Robin Rescues Dinner: 52 Weeks of Quick-Fix Meals, 350 Recipes, and a Realistic Plan to Get Weeknight Dinners on the Table (Paperback)

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Book Description
Set the table for fantastic weeknight meals with the help of Food Network star Robin Miller.

It’s great to have an ambitious plan to cook healthy dinners from scratch every night. It’s an entirely different story to execute it! Not to worry. Robin Miller—star of Food Network’s Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller and Robin to the Rescue—is here to save the day.

Known for her quick, bright ideas for healthy and satisfying meals, Robin shares her unique and completely realistic strategy for a busy workweek in Robin Rescues Dinner. It’s as simple as planning three dishes in advance so that you’re prepared, no matter what the week brings! Here you’ll find 52 weeks of meals, each including three weeknight main dishes, heaps of suggestions for morphing one dish into another, a bounty of side dishes and desserts, and clever tips and techniques to speed up preparation time.

Robin pairs her practical know-how with delectable flavors in more than 350 brand-new recipes brought to life in 38 beautiful color photographs. Starting in January and ending in December, the recipes follow the seasons, with comforting cold-weather dishes in winter and summer plates that make the most of seasonal produce. With Robin Rescues Dinner, weeknight dinners have never been easier—or more delicious!

From Robin Rescues Dinner: Grilled Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Crumb Topping

This is a simple way to take an everyday steak over the top. Since it takes just a few minutes (and practically zero effort) to make the creamy-crunchy topping, think of this for your next dinner party.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 flank steak (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), or 2 flank steaks (1 to 1 1/4 pounds each)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

(Serves 4 (with leftovers for quesadillas))

Directions

1. Coat a stovetop grill pan or griddle with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the steak with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan. Cook for 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove the steak from the pan and let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, to make the crumb topping, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft. Add the bread crumbs and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the blue cheese and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt and the mixture is crumbly.

3. Cut the steak crosswise, against the grain, into thin strips. Serve half of the steak with all of the blue cheese mixture sprinkled over the top. (Reserve the remaining steak for quesadillas.)

Quick Side Dish: Maple-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Peel and cube 2 pounds sweet potatoes (2 to 3 medium) and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the potatoes to a large, rimmed baking sheet, in a single layer, and roast at 400 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender. While still hot, toss the sweet potatoes with a mixture of 1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup and 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard.

From Robin Rescues Dinner: Steak Quesadillas with Spinach and Caramelized Onions and Chunky Ranch Guacamole

We love quesadillas in our house, so I’m always creating a new version. This simple combination contains tortillas stuffed with steak, cheese, spinach, and caramelized onions. What takes them over the top is the guacamole on the side—an awesome (and ridiculously simple) blend of avocados, ranch dressing, lime juice, tomato, and cilantro.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup sliced yellow or red onion
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup prepared ranch dressing
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup diced ripe beefsteak or plum tomato
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, to taste
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 4 8- to 10-inch flour tortillas
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves
• Reserved cooked steak slices (or 3 to 4 cups sliced cooked steak or chicken)

(Serves 4)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sugar and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until soft and golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, to make the guacamole, in a medium bowl, combine the avocado, ranch dressing, and lime juice. Mash with a fork until blended. Stir in the tomato and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Coat a stovetop griddle or large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.

4. Arrange the tortillas on a flat surface. Top half of each tortilla with shredded cheese, spinach, reserved steak, and caramelized onions. Fold over the un-topped side, making a half moon. Place the quesadillas on the hot pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the tortillas are golden brown and the cheese melts.

5. Serve the quesadillas with the guacamole on the side.

More from Robin Rescues Dinner: 17 Pantry Pastas [PDF]

From Publishers Weekly

Star of the Food Network's Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller and author of Robin to the Rescue, Miller offers an organized, simple approach to dinner for the time challenged. She provides a year's worth of weeknight flavorful, healthful and varied meals that make the most out of seasonal produce. Each chapter includes a prep list of steps that can be done in advance, and throughout Miller offers time-saving tips, such as cooking extra chicken breasts now for a second meal later in the week. Recipes have prep and cook times listed and most double easily and freeze well. When appropriate, she offers suggestions for morphing one meal into another: grilled steak with shiitake mushrooms, wilted arugula and shaved parmesan can be served the following night as beef and noodles in whiskey cream sauce. Miller also includes suggestions for quick side dishes and desserts, including cumin-roasted Yukon Gold potatoes, buttermilk onion rings and banana-blueberry fool with honey-roasted peanuts. With today's busy lifestyles in mind, Miller offers cooks a wealth of options for making appealing, healthy meals, even on hectic weeknights. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (June 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307451402
• ISBN-13: 978-0307451408
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,443 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robin does it again!, June 16, 2009

By	Christina (Christina in Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've purchased two previous books from Robin Miller, one I liked, the other not so much so I was really wondering which way this third book would go for me.

The book is laid out in weeks. The weeks run from January through December (they aren't labeled as such) but she mentions in the introduction the 'warm you up from the inside out' meals will be in the beginning and the end with the warm weather menus that use fresh summer produce are in the middle.

Each week has 3 meals. I can't tell you HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS!! I've learned in the past that I don't cook 5 meals, regardless of all the shopping and planning I put into it, I just lose steam and don't 'feel it' come day four and five of the week. So the fact that she features three menu's for each day is WONDERFUL!

At the beginning of each week she lists the menu and a page entitled "Prep List"


for example week 24 includes



* Grilled Chicken w/Sherried Carmamelized Wild Mushrooms
* Baja Chicken Soft Tacos
**quick side dish: Olice and Tomato-spiked rice
* Seared Tuna w/Miso Broth and Sesame Soba Noodles
**Quick side dish: Chunky Tomato Salad

then on the opposite page is the "Prep List"
* Cook extra chicken for the tacos when you make the grilled chicken. (Refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using.)
* Cook soba noodles for the tuna dish; toss with oil as directed (refrigerate up to 2 days).

The recipes are on the next three pages complete with prep time and cook time. I've never been one to prep ahead but I'd be curious to see how it works, I may have to try it.

The recipes are in a nice large font, the ingredients in bold with a lot of options for each recipe, ie; morphing into another meal, or a quick side dish option.

All in all, the book has a VERY NICE layout, pleasing to the eyes as you browse through it. There are two groupings of pics, not a lot but hey the book is $20 so I'm not complaining.

I GIVE THIS A TWO THUMBS UP or in this case FIVE STARS!!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice premise, well executed, June 19, 2009

By	Steven A. Peterson (Hershey, PA (Born in Kewanee, IL)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Robin Miller, another in the stable of Food Network's talent, provides a well crafted cookbook here. The premise is pretty straightforward: put together about three homemade recipes for each week of the year. Between the three meals, maybe a couple meals out, and leftovers, one would be set each week--with some tasty home cooked meals as a key part of the overall portfolio of meals. At the outset, she notes that one has to plan out the week while shopping on the weekend. She further notes, as per her thesis, tat (page 16): "Cooking three school-night meals a week is completely doable, especially when you make 'planned' leftovers from one meal to use on another night."

Let's take a look at some of the recipes provided in this volume. "Mango-Habanero Pork over Cuban Guacamole." Sounds forbidding from the title. However, if one actually read the recipe, it is not overly daunting. I have just begun cooking with habanero peppers, and I would surely caution against too abundant a use of these hot devils!

Or "Scallops with Brown Butter, Lemon, and Capers." I have come to appreciate capers (my most common use for them is chicken piccata, where they add a delectable taste). Here, the wedding of scallops, lemon, and capers sounds delightful. This is a recipe that I intend to try. Once more, it sounds quite doable (and enough experience cooking tells you if a recipe is doable or a bear).

Every so often, I enjoy a "Fra Diavolo" dish when dining out. I have never made such a dish at home, though. This recipe sounds like a keeper. Linguine, habanero or jalapeno pepper, , garlic, cubed cooked chicken breasts, oregano, red pepper flakes, diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. "Yum-o!" If I can convince my family to try a little hot sauce (a long shot, I admit), I would like to try this.

And so on and so on. A nice cookbook, promising to help working cooks out, with home cooking several nights a week.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robin's Best!, June 24, 2009

By	j.s. "mr z" (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews

Admittedly, I have never been a huge fan of Robin Miller. I am not a fan of the whole "cook one recipe, use the leftovers for another recipe" genre. Robin's entire Food Network persona was built around this premise and I, obviously, didn't pay much attention.

BUT, I decided to pick up her latest offering, "Robin Rescues Dinner." This book has dropped the emphasis on leftover recipes and, instead, offers meals for 52 weeks (an entire year!).

Older fans of Robin should not fret because she still offers the leftover recipe option. The difference in this new publication is that, for people like me, Robin also gives you the option to create meals without having to use ingredients from previous recipes.

Now that we've dealt with the whole leftover recipe issue, let's move onto the food itself. This book definitely has an emphasis on proteins (chicken, steak, salmon) with a Southwestern/Asian flair. At the bottom of each recipe, Robin offers "quick side dish" ideas and hints on "quick desserts." I love this element because it brings depth to Robin's proteins (which could have gotten stale on their own).

This book really reminds me of a Rachael Ray cookbook...with less ingredients and a slightly more healthful approach. It is accessible to those who aren't interested in utilizing "leftover recipes" and the addition of "quick side dishes" and "quick desserts" add more bang to your buck.

In my humble opinion, this is Robin's best offering yet. I highly recommend it to cooks looking to spice up the standard protein/salad/dessert fare without too much fuss.