Rating: 
Summary: Dinner is Served!
Review: Wow, what a book. I can't say enough good things about it. Eveything I have cooked has turned out well and gasp!, been eaten by my family. I love the fact that I don't have to agonize over what to cook for dinner -- we usually ate out is what happened.The book is organized into seasons so you can take advantage of fresh veggies and fruits. I like the fact I can print the shopping lists off the internet. After a couple of weeks of doing this, I had most of the staples on hand, so my shopping list is even smaller than before. An added plus is that I can now go to the grocery store and know EXACTLY what I need to get. No more "I might use this" only to have it languish in the depths of the pantry never to see the light of day again. Leanne has gotten me back in the kitchen and LOVING it. I actually have told my husband, "No, I'd rather cook than eat out" (I can't believe I've actually said that), but that's how good these recipes are. I've tried things that I never thought would pass through my lips. A real plus is that Ms. Ely is available by email to answer questions. She is sooooo nice. I'd recommend this book to everyone.
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Summary: Timesaving, balanced and delicious menus
Review: What sets this cookbook apart from others is the - hooray! - shopping list for each week. I love to cook, but supper on the table 7/52 for a family of four got to be really frustrating. These meals are quick to put together and family-friendly. The book is organized by season, taking advantage of what's available in the store, with menus by the week. But my favorite part is the weekly shopping list, compiled and ready to go! Having the menus and the shopping list already done is a HUGE timesaver for me - I just open to the evening's recipe and cook, which some evenings is about all I can manage. Also, one of my children is a vegetarian, so I can substitute vegetarian "burger" crumbles for ground meat in the recipes and it works. In fact, my husband thought I had put hamburger in something last week, but my daughter had seen the package, so she knew it was okay to eat. (It also saves time and cleaning because there is no pre-browning of the meat.) Other nights, I just give her a packaged vegetarian entree, and serve her the same side dishes as the rest of us are eating. No more double meals to cook!
Rating:
Summary: SavingDinner
Review: This book is a great addition to my collection of cookbooks. In conjunction with my copy of "Meals for the Month" I don't have to think at all now of what I am going to cook. Best of all I don't have to make a shopping list. I appreciate the extra little information blurbs along the sides of the pages. After 28 1/2 years of planning meals I am grateful for a boost in the arm! Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: God Bless this Woman for Blessing Our Household
Review: Delicious, simple and save a ton of money on your grocery bill! You will be taking advantage of the foods that are in season and at their peak. Save time as you dash through the grocery store grabbing the items you need off the highly organized and clear shopping list. Enter your kitchen with anticipation instead of dread. This has put fun and joy into cooking dinner for my family with the peace of mind that it was put together by a nutritionist. My 11 year old only liked white food: chicken, fish, rice, pasta and of course, refined sugar. She calls Leanne's recipes, "the yummy food". So, now I am preparing the same food for ALL of us and not something different for our daughter. I am almost halfway through the book and hope Leanne Ely puts out another before I'm done! Go see what fun and peace of mind is in the kitchen! You'll love it!!
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Summary: This book made me excited to cook dinner again!
Review: I actually don't mind cooking, but coming up with ideas week after week is the hard part for me. I've owned cook books that have sat on the shelves collecting dust. I don't even think of this book AS a cook book! It's an instruction manual of sorts - very different from any other 'cook book' I have seen. Leanne groups the meal ideas by seasons, which is very inspiring to me. With each recipe, she adds a footnote of SIMPLE side dish ideas that would go well with the meal - the key word here is SIMPLE! And I can't forget to comment about how she has organized a shopping list for each week of recipes! I also like the breakdown of nutrient value, fat grams, etc. This book has made my life much easier and has taken away the "frozen pizza again" guilt! I also subscribe to menu mailers from your savingdinner.com website. It's great to be able to print out a weeks worth of recipes, take them to the store with me and be done with thinking about dinner for another week! THANK YOU Leanne!
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Summary: Has saved dinner in my house
Review: This book is so much more than a cookbook! I have 2 somewhat picky eaters in my house, and finding things that they will eat is difficult. I have been using this book for about 4 weeks now, and they both LOVE dinner every night. It has also made shopping for dinner VERY EASY, and the recipes are not hard and don't take that much time. This book has been a god send in my house! Thank you Leanne, and keep them coming!
Rating: 
Summary: loving to cook
Review: I read about this book on flylady.com and with her recommendations I ventured out to try this book. Scanning it I found that it was not fancy gourmet (would never do type recipes) but tasty food we would really eat with health vegetables. I started using the book (and the print out shopping lists - GREAT)with in one week I was sold! Called my daughter and told her about it and now she is using the book too. Leanne Thank you!
Kathy
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, but....
Review: I have been looking for a cookbook like this for many years....healthy recipes and menu ideas organized by seasons along with nutrition information per serving. The shopping lists to go along with the recipes and menu plans are an added bonus I had not considered for this "ideal cookbook". I have used the first week of Winter menus and my husband loved having all the variety of vegetables included. I had gotten into a rut of serving the same basic vegetables my mother had served. I use a lot more pots and pans to prepare the meals and they have more steps than I'm used to, but I'm not saying that is a bad thing. I am enjoying the creative process. However, I'm not sure these are the ideal recipes for busy mothers who have to work outside the home. I do like it that there is a fish meal weekly, a meatless meal weekly and a crock-pot meal weekly plus the meat and poultry menus. I do have some problems with the book. For example, she suggests some food items that I have never heard of before. Not only had I not heard of fusilli before, my grocery store did not have it. I assumed it was some kind of pasta and substituted. Some description of unfamiliar foods and possible substitutions would have been helpful.Tarragon is a spice I had never tried before. Speaking of spices, people need to be warned that the first few times one goes shopping using this plan, the shopping bill will be higher than usual until all of the spices and condiments are on hand. I was not put-off by these considerations. It is kind of an adventure to try new foods, spices and condiments. Adventures usually cost a little extra. I understand that when all of these things are on hand, the weekly shopping costs will probably even be less than what you are currently spending on groceries. However, I was put off by something else. The only meats suggested for the first week of winter menus are chicken breasts and cube steaks. I did not buy chicken breasts because my husband had already complained about me using those in an earlier attempt of mine to cook healthier. Neither one of us cares for chicken breasts, so I substituted chicken thighs for the chicken recipes. That worked fine for one of them, but not so well for the other because of the shape of the breasts. We also did not like the cube steak because it was too tough. Well, when I checked the shopping lists for other weeks, lo and behold, she had those two items on almost every week's list! So, if you buy this book and don't particularly care for chicken breasts or cube steaks, be aware that you will have to come up with alternative ideas for many of her recipes. She has no recipes for pork, although she does say at the beginning that she has been told that some of the chicken recipes do well with pork. I also had a problem with some of her serving suggestions. There are usually three suggestions to serve with the meat dish. Usually two of them are starchy and I even noticed one serving suggestion that had three starches. I understand that the author has lower carbohydrate menus on her website, so those interested in fewer carbohydrates may want to check that out. By the way, she doesn't give rcipes for the vegetables to go with the main course. Some of these vegetables are unfamiliar and you may have to check one of your other basic cookbooks to find out how to cook these foods. I had to look up kale, for example. Again, this was part of the adventure for me, but would be just an extra hassle for the working mother with young children. I did not use one of her suggested menus for the first winter week. The other five menus for the week have protein counts of 23-58 grams per serving. The corn chowder only has five grams of protein. The recipe sounds good, but I don't think that is enough protein for an entire meal. One would probably want to serve something else with this to increase the protein. Oh, yes, and if you're like me and have been cooking for forty years and don't have a garlic press, you had better get one if you want to enjoy these recipes as intended. Also, she gives menu ideas for only six days a week assuming, I guess, that you will eat out once a week. If you don't, you can plan one of your family's favorites for that other meal. Just remember to add the ingredients for it to your shopping list. All in all, I think this book is a good investment, especially if you are tired of the "same ole', same ole" , like the creative side of cooking and are looking for healthier alternatives for your family. Maybe I should have given it a four instead of a three because I personally don't buy books that have three ratings and I would buy this book again.
Rating:
Summary: six, seven, eight stars at least!
Review: Ms Ely has brought more peace into my hectic life than any book I've ever read -bar none.This is an lovely book for new brides and new mothers, because it completely takes performance anxiety out of the kitchen. I'm so proud to serve a hot meal to my children and husband each night. They have liked Everything from the cookbook, even things I thought would make them turn up their noses (chicken with apples). Vegetables that I have never prepared (butternut squash) are met with curiosity rather than open comtempt...now that's progress.
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Summary: A Family Affair
Review: I am enjoying Saving Dinner so much, I bought a copy of the book for all 3 of my sisters. After listening to us rave about the recipes and the plan, my mom is buying a copy for herself and my brother. I have always enjoyed cooking, and have developed a 4-week menu plan with shopping lists. However, after using those 4 weeks for 7 years, we were tired of the recipes. It was wonderful to find Saving Dinner, with a similar approach but many more weeks of recipes. Many of the recipes are unusual, but all are delicious! I like all the vegetables that are used, and although we don't eat red meat, find it is easy to adapt any recipe to suit our preferences. The variety in the recipes as well as the healthy menus make this book a keeper.
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