30-minute Cookbook: 300 Quick and Delicious Recipes for Great Family Meals [Hardcover]

Editors of Reader's Digest (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Readers Digest; First Edition edition (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888506937
• ISBN-13: 978-0888506931
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,369,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly a family cookbook, December 27, 2002

By 

Kimberly A Anderson (Crete, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 30-minute Cookbook: 300 Quick and Delicious Recipes for Great Family Meals (Hardcover)

While this book is said to be recipes for "great family meals", it is full of recipes not geared toward the average family. Recipes included are items such as duck kabobs with honey and orange, lamb cutlets with flageolet beans, and calf's liver with balsamic vinegar. Not exactly items I would put in front of my 4 year-old and say eat up. This book is more geared toward a formal setting than a family meal on a weeknight. Very disappointed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast food for people who love to cook and eat well!, October 6, 2004

By 

A. Dunn (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 30-minute Cookbook: 300 Quick and Delicious Recipes for Great Family Meals (Hardcover)

I was apprehensive about a quick meal cookbook put out by Reader's Digest. My home cooking tastes are eclectic -- I am mostly vegetarian, and cook a lot of Thai, Indian, and Middle Eastern foods. I wanted to get some ideas for flavorful, unique, but less involved meals, but didn't think that these interests would be covered by a 30-minute cookbook. I am happy to say that I was wrong!

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! It has an extensive introduction to unfamiliar but flavorful ingredients (coconut milk, fish sauce, bulgur, etc). There are some meat main courses, but enough fish and grain dishes to keep this semi-vegetarian full. I was especially happy to see many recipes that could be made out of things I normally have around the house. Last night I made the recipe for mushroom and bean burgers, topped with caramelized red onions. It was delicious, nutritious, and took 30 minutes, as advertised. Color me impressed.

All in all, this is a great book for people who love to cook, but need some ideas for quick meals. The dishes make use of flavorful ingredients from around the world, so quick meals don't equal boring meals. I'm very happy with it.