Monday Book Review: The About.Com Guide To Shortcut Cooking

In the harried world we all live, every minute counts. “The About.com Guide to Shortcut Cooking” features 225 time-saving recipes for beginner chefs and foodies alike! This cookbook will help readers prepare home-cooked meals in less time without sacrificing flavour and creativity. Linda Larsen, reveals insider tips for shortcuts anyone can use to create delicious meals in no time. Features recipes for: Twenty Minute Shrimp Chowder; 10 Minute Brie and Raspberry Bruschetta; One Dish Roasted Herbed Chicken and Veggies; Microwave Tandori Chicken; Leftover Chicken Pot Pie; Five Ingredient Stuffed Pork Chops; and No Bake Eclairs. These easy-to-follow recipes shortcut on time but not taste!

My Review:

Shortcut Cooking but not for Everyone

Linda Larsen, the About.com guide who wrote Shortcut Cooking did a fine job writing a beginners guide to cooking. This is for those that want easy, quick meals but I would not recommend it for those who are watching their food, whether for diets or health issues.

The book does a great job with easy recipes, lovely side tips and hints, gives website links for further information, foods, other ideas, etc. She gives insight to her vast knowledge of tips and hints in her years in the food industry. She gives answers on how to cook seafoods, where to buy mexican sausages and so on. None of the recipes are out of the range of a common house cook. There aren’t any complicated parts to any recipe, nor are there difficult ingredients to buy anywhere. Bonus points, in my mindview.

The negative, is this cookbook relies too much on preboxed, prebagged and canned foods; foods that are high in sodium, nitrates, preservatives, sugars and so on. I would not recommend this cookbook for diabetics or those who have serious health issues. I have heart and renal failure/issues and could not have many of her recipes, as many like me must watch their intake of harmfull pre-made foods.

But for the healthy who do not, this is a great beginners guide to cooking, plenty of descriptions, though no pictures of any of the foods in the recipes, tips or hints. Her picture is on every page, but that is unhelpful and not as appetizing as pictures of the foods, ingredients or kitchen tools described in the book.

I would recommend purchasing, if it is found in a bargain bin, sale or clearance but would not go out of my way to purchase.