Review: Robin Takes 5!: 500 Recipes, 5 Ingredients or Less, 500 Calories or Less, for 5 Nights/Week at 5:00 PM! by Robin Miller

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

It's 5:00 PM. Everyone's hungry. It's takeout or fakeout, meaning nuking a processed meal from the freezer. But there's a third option that doesn't include processed food or an unhealthy heap of calories and fat—Robin Takes 5.

Imagine quickly preparing delicious meals for yourself, your friends, and your family with just 5 fabulous ingredients. Does it get any better? Absolutely, with Robin Takes 5. The book features 500 recipes and each dish is a mouthwatering 500 calories or less. Two-color recipe text complements full-color photography inserts. In addition, helpful icons note ideal recipes for holidays and entertaining as well as recipes with less than 500 mg of sodium. That's not all—nutritional information is given for each recipe.

In Robin Takes 5 500 recipes highlight at least 10 different ethnic cuisines, and dishes range from soups, pizzas, and pastas, to chicken, beef, pork, seafood, side dishes, and desserts. Consider 70 recipes just for chicken, such as Cashew Crusted Chicken with Roasted Jalapeno-Mango Chutney, and 50 dessert recipes, such as Orange Marmalade Tart with Chocolate Covered Almonds. Consider yourself armed for mealtime. The next time the clock strikes 5:00 PM and you want both noshing and nourishment, check out Robin Takes 5.

MY TAKE:

I have always wanted to get serious about cooking but because I move really slowly in the kitchen and a lot of the recipes which sound interesting have so many ingredients, cooking is pretty low on my list of priorities.

Robin Takes 5!: 500 Recipes, 5 Ingredients or Less, 500 Calories or Less, for 5 Nights/Week at 5:00 PM! is more or less the perfect cookbook for me. These recipes are easy to do and they don't need a lot of ingredients.

The book is divided into 8 sections based on the type of dish (side dish, pasta, etc.). There are also metric conversions and equivalents. What's great about Robin Takes 5 is the fact that aside from the usual "serves ___, prep time: ___, cooking time: ____", each recipe also includes nutritional information. I don't count calories, but if you do or you try to watch how much fat you take in, this is a great cookbook to have.

I wasn't able to try any of the recipes because when I went to the grocery to buy ingredients for the Mini Chocolate Cream Pie, it turns out that our grocery store didn't have whipped cream or phyllo shells.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. It's organized and it's easy to find recipes to try.
2. The recipes are quick to do and don't require a lot of ingredients.
3. Nutritional information is provided for each recipe.

THE BAD:

1. There are no introductions for each section.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

The only staples I expect you to have are olive oil (and occasionally cooking spray), salt, and black pepper.

READ IT IF:

1. You don't like meals that are too fussy to make.
2. You only have a small amount of time to spend on cooking.
3. You like low-calorie, moderate-sodium food.

RATING:



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