Cookbook ideas

5-INGREDIENT COOKING FOR TWO by Robin Donovan shares “100 Recipes Portioned for Pairs.”  Personally, I would probably tend to double many of these so as to have a second meal readily available. Donovan, a food blogger, provides easy to make recipes like Apple Cinnamon Pancakes, Curry Chicken Salad, and Spicy Crab Cakes. Her cookbook begins with a brief introduction and “a bit of know-how for shopping for ingredients in small quantities.” The recipes are broken into sections by broad categories (seafood, poultry, meat, etc.), but images are few which is a definite detriment.  Recipes do have helpful labels like freezer friendly, one pot, and 30 minutes or less. The directions are straight-forward and simple to follow; plus, each recipe has nutritional information. Look for this title if you are hoping to try something new without too much of a challenge while doing more cooking at home. 

 

THE ULTIMATE MIND DIET COOKBOOK by Amanda Foote, a registered dietician, involves “100 Recipes to Help Prevent Alzheimer's and Dementia.” She divides the cookbook portion into pretty standard chapters: Breakfast, Snacks, Salads, Soups and Stews, Vegan Entrees, Seafood, Poultry, and Drinks and Desserts. In addition to delicious and relatively easy recipes like Chicken Tortilla Soup or One-Pan Halibut, Foote includes charts about “Foods to Reach For” and stresses the importance of antioxidants. And, there is a meal planning section and a chart to help track consumption of daily recommendations (3 servings of whole grains, 1 salad with leafy greens, 1 additional serving of vegetables and an optional serving of red wine). Several pages provide bibliographic information on journal articles and other publications about the MIND diet. See also Meals that Heal, some of which deal with brain health. 

 

BUDGET-FRIENDLY COLLEGE COOKBOOK by Sara Lundberg is actually a fairly unique resource because of her emphasis on “Eating Well with Limited Space, Storage, and Savings.” For each recipe, she signals to her readers the type of cooking tool (hot plate/skillet; slow cooker, etc.) needed. The recipes tend to be variations of standard favorites (e.g., Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese Sandwiches) or prepared more quickly (like microwaved Super Cheesy Lasagna) although estimated quantities (e.g., serves four) seem a little optimistic for hungry college students. While BUDGET-FRIENDLY COLLEGE COOKBOOK is a potentially useful resource for its intended audience, it could be even more helpful with shopping lists and perhaps fewer ingredients since shopping can be a hassle and hard to plan for new cooks. Adding more pictures and nutritional information would also be a plus. Interested readers may compare with Prep by Katie Sullivan Morford and a personal favorite for healthy, inexpensive and relatively easy to prepare dishes: Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown.

 

THE EASY APPETIZER COOKBOOK by Sarah Walker Caron contains “No-Fuss Recipes for Any Occasion,” with chapters on party planning (including pantry and freezer staples, helpful tools, and menu ideas), light snacks, dips & spreads, finger foods, savory plates, fancy bites and something sweet. A couple of choices I might try include Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus and Salmon Fritters. I do like how the recipes are labeled (e.g., make ahead, gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.), have relatively few ingredients, and clear directions that take generally less than a half hour to prepare. However, there are very few images and no nutritional information is presented.