Quick & Easy Books - Page 12

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen

Laurie Colwin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Heartwarming Culinary Essays. Great Read for Foodies 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

'Home Cooking' by Laurie Colwin is the kind of book that really makes you wish you could become friends with the author. Unfortunately, the author is no longer with us, so there is a lot more than the usual barrier between celebrity and mere mortal between reader and writer.

The chapters in the book are essays composed of both culinary and autobiographical material, although the book is not a memoir a la Ruth Reichl's two books. It is also not culinary criticism or exposition in the style of John Thorne. It is most similar to the kind of essays written by Elizabeth David, one of the author's heroes, and M.F.K. Fisher.

The author has the advantage of most good writers in that she has lived in interesting circumstances providing fuel for her writing. One premise for much of her culinary advice is based on the fact that for several years, she lived in a very small Greenwich Village apartment with no oven, two hot plates, no sink and a tiny refrigerator, with literally enough room to hold no more than three people at a time. Amazingly, the author was able to actually entertain in this tiny space, using the bathtub and commode as a means of washing up the dishes.

Much of the culinary advice is quirky and some is actually a bit dated, as it predates the microplane and the cheap plastic mandoline. I suspect the author may have changed some of her opinions if these tools had been available. Colwin's advice about knives is also a little dated, as she swears by carbon steel blades rather than modern stainless steel. Since there is no evidence that she sharpened her own knives, I suspect a modern Santoku knife may have changed her opinion. Even so, the essays are a testament to cooking with only the bare minimum of equipment and space.

It is not surprising that Ms. Colwin's recipes never made the 'Best of' series, as they are quirky rather than true gourmet fare. While another of Ms. Colwin's heroes is Edna Lewis, the very influential writer on Southern cooking, Ms. Colwin's recipe for Southern Fried Chicken does not follow Ms. Lewis' lead on a number of things such as an overnight buttermilk marinade. He does, however, keep to the gospel of pan frying rather than deep-frying.

Ms. Colwin's writing provides much more food for the soul than it does food for the gut. Reading this book makes one wish that Karen Duffey would have channeled her not inconsiderable talent for the simple in her book 'A Slob in the Kitchen' into a style more like Ms. Colwin's very entertaining twists on culinary matters.

Highly recommended reading for foodies.

Editorial Review:

Share the unsurpassed pleasures of discovering, cooking, and eating good, simple food with this beloved book. Equal parts cookbook and memoir, Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking combines her insightful, good-humored writing style with her lifelong passion for wonderful cuisine in essays such as "Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant," "Repulsive Dinners: A Memoir," and "Stuffed Breast of Veal: A Bad Idea." Home Cooking is truly a feast for body and soul.

Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

Nigella Lawson

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Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Special Occasions -> Holidays

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

If you consider eating with friends and family a joyful, indulgent celebration chances are you love a good feast. And who better to carefully guide you through the daunting task of preparing that Feast than the domestic goddess herself Nigella Lawson. Written in the tradition of Nigella Bites and How to Eat, Feast is a cookbook for the sensualist that wants to eat very well, but also wants to spend time enjoying the company of their guests instead of struggling with the creation of the meal. What sets Lawson apart is not that she's a good cookbook writer, but a strong writer period. Similar to her other books, Nigella's Feast is presented as part personal memoir, part educational, and part recipe presentation. There is a nice blend of occasions including the obvious (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Easter), a few culturally specific ones (Rosh Hashanah, Georgian Feast, and Venetian Feast), feasts for kids, for vegetarians, and an elegant cocktail party. Each chapter begins with an overview of that particular "Feast." Generally, there is a personal story and experience told, an overview of the cultural importance of the feast, and a description of foods that are associated with each occasion. Impressively, every recipe begins with a personal anecdote giving that impression Nigella didn't just throw it in the book, but is experienced with the recipe and has used it with success. Take her twist on the decadent Chocolate Guinness Cake for example: "I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It's unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable." Who can argue? The cake is to die for. So next time you need to prepare a dinner party let the goddess be your guide, and remember: Keep the preparation simple, use easily available ingredients, and take time to enjoy your guests and your meal. Feast may not be the most advanced cookbook you will own, but if you want to create excellent food with relative ease in a short amount of time, you can not beat Nigella. --Rob Bracco

Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, Revised: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes

Carole Raymond

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

a favorite 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said, other than this (in its original form and new incarnation, which had to be bought for the new recipes and because, well, the old one is falling apart) has been my favorite cookbook since the summer of 1999, and I am a picky cook. I frequently purchase copies for my veggie friends and new cooks alike.

Editorial Review:

Eat Your Vegetables!
Some people are vegetarians because they think a meat-free diet is good for you. Some believe it’s good for the planet. Others just want tasty food; they want it cheap, they want it easy, and they want it now. Whatever your reasons, check out this book’s 135 great-tasting vegetarian recipes, including:
Gingered Chinese Greens Stir-Fry • Banana Bread • Moroccan Stew • Beer and Aztec Rice • Chipotle-Black Bean Chili • Curry in a Hurry • Roasted Vegetable Rush • Miso-Happy Soup •Yogurt Fruit Shake • French Toast 2000 • Pita Pizza Crust • Cremini Mushroom Burger • Broiled Zucchini Parmesan • Rice Pudding Cereal • Coffee Brazil • Chapati with Confetti Salad • And much, much more!
So stop scrounging around for something to eat. With this book, you can put a great-tasting meal together in little or no time.

Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves

Rick Rodgers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hearty stews. Rib-sticking chilis. Tender pot roasts. The real secret is a long, slow simmer at a constant temperature, and no appliance does this better than the slow cooker. If your old slow cooker recipes disappointed you, throw them away! The Slow Cooker Ready and Waiting Cookbook is for people who love good food!

Rick Rodgers has adapted an eclectic array of American and ethnic dishes for the slow cooker. They're all here: fancy fare (Farmer's Market Lobster and Corn Chowder, Sweet and Sour Brisket, Erna's Sauerbraten), everyday favorites (Ground Beef Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings and Herbed Tomato Sauce with Parmesan Meatballs), side dishes (Potatoes Euphoria, Smothered Green Beans, Sugarbush Beans) -- even desserts (Strawberry-Strawberry Cheesecake, Bourbon Bread Pudding, and Lemon-Raspberry Pudding Cake). Ideal for entertaining, the slow cooker keeps crowd-pleasing dips and holiday punches warm from the beginning of the party to when the last guest leaves.

A special section explains how to choose the right-size slow cooker for your needs, how to adapt a favorite recipe, and what can (and can't) be prepared in a slow cooker.

Quick Meals for Healthy Kids and Busy Parents: Wholesome Family Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less From Three Leading Child Nutrition Experts

Sandra K. Nissenberg, Margaret L. Bogle, Audrey C. Wright

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Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Diets & Weight Loss -> Special Conditions -> Low-Fat Diet

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Make Healthy Meals as Fast as You Can Have Them Delivered In a world of frozen dinners and fast food drive-thrus, nutrition has taken a backseat to convenience. And for working parents, finding the time to cook wholesome dinners is no picnic. Finally, here's help for parents in a pickle—a cook-book full of healthy and delicious recipes you can make in 30 minutes or less. Quick Meals for Healthy Kids and Busy Parents is the perfect solution for tight schedules and empty stomachs. With over 140 tasty recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and snacks, it's easy to prepare food the whole family feels good about. Here are just a few of the delightful dishes that will please parents and captivate kids:Beefy Turnovers • Fruited Rice • Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry • Mexican Corn Pudding • Apple Biscuits • Porcupine Meatballs • Pumpkin Pancakes • Spicy Oven Fried Potatoes • Peanut Butter Play Dough • Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches This Indispensable Guide Also Includes:

• Timesaving ideas for organizing your grocery shopping and your kitchen.
• Suggestions for snacks, lunch boxes, feeding picky eaters, and eating out.
• Information on the food pyramid and nutrient labeling system.
• Nutrition analysis and exchange values for each recipe.

Easy Exotic: Low-Fat Recipes from Around the World

Padma Lakshmi

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Great recipes... 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

Another reviewer panned this book b/c she bought it simply to "know Padma better." This is a cookbook, not a biography. The recipes are delicious, low in cholesterol and low-fat. They are easy to make and the instructions are clear, so the book is accessible to new cooks but still interesting for those with more experience in the kitchen. I think this is a terrific book, the recipes I've used have all been delicious (especially the Spinach and Garbanzo Tapas). I highly recommend it.

Editorial Review:

From international model Padma Lakshmicomes a collection of low-fat recipes that are delicious and simple to prepare. New in paperback, a tie-in to the upcoming, 13 part series starring Padma Lakshmi, to air on the Food Network in September. As an international model, Padmas schedule often leaves her with very little time to cook; yet she manages to create healthy and delicious meals. From her family and experiences of travel, she has put together easy-to-prepare recipes for the health-conscious chef. Each dish can be prepared in thirty minutes or less.

Simple & Delicious Cookbook: 260 Quick, Easy Recipes Ready in 10, 20, or 30 Minutes

Taste of Home

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Quick & Easy Vietnamese: Home Cooking for Everyone (Quick and Easy Series)

Andre Nguyen, Yukiko Moriyama

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Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> Asian -> Vietnamese

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

INTRODUCTION
Vietnam is a country of natural beauty with a coastline of sandy beaches stretching about 2000 miles (3225 km) from the northern to the southern tip of the South China Sea. Along the coast, fishing is the main livelihood. The majority of Vietnamese people are Kinh race people (87%) with the
remaining of 53 different ethnic minority groups. For more than 2000 years, the country has been subjected to a near continuing series of foreign occupations from China, France, Japan, and America. One consequence of these occupations is the lasting influence on Vietnamese cuisine. Among Vietnamese
dishes, perhaps the best known in the West is Pho, a noodle soup. Another is the deep-fried spring roll called Nern in the north, and Cha Goi in the south. Rice is a staple food used as a side dish, or a main dish when combined with other ingredients, such as beef, pork, chicken, or seafood.
Vietnamese dishes consist of many different blends of herbs and spices. Most dishes are not fiery hot, nor greasy. Seafood and vegetarian dishes like An Chay are very popular. Today, Vietnamese cuisine is gaining increased international attention due to the fact that it is quite healthy.

This book is an introduction to a new generation for a delicious journey through Vietnamese cuisine. While the combination of flavors may seem experimental to some, they will result in a savory experience. All ingredients used in these recipes can be found in supermarkets, natural food stores or in
Asian food markets. It is our pleasure to share these quick and delicious Vietnamese recipes with you. Enjoy the good nutrition that comes with it.

Simple to Spectacular: How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication

Jean Georges Vongerichten, Mark Bittman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What happens when a world-class chef--Jean Georges Vongerichten, to be exact--writes a cookbook with a culinary minimalist, the New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman? The answer is Simple to Spectacular, a book that presents more than 250 recipes in a unique way. Here's the drill: a few-ingredient "core" recipe is offered, followed by formulas for four increasingly sophisticated (though not necessarily more taxing) variations. Chicken Breasts in Foil with Rosemary and Olive Oil, for example, yields to recipes for the breasts with tomatoes, olives, and Parmesan; with mushrooms, shallots, and sherry; Thai style; and, finally, with foie gras and porcini mushroom. In hands other than the authors', the dishes could be banal or overwrought. Vongerichten and Bittman triumph, however, presenting richly imagined yet straightforward fare whose preparation almost all cooks can manage.

Dish categories range from soups, salads, and entrees to seasonings, sauces, and desserts. In a number of cases, a particular ingredient, such as pasta, or a technique, such as vegetable roasting, is explored (the authors offer recipes for making plain pasta flavored with curry, for example). The sauce section is particularly useful and provides interesting theme-and-variation recipes for vinaigrettes and mayonnaises. Desserts, including Roasted Almond Ice Cream, Butter-Poached Pears with Praline, and Chocolate Tart in a Chocolate Crust, should please all sweet lovers. With 80 color photos, useful tips, and notes on food and equipment, Simple to Spectacular offers an original premise that will stimulate thought as well as great cooking. --Arthur Boehm

Best of the Best: 500 Fast & Fabulous Five Star 5-ingredient Recipes (Best of the Best Cookbook)

Gwen McKee, Barbara Moseley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best of the Best 500 Fast and Fabulous Five Star 5 Ingredient Recipes 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am currently working on my collection of the Best of the Best state cookbooks by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley and am only about 1/4 of the way through the states, mainly collecting those where I have so far lived, or have received as gifts during cookbook swaps. Not even being halfway through the list however finds me wishing for more states in the US besides just 50. I love the concept of a grouping of cookbooks and then recipes from within cookbooks that these two ladies have found for us, but with only 50 states in the USA, there probably won't be many more of these unless we see some second volumes coming out and that would be o.k. with me!

I should not worry with Gwen and Barbara in the kitchen as they will continue to find plenty more cookbooks and recipes to edit and develop for us hungry cookbook collectors and recipe testers. After researching, editing and cooking for more than thirty years, they were bound to come up with new ideas for new cookbooks and that one of them should be for easy and few ingredients was almost a no- brainer for them, I'm sure.

We were delighted just a few years ago when "Beyond Grits and Gravy" appeared and now I've received a copy of "500 Fast and Fabulous Five Star 5 Ingredient Recipes". The good thing is that there are MORE than 500 recipes, the better thing is that they are easy, and the best thing is that each recipe requires only 5 ingredients.

There seems to be a "5" theme to this cookbook -- not only in the title but throughout the cookbook. I didn't expect to read anything about the Pentagon in a cookbook, but it has five sides so there is a short description as well as photo of it on the page with recipes for "Classic Cheese Straws" and "Crisp Criss-Cross Cheese Wafers". On page 63 with recipes for "Enchilada Soup" is a definition of "High Five" -- a celebratory gesture made by two people, each raising one hand to slap the raised hand of the other. What a fun and interesting theme they have chosen to include here.

The recipes are easy and delicious and I'm delighted to find one for "Peanut Butter Cornflake Candy" since it was a favorite of mine in my teen years. Other favorites I'm happy to see included are "Lemon Jell-O Cake" and "Apricot Nectar Cake".

What a fun cookbook this is turning out to be! HIGH FIVE to Barbara Moseley and Gwen McKee on their latest "Best of the Best 500 Fast & Fabulous Five Star 5 Ingredient Recipes". They do know how to pick
winners!