Rating: 
Summary: Finally a cookbook that even does the shopping for you.
Review: I wish that I could claim to be a 5 Star chef who could proclaim this book fabulous, but alas, I am only a so-so cook, grateful to have found a 5 star cookbook. Fortunately for me, this cookbook makes up for my many shortcomings as a cook. My family finally gets more than my rotating 5 standby meals. Three cheers for this cookbook! Where's it been all my life? Nevermind, I'm just happy to have it now.
Rating:
Summary: Its not perfect, but for what it claims, it delivers
Review: I've been using this cookbook for three years and I think I know the ins and outs of it. It is incredibly useful for day to day cooking and once you have a pantry stocked with various spices,oils and vinegars, it's not all that expensive. The main problem for where I live is the fish and the seafood. Im landlocked and we don't get much good seafood here. You can sub in a chicken breast, pounded flat, for a fish fillet, you can sub porkchops for lambchops, you can sub canned tuna for crab and shrimp for scallops. You'll save about 60 bucks a week. (and that's no insignificant amount.) The sides dishes, and the variety of vegetables are the main thing. You've never eaten such a variety of produce. If you've ever felt like life consisted of corn, broccoli and carrots, you'll get over it here. Flag the side dishes you like and repeat them at holidays. Your relatives will think you're the worlds' most accomplished cook.All in all, groceries, my once a week groceries which includes cleaning and laundry products, for a family of four is about 175.00. It saves a lot of thinking about things you dont want to think about. Buy a food processor, there's a lot of chopping. One IMPORTANT thing, skip the desserts, the kids will think they are nasty, if they are anything like mine. I mean, stewed fruits? Am I 80 years old? Just buy a couple of gallons of ice cream instead of the dessert menus. You'll save a lot of money for empty calories and the kids will be happy.But, if you can find any cookbook that's more helpful on the mass market for your particualar family, you'll be unbelievably lucky. You could spend a gazillion dollars on a personal nutritionist, who is gonna nail your EXACT needs (for a year). But you could also buy this book, throw out what doesn't work and keep what does. I think you'll be very pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: Menu planning made easy
Review: Sometimes the hardest part about cooking day after day is coming up with the menus. This has a year's worth of weekday menus and recipes, organized seasonally. (Also bound nicely! Why don't more publishers think about how a cookbook is used?) Complete with a shopping list for each week and balanced meals. My only complaint is it's hard to find a recipe you want to repeat because of the "cute" names. A minor flaw though.
Rating:
Summary: Helped turn dinner time into family time!
Review: The book has been a god-send for our family. My daughters enjoy getting the ingredients ready for the cooking. You know, measuring the spice and gathering the vegetables. I must say however that the whole ordeal is a good test of your family's taste buds. We have had some meals that we all said cross that day out of the book! But it has opened our taste buds to new experiences and my wife and I are finding that we can cook almost like gourmets. The book is fun to use but takes some planning too. With this book plan, we now do our grocery shopping on Sundays to gather all the ingredients for the week. The recipes are for Monday through Friday. Even though the book says that the measurements are for four people, we're finding that there is enough for leftovers to take for lunch. We've also found that the author really loves onions and garlic. We're beginning to use about half the onion required and about 2/3 the garlic. Your spice rack will also begin to expand as the author loves to add all kinds of neat exotic spices. Like I said before, it will be an experiment on your family's tastes. Put a happy face next to the recipes you like, a face with a curvy mouth for the good/bad recipes, and a frown for the "give it the dog" ones. Overall, Get this book!
Rating:
Summary: Everyone I know is getting a copy of this book for Christmas
Review: The most frequent argument that my husband and I have is "What do you feel like for dinner?" I finally went in search of a cookbook that would give me combinations of recipes to cook, ie: a main course, a salad, and a vegetable. (I am NOT a very creative or proficient cook!)When I found this cookbook it completely exceeded my expectations!!! Not only did it provide the recipes for different dishes, but it actually planned an entire meal for each night of the week, for an entire year with no repeats. My husband and son are picky eaters, but we took the authors' advice and we try every meal, even if it doesn't sound appealing. If we don't care for it, we don't have to cook it again for another year. So far, we have loved just about every dinner! Another positive is that we are eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before, and I am learning how to cook with a variety of different seasonings and spices. It is actually fun to cook dinner now. The shopping lists and the countdowns are also great time savers. What a concept! The authors have provided an incredibly useful tool to working moms and busy families. All of my friends are getting a copy for Christmas.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone I know is getting a copy of this book for Christmas
Review: The most frequent argument that my husband and I have is "What do you feel like for dinner?" I finally went in search of a cookbook that would give me combinations of recipes to cook, ie: a main course, a salad, and a vegetable. (I am NOT a very creative or proficient cook!)When I found this cookbook it completely exceeded my expectations!!! Not only did it provide the recipes for different dishes, but it actually planned an entire meal for each night of the week, for an entire year with no repeats. My husband and son are picky eaters, but we took the authors' advice and we try every meal, even if it doesn't sound appealing. If we don't care for it, we don't have to cook it again for another year. So far, we have loved just about every dinner! Another positive is that we are eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before, and I am learning how to cook with a variety of different seasonings and spices. It is actually fun to cook dinner now. The shopping lists and the countdowns are also great time savers. What a concept! The authors have provided an incredibly useful tool to working moms and busy families. All of my friends are getting a copy for Christmas.
Rating: 
Summary: Great concept, poor execution
Review: The organization of this book is top-notch. A complete meal on each spread, the shopping list up front, the countdown of preparation steps... perfect. Now, if the recipes were good, it would be my one and only cookbook. I've made about 20 of the meals. Every one left something to be desired, and some were just plain bad. The authors use the phrase "season to taste" a lot, and they mean it. We're not just talking salt and pepper. I usually use more of the herbs and spices they do call for and add others of my own. I've also encountered obvious mistakes in several of the recipes. In their quest for a year's worth of different recipes, sometimes they get a little too wacky with the ingredient combos, too.
Rating:
Summary: This gets an A-
Review: There's a lot that's great about this cookbook for the hassled and harried family cook. It answers the daily question of what to make for dinner that's nutritious, tasty and doesn't take too long to make. My picky eaters actually like most of what comes from this book. The whole dinner is layed out on two facing pages so you can just prop it up in a book holder and go to it. And, I've been thrilled with some of the new to me ingredient combinations that turn out delicious.
On the other hand, this is not a book for new cooks. It takes a bit of cooking and shopping experience to realize that a can of chicken broth and other ingredients will not fit in a small frying pan, or that a package of yellow rice is a quite adequate and much cheaper substitute for rice made with actual saffron. And, it takes a very large and sophisticated supermarket to find many of the ingredients, especially out of season. So, there are many "corrections" and clarifications pencil marked in my copy.But, on balance, this collection will often be a godsend for the average family cook.
Rating:
Summary: The easiest way to great meals
Review: This is the most complete and accurate cook book I have been able to use.
It is highly recommended to ANYONE
Rating:
Summary: Just perfect
Review: We love this book! My husband and I love to cook, but often don't like to think of what to cook, so we'd just fall back on pasta. Not anymore! It's gotten us to try things that we wouldn't normally (we'd only go for the sure successes), and while not everything has been outstanding, everything has been good.
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