The Illustrated Quick Cook

For the longest time I have been looking for books that could fit my lifestyle. Consider these facts. During the week, I work from the wee hours of the morning until the wee hours of the evening. Between a school cafeteria lunch and my usual leftovers/takeout dinner, I don't have very many good options for dining.

For the longest time I used the time constraints of my schedule as an excuse to not cook. There's also a fear factor associated with cooking. I'm quite hesitant to cook because I am afraid of the ramifications of my decisions. Consider this example:





Now, as appealing as the "bugar" looks to me, we all know that no human being can survive on that type of diet. Recently I have decided that perhaps I should start looking for other options. Reluctantly, I've decided to watch more cooking shows, but with my schedule as it stands, time is at a premium. I decided that the best option was to start applying my energy towards looking for cook books that could help me with this dilemma. That's what lead me to this book:



The first thing I noticed about this book was its size. The book itself feels like it weighs about as much as my textbooks, and well, I have a few of those. The book intimidated me. When I opened it up though, I found that it wasn't as scary as I imagined. The book is set up in very nicely. It's designed for all kinds of cooks. There's a useful info section for novice cooks. After the "useful info" section, it has an illustrated recipe chooser section. Each recipe is categorized depending on the main ingredients and cook time. Also, in this section there is a picture of the "hopeful" finished product. All of these features made it very easy for me to decide what item I wanted to cook.

After looking at the illustrated recipe chooser, I decided to keep on paging through the book. I wanted to find something that a beginning cook would prepare. After paging through it for a while, I came upon a chapter in the Everyday cooking section titled, "10 Ways With Eggs...". I'm a huge fan of scrambled eggs and egg dishes with rice, so I figured that this would be a good place to stop.

Many of the recipes in this collection were the usual egg dishes that I have known and my stomach has loved, but I was quite surprised when I saw some of the other options. The chapter has recipes for the usual favorites like french toast and omelets, but I was surprised when I saw the recipe for egg fried rice. This dish is one of my favorites, but I don't have a clue how the heck to make it. The recipe was simplified to a point that even I understood it. It listed how many people it would serve, the prep and cook time, and even stated if I would need any special equipment to make the dish.

I found that this recipe wasn't an exception in the book. All of the recipes are simplified and explained so clearly, that even a beginning cook could learn how to cook effectively with just this one resource.

One thing that I wish the authors had done with this book was to pare it down a little bit and only focus on everyday cooking. For a novice cook like myself, I was hesitant to buy the book because of its sheer size. Perhaps the "Food For Friends" section could have been made into its own book. At this stage in my "cooking career", I'm not confident enough to pull together any large dinners for my friends and family.

Also, before I forget to tell, the book retails for $35.00, but I was able to find it on amazon.com for $23.10 and at Barnes and Noble's online bookshop for $28.00. Buy the book and treat yourself to a lovely meal! I recommend the quesadilla with chicken and sweet onion recipe that can be found on pg.191.

And before you go out and buy the book, please feel free to share one of your favorite cooking stories. What kind of successes and/or failures have you had in the kitchen?