I was sent this book by the publisher, Hachette, at no cost. It’s out now; $34.99.

I had heard of Deliciously Ella, but have never seen the original book nor made use of the website. This is my first encounter with Ella Mills. And the first thing I should note here is that this book is not designed for me. I don’t need convincing that eating vegetable is a good idea, and I loathe the word “wholefoods”. While I know that all cookbooks are in some way aspirational, and advocating some sort of lifestyle (yes, yes, thinking about Nigella…), the sort of lifestyle being shown here is definitely not for me. There’s a lot of beige, a lot of jewellery while saving up food… and I rather object to using your kids as props in your book.

So, yes, I was rather suspicious going in, I’ll admit. However, the premise of the recipes themselves is one I can get behind: 30 minutes or fewer for every dish, no more than 10 ingredients, and no more than 5 steps for each dish. There’s absolutely a place for that sort of cooking, and if you can show me some clever combinations of ingredients, then I am 100% here for it.

The good:

• avocado and butter lettuce salad with a crunchy protein topping: Ok, I object to the ‘protein’ in the name, but I’ve now made this several times and I’m keeping it. Basically, avo and soft lettuce, with oil and Dijon dressing, and then toasted chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and pepitas on top. Genuinely delicious.
• 15-minute black dahl: some lentils, tomato paste, coconut cream and curry powder blitzed together, and then cook that with more lentils and onion and spinach. I was pleasantly surprised.
• creamy paneer-inspired tofu: look, I just made this with paneer. Spices and tomato and spinach and paneer. It was fine.

… there are a few other recipes in here I could imagine making, but the reality is that for me, there was really nothing new. If you were just starting out on the idea that you might want to cook for yourself, and wanted to make things that were fast and easy and you were pretty sure were healthy, then this would be a really great book. Also, lunches where you’re pickling onion?? Where the prep time is 15 minutes?? And the TIP is that you can make it a ‘packed lunch’? I know lots of people are working from home still, but surely that’s unrealistic.

I will note that I object to the inclusion of breakfasts in a book like this. Yes they’re “prep ahead” but that just means that you’re adding yet another thing to your to-do list for the night before, when this book is selling time-saving as one of its advantages. Suggesting that breakfast must include something you’ve made, rather than cereal or what have you, is a bit frustrating. Still, at least it does include a few treats, like biscuits, so it’s not completely on the ‘no fun food’ train.