Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast: Weeknight Meals: Over 280 Incredible Supper Solutions

I'm so glad I bought a low priced used book rather than expensive new one because I will end up donating this to a thrift store. Knew it was not a good idea to buy a recipe book online when there's no listing of the recipes. Relied on reviews and a few reviewers who described themselves as simple cooks with little time really sold me. To be fair, I'd intended this as a gift for my teen who's shown interest in learning to cook, but since I'd also be helping and eating the food, this book sounded like a good option. "15 minute recipes" it is NOT. There's so much prep work. Also, ingredients one must shop specifically for and must own specialty devices to prepare. There's nothing special about these recipes at all that lend themselves "fast weeknight meals." And as with most cookbooks, it's loaded with recipes that will never ever actually get made. Best for the average busy working parent to search online for recipes that match the ingredients you commonly have on hand. Still searching for a cookbook that will encourage my teen to cook up some basic meals because i know he's not inspired enough yet to google recipes. Examples. Soups: Provencal Fish Stew, Coconut Shrimp Soup, Spinach Soup. Sandwiches: Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Baguette with Parsley Aioli, Tuna Florentine Sandwiches with Lemon-Caper Vinaigrette, Black Pepper Sirloin Wrap with Kickin' Chipolte Spread. Salads: Beet, Bulgar and Orange Salad with Parley Vinaigrette, Warm Pork Tenderloin Salad with Apples, Sweet and Spicy Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Mango Vinaigrette. Meats: Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish-Walnut Sauce, Seared Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Shallot-Mushroom Pan Gravy, Grilled Lambchops with Cherry Port Sauce. Desserts: White-Chocolate-Cherry Rice Pudding, Marsala Poached Figs, Coffee Ice Cream Sundae with Dark Chocolate-Sea Salt Almond Bark. If you have the kind of weeknight in which you can consider these recipes as "5 ingredient, 15 minute, fast, incredible supper solutions" than lucky you-- this is the book you've been looking for to "simplify" your evening.

I just got this book last week and a good indication of how much I'm enjoying it is the fact that I have planned 4 of my 5 week-night dinners this week using recipes from the book. There is a wide range of recipes and I appreciate that there is both comfort-style food (made healthy) and lighter meals. I found some great recipes that would suit our family in the "meatless mains" section. There are plenty of recipes in the meat section that I want to try and the dessert section has some really delicious looking desserts that seem easy to put together.I did drop a star as one of the thing that made me want to buy it was the "5 ingredient or less" factor. Most of the recipes ARE 5 ingredients or less, but there are a few that call for a sauce/salsa/dressing that is a separate recipe, so therefore pushing the ingredients up to 10 in order for it to be a complete dish. Of course you can choose to not make these recipes, but I did find that slightly misleading.Overall a good book that meets what I look for in a book - a good range of healthier recipes that can be made quickly and with few ingredients. I would buy it again.

This book is advertised as fast cooking. I didn't realize from the labeling that it was EITHER 5 ingredients OR 15 minutes in prep but no recipes that are both. Even though they "disclaim" within the book itself that water, salt, pepper, and spices /herbs etc, don't "count" in the ingredients count to live up to their cover, they seem to forget especially that fresh herbs take TIME to prepare. A quick scan through and you'll find long lists of ingredients. It's great that the book suggests various toppings for each meal, but you better double your prep time because they also have their own set of 10 ingredients or so. By the time I got all the ingredients washed and prepped / peeled, cut etc, finishing the prep time within 15 minutes was a joke. Never mind the fact that when the recipe calls for grilling, that means monitoring while it cooks. Flipping etc.So why did I still give this book three stars? Because the meal itself was one of the best tasting meals I've made so far. The fresh herbs really helped. (I made the rosemary chicken breast with chunky tomato avocado salsa (pg. 285). (They say it takes 3 minutes to prep the chicken!!! Um.... No. :)It was a big hit with the family. I just think the book needs to be retitled, as it does not live up to its hook.

I purchased this book on a whim just after my husband and I were married, mostly because I'm a "new" cook and wanted to start with some basics that I could possible memorize and whip up quickly. We both work long hours and have "extra" activities (workouts, martial arts, etc) that keep us out until 7 or 8pm every night, so we needed recipes that were fast, but also healthy. This book (and the other one, "Fresh Food Superfast") is marvelous! I usually switch out the processed or pre-packed stuff for fresh, but there aren't really as many of those as I thought.I LOVE the pictures and the easy-to-follow directions! Like I said, I'm a new cook, so I wanted to try everything...and I'm almost finished with the entire thing. We've loved almost ALL of the recipes, and I think they all make great leftovers for lunch the next day, which, again, is important in our busy lives. I lent it to a friend, who actually is an excellent cook, so that her husband could start learning some easy meals, too. They bought it the next day!Totally worth the money, especially if you're busy but want to watch portion sizes and eat more fresh foods.

My family loves this book. We’ve used it for years and several of the recipes are staples in our diet. I brought it to work to share with others and it was taken, so I’m buying another one. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

This book is probably great if you live in the USA, but as I live in Germany I can't get a lot of the common ingredients in many of the recipes (as such). Sure I could figure out ways to substitute, but that takes away the whole attraction of an easy, fast dinner solution.