<< 1 >>
Rating:  Summary: A very solid guide to saving both time and money Review: Frozen Assets Lite & Easy: Cook For A Day, Eat For A Month by culinary expert Deborah Taylor-Hough is more than just another cookbook; it is a very solid guide to saving both time and money by creating a meal plan and then cooking once a week to create seven or more delicious meals. An eye for health and low-fat meal plans hallmarks this particular cookbook collection, as well as the spirit of blending practical need and limited resources with mouth-watering creations. From Spiced Chicken Sandwiches; Turkey Potato Pie; and Old-Fashioned Beef Stew; to Linguini with Vegetables; Enchilada Casserole; and Veggie Bean Chili, Frozen Assets Lite & Easy is a wonderful complement to any kitchen cookbook shelf.
Rating:  Summary: Great book and time saver Review: I don't always use the book the way it is designed. Some nights I'll cook 2 double-size meals and freeze the rest. Works great! My freezer is stocked with healthy food. I freeze alot of the recipes in single serving containers so I can take them to work for lunch.
Rating:  Summary: Great Money-Saving Book, But Poor Editing! Review: I read about this book online and then checked it out from the library to see if I would actually like the recipes. I DID like the recipes (more importantly, so did my son and husband, both picky eaters) so I bought it used here at Amazon. The book has revolutionized the way I approach dinner and cooking in general. I'm not a very organized person, but when you have five pounds of ground beef in your fridge, you learn to be. I split up the "mini-sessions" and just made the meals that sounded good to us. WARNING: Most of the recipes are onion or garlic heavy, so if you don't like either of these ingredients, this book is not for you. There is a vegetarian session, tofu sessions, chicken, turkey, ground turkey, beef, ground beef and bean sessions. We're on our fourth "cooking day" and still have not tried all the recipes. (White Chicken Chili is my favorite!) WARNING #2: The book, while a lifesaver, is not well-edited, as others have mentioned. Wrong measurements for ingredients, omitted ingredients from the recipes or shopping list and there is one recipes that says "bake for 1 1/2 hours" but it doesn't tell me at what temperature! Overall, a great book, but read carefully and exercise your own culinary judgement!
Rating:  Summary: Great for Veteran freezer cooks! Review: If you have been freezer cooking for awhile or are completely new to it you will enjoy this book because it has a different spin on freezer cooking than the classics. I started with Once-a-Month-cooking and at the time it seemed revolutionary, but, though I loved it was a hard days work. Then came Jill Bond and she was really talking bulk cooking! When Deborah's first book came out I was excited because it fit in with my low-on-cash, short-on-time lifestyle.
This book is terrific because it provides a healthy alternative that is still pretty inexpensive. The meals are more than casserole and there are lots of options that are more appealing for the warmer weather when you don't want to heat up the kitchen.
My favorites are the Cheese and Chicken Shells (not for everyone however) Chicken Enchiladas (taste great made with homemade whole-wheat tortilla, if you do that), Crab rice Chowder (gourmet), Bean Casserole and everyone LOVES Spaghetti Pie. There are lots of good recipes in this book.
The drawbacks of this book is that after a few initial sessions I felt that I was more likely to choose some favorites than to use her already laid out sessions...that is okay, but, not as easy as using the shopping lists and plans. Worth trying if you are serious about Freezer Cooking, but I would start with Frozen Assest first.
Rating:  Summary: mush soup Review: Like an earlier reviewer, I found that this book really suffered from being poorly edited. However, the recipes are delicious and the fat has been sensibly trimmed from most recipes. You can easily modify recipes to take out even more fat by using techniques like using cooking spray in a nonstick skillet for sauteing onions. Everything I have made from this book has been great, although I am jotting down lots of notes in my copy of the book as I have modified things a bit to suite my own style and experience. For example, her Cheddar Chicken recipe uses a very lowfat cheese sauce which is made without starting with a roux (flour browned in butter). I found it helped to use Wondra flour mixed in a jar with some of the liquid, like you would for gravy, instead of just tossing everything in the pan. This could cause clumping. She also has a crustless quiche recipe, but I plan on cooking it in a premade pie crust, with the extra fat and calories. I think my family would prefer that.I really like how she has organized her recipes into "mini-sessions" of 5 or 6 recipes grouped by protein type. So, for example, you might do a chicken (breast) session or a lean pork session in one afternoon or evening, rather than cooking for an entire month in one day. Slowly your freezer supply of delicious food will build up. I really, really do like this book, and having checked many freezer cooking books out of the library, this is the only one I bought. My chief complaint, however, is that it appears to have been rushed into print, and I lay the blame for this on the publisher, not the author. (This is just my theory, no one has confirmed it.) The author is a nice lady who deserved to have had support from her publisher. Here are the problems: First, the shopping lists for each mini-session often list the ingredients in a different unit of measurement than they are listed in the ingredient lists in the recipes. For example, with the chicken breasts they are listed alternately by weight, number of whole chicken breasts, number of chicken breast portions (not immediately clear that these are different), and by cups of cooked and cubed meat. Chicken breasts vary considerably in their size, so buying them buy weight is more useful information for recipes where they are going to be cooked and cubed. Second, in some cases, the preparation instructions seem to have been copied and pasted without editing--e.g., boil skinless, boneless chicken breasts and then remove the meat from the bone? Third, the list of ingredients in the recipes are rarely listed in the order that the ingredients are used in the recipes. This is a convention that we cooks are used to, and it is disconcerting to have them listed out of order. A cook is more likely to make an error and omit and ingredient this way. Fourth, as noted in an earlier review, there are instances where the amount of some ingredients is given incorrectly. All I can say is keep reading the reviews here, and hopefully all major blunders will eventually be listed. I keep hoping that the author will post some errata information on her web site (you can find it easily in a web search), but it has not happened yet. Debi, if you read this, pretty please give us a "known errors" page!
Rating:  Summary: Love this cookbook! Review: Love this cookbook! Everything's been great and the method is a life saver. Last night I tried the Chicken Tortellini Soup from Frozen Assets Lite and Easy. It was wonderful! I think we found a new family favorite.
Rating:  Summary: Look really good Review: Ok, I haven't acutally made anything in the book yet but....the recipes look tasty, not the cream of whatever soup casserole type at all. Unlike other another freezer cookbook I have, these recipes have a variety of spices and non casserole presentations. I really like the idea of the "mini sessions" where several recipes of the same type are grouped together. That way freezer cooking doesn't have to be so overwhelming and you can make things according to what's on sale. I was satisfied with the 'Healthyness' of the recipes...they are not for hard core low fat cooks, but for most of us who are trying to eat better they work. There are 3 Vegetarian sessions, a Bean session, and a Tofu session to cut back on that red meat consumption and save us from chicken overload! I did spot a typo on the amount of chili powder in a recipe and another with dry mustard. I plan on asking about them on the website given in the book. I will just be a little wary when making the recipes. In spite of this, I am very satisfied with this book. It is just what I was looking for in a freezer cookbook!
Rating:  Summary: Look really good Review: Ok, I haven't acutally made anything in the book yet but....the recipes look tasty, not the cream of whatever soup casserole type at all. Unlike other another freezer cookbook I have, these recipes have a variety of spices and non casserole presentations. I really like the idea of the "mini sessions" where several recipes of the same type are grouped together. That way freezer cooking doesn't have to be so overwhelming and you can make things according to what's on sale. I was satisfied with the 'Healthyness' of the recipes...they are not for hard core low fat cooks, but for most of us who are trying to eat better they work. There are 3 Vegetarian sessions, a Bean session, and a Tofu session to cut back on that red meat consumption and save us from chicken overload! I did spot a typo on the amount of chili powder in a recipe and another with dry mustard. I plan on asking about them on the website given in the book. I will just be a little wary when making the recipes. In spite of this, I am very satisfied with this book. It is just what I was looking for in a freezer cookbook!
Rating:  Summary: I Love this cookbook Review: This is a great resource for the health conscious cook who doesn't want to sacrifice flavor and style. I use this cookbook more than any other in my collection of over 100 books so that must mean something.
I received this book for my birthday along with this amazing new beverage as an alternative to coffee. Made from 100% soy that's organic, its absolutely delicious! It's caffeine-free and comes in 8 delicious flavors. Just google it under "s oyfee" to find it and you won't be disappointed. I love this cookbook.
<< 1 >>
|