Meals You Can't Mess Up by Shay Spence

MEALS YOU CAN’T MESS UP by Shay Spence is one of several cookbooks I will be reviewing in the near future. Spence, a food and travel writer, delivers “100+ Actually Easy Recipes for Big Flavor with Little Effort.” A few examples are sweet potato & asparagus fri-tot-a, muffin-tin honey-butter ham and cheese biscuits, and lemon chicken tortellini soup or chicken enchilada tamale pie. Most serve a minimum of four and often six or eight. He divides the cookbook into sections labeled for breakfast, soups and salads, sandwiches, pasta & pizza, chicken dinners and other meats, plus seafood & vegetarian, party snacks, and desserts & cocktails. One aspect that surprised me (in a good way) was that Spence did not hesitate to mention brand names or use already prepared ingredients; this reinforced the idea of being “actually easy” and mirrored the type of recipe that one might receive from a friend. In addition, most recipes in this cookbook can be prepared in one pan; plus, none of them has more than ten ingredients. MEALS YOU CAN’T MESS UP includes colorful photos for practically every recipe and a helpful index, although there is no nutrition information.