food does more than just get rid of hunger; it actually feeds bones and tissues and brings you closer to whole. There are a few weird quirks about this book that I think a better editor would have caught. For example, I am currently making "red pumpkin dal," which does not include pumpkin at all, but calls for kabocha squash. So why doesn't the title match? I want to make the great beet-mint salad I saw somewhere, but it's not in the index under beets, so I am just going to have to flip through the book to find it. There are some other weird issues here and there, but none of these downsides are enough to detract much from the substance of the book, which overall is very good.

If I could, I would give this book a 6 star rating! I have never been so happy with a cook book! It has changed my life, seriously! From lamenting what I should cook and creating fairly uninspiring dished ( mainly for myself), I now effortlessly create gourmet lunches and dinners! ( note: I am NOT getting paid to write this review!). I am a vegetarian, but I can see that a small portion of meat could go with the dishes. I don't find that necessary, because the dishes are filling and delicious. I love the way the book offers recipees for the 4 seasons, as well as a section called Every Day Recipees. Every season has its own spice mix and they are delightful to put together. The colors, the yellow, browns and oranges are so inviting! The spices are not hot. They just add a wonderful and interesting flavor to the dishes and I bet they are very healthy! Th recipees are very easy. I'd say the average time it takes to cook a meal is maybe 30 minutes, less once you've made them a few time. They are not at all complex and all have ingredients that are easy to find in a grocery store. I've effortlessly increased the amount of vegetables eat by multitudes. The only minor criticism I have of the book is that the index is very incomplete and it is hard to search for dishes. But I made a list of all my favorites, including many wonderful drinks and deserts, with the page number and that works well. At least 4 of my friends are cooking entirely from this book, too and are equally happy with the recipees. If you are at all attracted to this kind of cooking, you won't regret buying this book!

I'm new to Ayurveda and found this book to be really helpful, easy to use and not at all intimidating. There is some basic information about Ayurveda up front, but the bulk of the book is centered on both seasonal and everyday recipes. Each seasonal section starts with an overview of the characteristics of the season, the foods to be eating, foods to be avoiding, etc. It really sets the tone for the coming months and I'm looking forward to the next season of recipes to try. There are some items you will likely need to add to your pantry, but once you have the staples on hand you'll be ready to make most any recipe in the book. Nothing exotic or costly is required, which I appreciate. There are seasonal grocery lists at the start of each section which are hugely helpful. Most are familiar, while others might be new. I've personally enjoyed exploring new grains and spices, and incorporating different types of produce and sources of protein into my diet. The recipes themselves are very easy to follow, have good portion sizes, and are easy to scale depending on your need. I've really enjoyed everything I've made so far (and that is coming from someone who regularly eats meat, dairy, soy, gluten, etc). I've focused on the spring recipes, which are very light but still comforting. I also used the 'everyday' recipes in preparation for an Ayurvedic spring cleanse, but have no doubt I'll be turning to these again throughout the year. Book is beautiful. Love the colorful photos and overall feel to it. It's a good size for the kitchen and easy to keep open while cooking. There are also little tips and tricks sprinkled throughout the book - very helpful!

Beautiful book. Great intro and explanation of Ayurvedic health. Recipes and pictures are helpful. One thing I think it’s missing is a guidance on your doshas. A quiz or guidance on how to tell what your doshas are so the rest of the content would be more relevant to your reading.

This is my first time learning about Ayurveda. This book is so well written and easy to understand. The recipes are easy and so good.

This is just what I wanted-information on Seasonal Ayurvedic cooking and lifestyle all rolled into one. No extensive lists of exotic-hard-to-find ingredients. Acknowledgement that cooking is required for a healthy lifestyle and that if you aren't home more than 3-4 hours a week to prepare meals, you are living an unbalanced life - wow. I love all of it, nice pictures and you can skip right to the cooking without all the explanations it you want to. I have been following- sort of- the Ayurvedic life style but never had it all simply presented in one book; I am loving it so far.

I got my introduction to Ayurveda from Kate. For the longest time, I looked for and collected Ayurvedic cookbooks and recipes without much success of truly getting the hang of it. I can honestly say that this book has changed my perspective on actualizing the Ayurvedic lifestyle from a diet perspective. The ingredients are simple and directions are easy to follow. After a few times of making something, I no longer have to depend on the recipes to make them and can prepare grains and legumes ahead of time. The shopping lists are the best part. The seasonable organization makes so much sense. Thanks Kate and Cara! A note on making Dosa. I had a hard time with getting the right consistency of dosa dough. I'd follow the directions exactly and nothing would happen to the batter. I just didn't know what to really look for. I looked at videos and images online but it was still hard to get a sense. I ready numerous blogs and forum comments complaining that perhaps it's too clean in America. It seemed like an especially impossible task in New England, in the middle of winter. But, it's much easier than I'd imagined. I now just leave it the freshly ground batter on the counter, uncovered, and let it sit for as long as it needs to start the fermentation process. At fairly low room temperature, it could take up to 2 days. That's why my initial tries showed no results. When it's fermented, you'll know by the change in consistency (almost like milk curddling), doubling of volume, and smell. Happy cooking!

I find that this book is perfect for me. I use it every day since I got it and plan next week's meals with it! Pros: Well organized for every day and by season Options to modify nearly every recipe for each season Easy to find what I'm looking for Well explained Recipes are easy to follow, simple, nourishing and delicious My struggling digestion has improved greatly since I started using these recipes Beautiful images Cons Can't think of any! Maybe just wish there were more recipes!

Very good

This cookbook wasn’t what I was expecting. Many of the Ayurvedic recipes have food combinations that people with weak agni (digestion) would struggle with. Nice coffee table book but I can’t see myself making any of the recipes or sharing them with clients.

The introduction to Ayurveda opened up a whole world of possibility that has literally changed my life. This book is beautifully presented and laid out in seasons too. I have cooked around 8-10 recipes from this book from kitchari to teas and sweet treats - without the crap! This book will remain a firm go-to.

Great book! Well written and straight to the point. My first introduction to Ayurveda and it's really easy to follow. Love it's simplicity and depth.