Faster! I'm Starving! [Paperback]

Kevin Mills (Author), Nancy Mills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2006

Who says there's no time to cook? In the time it takes to find the phone book and call the local pizza shop, busy parents across the country could be serving up a hot, home-cooked meal for their families. Now, the secrets to being able to cook quick and nutritious meals in the time it takes for a sitcom plot to be revealed are collected here by mother and son team Nancy Mills and Kevin Mills.
Cook a healthy, interesting dinner in twenty-five minutes or less on any night of the week. These meals taste good enough to keep you from surrendering to the temptations of fast food or take out, and easy enough to make with a baby in one arm and a kid hanging onto each leg! Now, anyone can cook a complete meal in less time than it would take to order out and wait for delivery-and it's not just the same old fare. Try Pasta and Bean Soup, Chinese-Style Pork Medallions, and Roasted Portobello Mushroom Burgers!
Helpful sections include:
Techniques Geared for Speed-like buying prewashed vegetables and grated cheeses, or using stir-frying or high-temperature roasting as methods for cooking
Techniques for Cutting Very Quickly-and still keeping your fingertips intact
Speedy Ingredients like sirloin steak and ground meats that cook quickly
How to Stock your Pantry
Helpful Equipment to get the job done faster, like a blender for chopping veggies
Plus delicious recipes for Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, Eggs, Pasta, Rice, Grains, Poultry, Meat, Fish, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Lobster Rolls
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Time-saving tip: Don't heat the buns.
If you can get your hands on some real lobster at a reasonable price, go for it. If not, don't be afraid of the term "imitation crab." I know it conjures up images of such infomercial fare as "Diamonoids" and "Genuine Faux Pearls," but "imitation crab" is still seafood. It tastes good on its own merits-not because when you close your eyes you can imagine you're eating something else.
"Lobster Rolls" are traditionally served on hotdog buns, a vestige of the recipe's humble beginnings before lobster was the delicacy it is today. Hotdog buns still serve this recipe well, as their very blandness allows the filling to dominate. But feel free to upgrade to rolls more to your taste.
1 pound (2 cups) cooked lobster meat or imitation crab (Surimi)
2 medium stalks celery
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
8 hotdog buns (see Mom Tip)
1 tablespoon butter
Cut the lobster or crab into 1/2-inch pieces. Rinse and trim the celery and cut it into 1/4-inch slices.
Put the lobster or crab, celery, mayonnaise and lemon juice into a large bowl and mix lightly. If the mixture seems too dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons water.
If the buns are not already precut, cut each one down the middle of the top, being careful not to cut through the whole way. If the buns are already precut, plan to serve them with the cut side facing up.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and place 4 buns, cut side down, in the pan. Press down with a spatula and fry the buns about 30 seconds, or until lightly browned. Turn them over and brown the other side. Repeat with the other 4 buns when you're ready to serve seconds.
Heap 1/8 of the seafood mixture into each bun and serve immediately.
Mom Tip: Traditional lobster roll buns are cut down the middle of the top, rather than the normal cut through the side. My sister-in-law Sue Hagen, who lives on the New Hampshire coast, makes her own rolls so she can make the cut herself. But that step gets in the way of fast cooking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher; 1 edition (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586857959
• ISBN-13: 978-1586857950
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and fun!, September 28, 2006

By 

Silverstreak "Silverstreak" (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Faster! I'm Starving! (Paperback)

Kevin Mills and his mother, Nancy Mills, who wrote "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!" have now come up with another winner, "Faster! I'm Starving!" It's a fun and funny cookbook, well worth reading even if you never use a recipe from it. But you will - use the recipes, that is.

Limited preparation time is required for meals that Mills (the son) says can be finished within the timeframe of a sitcom. They advocate using bags of prewashed lettuce, precut fresh broccoli, cauliflower and other salad bar ingredients, frozen chopped onions, bottles of crushed fresh garlic and the "smaller and thinner" method of cooking (the more surface of a food that is exposed to heat, the faster it cooks).

Stir-frying, high-temperature roasting and gas grilling are some of their favorite methods of cooking, thus there are no stews or roast turkeys in their book. Although this is not a 3-5 ingredient cookbook, the following recipe give you an idea of the humor and simplicity of the recipes.

Black Bean Wraps

Serves: 4 (2 wraps per person)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 minutes
Time-saving tip: Use cilantro-flavored olive oil and skip the cilantro.

Black Bean Wraps may sound like a new-age facial treatment (and if it removed blemishes, I'm sure people would use it, even if it left them smelling like a burrito.) But they're actually quick, homemade soft tacos. The ingredients are flexible, depending on what you have available. But if you serve them without the black beans, the name will be hard to justify.

3 scallions
1 large red bell pepper
½ cup fresh cilantro
2 15-ounce cans black beans
1 15-ounce can whole-kernel corn
1 4-ounce can diced green chiles
3 tablespoons olive or corn oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
8 8-inch flour tortillas
Grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Hot pepper sauce or Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce (optional)

Rinse and trim the scallions and cut them into ¼-inch pieces. Rinse the bell pepper, cut it in half, remove and discard the stem and seeds and then cut it into ¼-inch pieces. Rinse and pat dry the cilantro. Cut off and discard the stems and cut the leafy parts into ½-inch pieces. Drain the beans and rinse them under cold running water. Drain the corn and green chiles.

Put the scallions, bell pepper, cilantro, beans, corn and green chiles into a large bowl. Add the oil, vinegar, salt, garlic powder and black pepper and mix well and then set aside.

Remove the tortillas from their package, wrap them in a tea towel or paper towel and microwave on high for 1 minute. Transfer the tortillas to a serving plate. Spoon ½ to 2/3 cup of the bean mixture into the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and hot pepper sauce, if using. Wrap each tortilla, folding it at the bottom so the filling doesn't fall out when it's held upright. Serve immediately.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basic recipes, same humor, no illustrations, April 14, 2006

By 

Squirrel Geek (Walnut Creek, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Faster! I'm Starving! (Paperback)

This is the book to have for more of the tried-and-true simple basics. I am a fan of the first two books, because instructions were always easy to follow and I loved the humor and illustrations. This book has the humor and the recipes are perfect for beginners, but the design has changed. There are no quirky illustrations and the fonts have been updated. Please note that none of the books have photos of the final dish, but many of these recipes are well-known in American cuisine.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, Easy and Better, April 13, 2006

By 

D. Smith (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Faster! I'm Starving! (Paperback)

Here's a great book of recipes for people in a hurry. The recipes are not only easy, fast and healthy, but the results taste the way you want a well-prepared meal to taste. It's perfect for busy people who like to enjoy meals at home and don't have the time to spend hours in the kitchen.