[.ca] Comfort Foods: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals (ISBN 1891105051)

The title says it all:
If you're looking for a great little cookbook with tons of family friendly , easy to prepare ,delicious recipes, this is it. Comfort Foods by Rachael Ray is probably not for gourmet chefs but is really a perfect cookbook for the average cook who wants to prepare tasty ,inexpensive and not too difficult meals. This is really an indispensable cookbook. If you like Rachael's recipes on Food TV, you'll enjoy and appreciate this book.

Good food, layout a little sketchy:
The recipes in this book are great (the kind I call "real food" recipes as opposed to "cookbook recipes") and will be ones that you'll make over and over and your whole family will love. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the layout of the book leaves something to be desired and I think it needs pictures. When it comes to preparation of a dish you've never made before, a visual image is just as important as a recipe.

Zesty Warmth for Winter and Days When You Need Perking Up!:
I come from the school of thaw it, zap it, and throw some fresh herbs and spices on top. That's how I usually create a meal in 5-10 minutes. Let's face it; I'm impatient when it comes to cooking. But on certain days, I fondly recall comfort foods that just hit the spot and left me feeling warm all over . . . no matter what the weather was outside. The frozen foods you can buy normally don't convert well into comfort foods. I have a few simple recipes I've developed for myself, but these dishes don't have the complexity of flavors and appearance that would make them feel like REAL comfort foods. Having been impressed with Ms. Ray's 30-Minute Meals, I decided to see what this book would provide. I was pleasantly surprised by several things: 1. Many of the dishes that I enjoy in restaurants but don't know how to make are included (such as Italian Wedding Soup, Portuguese Sausage and Greens Soup, Creole Chili, Smoky Chili, Everything Jambalaya, and Swedish Meatballs). 2. The complexity of the instructions is just right for my elementary skills. I find myself intimidated by cookbooks that assume I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. 3. Unlike 30-Minute Meals, not every dish features either garlic or garlic and anchovies. 4. There's a rich repertoire of spices, herbs, prepared sauces, alcoholic beverages, and mustards that nicely matches my preference for zest in my food. 5. The dishes are "spiced" up both in terms of ingredients and appearance. For example, she recommends putting sweet pickle relish in your burgers (along with a little onion, cayenne pepper sauce, and steak sauce) while you baste with ketchup and steak sauce. I never would have thought of sweet pickle relish as an ingredient . . . even though I love sweet pickle relish on burgers. 6. Seeing her imagination at work inspires me to toss in even more of my favorite flavors into various dishes. It's like getting your license to drive alone for the first time! Unlike 30-Minute Meals, Ms. Ray sometimes also gives you an accompanying dish to complement the entree. I think that's a nice touch. After all, a whole meal needs to work together so that you enjoy each item more. For those who haven't done the dishes before, I especially treasured her advice about what order to do things in. It would be easy for me to forget to start the rice first . . . which would destroy the 30 minute timetable. While I'm not sure that an amateur like me can do all of these dishes in 30 minutes, I felt pretty confident that 40 minutes would always be enough time. Although I often cook only for myself, if I freeze the left-overs the extra time I spend on these healthy, good-tasting dishes, the extra time I spend won't add more than about five minutes in preparation time per meal. I think that's worth it to step up from the sameness and blandness of thawed, zapped food.

Waste of Money:
I don't like RR's cookbooks. The recipes are not nearly as good or complete as they are on her show. I suggest watching her show and printing the recipes from Foodnetwork's website.

Food Festival:
I have tried two of the recipes from this book, and I think that they are excellent. This book does exactly what it says it will. It provides easy to make, delicious recipes for comfort foods. I love this book already. And by the way, who wouldn't use a cookbook because it didn't have any pictures? That's like saying you wouldn't buy a great novel because it didn't have photos. HMMM.... Anyway, don't be afraid to try it, this is a great simple cookbook for working or busy people.