Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family

Rating:
Summary: great cookbook for people who want to cook
Review: This is a great cookbook. I am not sure why people say the recipes are time consuming. They aren't. Yes- you need to know how to cook, follow instructions and have a pantry that doesn't have pre-processed boxed food. For the main courses, Art's showing you recipes that are made with real food and require about 30 minutes of prep time (most of them) and then time to cook. Everything that I've made is delicious. The vegetable lasagna, the scalloped potatoes and dinner rolls are wonderful. Anytime that you make a new recipe it takes a little longer than expected. If you make it again, it usually goes faster. I love this cookbook and it is one that I always look at to find a new recipe. I love it so much that this and Barefoot Contessa are the only cookbooks that I am bringing it on a two month relocation to TX. Buy this cookbook for the great recipes.

Rating:
Summary: Take Time to Cook
Review: This is far from being an ideal cookbook (it appears to have been assembled by a substantial committee of stylists, testers, perfecters and others), but I have to defend its recipes. It's sad to see nearly every review prefaced by what an important message the book has to deliver, then to read complaints about not having the right skillet or not having enough time. Those flimsy reasons are precisely why families DON'T eat together any more and why people don't cook. You make time for what you want to do in life, and you buy the skillet you need to cook in--otherwise, you order pizza. At least that's a meal than can be shared.

Rating:
Summary: A lovely book
Review: This is the kind of cookbook that is not just great to look at but really inspires a person to cook a meal for his/her family. The recipes are homey but with great ingredients. It is a bit confusing in the way it is organized but that just adds to the uniqueness of the book. There are a lot of great salad recipes, desserts and main courses that you can imagine the entire family enjoying - including the kids.