Cooking for Comfort or Cooking Light Way To Lose Weight

Cooking for Comfort

Author: Marian Burros

"We want to go back to a time when life was not so complicated -- or, at least, when we look at it from a distance, it was one that seemed much simpler. One ofthe few ways most of us can get there together is through our food."

-- from the Introduction

In these turbulent times, bestselling author and acclaimed New York Times columnist Marian Burros felt the change in America's eating habits. More and more, Burros noticed that people were setting aside their salads and instead reaching for foods like meat loaf and mashed potatoes, while others longed for the cookies, cakes, and pies their moms used to bake. In Cooking for Comfort, Burros shares more than 100 recipes for comfort food. Some are classics, some are streamlined for modern tastes, some have a contemporary twist, and some are unabashedly indulgent. But all are stuff from which taste memories are made.

Known for her ability to create deeply flavorful food and foolproof recipes, Burros shares mouthwatering recipes for dishes like classic Maryland Crab Cakes, Cream of Tomato Soup, the ultimate Toasted Cheese Sandwich, the Perfect BLT, Picnic Fried Chicken, Meat Loaf and Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, and Great Roast Chicken. They will soothe your mood and satisfy any craving. To calm that sweet tooth, Burros has included more than forty recipes for delectable sweets. Among them are rich and creamy Michael's Chocolate Pudding; no-fail Lemon Meringue Pie; luscious Coconut Cake; and Giant Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Ganache, all of which will feed your soul as well as your stomach.

The recipes are as stress-free and enjoyable to prepare as they are to eat, and they will appeal to anylevel of home cook. Burros has also provided wine suggestions and special notes on ordering specific ingredients, as well as extensive cook's notes that offer helpful hints and variations on recipes. With Cooking for Comfort, Marian Burros has turned out yet another cookbook that is destined to become a classic.

Publishers Weekly

We live in "a time of enormous uncertainty," writes Burros (The New Elegant But Easy Cookbook; Eating Well Is the Best Revenge) in the introduction to her latest cookbook, but "[d]inner can help us forget about that." After September 11, Burros says, people reevaluated the pleasures of homey comforts, and they longed for old-time favorite foods like Sloppy Joes, Chicken Cacciatore, Twice-Baked Potatoes and Lemon Meringue Pie. The veteran chef and New York Times columnist polled family, friends and foodies to offer recipes for cozy carb-filled foods to remind us of simpler days. Even finicky cooks will delight in dishes long on the Grandma-factor with a dash of nouvelle cuisine for good measure-chives instead of onions in the Matzo Balls; portobellos or shiitake in Mushroom Barley Soup, phyllo crust for the Chicken Pot Pie. The slim volume is packed with stick-to-your-ribs dishes, and while Burros does take care to include ways to lighten some of the recipes ("streamlined versions," she calls them) this is not a book for dieters. It's too bad the book has no pictures, but blithe prose detailing each recipe largely makes up for the lack. (In addition to dishes for which she provides actual recipes, she also gives directions sans ingredients lists-for Toasted Cheese Sandwiches, Cheese Omelet, the Perfect BLT, etc.) A giddy collection of appetizers, entrees and desserts, this book includes dishes destined to cheer up chefs or armchair culinary enthusiasts, no matter how world-weary. Wine suggestions and a sources list round out the offerings.

Library Journal

Burros is a longtime New York Times columnist and author of numerous other books, including The Elegant But Easy Cookbook. Her new book grew out of a column that she wrote shortly after 9/11, when people all around the country were finding some comfort in cooking and baking homey dishes like meat loaf and apple pie. She has put together an appealing collection of recipes for the familiar, old-fashioned dishes that made her list of "comfortable" foods, from Blueberry Pancakes to Cream of Tomato Soup to Macaroni and Cheese, with, not surprisingly, lots of desserts. Most of the dishes are simple, but preparation has been streamlined where appropriate, and thoughtful "Help Notes" are included throughout. For most collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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Cooking Light Way To Lose Weight: Discover the Power of Positive Eating

Author: Cooking Light Magazine Staff

Forget the drudgery of dieting. This is definitely the new Way to Lose Weight. If shedding pounds is the goal, the experts at Cooking Light show how to take 'em off and keep 'em off using simple strategies to eat well, tame the hunger beast, and stay fit and trim-without yo-yo dieting. This book champions "the power of positive eating" with real-life reader success stories and practical advice from 75 weight-loss experts. Features over 250 "too-good-to-be-true" recipes, meals in minutes, plus tons of low-fat flavor secrets from the Cooking Light Test Kitchens. From a one-week weight-loss menu to a 12-week fitness plan, transforming oneself into a thinner, happier, and healthier person was never more delicious.