The Pillsbury Cookbook: The All-Purpose Companion for Today's Cook

Every single recipe l tried has turned out perfect! I love the substitutions they suggest, like shredded zucchini instead of shredded carrots for Carrot cake. And stuffed pork chops? They are a wow, baked goods are perfect. Never disappoint, it's my favorite go to cookbook!

I've had mine for SO LONG that, due to my use and the use of my six children, there are pages falling out, pages missing, and it hardly stays together anymore so I'm buying another one. Great book for all sorts of great recipes, hints and tips, substitutions and all organized nicely.

I bought this cookbook (the huge one in the binder) in September of 1989 for my 18th birthday. I had just moved out two months before after graduating from high school and gotten my own apartment. (This is back when kids didn't live at home until they were 28 - we wanted to be on our own!!) I didn't have any cookbooks and I grew up with a mother who cooked from scratch and large Italian grandmothers and aunts who made all the classics that I wanted to know how to make, in case I ever got married and needed to impress people with my cooking and domestic skills. Needless to say, I did get married, and I have used this book more than any other in the 15 years since I bought it. I can't believe I am that far away from 18 years old - holy cow!! My cookbook cover has been taped and many of my hole-punched pages have the little reinforcers on them now, so I know it has been a long time! It gives you wonderful, reliable classic recipes for everything you could need made from scratch (basic meatloaf, lemon bars, German potato salad, Christmas punch, how to decorate cakes...even a simple wedding cake is in here!!) so you don't have to call your mother or mother-in-law and sound like a bubbly airhead (or get online like we do now to look for recipes but I hate printing and wasting paper and ink because I am a frugal kinda gal). The most wonderful part is that it shows you how to set a table for formal and informal occassions, how to fold napkins, what do goblets look like and what do you serve in what kind of glass, how to select cuts of meat, every single cut of beef that their is, how to debone chicken breasts, how long to cook each type of vegetable be it oven, stovetop, or microwave, how many pounds of food to serve for how many guests (of course, I double it in my family), how to properly word invitations, how to set up a buffet, where do the plates, the rolls, etc. go, and on and on. It is basically a manual on how to be Donna Reed, June Cleaver, Marian Cunningham and Martha Stewart all rolled into one!! The lemon bars taste like my mothers, the pot roast, potatoes and carrots come out like my mothers, the chicken cacciatore and Swiss Steak taste like my mothers...her name is Sharon and she will enjoy hearing this...The oven temps and times are correct and the pictures accompanying the recipes are huge and beautiful (this is for the binder edition...I would recommend buying only this as it lays flat on my table as I make my mess). I use this book with my daughter who is now 14 so that she too can learn to be a domestic diva. It is a Kitchen Bible. Now, don't get me wrong, I hold a Bachelor's and run a business out of my house so I am not a 1950's housewife whose world ends at the front yard, but since I am married to a balding, slightly overweight, 39 y/o Italian man who also likes to eat and have a home cooked meal on Sunday, and we are too cheap to eat takeout, this book stays right on top of my fridge where anyone in the house can easily get

I have owned this cookbook for along time now and I have found my best recipes in this book. If I am looking for something new or just my old favorites I always turn to this book. I wish they would reprint it. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who likes great recipes because it's full of them.

This cook book is the one i use the most out of the hundred of cookbooks I own! I'm getting ready to order another one, mine is getting worn out.

My mother gave me this cookbook when I got married. If I had known no family recipes to share with my new husband, it would not have mattered because the recipes in this cookbook are so scrumptious that they seem like the tried and true recipes passed down from your grandmother.Eight years and two children later, my dog-eared copy is no longer connected to its binding. But I continue to wrap rubber bands around the pages to hold the precious recipes in place because a number of the recipes have become traditions in our family. We are a foreign service family so parties are a big part of our lives. Have no fear with this cookbook, there's no need to "try out" any of the recipes before you can serve them to company. These recipes are so good (and easy to pull off) that parties need not mean turmoil in the kitchen.Having lived overseas for the past 5 years also proved to me that these recipes can be taken anywhere - the ingredients are almost always available and even if substitutions are necessary (i.e. yoghurt instead of sour cream) , the recipes are incredible.My only disappointment is that the book is no longer available in hard cover. This one is worth it's weight in gold!

Like so many people, I love cookbooks, and I have shelves and shelves of them.Unfortunately, most cookbooks only have a handful of really practical recipes (i.e., manageable list of ingredients) and even fewer recipes that actually taste good.My experience with this cookbook - like all Pillsbury cookbooks (including best of the bakeoff) - is that every single recipe is a real winner. I have tried recipes for cookies, cakes, dinners, salads,... everything. I can promise that these recipes are basically easy and very, very good.I recently had a large crowd to my home for the holidays. I made the Pillsbury burgundy cherry salad, waldorf salad, cookies and cream cake, and lemon sour cookies (this one was from the bake-off cookbook). I had raves for each and every dish. It even started to become a joke when my mother or mother-in-law would ask, "where did this recipe come from," and I would always respond, "where else? Pillsbury!"I am in the process of cleaning out my closet of cookbooks. Betty Crocker always disappoints, the Silver Palate recipes are good, but take forever to prepare, Williams and Sonoma cookbooks are not practical. When I'm done, I'll have only Pillsbury cookbooks and the Forum Feasts (another one of my favorites!)Trust Pillsbury. I also only buy their products (canned icing, pie crusts, ect.). This cookbook and best of the bake-off are all you need. (Check out the quiche, beef stew, fried rice and chicken tetrazinni recipes, too! Family favorites at my house)