Taste of Home - The Busy Family Cookbook - Review

I love to cook. I just like it. I like making good food for people. Everyone has different ideas of what good food is though. I know I do. I grew up with one non-American parent who loves to cook and entertain and an American parent who loved to cook from other countries. My palate is kind of varied but I did grow up with a few peculiar tastes and dislikes that mark me as maybe having grown up elsewhere (I was well into my teens before I acquired a taste for pizza. I don’t like raisins and I’ve eaten snail which I thought was good to name a few.)

Recently in browsing the cookbook section of the library I discovered the Taste of Home: Busy Family Cookbook . I picked it up without a second thought. Why? I have been a subscriber to one or more of Reiman’s publications for over 10 years and have had great success with the recipes in various publications. I have subscribed to Light and Tasty (now Healthy Cooking), the regular Taste of Home , Reminisce, Reminisce Extra, Farm and Ranch, Country Woman, and Country (okay the last 5 aren’t food focused).And I own two of their cookbooks. This all to say I didn’t think twice about picking up this cookbook and I’m glad I did.

Taste of Home: Busy Family Cookbook is 370 recipes for busy weeknights. The recipes are broken down buy main category (e.g.- pork, chicken, beef, dessert, salad). Then within each category by time to prepare; 10 minutes to 30+.

Now I can’t say every recipe in the cookbook is fabulous. First of all because I’ve only tried a few. Second because I probably won’t cook every recipe. People have different tastes and some things don’t appeal to me no matter how much my family begs.

The recipes are pretty easy, so far pretty tasty and use few ingredients so don’t figure you would have to visit a gourmet store to make a dish.

Are their recipes calling for cream-of-(fill in the blank) soup? Yes of course! It’s Taste of Home! I even tried one but omitted the condensed can of soup and made my own.

How I use Taste of Home: Busy Family Cookbook .

I cook from scratch so recipes calling for prepared foods I usually make adjustments to. For example the Basil Caesar Salmon we had for dinner tonight called for Caesar Salad Croutons and Caesar Salad dressing. I made both from scratch (very quickly and easily). First using bread crumbs I already had in the freezer, then whipping up a dressing. It was delicious and the family has requested the recipe again. I’ve made several recipes from the cookbook so far and all have been a hit.

Sure there are recipes in the book I will probably never use. That’s why it’s nice there are 370.

Who can use this cookbook.

Busy moms who need ideas need to get out of their current meal rut. If you like to cook but don’t exactly see yourself as a gourmet cook but one who lives to provide a variety of tasty meals for their family then this is the cookbook for you.

BUT! If you haven’t cooked from Taste of Home’s recipes before go by the website and try a few. Taste of Home recipes are from thousands of cooks all over the country. The recipes are then tested and if they fit the bill they are use in the magazines, cookbooks, etc. They try to meet as many diet restrictions as they can with the magazine and specialized books. These books is not specialized so you would have to make your own adjustments for diet restrictions.

Oh by the way I did go on and buy my own copy.