If you can recall, earlier last year Gwyneth Paltrow caught a lot of flack for her cookbook, It's All Good. I ordered the book while in London and obsessed over the J. Crew-esque photos of Gwyneth sans-makeup in her most comfortable looking cutoffs and cotton pullovers. Her bod also happened to look amazing. I was like, #wherecanIsignup?

Flash forward to when I returned to the US from London. I told myself I would start becoming more adventurous in the kitchen and eat a little healthier. You can guess how that went (hint: it didn't). Living at home for the first few months, then tons of school and work got me a bit sidetracked, so I never followed through with my cooking goals.

With the new year, I decided to crack open the book, which has been quietly sitting on my kitchen shelf since I moved back in August. Now, I'm not saying that I am a cooking master now by any stretch of the imagination since I've only actually made one dish from the book, but I'm also not saying that I'm not. It may also be of importance to mention that it's the simplest "recipe" in the book. And Gwyneth actually says on the page "this isn't even actually a recipe," but I digress. Welcome to my new favorite breakfast:

Avocado and Vegenaise Toast

1/2 avocado sliced

as much vegenaise as you would like

whole wheat toast

course sea salt

ground black pepper

and boom goes the dynamite.

Happy 4th of July, 'MERICA!

via

I hope everyone has a fun 4th of July filled with sun and grilling out and fireworks!

Please don't blow your fingers off.

Also, someone try out the recipes of of this sangria, this rasberry and strawberry tart, and this spicy chicken and slaw sandwich! They all look delicious!

It's All Good: A Gwyneth Paltrow Musing

I'm behind the game here, I know. Gwyneth Paltrow's latest book It's All Good came out in early April, but I didn't order it until a few days ago. I felt weird about ordering a celebrity cookbook (I mean...shouldn't I be ordering them from professional chefs?), but I decided to give this one a go for two reasons. Reason 1: I love Gwyneth Paltrow. I know some of the things she says and does are a little ridiculous, but I think she's so funny and seems nice. Reason 2: After my mom and aunt came for a week, let's just say I've been feeling like a good detox is exactly what I need. That and lots of good salads.

The book came to my flat yesterday, and I am SO EXCITED. As soon as I flipped through the book from cover to cover I texted my mom ASAP and told her she needed to get this book. She neeeeds to.

Granted, I haven't tried any of these recipes yet. They're all (more or less all) dairy-free, gluten-free, red meat-free, carb-free, and based mostly on vegetables or fish. There are some ingredients with chicken, but very few.

First of all, I know that this cookbook was styled to look like a J Crew catalog...but I don't care at all. It works and I love it. I am Gwyneth's target. Look at how good she looks!

And for those of you who have read reviews skewering Gwyneth's book for its "pseudo-science," you have to take this book with a grain of salt. Do you need to go out and get tested for every single kind of food you may or may not be "sensitive" to? No. Does it have a recipe for a boiled egg? For some reason, yes it does.

But the book also has a lot of really neat recipes that aren't mind-numbingly easy. It has lots of recipes that you can also make in an Asian or Italian style, so some of them are customizable in that sense.

Again, you just have to go into it looking for good recipes. For one of my first cookbooks, I love it. I know it has made me look at what I put into my body from a long-term health aspect. Like Gwyneth says in the book, your body is a home you'll live in for the rest of your life, not an apartment you're renting for the year.

Has anyone else gotten the book? What do you think?