The Working Stiff Cookbook: Great Food! Easy Recipes! [Spiral-bound]

Bob Sloan (Author), Michael Klein (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

It's 8 pm and you just got home from work. What's for dinner? Perhaps a delicious bowl of cold cereal awaits. Or maybe you could order Chinese food -- for the third time this week. Who wants to slave over a hot stove after slaving for a wage all day? No matter how late you work or how fast you eat, Bob Sloan has a recipe for you. Quicker than you can change the toner in the fax machine, you can make a Fast and Furious Stir-Fry. If the thought of washing dishes makes your eyes glaze over, whip up a one-pot meal like Paella Rapido. Need lunch for tomorrow? A Lazy Man's Lasagna makes for plenty of leftovers. The Working Stiff Cookbook has colorful tabs for fast flipping, a spiral binding for easy viewing, and laminated pages for no-fuss cleanup. A smart addition to any kitchen, this is the one cookbook that will earn its keep in painless and delicious weekday meals.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With The Working Stiff Cookbook, Bob Sloan has written a smart, effective, useful little cookbook. He probably has in mind a reader with a small kitchen and limited counter space. But the book works just as well for the reader with a grand kitchen and enough counter space to make room for every kitchen gizmo imaginable. Sloan's bottom line is more about time than anything else. If you are a working stiff, you probably assume that you don't have the time or requisite cooking skills to produce stylish, flavorful, and nutritious meals for you and your loved ones. Yet Sloan will show you how. He demonstrates that with a willingness to learn as you grow, you too can put Thai-Style Flounder with Coconut Rice on the table in about 30 hassle-free minutes. Next you'll be whipping up Chicken Breasts with Artichokes and Mushrooms, or perhaps Singular Meat Loaves with Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Sloan divides his book into chapters that address technique and appropriate tools. Here are "One Pot" recipes (Sicilian Vegetable Stew, Chicken Curry in a Hurry), pasta (Thai Vegetable Noodles, Fettuccini with Smoked Salmon), and soups, salads, and sandwiches.

This is a breezy, easy-going book. It's spiral-bound to open flat and stay there and not make you crazy while you're trying to cook. New cooks can't lose, and well-schooled cooks may well want to take note. Bob Sloan believes that pancakes for dinner is a perfectly legitimate dish, and that alone deserves the price of admission. --Schuyler Ingle

From Publishers Weekly

Someone who thinks of kitchen prep as foreplay is clearly ready to have fun cooking. Sloan wants his readers to enjoy cooking, too, even if their skills are limited and time is short. Although he aims his minimum work/maximum flavor recipes at working people, othersAgrad students, June brides and desperate moms includedAwill appreciate his snappy take on simple favorites like Chicken Parmesan and Superfast Fudge Brownies. Most of the 50-odd selections in Sloan's Instant Dinners, One-Pot Dinners, Pasta, Soups, Salads and Sandwiches chapters are entr?es, but he adds a few tasty side dishes and desserts (a four-ingredient Lemon Pie is outstanding). Supper selections can be as elementary as Sole In Foil, as exciting as Stir Fry Furioso or as sophisticated as (still easy) Spaghetti with Portobellos, Prosciutto and Cream. From Pancakes to Piccata, there's something for everyoneAnot always low-calorie, but definitely high-quality. Sloan explains techniques, ingredients, timing strategies and pantry-stocking with enthusiasm and humor, cheering on even the most timid cook. The text's quirky humor is deftly complemented by Michael Klein's amusing retro illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811818853
• ISBN-13: 978-0811818858
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good cook can use a break too!, December 25, 1999

By 

a good cook sittin' at her computor (L.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Working Stiff Cookbook: Great Food! Easy Recipes! (Spiral-bound)

This is a great book for those who DO know how to cook. I love to cook and am quite good at it, but with 2 little ones, time is of the essence. I didn't want to give up 'pretty' food for 'quik' food...this book is good for meeting both those objectives. I am going to give it to a friend that doesn't like to cook. I think she will like it as much as I do because it has simple,fast and contemporary food selections.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eat it up, yum!, May 15, 2000

By 

Joseph T Aleo - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Working Stiff Cookbook: Great Food! Easy Recipes! (Spiral-bound)

This book was given to me by a girlfriend who saw me as a potential husband. One of my flaws, according to her, was that I did not know how to cook so she gave me the Working Stiff Cookbook as a birthday gift. We were never joined in matrimony but at least now I know how to cook, and what a joy it is!

Since then I've purchased quite a few cookbooks but time and time again I'll pull out this one. The salmon recipes are killer, especially the pan-fried salmon. You'll love the quick chicken recipes as well. So buy the book already! You'll thank me and your stomach will thank you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Every Kitchen!, March 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Working Stiff Cookbook: Great Food! Easy Recipes! (Spiral-bound)

This is one of the best cookbooks I have had the pleasure to use. I love to cook and have used many cookbooks none of which as often as this one. It has provided me with some of my favorite recipies -the Rosemary Chicken, Chicken Parmesan, Pan Roasted Salmon, and the Pan-cakes to name a few. This is a great house warming or wedding/shower gift or even for a college student who misses mom's food. But don't be fooled, these recipies are gourmet class. Extremely easy recipies with everyday ingredients, most meals taking less than an hour from start to finish.