Review: The Robin Takes 5 Cookbook for Busy Families Over 200 Recipes with 5 Ingredients or Less for Breakfasts, School Lunches, After-School Snacks, Family Dinners, and Desserts by Robin Miller

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Imagine your day like this: a nourishing breakfast; a gourmet lunch; creative afternoon snacks; a scrumptious family dinner; a decadent dessert. Dream no more: This can be your typical day because The Robin Takes 5 Cookbook for Busy Families boasts 200 recipes that are ready in a flash with 5 ingredients or less.
“Robin brings her real-life experiences to the page. Her book is not only full of her best busy-family recipes, but also tips and stories to remind us that we are not alone in trying to get a nutritious and delicious dinner on the table for a busy (and hungry!) family.”
—Melissa d’Arabian, host of Food Network’s Ten Dollar Dinners and author of Ten Dollar Dinners
“This book is loaded with fun, easy, kid-friendly recipes that can take the stress out of feeding your family well, and make it completely doable even when life is at its most hectic. Kudos to Robin for covering all the busy-family bases!”
—Ellie Krieger, RD, host of Food Network’s Healthy Appetite and author of Comfort Food Fix
You can’t create a truly useful cookbook for busy families unless you’re actually living the life. And Robin Miller lives the life! Her boys and husband keep her busy, plus Robin’s a chef, nutritionist, cookbook author, and TV personality. Like you, she faces mealtime dilemmas every day, from morning until night. Thankfully, Robin shares her secrets for creating delectable food in minimal time with few ingredients. How does this sound? Jump-start your day with Flapjacks with Cheddar and Bacon or Huevos Rancheros on English Muffins. Let the kids enjoy the Almond Coffee Cake while you pack Chicken Caesar Pita Pockets in their lunch boxes and spoon Lemony Sweet Pea Risotto or Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Corn and Cilantro into a container for you. Afternoon snacks are a breeze with Roasted Corn Guacamole with Baked Tortilla Chips or Warm Spinach Dip with Sundried Tomatoes and Pepper Jack. For dinner, wow the crowd with Toasted Tortellini with Bread Crumbs and Tomato Sauce, Turkey Meatball Sliders, or Cheddar Fondue with Shrimp and Apples. Think you don’t have time for dessert? There’s always time for White Chocolate Truffles with Raspberry Sauce and Crispy Sugared Wonton Ice Cream Sandwiches. The biggest secret of all? Each recipe has just 5 ingredients or less.
From morning until night, Robin’s got you covered with an assortment of family-friendly main dishes, snacks, side dishes, and desserts. You’ll soon discover that The Robin Takes 5 Cookbook for Busy Families is a book that will forever live on your kitchen counter.

MY TAKE:
The biggest reason why I don't cook as much is because I don't have a lot of time to cook and I find recipes with a lot of ingredients to be very complicated.

The Robin Takes 5 Cookbook for Busy Families features a lot of easy, simple recipes. Recipes are classified into: breakfast, lunch, after-school snacks, dinner, slow cooker meals, vegetable side dishes, and desserts.

I liked how the book was well-organized and easy-on-the-eyes. Recipes that are gluten-free are also easy to find thanks to a little symbol found on the recipe page. However, I think the feature that most moms would appreciate is the breakdown of the nutrients per serving of the recipe. There are only a few cookbooks that do this, and I'm sure moms would appreciate knowing how many milligrams or grams of sodium, fat, etc. are found in each serving.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I've already seen a number of recipes that I would like to try. For example, One-Egg Western Omelet, and Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the e-ARC. Publication date of The Robin Takes 5 Cookbook for Busy Families is on August 20, 2013.

THE GOOD:

1. There's nutrition information for each recipe.
2. The layout and design is simple but nice.
3. There are a lot of recipes to choose from.

THE BAD:

1. The list of recipes for each category only appears at the start of each chapter and not at the table of contents at the start.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Huevos rancheros is a classic Mexican dish that features fried eggs served on top of a tomato-chile sauce and lightly fried corn tortillas.

READ IT IF:

1. You like recipes that have few ingredients.
2. You are on the lookout for more gluten-free recipes.
3. You like easy recipes.

RATING:


SOUNDS INTERESTING?