Customer Reviews

Pillsbury: One-Dish Meals Cookbook: More Than 300 Recipes for Casseroles, Skillet Dishes and Slow-Cooker Meals

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Don't have fresh thyme growing in a pot on your kitchen window? Just ran out of dry Hungarian mustard? That's okay! The Pillsbury One-Dish Meals Cookbook is a REAL, PRACTICAL cookbook for REAL, PRACTICAL people! For example, the recipe for Flaky Lasagna gets rid of the difficult to work with lasagna noodles and layers delicious meat sauce and healthy spinach and cottage cheese, and tops it off with flaky canned biscuits for an oh-so-fast, tasty meal that looks like you spent hours in the kitchen. If you have a life and prefer not to spend your after work hours slaving in the kitchen or schlepping to the super market, then this cookbook is for you.

I've made 3 or 4 casserole meals for my small family from this book. These meals are quick to prepare, often utilizing canned vegetables and other canned products, and readily available spices, and pop in and out of the oven in no time. Meals are always scrumptious; even the mashed potatoes and ground beef casserole I made last night using left-over ground beef was a treat. Left-overs generally last for 2 to 3 days in our 2 person family. I will advise that you season according to your personal tastes. Our Latin American palettes prefer a little "spice" added to each dish. Color photos abound in this book and 1-2-3 directions puts the ease in eas(e)y. :)

I received at least three cookbooks for Christmas this year, and this one definitely gets the most use. Each recipe has the prep time and total time to finish meal listed first, making weekly menu planning easy. The directions are so easy to follow that my boyfriend (who doesn't cook) can follow it! I'm a busy graduate student, and these recipes are a welcome alternative to eating out versus cooking the extravagant dishes in some of my other cookbooks. Make-ahead and freeze directions are a lifesaver! My favorites so far: Italian Tortelli Stew (crockpot), Chicken and Cashew Bake, and Easy Italian Sauage-Vegetable Soup. Nutrition Information is listed at the end of each recipe, and my only qualm is that some of this is definitely comfort food and high in fat. With a few substitutions, we've made these easy dishes more healthy, too.

It's hard to find cookbooks for casseroles and slow cookers these days, but this one is great. It has everything you could want, from beef stew recipes to every variety of lasagna! I've made 4 dishes from it, and all were great. I'm a new mom, and this cookbook makes great, quick meals. Lots of recipes also have directions for freezing dishes, if you want to make them ahead of time. I'm sending it to my sister, who just had her fourth baby!

While finishing my graduate degree and trying to take care of a very hungry husband at the same time, I began to find myself hating the idea of being relegated to a 'domestic housewife' in order to complete my education. Amidst laundry, cleaning, cooking, and the clean-up after, I knew that watching daytime soaps and the gardening channel were just around the corner and that would be it, I would have to shoot myself.

My parents bought me this cookbook for Christmas, and I have been saved! Skillets, casseroles, and slow-cook meals that feed 4 - 8 people, most taking less than a half hour to prepare, with ingredients that are either easy to prepare, or come canned or frozen. Clean-up is a snap, I can grocery shop once every week and a half for meals that will last the entire time between, and the leftovers are enough to feed the hungry husband for lunch the next day.

I need to invest in a 3-quart casserole dish for some of the casserole recipes, but there are lots of recipes that call for 2 and 1-1/2 quart dishes as well. For the skillet recipes, a regular 12-inch pan works well, and a 3-1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker is what's called for in that section. The pictures are GORGEOUS, and the directions are all straight-forward. I especially appreciate the complete nutritional breakdown that follows each recipe, and many of the recipes are, or can be modified to be, fairly low-calorie and (gasp!) healthy.

A real lifesaver, recommended to anyone who likes 'home cooking' without feeling like a home-bound prisoner.

I agree with the other rave reviews. I have a two-year old and a four-month old and this is the best cookbook I own because so many of the recipes are fast and delicious. I can throw them together the night before once the kids are in bed. I'll also add that the layout of this book is terrific. It's divided into three chapters; casseroles, skillet meals and slow cooker recipes. The best thing is at the beginning of each chapter, the recipes in that chapter are divided up by category like "kid favorites", "tried and true family favorites" and "easy entertaining". This makes it a snap to pick out dishes to make when you're planning your weekly menus without having to flip through every recipe in the section.

I really wanted to love this cookbook. But I don't. I like it just fine, but it didn't make me as happy as I thought it would. Why so many recipes with turkey? Am I so far outside the norm that I don't have 3 cups cooked turkey lying around all the time, and everyone else does? I know that I could subsitiute chicken, but that's not the point. Not a bad cookbook, by any means, I just don't love it as much as I thought I would. I like the little ... cookbooks that you get in the checkout lane at the grocery just as much, and those aren't as much of an investment.

Be aware that the recipes in this book are either ridiculously high in fat and/or sodium (and I'm not a low-fat prude by any means) or rely heavily on premade ingredients.

Sample recipe: "Homestyle Chili. Open 3 cans of chili and put them in your slow cooker. Turn it on. Eight hours later, enjoy a delicious home-made chili treat." OK, I'm exaggerating a little. But you get the point.

This book might be acceptable for convenience cooks. Myself, I don't consider a chili recipe a real recipe when one of the ingredients is "canned chili." If you do, maybe this book is for you. Otherwise, there are wayyy better "one dish meal" cookbooks available.

As a mom of an 18 month old and a picky husband, I cannot rate this book high enough! I don't have the time to spend all day in the kitchen, but love making homemade, healthy food. This book is a lifesaver! I especially love the slow cooker section. You just stir in the ingredients in the morning and by dinner, a GREAT meal. You'll love the hot roast beef au jus sandwiches!

Most of the recipes are quick and easy and many use pillsbury products (like crescent rolls, etc) to add a nice topping or crust! I LOVE this book and recommend it to anybody who like homecookin' that is simple and delicious -- even my husband uses it!

I bought this book because I was searching for recipes which I can prepare in advance and leave for my family when I'm away. I have tried a few of the recipes (Bacon Cheeseburger Upside Down Pizza, Baked Ravioli with Meatballs, and a few others)and they have all been good. In other words, my family and I were never displeased with any of the recipes, but they were never excited about any of them either. But we are used to more flavorful dishes since I cook mostly Vietnamese and Mexican dishes. The recipes are really easy to follow though and the pictures are wonderful (most of which looked better than they taste). Overall, the book is great, the recipes are so-so. The dishes in here don't really excite the taste buds, but I'm sure with some experimentation and imagination, anyone can customize them and "kick them up a few notches."

When it comes to cooking, one name I always count on to come through and provide delicious meals is Pillsbury. Pillsbury is to cooking what Life Magazine is to world events - there is simply none better. My favourite section of the book is the one containing recipes for a slow cooker or crock pot, followed in second place by the tempting casseroles. For those of us who work all day, a slow cooker is a sheer blessing. The ingredients in these recipes are easy to find, the blend is flavourful and the end result is a meal that is both delicious and nutritious. The presentation of the meal is limited only by one's creative ability. Even a basic casserole can be made to appear as if it was prepared by a gourmet chef! The illustrations alone in this book will make your mouth water. If you want a top-notch cookbook, rely on Pillsbury. This one is superb and has absolutely tons of easy to prepare, fantastic recipes!