30-Minute Meals

If you're tired of heating up leftover leftovers but aren't quite up to cordon bleu, Rachael Ray's "30-minute meals", derived from her hit show on the Food Channel, offers up all kinds of yummy possibilities. Ray is fun to watch on her show; she's perky and down-to-earth and doesn't make cooking seem like some kind of exalted rite that intimidates beginners who haven't progressed beyond Boiling Water 101. Her bouncy exuberance comes across in her book and makes it enjoyable to read. I especially like the way her book is organized; there are special sections on Top Ten Meals With Fewer Than Ten Ingredients, Top Ten All-Time Favorites from her TV show, 30-minute pastas, salads and veggies, make your own take-out (pizza, sandwiches and Tex-Mex), burger recipes, Asian flavor, comfort food, and her own family favorites. Can all of these meals actually be made in 30 minutes? Well, unless you're as well-organized as Ray on her show with everything right at hand, slicing and dicing up a storm, probably not; but none of them should take more than 45 minutes and some of them really can be made from start to finish in half an hour. Her book is pretty heavy on pastas, which are typically quick to prepare, and if the Asian isn't 100% authentic, it's still fun to make and delicious to eat. Ray's instructions are simple and direct, easy for anyone to follow. What's more, none of the meals are difficult to prepare and all of them emphasize healthy eating. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys good eats without all the hassles that go into preparing them. Grab it and hit the kitchen.

Rachael Ray shows us how to make healthy dishes from basic, fresh ingredients in, ideally, 30 minutes or less. Unlike her later 30 minute meal books, this first in the series does not group two or more dishes into meals which can take less than a half an hour to prepare. This is largely because the book was written before Rachael showed up on the Food Network show of the same name, which introduced the 3 course meal format. In spite of this timing, almost all of the dishes in this book have shown up on early seasons of Rachael's show.In many ways, the grouping of dishes by type rather than by meal is an advantage, making it easier to match up different pasta and salad courses on different days. The drawback is that you have no hints on how to coordinate your time in preparing the three dishes at one time, although this is not exactly rocket science.The main chapter headings / dish types are:Pastas 29 dishesSalads 28 dishes, some suitable as main course saladsTake out lookalike 39 dishes, primarily burgers, sandwiches, pizza, Tex-Mex, and Asian lookalikesComfort Foods 34 dishes such as chilis, sauces, soups, and casserolesFull meals 5 menus for small party (8 to 12) quick cookingMeatballs 5 recipesI believe it is an important symptom of one of Rachael's main objectives that many of her dishes are named after family members. She presents the great Italian love of food and family together when you don't have Nona and three aunts at home all day to do all the prep work and braising.One recent book on cooking traditional recipes slowly to recapture both the joy and flavors of this cooking makes the suggestion that Rachael's style of cooking is too hectic and has too little flavor. While the first has an element of truth, I say it does not remove the `Joy of Cooking'. It actually rescues it from the drive in take out window. On the latter point, this author if plainly wrong. I compared Rachael's Caesar Salad to a recipe from Martha Stewart and Rachael's was superior in taste, as Miss Martha really overloaded her dish with raw garlic.It is very fortunate that the cuisine on which Ms. Ray's food is largely Italian, as the Italian cuisine has spent centuries perfecting the concentration of flavor in foods such as balsamic vinegar, cheeses, hams, and tomato concentrates, all of which are available in first class products at the local American supermarket.The only drawback to using these products and prepackaged meats and vegetables is that you may be paying more for the same meal than if slower, prep intensive recipes were used. For thirty-something parents who are in the early middle of their career, this cost is probably inconsequential when compared to the benefits. It is certainly both economically and nutritionally inconsequential when compared to the fast food fare.I have a lot of respect of Rachael's not overloading the book with suggestions for the pantry. Stocking

I love her show! She is so upbeat and just giggles and makes you smile! I decided to try the cookbook, however after reading some of the reviews about it I was a little unsure. I am glad that I did buy it! Everything is easy to make most of the stuff in the book I have seen on her show so I know what it is supposed to look like! I have a baby and I love to cook, but sometimes it is difficult. I am glad that these meals only take 30 minutes and they are all to die for! I hope she writes another one soon!

A big thank you to Rachel Ray for this book! I have been trying to learn how to cook for about 2 years now (with not much success). I was first inspired by Rachel Ray's show, and then sought out the book. She designed the recipes so that you wouldn't have to run out and buy oddball items that you'll never use again. If you buy fresh parsley for one recipe, you'll more than likely use it in the next one. No waste! The fact that I make these recipes and they turn out great make me want to cook more! I would recommend this book to anyone, from the novice to the expert. One more thing I've noticed is that this book teaches you the basics so you can move on to make your own recipes. Don't hesitate on this book-buy it. You won't be sorry. Nor will your full belly after trying some of these recipes...

I ordered this book after watching Racheal Ray for a month on Food TV. I had made her recipes on the show and none of them were less then terrific. When the book arrived it went through the family getting recipes tagged to try. So far the five we have tried have all been excellent! My picky husband is in love with everything we make out of this book and my 12 year old is in the kitchen doing over 1/2 the work while we time ourselves. We manage in the kitchen to the table in 23-28 minutes! A great timesaver for this family that still eat's together 5 nights a week. THANK YOU RACHEAL FOR THE BOOK AND THE SHOW!!!!