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Review of "Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking" by Beth Hensperger

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Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking
by Beth Hensperger

Harvard Common Press
Paperback
$14.95 Suggested Retail Price

Beth Hensperger shows us some quick and easy recipes to add some spark to your everyday dinner menu. These aren't meant to be the centerpieces of Sunday Dinner or for entertaining, of course, but they will help you get out of the meat-and-potatoes rut that you can fall into so easily.

Among the 150 recipes, most can be prepared in less than 45 minutes. As the author notes, the focus is on quick, healthy and delicious. The first sections cover fish, poultry, beef and pork, followed by rice and pasta, and then soups and salads, with a chapter of burgers and sandwiches for those nights when a big meal just isn't right.

I'm not a fish-eater ordinarily, but the Salmon Teriyaki and Baked Halibut Parmasean sound good. My usual chicken dishes tend to be either stir-fry or simple fajitas, and many such dishes are included in this cookbook, but with fascinating variations on the ordinary recipes. The Lemon Chicken with Mint sounds interesting, and I certainly want to try the Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries. For more traditional fare, there's the Easiest Chicken Parm which simplifies the classic recipe.

As you'd expect, the recipes are short and sweet, with a list of ingredients and simple instructions. The bonus here is that interspersed among the recipes are great cooking hints like the list of seasonal vegetables and instructions for quick steaming, and "What Is A Meat Mallet and How To Use It". Between the inventive twists on well-known recipes and the great cooking advice, I'm sure this cookbook will be one you'll turn to several times each month.


Rainbo Electronic Reviews published this review in our October, 2008 issue.



See our reviews of other works by Beth Hensperger that you might enjoy:

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Entertaining
by Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press
ISBN: 978-1-55832-312-4

I lost my Crock Pot in a recent move, so I haven't used one in quite some time, but I certainly have one on my Christmas list now after reading some of the more than 300 intriguing recipes in this cookbook…[more]



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