Customer Reviews

Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007: EVERY RECIPE...A Year's Worth of Cooking Light Magazine

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The pictures are gorgeous, that makes the book worth buying. However, I have a few problems with it. Firstly, when I turn to a cookbook, I'm often looking for inspiration for a specific category of recipe, be it a main dish or dessert or side. All of Cooking Light's Annuals are organized in the oddest manner (I assume by their original theme grouping in the magazine articles?). So if you're looking for a recipe for "soups" for example, you have to look in the index and endlessly flip pages back and forth to see soup recipes. I'd find it easier to have the book organized by category. Secondly, many of the recipes use unusual ingredients in wee tiny quantities. If you're making an effort to add variety to your cooking or you've got a gourmet pantry that's fine but sometimes it gets annoying to have to make a trip to the store and spend a ton of money for ingredients you use by the teaspoon (though I do appreciate that the recipes don't rely on "diet" ingredients heavily and rather try to make things lighter by other modifications to the recipes). Five stars for being a gorgeous book and interesting read. 1 star for organization. 3 stars for practicality of recipes.

Been a subscriber to the magazine for years and look forward to each new issue. When I'm looking for inspiration for the week's menus, the first book I turn to is my "Complete Cooking Light Cookbook." The recipes, whether I'm getting them from the book or the magazine, have always led to a good result and many have become family favorites.

Having said that, I have to agree with alphagirl about the weird organization of this book. Organized by the *month in which the recipe was published*? Jumpin' jiminy. Most people can't remember which month they last took their car in for an oil change, let alone which month's issue of a magazine had a fabulous recipe for 'Uber Tubers'. It's driving me nuts that I can browse through one section that contains all the fish dishes, for example. Like alphagirl, I find it obnoxious to have to keep flipping back and forth between 'fish' in the general the index and the recipes.

Huge ding on overall star rating: there is no way to tell from any of the indexes (and there are several, to help overcome the problems caused by organizing the book according to magazine issue) which recipes are vegetarian friendly, which is a mandatory feature for any multi-purpose cookbook in our 2-omnivore/1 vegetarian household.

I understand the point of keeping related recipes together, such as presenting together every recipe from a cooking lesson article, regardless of the dish type. However, because people don't march into the kitchen and cook their way from start to finish through any one of the 'cooking lessons', wouldn't it make more sense to organize the book traditionally, then have smaller chapters/sections for each cooking lesson, which can reference the recipes already provided in the 'beef' or 'soups' sections? That way I can go bone-up on my beef cooking skills by reading the advice and technique information, then tackle any of the beef recipes in the rest of the book with absolute confidence.

I will continue to buy each edition of the fabulous 'Complete Cooking Light Cookbook' while the ink is still wet from printing, but I have purchased my first and last of the annual recipe collections unless they do something about the book's organization.

I love the Cooking Light Magazine for healthy recipes and for every day cooking. It is much easier to find recipes using the Cooking Light Annual Recipes than flipping thru various magazines. Even if you don't take the magazine, I recommend getting the cookbook as a good resource for cooking variety and recipes without a lot of additional fat, sodium etc.

I agree with other reviewers that the organization can be frustrating, but I still think this is an excellent cookbook. It includes a range of recipes from the complex to the relatively simple. This particular edition of the Cooking Light series includes a segment on how to help a family organize their kitchen and make some quick weeknight meals. Personally, I am particularly a fan of the quicker recipes, and every one I have tried has been a huge hit with my family -- even my 2 year old.

I don't believe that there's a legitimate food recommender out there who doesn't suggest that we would all be better off if we hade thing that are lighter than the normal American diet. One response to this was the start up of 'Cooking light' magazine. From now where, this magazine has grown with spactular success. The magazine has a collection of recipies centered around cooking light.

Now a year's supply of how to cook everything you can imagine in a lighter, healthier way but with recipies that have been 'kitchen tested' for accuracy and taste. It's straight from the pages of the magazine.

And that makes for one of the strengths causes one of the problems with the book. It's a strength because the issues of the magazine are organized around something such as: menus for a week for a family of two. It's a weakness because if you're trying to find all of the salads, they aren't found together.

All in all, here's a thousand recipies, with an emphasis on healthy, lighter eating.

COOKING LIGHT is a leading food magazine in this country, offering tips on nutrition and tested recipes which convert high-calorie productions to healthier fare. The 2007 annual collection of COOKING LIGHT ANNUAL RECIPES is packed with over a thousand of such recipes, including 100 meal plans with dishes which include the latest cooking techniques and conveniences. Public lending libraries will find it a very popular lend: it compiles recipes from 2006 and provides a seasonal approach which makes it easy to take advantage of fresh produce and ingredients. An outstanding collection.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Cooking Light's recipes are always good and often excellent. I take the magazine and try some of them throughout the year. But it is so nice to have them all in one place and not have to keep clipped recipes! Sometimes the ingredients can get a bit exotic -- but nothing that you can't find in a large supermarket. Enjoy!

I ordered the 2006 and 2007 edition from Amazon after using the 2008 and 2009 for two weeks. Every week, I go through all four books and pick new recipes to try. I make the ingredient list and I go grocery shopping during the weekend. With this weekly format, I have thrown away less food and saved more money. My boyfriend and I loved every meal so far! I love the format of the book. It has allowed me to go through the book and pick recipes at random, which makes dinner time an adventurous experience. These books have given me a renewed passion in cooking at home.

While I can appreciate the frustrations of some reviewers with the organization of this cookbook, I prefer its current format to any of the suggestions made thus far. I have plenty of cookbooks that are organized by category and it is a refreshing change to have one run month-by-month. I love having the calendar change so that I can go to the corresponding month in the cookbook and find recipes using ingredients that are readily available and appropriate to the season. It takes the guesswork out of the grocery shopping and feels better on the budget. If I want to try a recipe for a particular item then the index is a very comprehensive way of finding it. Otherwise, I simply enjoy the surprise that each month brings because it is like discovering that issue all over again.

Every item I cook from this book is excellent! At first, I was also confused by the organization, but now I like that it is organized by the months of the year and seasonal cooking. I also like the holiday menus.