Special Order Recipes
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Review of "Special Order Recipes"

As this is primarily a recipe site, no wonder I try and scoop up any low carb books that could be relevant for my own cooking as well as an inspiration for dishes I could share with you. Some are better, some are worse. With the Dukan diet being quite specific about the amount of fat you can use (pretty much none...) a lot of the low carb cookbooks available on the market provide very few recipes I can use.

If you've been on the Dukan diet for a while and looked around on the Internet you will probably recognized Janice, the author of Special Order Recipes. She has done the diet herself, and keeps providing cooking inspiration for a lot of us on her blog: DukanItOut. Although the book doesn’t state it on the cover it is a great resource for Dukan dieters.

What you get

So what do you get for your money? Let’s start with a few numbers:

• 69 pages
• 120 variations on 25 recipes
• 20 sections (Eggs, Salads, Flatbreads, Meatballs, Chicken Tenders & Wings, Oat Bran Pizza, Burgers, Pastas, Baked Dishes, Shrimp, Fish, Chicken Breast & Thighs, Pork, Beef, Meatloaf, Pancakes, Chilis/Stews, Oat Bran Muffins, Oat Bran Cookies, Oat Bran Breakfast Bars)
• Plenty of mouth-watering photos

The book stands out from the moment you open the package (I had mine delivered) – its square size and thicker than usual paper, as well as striped, not white, pages give it a very homey feel.

Reading and Cooking

The recipes are nicely laid out, with a readable font for both ingredients and instructions. Colour is used to highlight certain elements, but does not overwhelm the read or make the book look like a rainbow.

The photos are of good quality, but don’t have a glossy stock-feel to them. Personally I think it works very well with the rest of the design and adds to the authenticity of the recipes. You know you are getting something that has been tried and tested.

The instructions are easy to follow, often not too complicated. This makes most of the recipes reasonably simple and accessible even to the beginner in the kitchen arts.

Dukan Diet

Despite being a low carb and low fat collection there are plenty of options for both meat and veggie lovers. It does show you can have fun and be creative with your meals while eating healthy. This is really thanks to the big variety of types of meals presented.

One thing that I have to mention is that although a big chunk of this cookbook is appropriate for the diet there are things to watch out for. Because there is no indication which dish is for which phase of the Dukan diet, it could be a little bit confusing for someone just starting out.

As this is Janice’s book after she finished the weight loss program, the book is focused on a more general low fat, low carb, high protein cooking. That’s why you get occasional ingredients (like for example honey) that would not be allowed on the Dukan diet. Still, even those odd recipes are great for inspiration.

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