A Beautiful Mess Weekday Weekend: How to live a healthy veggie life . . . and still eat treats

by Emma Chapman, Elsie Larson

A Beautiful Mess is one of the most popular DIY style blogs in the world, with more than 1 million readers. Co-creators (and sisters) Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson share their unique and approachable diet with fans and healthy eaters in this, their first cookbook. Their philosophy involves eating responsibly during the week—avoiding refined flours, sugars, alcohol, and dairy—and indulging on weekends. Vetted by nutritionists and divided into four parts (breakfast, meals, snacks and sweets, and drinks), each containing a weekday and weekend chapter. Featuring an attractive textured case vibrant photographs, this one-of-a-kind book makes a special gift for yourself or a friend looking for a lifestyle change—or simply more healthy and delicious go-to recipes!

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, Cooking, Health

208 pages, Hardcover

Published November 7, 2017

Reviews

[Kathryn Beal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feeling about this book. The photos are gorgeous, of course, and the recipes are interesting, but I don't agree with the girls' presentation of healthy living. Straight-laced during the week and go crazy on the weekends? More nuance and moderation, please.

Also, be forewarned that this is a vegetarian book. That may have been obvious to others from the title, "How to live a healthy veggie life," but it wasn't to me. "A veggie life" is an ambiguous statement, and I couldn't spot the word "vegetarian" anywhere in the book. For myself, I was at my heaviest when vegetarian and never felt satiated. Did not work for me.

Emma and Elsie don't seem like the best role models for healthy eating. I follow their blog, and they gained weight while writing this book. This may be why they don't feature photos of themselves much in the book.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the concept (healthy weekday meals, treats on weekends) and I like the 5 weekday rules that they suggest: eat a variety of foods, no refined or artificial sugars or sweeteners, no refined white flour or white rice, no dairy, no alcohol. However, I find a lot of the weekday recipes to be a bit too involved.

Overall, the recipes feel very trendy - cauliflower rice stir fry, infused water, avocado toast, smoothie bowls... It’s a very pretty book though, so it does make me want to kick my food presentation game up a notch.

[Brianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just ok for me. I kind of liked the idea of limiting certain foods, and there were a couple of recipes I might try, but overall it was just ok.

If you're interested in this, then by all means, go for it!

[Stefanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So no rules for the weekends. Sounds great but you can’t just go crazy and not pay attention to what you eat, even if it’s a Saturday or Sunday. There’s some good sounding recipes in here and like there blog and previous books, the photography is the best part.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good recipes, but it doesn’t tell you nutritional information or an estimate of how long each recipes takes.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really pretty cookbook, and I've been looking to incorporate more vegetarian meals into my diet, so I appreciate Goodreads for giving me the opportunity to try the book out. I'm not a great cook-I can handle the basics but I don't have the kitchen space or the time and patience to try really complicated recipes. A lot of these recipes seem to be very involved. I also had some trouble finding some of the more esoteric ingredients, although where I've run into problems I've mostly been able to find cheaper substitutions.

So far I've tried four recipes: the brown rice and roasted banana porridge, zoodles and noodles teriyaki stir fry, garlicky sweet potato bites, and pulled squash sandwiches with grilled onion and pineapple. They've all been pretty good, and I'll definitely make them again (though holy shit-I will be eating spaghetti squash for a month from the one squash sandwich recipe). There are other recipes in the book I'd like to try. But they're also more complicated than I am used to and not the kind of recipes I consider everyday.

So I don't think I'll be able to put the "Weekday/Weekend" premise of the book into practice-I can't make these sorts of recipes every weeknight.

It's a good cookbook for vegetarian inspiration, though.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this cookbook through Goodreads Giveaways and am enjoying making my way through, trying out the recipes. My husband and I are making an effort to reduce sugar consumption, increase produce in our diet, and still eat well. I enjoy cooking and live in an area with good grocery shopping options, so didn't find any of the ingredients problematic.

From a visual standpoint, this book is lovely, with great photos and a spring-like pastel color palette.

So far I've been sticking with the healthier recipes and passing over the "weekend" sweet treats. As I work at home, I especially appreciate the concept of visually appealing, healthy and filling breakfasts and lunches. The miso granola is delicious, the flavor quite interesting, but a little goes a long way and needs to be cut with yogurt, milk, fruit etc. I love the avocado/egg toast, most of the smoothies and smoothie bowls, kale frittata, oatmeal and porridges. The dill/apple and curried deviled egg sandwiches, the stacked apple/kale salad were a hit. (I'm not normally a big fan of kale this or kale that, but the kale in these recipes are sublimated.) The za'atar nuts are a great taste sensation, and I love having a small bowl for my afternoon snack.

Not all recipes were winners for me (hidden spinach chocolate smoothie) and not all ended up looking as colorful as in the photos, but overall this cookbook is a keeper. I'm especially happy that more recipes can be found on the authors' Beautiful Mess blog.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adorable vegetarian cookbook from the sisters behind the "A Beautiful Mess" lifestyle blog really got me out of the cooking slump I've been in lately. The varied, on-trend recipes, while not for the beginner cook, are fairly simple and enjoyably quirky. I found the rules for weekday weekend eating really fit my lifestyle and I have noticed a difference in my health, skin, energy level, and weight after a month of following this plan.

My very favorites are the Miso Granola (excellent everyday breakfast with coconut yogurt and fresh fruit), the Stuffed Poplano Peppers (spicy and healthy) and the Mushroom Ragu (your own sauces will always be better and healthier than stuff from cans). I have tried a large portion of the recipes in the book at this point and most of them have just been delicious (as well as husband-pleasers) and will be definite repeats in my household.

I got this book from the library but I will be buying my own copy. The only thing I do have to take a star off for is the large section of alcoholic drinks in the end of the book. I think it was a waste of space (admittedly we don't drink) that could have been better filled with more food recipes. Thanks ladies for this pretty and inspiring cookbook!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weekday Weekend is introduced as a diet lifestyle, a plan with five healthy rules for the weekday and allowances for splurges on the weekend. The authors encourage trying out this plan for 4-6 weeks with restrictions on refined or artificial sugars, refined white flour or white rice, dairy, alcohol and emphasizing a variety of plant based foods.
Plan aside, they also encourage other healthy eating and the suggestion that the recipes can be used outside of the plan and just as any ol' cookbook for anyone looking to eat healthier. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the thought of making Spelt Zucchini Carob Waffles for a weekday (not refined!) and then splurging on Biegnets during the weekend made with store bought canned biscuits. Many of the weekday meals felt like either sandwiches or sides save the Mushroom Ragu, which might be the only recipe that I've marked to try. I guess I am not sure entirely the author's targeted audience. None of the recipes look incredibly original (Shakshuka is a thing already!) or inspiring.

[Margaret Hypes-dolan]

Even though I was reading this book as a vegetarian who already follows a lot of the "rules" in the eating plan, I still managed to find enough new ideas and recipes to make it worth reading. I like the idea of putting pumpkin purée in different things for nutrition and the coconut sprinkle thingys are good on everything. The authors do suggest some things, like the canned biscuit donuts , that I would never eat, but I guess that's what they like as a treat. And I think that's the whole point if the book, not to scrutinize every recipe but to eat what you love in moderation and to be curious and enjoy cooking. Overall I give the book a positive rating. And it's pretty.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven't cooked anything out of this yet, so rating's based on the reading experience.

I like the concept of this diet (I'm vegetarian already though), and that they brought in nutritionists to support it. I appreciated that most of the recipes had a photo. The recipes themselves didn't jump out at me as much, though I did find 16 I'd like to try. Some of them seemed either too complicated or not to my taste.

[Kristin Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like a diet book rather than a recipe book, which was unfortunate. The flavor combinations aren’t ones that I’d care to try for most of the recipes and the ones I would are simple avocado toast or infused waters. If this helps someone eat more whole foods then the book served it’s purpose.

The photos are beautiful and there’s some useful information about nutrition located within these pages. Other than that, it wasn’t for me.

[Giulia Viti · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I LOVE “A beautiful mess”, I wasn’t happy with this book.
Of course it has beautiful pictures and it’s s beautiful object to have in the house, but I don’t feel like their best recipes were there.
I am also kind of upset that they put alcoholic drinks in there. I can barely stand it in normal cookbooks, but one about health? Nah.

[Liz C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the infused waters and smoothie portions of the book but everything else was honestly pretty disgusting or ridiculous. Mushroom gravy on fries? An apple and mayonnaise salad thingy on bread? Gross.

[Sha'Tisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I'm exactly the target audience here... most of these recipes felt pretty excessive and time-consuming and I don't have time for that, nor the money to go buy an obscure ingredient that I might use once or twice. The pictures were pretty though.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love! The recipes are delicious and just follwing the 5 rules is so nice. Love that its not a diet but a guideline to a lifestyle. It also opened my eyes up to how many foods I was eating that has added sugar! Seriously shocking! I definently reccomend!!!

[Ida Taing · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst eating philosophy ever. Eat semi decent during the weekdays then trash it on the weekends? No thanks. The best thing going for this book is that the page design and photos are cute. That's about it. No one should read this.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So my life is always weekend...

[jeanmarie]

The recipes looked overly fussy and nothing jumped out at me as a ‘must make’. Beautiful photos, though!

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a lover and collector of cookbooks, this one gets totally lost among the crowd. It's fine, but nothing memorable or inspiring.

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not for me. The recipes all seemed quite "California healthy eating" and a lot of it was fairly basic - a fair few recipes for things on toast!

The photography was beautiful though.

[Dray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the organic freshness of these recipes.

[Mari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried 3 different recipes from this cookbook. All 3 were pretty terrible. Donating the cookbook.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

overall not a super exciting collection of recipes - a few good basics.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book as it is packed with fresh recipes that are super good for you and your family. This is a great book to keep open in the kitchen!