30-Minute Meals 2

This book still looks new and seems to have hardly touched if not at all. Been reading & looking at this book as got it today. Very happy with it as a few I still need & collection is complete. I have made lots of her dishes & so good. Packaging looked bad, guess got banged around during shipping process. I had 2 cookbooks together and both were OK thankfully.

Rachael Ray combines three or more recipes into a meal which can be made at home by inexperienced cooks from ingredients available at your local supermarket in about 30 minutes, with some minimal advance preparation. She does this very, very well in her books and on her Food Network series.Rachael's TV series is shown somewhere between Mario Batali's ethnic Italian cuisine and Martha Stewart's high end cooking / entertaining demonstrations. Herein lies the moral of the story. Rachael does not feature haute cuisine, ethnic Italian, formal entertaining, fancy pastry, high nutrition, low calorie, economic preparations, or vegetarian. She does good food at home in a short time. This doesn't mean her meals are not nutritious or fattening, or use poor technique. Her preparations use a very high percentage of fresh ingredients and a low percentage of suspect animal fats and overly prepared ingredients. Many meals are a Mediterranean diet for everyman. Her use of extra virgin olive oil rivals Mario and her use of garlic would make Emril proud.Her techniques are sound and very achievable for anyone with at least one very good knife, a food processor, a grill pan, and a few large saute pans and a large dutch oven. The only culinary skill one needs are fairly good knive skills, plus the discipline to keep that one knive very sharp. For those critics who say they learn nothing from Rachael's presentations, I say they miss the point. She is showing you how to eat well without great chops in the kitchen.The thing which impresses me the most is that in spite of her retro 50's décor on her show, her food does NOT emulate the 50's food doctrines focusing on assembling easy meals from prepared foods. Having lived through the 50's with a working mother, I know exactly what that was like, and this ain't it. There is a fairly heavy use of fresh foods in partially prepared form, such as deboned chicken breasts and prewashed, precut salad greens. This means Rachael's meals may be slightly more expensive than similar meals done a la Mario from prima materia, but if you're a 35 year old with a good job, working 10 hours a day, 30 minutes to prepare a meal is a real bargain. I also know that loosing the bone on meats will loose some sources of flavor, but cross your heart and hope to die, do you really notice the difference on Tuesday night after a hard day at work.If one compares Rachael's work to those nearest to her style on the Food Network, I believe you will see the really has her act much more firmly together than the new `Good Food Fast' show and, dare I say it, she succeeds much better at what she does than the Food Network icon Sara Moulton. Sara concentrates on techniques, unusual foods, and unusual cuisines. I routinely cook from Sara Moulton's book and I do not routinely cook from Rachal's books, but then I'm retired and cooking is my hobby. Rachael does what she does very, very well. She may just not be what you are looking for.I started taking Rachael much

This book, like many others, is often mistaken as a "I hate to cook!" book, when in fact it is more of a "I have no time to cook!" book. Cooking is one of my favorite passions, however working 50 hours a week really doesn't lend well to cooking elaborate meals. Rachael Ray provides a menu-style book that is both cost-effective and does not require unusual ingredients that are hard to find. The meals are easy and always 'homestyle' delicious. The only drawback, as many have pointed out, is that her deserts leave a lot to be desired. But it IS geared towards getting a meal done in 30 minutes, and as mentioned, I usually don't have time to make creme brulee. :-P

This book is perfect for anyone who wants / needs an EASY no fuss meal. The directions are simple to follow, even if you're a novice. I love the "family" approach to the book. If you are looking for quick, mostly healthy meals to make quickly, this is THE book for you. Yummy recipies, plus family stories. Makes me feel like I know her! I'm not as good at chopping herbs and veggies as Rachael is, so I do find that I need about 40 minutes for her 30 minute meal.

I'm a fan of Rachael Ray's other cookbooks and of her TV show. I have tried quite a few dishes from this book already, as many have been featured on the show in the last year or so. Rachael's cooking style is not cutting edge gourmet; instead, her dishes are easily made and appeal to a wide range of people. At the same time, however, they have a bit of creative flair that keeps them from being ordinary. The book is not a glossy coffee table model, but is one that you won't mind taking into the kitchen. Rachael's energy and enthusiasm come through in her writing, which makes the book fun to read as well. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

If you love the show "Thirty minute meals" on the food network, you would absolutely enjoy this book. She gives the whole menu-including the main, the side(s), and sometimes even dessert. They are listed together in 2 or 3 pages so that way everything is right in front of you. You don't have to fumble through pages to find what you need. There is a wide variety of food choices-fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, pasta, seafood, chicken, steak, drinks, dipping sauces, bread with toppings, and quick desserts(mostly ice cream with unique toppings that are simple). Ingredients are common and she doesn't use spices that you will probably never use again. The sections include: MAKE YOUR OWN TAKE-OUT MONDAY THRU FRIDAY DINNER SPECIALS FAMILY-STYLE SUPPERS DOUBLE-DUTY DINNERS PASSPORT MEALS BIG NIGHTS: VERY SPECIAL DINNERS HEALTHY HUNGER BUSTERSAlot of the menu plans are exactly from her show. I think most of the newer episodes. Not sure about that though. The only thing that I would like different is if it had pictures. It only has about 5 pages in the middle of the book. However, I highly recommend this book- Rachael Ray fan or not.