Cookbook Review

The Big Book of 30-Minute Dinners is a busy person's best friend. It offers a wide range of recipes that can all be prepared in 30 minutes or less. From zesty grilled entrees and crisp salads for summer entertaining to hearty soups and stews for colder days, this cookbook has it all. It also covers a variety of quick side dishes and desserts to compliment your meal. In addition to offering many tried and true favorites, the book shares an impressive number of ethnic-inspired meals from countries like Thailand, Italy, Mexico and China, among others.

Presented as a lovely bound hardcover book, the Big Book of 30-Minute Dinners offers a simple format that is easy to use. After a brief introduction, the book dives right into the recipes. Each chapter is devoted to one type of dish (e.g. poultry or soups). The first pages of each chapter includes a beautiful full-color photograph of one of the dishes presented in the chapter as well as a complete listing of the recipes in that chapter and the page they appear on. The recipes are then presented, one recipe per page, and the book is concluded with an extensive and easy-to-navigate index. Within the recipes and the index, dishes that are low in fat are marked with a small heart symbol, making it easy to prepare meals that are both tasty and heathly.

Geared towards family dining, the recipes in this book serve between four and six people, with the vast majority serving four. Every recipe includes a full-color photograph of the finished dish, detailed nutritional information for each serving, complete preparation times and tips or menu suggestions for your meal. The layout of the recipes is particularly pleasing. The title of the recipe is followed by a short description of the dish to the left and the list of ingredients to the right. Below that, the directions, along with a color photograph of the dish, the nutritional information for each serving and any tips or menu suggestions, are presented in a simple numbered sequence.

To give you some ideas about the range of recipes included in the Big Book of 30-Minutes Dinners, here is the Table of Contents and some examples of the recipes you'll find in it:

1. Beef, Pork, & Lamb (like Pork Diane and Florentine Pizza)
2. Poultry (like Chicken Curry and Thai Turkey)
3. Fish & Seafood (like Citrus Sole and Shrimp in Garlic Sauce)
4. Soups (like Tortilla Soup and Crab Chowder)
5. Meatless Entrees (like Cheesy Egg Wedges and Polenta with Fresh Tomato Sauce)
6. Kids' Favorites (like Pizza Burgers and Peanut Butter Pizza)
7. Side Dishes (like Garden Risotto and Smoked Cheddar Muffins)
8. Desserts (like Caramel Oranges and Crunch-Topped Peach Pizza)

These are just a few of the delightful recipes that await the readers of the Big Book of 30-Minutes Dinners. For those cooks who never have enough time in the day, this is a must-have cookbook for your collection.