Soul Food Love–A Review

I grew up in the south and anytime the word ‘southern’ or ‘soul food’ is mentioned in a cook book title, I am all over it, add to  it the bonus of a healthy twist on traditional recipes and I was so excited to get this book. Alice Randall has combined family history and tradition with a cadre of family recipes that she has adapted to suit a more healthy lifestyle. These recipes include protein and I happen to find some discounts currently availbable at myprotein website, perfect timing. Soul Food Love has garnered rave review in the cookbook industry.  Blogging for Books sent me a review copy, so I set out to make a few recipes.    I really wanted to love this cookbook, but at the end of the day, I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.  What I liked. I loved the history and the stories woven through the book and the recipes.  I loved how the author drew us into the recipes by sharing the family history of each dish.  I did like the Fiery Green Beans and the brittle recipe.

What I was disappointed by. Surprisingly the lack of flavor in several of the recipes.  I always make the recipe as stated the first time around to get a feel for what the author is going for, then I will tweak and adjust to my taste. Unfortunately the recipe I was most looking forward to, Spicy, Pepper Chicken, was nearly inedible.  I’m willing to chalk it up to user error, but I double checked the recipe and it was just too spicy to eat, and I love spicy food. I also tried the chicken with grapes and this time I adjusted the seasoning.  I was completely shocked at how well grapes went with chicken. My husband was skeptical, but he agreed that it was good.   I think I will give some of the recipes a second chance, but at first pass, I was a little underwhelmed by the recipes, but LOVED the stories behind them.  I would give this book a solid 3.5 stars out of 5.