Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals : Cooking 'Round the Clock

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Summary: Where's the Index?
Review: At first, I thought maybe it was just me and I was missing something. But then I realized that there is no index in this book! Having to hunt through the Content to find a chicken recipe is a killer. As a fellow writer, I have to wonder why an editor would ever recommend this as a viable option for someone. On a different note, I had the same problem with this book as her other one: I had a tough time finding the recipes that I show for a particular show in the book.

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Summary: Delicious and Easy - You Can't Beat That Combination!
Review: I began watching Rachel Ray's program a few years ago and have since bought all her cookbooks. I've been cooking for over 30 years and it wasn't until I started cooking Rachel's recipes that my sons actually ate second helpings. Her recipes are easy, quick and delicious.

Rachel seems like such a nice person and is fun to watch on TV. I'd love to hook her up with my oldest son if he wasn't already married! Loved it, Rachel. Thanks for another good cookbook!

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Summary: Fantastic cookbook
Review: I grew up in a home in which eating out was the norm. My family's schedules made it too difficult for someone to spend the time cooking only to have everyone walk in late or, for that matter, at all. So, as I got older I had a certain built in aversion to the kitchen. Sure, it seemed harmless enough, but...Wouldn't I hurt myself if I tried to "julienne" something? Hey, I still might, but over the past couple of years the kitchen and I have managed to come to terms with each other.

Rachael Ray's books have helped with that. I may not mind the kitchen as much, but I also don't want to spend my whole day in one. So having a lot of varied options that I can get ready in a relatively short amount of time is wonderful. Plus, Ray doesn't make the novice cook feel stupid because he or she doesn't know what certain cooking terms mean. She keeps the recipes simple from the wording right on through to the ingredients. I've never had trouble finding what's necessary for the meal in my local big-chain grocery store.

For me, this book is the best in the series. And even though she breaks the recipes down into the time of day they may be best served, each and every one is a healthy, satisfying dinner in itself. I went through the book, marking each recipe I wanted to try with a little slip of paper, and by the time I was done it looked like I'd have a month's worth (probably more) of dinners planned out. Plus, she has recipes for simple desserts and yummy sounding hot drinks that look like they'd be great for entertaining and/or rainy nights.

Ray really makes cooking seem enjoyable and the cute stories she provides with some of the recipes makes her writing enjoyable as well. All I can say is that if you've enjoyed the other books in the `30 Minute' series, you'll love this one even more.

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Summary: Rachael
Review: I received this book as a Christmas gift from work. All I can say is FABULOUS! I absolutely love Rachael Ray; she is very imaginative and creative with her meals, the recipes are easy and delicious, and she is very positive about everything.
Several people have said that the cookbook does not have an index. Although this is true, it does have a table of contents towards the beginning of the book, separated by meal time, that gives the name of the dish and page number. So, if you were looking for a dessert, it would not be hard to find.
I am thrilled to have this book. It is the first cookbook that I have from her collection, and I plan on buying more of hers in the future. This would be a good investment to make.

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Summary: FAST, FUN AND GOOD TOO....
Review: Maybe it's because Rachael is so fun and effervescent, but I love watching her. She brings such energy and enthusiasm to cooking that is sorely lacking in many TV cooks. The other thing is that Rachael is a "food" person and not a chef. She first and foremost enjoys tastes and ease of cooking over making something look ready to be photographed for the cover of Gourmet magazine.

The fact is most of us don't have the time to put sprigs of parsley and ribbon slice veggies for garnish on our meals. We are busy, on the go people with kids ang jobs and all sorts of things to do. Rachaels books are for us! Easy, quick meals that you can probably make with ingredients you already have in your pantry and don't require trips to gourmet food stores to find. yes, it's true that most of the meals are going to take a bit more than 30 minutes to finish but even getting Dinner prepped and cook in an hour is nice.

Rachael's recipes run the gamut from Breakfast to late night snacks and everything in between. Yeah..you won't find things like these in Bon Appetit or Food & Wine. Sandwhiches...(great sandwhiches in fact) Burgers, pasta's, Salads, finger foods and more. I really love the late-night snack receipe as often times that's about all I get for a dinner and they are good and fast and filling.

The other thing I love about Rachael's recipes is that they don't require a lot of fancy tools. Chances are the average person has everything they need to whip these up and it all falls into the goal of making these quick and easy.

The complaints that Rachael's recipes are unsophisticated miss the point. How many of us have the time to sit down and make the kids of things that Wolfgang Puck or jacques Peppin make? Unless you're basically a homebody with no kids, I'm guessing not many of us do. Those kinds of shows...Even Lagasse, are more for entertainment. Rachael's show and books are for practicality. No..they may not win awards for presentation. But I'll take something good over something that looks good any day!

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Summary: Bubbly
Review: Rachael Ray is so cute and bubbly, how can you not like her book covers? I think the books have something to do with recipes, but I haven't opened any of them yet, I just like looking at the book covers. She is so cute.

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Summary: Wonderful Collection
Review: The recipes are fabulous and easy to follow. I have been pleased with every recipe I have tried. Rachael Ray can take the most difficult recipe and simplify it to the point that anyone can do it. A wonderful recipe collection and a very nice gift.

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Summary: gross!
Review: this food looked like someone threw it up! i wouldn't even serve it to my dog, so i wrapped it up in tin foil and gave it to the neighbors. i only suggest this book for all of us who occassionally have unwanted house guests. believe me, they won't stay long.

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Summary: Well Really four and a half stars....
Review: Want to know why I didn't give it five stars? CAuse it is too short in my book! I love Rachel Ray. I enoy her shows on Food Network, and I have all her books...she is just...well, fun. I just want her to come out with a big ole honkin' book like Gourmet did.

Anyways, this is a fun book. What I enjoy most is that all of her recipes are designed to be short so most of them kids can help out with in some way. I have her Kids book (a great addition by the way) and my kids enjoy the recipes so much that they bought me this book for Christmas. My oldest son and I (he is almost 11) have made a number of the menus from this book already. The recipes are easy to follow, none of the ingredients are too exotic, and the results and quick and delicious. We particularly enjoy her 'scrambles' My five year old loves scrambled eggs, and this is a great way for me to sneak some veggies or new ingredients in on him.

All in all, I definetely recommend this book. There is no index, but so what! The book is spelled out pretty cleanly in the Table of Contents, and part of the fun of a cookbook is flipping through it and getting new ideas.

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Summary: Recipes for the Cooking Challenged
Review: What I love about this cookbook is that the recipes are organized as meals. So there is a main dish, then a dessert, drink, appetizer, or side dish to go with it. I usually end up making two of the three things and it is more than enough food. The hardest thing for me has been figuring out what to cook with what and she takes the guesswork out of it. Her recipes have helped me eat way more vegetables and cook with more olive oil and less butter. I highly recommend this cookbook to someone who is not an expert chef and who wants meals that are tasty and easy to make.

I read the book and I thought, this doesn't sound too bad but I found myself miserable. I just was frustrated after a week....it was very regimented. I did benefit by eliminating my coffee habit with the help of a wonderful coffee substitute called soyfe e (www.soyc offee.co m) Its made from soybeans which is a godsend for those trouble with hot flashes like myself. Another book I bought was the South Beach Diet book. I read that book and found the plan to be made up of things I would eat and the items were normal grocery store items so no hunting at the health food stores or buying online.