Cook Book Review

I'm sitting at my desk, finishing up another lunch of delicious and healthy leftovers, and I've finally decided that I must share the good news on my recent culinary discovery.

I almost never buy cookbooks. Why pay money for recipes when they are all over the internet for free? But I stumbled across this one, Cooking Light's Fresh Food Fast Weeknight Meals, at Elliot's school book fair. I grabbed it on a whim, more to support the school than to increase my recipe collection.

I have been so thrilled with this book! I usually create my weekly meal plans from an array of dinner options in my recipe binder. But I've been using this cookbook exclusively for nearly a month now, haven't repeated a single recipe yet, and every single one we've tried has been delicious.

Unlike other cookbooks, which promise 30-minute meals that suspiciously look more like an hour, this one actually delivers. Not all recipes have 5 ingredients or take 15 minutes, but all of them are simple and easy enough for any working mom to bust out on a weeknight. And they all seem to focus on fresh, whole foods with interesting flavor combinations. It would take a very long time to get bored of all of the options this book offers. While a few ingredients have been hard to locate at my Wal-mart (pancetta, watercress, arugula), I'm always able to grab any special items at the Safeway next to my office. And while I'm blessed to have two kids that are the polar opposite of picky eaters, they are still kids. But they've gobbled up every bite of each recipe I've sampled. (Yes, I'm very thankful to have kids who happily proclaim a grilled veggie and arugula salad a 'keeper' instead of scoffing at the green stuff.)

I have more than my fair share of dusty, untouched cookbooks on the shelf in my pantry. But this isn't one of them. It's open on my counter top, with plenty of food splatters on the bookmarked pages.