Customer Reviews

A Man, A Can, A Plan, A Second Helping: 50 Fast Meals to Satisfy Your Healthy Appetite

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This neat little cookbook has some fifty quick and easy recipes that can be prepared using nothing but a microwave oven and a few ingredients. The recipes are organized into eight categories: beef, chicken, pork, fish, noodles, beans, veggies, and fruit.

During a recent heat wave, my wife and I were redoing our menu, searching for meals that would require a minimum of baking and boiling, and as such keep from heating up the house. Well, this book came as something of a godsend! The recipes are all easy to make, use the microwave oven, and taste great. Yeah, I know, how can something cooked entirely in a microwave taste great? Well, take my word for it, these meals succeed!

So far, we have tried the Red Bull Steak, the Chicken and Dumplings, and the Peach-Bluenana Smoothie, and loved them all. We highly recommend this offbeat but highly useful cookbook to everyone!

The first edition of this book featured lots of dishes featuring non-perishable ingredients and really simple instructions that people with zero cooking know-how could follow. Second helping diverges in that there are many more fresh products (specifically in the meat department) and the instructions have gotten more complicated. It's as if this is more of an advanced version, instead of a continuation of the same thing. This is no longer a dorm-room cuisine cookbook, it's more geared towards someone actually willing to take effort to cook.

I'm sad to say that the food from this book is NOT very pleasing to the palette.

I'm not very good at cooking, but thought this book looked easy enough.
I've made over a dozen of the recipes ... and I've actually enjoyed ONLY 1!

The Pork Beef Stew with Sweet Potatoes ... and even then I cooked it in a crock-pot (not following the prep instructions since I'd been disappointed with at least 4 meals thus far) which made the meat very juicy and delicious.

Save your money and buy Lean Cuisine frozen dinners instead, they're cheaper, healthier and easier to make.

I bought this for quite a few men for Christmas. It is a hit and the recipes are very simple and taste good. The other plus is that most are pretty healthy too. I like that it is a board book, much like what you would get for an infant that chews on books. If the men spill on the book they can easily wipe it clean. Great for teaching little men how to do their first cooking projects. Highly recommend.

I purchased this for a coworker who is recently widowed and is clueless in the kitchen. It is easy to read, meals appear appetizing & healthy but uncomplicated. Pictures of the ingrediants are included making this very user friendly - especially for men that hate to read.

I bought this book for my son who most recently moved out of the house. I love the fact that the recipes are simple with only about 4 ingredients and that there are pictures of the ingredients. That way, when he is at the store he knows what the product looks like. I wasn't sure if he would like it or not, but he seemed very excited to use it.

This cookbook is better than the first one, in that the recipes are less primitive, yet still easy to make. There's still the occasional flop, though, like the pizza, using a can of chef boyardee as the sauce.

I am guessing that, given the reaction to some of the more questionable entries in the first book, David Joachim stayed with his original premise and made some welcome corrections. Keeping the solid construction of the first book, a real "plus," these recipies look better and use a broader variety of ingredients in a slight departure from the stated goal of the original work. This book is not nearly as easy as the first one, however. Some of these recipies will take some time, although I am pleased to say that the ingredients, for the most part, remain practical, sensible, and inexpensive. While it remains a perfect book for a college student, kitchen amateur, or someone who is always in a rush, it will require, generally, a little more practice and knowledge to make the dishes turn out as well as they should. But what a great and fun way to learn!

A very nice job overall. I recommend it, especially for the people I just described. But, if, again, you are a gourmand, "foodie," or a nit-picky eater, I would definitely look elsewhere!

My son adored the book! He particularly liked the photos showing what the ingredients looked like in the grocery store. He is on a health kick and trying to avoid fast food. He said the recipes weren't bad for basic recipes. Now to see if he and his roommates can find the kitchen...<g>

So I bought these cookbooks for my husband on his days to cook (yeah right) and I'm really impressed with them. There are some GREAT recipes in this book series that aren't too bad health wise. I've actually used some of the recipes and they came out really tasty. Hubby even was able to make one and follow the easy recipe no problem. Highly recommended!