FOOD FOR THOUGHT
'Semicooks' might enjoy these books
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
In my continuing series on cookbooks for holiday gifts, here's a group that will appeal to "semi-cooks" — people who enjoy cooking but don't mind a time-saving boost from prepared products. On a weeknight, that's a very large part of the cooking population. Slow Food purists, forgive us!
"Cooking Out of the Box" by Bev Bennett; Prima Publishing, paper, $14. This book has been out for a year, which means I've had time to use a couple of the recipes. They rarely have more than four or five ingredients, a balance of fresh and canned or boxed things: a tuna Nicoise salad made with one of those tuna-sandwich kits, a rice bowl made with a packaged tuna and rice mix, supermarket roast chicken and a fresh dressing. Many recipes are outfitted with "Add a Touch" boxes that outline variations. There's a short section on time-strapped entertaining, too. B, a nice everyday book.
"Dinner Doctor" by Anne Byrn; Workman, paper, $14.94 (also in hardcover, $26.95). Anne Byrn is the author of the popular "Cake Mix Doctor" book that outlined how to use commercial cake mixes to make a range of desserts. Here she uses frozen, boxed, bagged and ready-made deli foods in more than 200 recipes. Her recipes are a little more sophisticated and fancy than Bennett's. Each recipe includes an estimate of prep and cooking time, with plenty of tips for making the dishes better. Like most Workman books, this one is well-designed and packed with information. A, the one I'd be most likely to use.
"Pat and Betty's No-fuss Cooking" by Patricia A. Schweitzer and Betty T. Morton; Hyperion, paper, $16.95. OK, right up front you need to know that Pat and Betty work for the Reynolds Wrap folks (you've seen them in commercials touting the nonstick foil), so every single recipe in this collection involves aluminum foil. The time savings come in using some processed products but also less cleanup. Each recipe is accompanied by prep time and cook or chill time. I wasn't very impressed; the recipes seem bland, the pictures too posed. C+, but maybe I'm just a snob.
"Semi-homemade Desserts" by Sandra Lee; Miramax books, paper, $19.95. This oversize, magazine-style collection comes from the Food Network "lifestylist" whose "Semi-Homemade Cooking" was a New York Times bestseller. Her philosophy is 70/30 — 70 percent store-bought ingredients, 30 percent homemade effort, and you take 100 percent of the credit. This collection includes her own creations as well as recipes she got from various stars (yeah, right, like Sharon Stone really makes a chocolate layer cake, even if she does have help from cake mixes). The dishes are beautiful, though most take a little skill and hand-eye coordination if you hope to match Lee's presentation. A cake in the shape (and trademark aqua color) of a Tiffany's box, frosted with perfect fondant and tied with a satin ribbon? Oh, please. B+; choose your projects carefully so as not to get in over your head.
