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4.5
Taste of Home has finally added to the arsenal of make-ahead cookbooks available. Their contribution is an attractive and well-organized volume with pictures of many of the recipes. It stands out for the special section on "single servings," for freezing dinners and treats in single serve portions, and for "creative leftovers," to help you turn leftovers into new dishes. I have almost every other make-ahead cookbook available. I like this book because it is based on double-batch cooking, where you make two dishes, eat one now, and freeze another. This works better for my family than other freezer plans that have you make multiples of dishes for freezing. I have children off to college so my needs for stocking the freezer have changed. The single serving idea works well for me because I need quick meals and snacks for kids in sports and music. The double-batch meals do depend heavily on cheese and meat, but there are a few meals that are vegetarian or could be adapted for vegeterian/vegan lifestyles(like the veggie calzones). There are several recipes for making rolls where you can freeze the dough or the rolls. For the newbie, there are a few pages with general freezing information, such as what containers to use, what foods do and do not freeze well, and how long foods last in the freezer. Many of the freezer dishes are casseroles, which lend themselves to use for pot-lucks and gifting to new moms or convalescing friends. There are drinks, appetizers, main meals, side dishes, breads, and desserts. The variety works well for planning easy entertaining, where you can make some items days ahead and have less stress on the day of the event. The focus in on comfort food, so many of the recipes are not low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar, or low-sodium--but some could be adapted to specific dietary needs, or could be used as a suggestion of a type of dish to look for and try that could fit in with your diet. The abundance of pictures makes the dishes appealing and is unique for this type of book. I have waited eagerly for this book to come out ever since I heard about it, and it didn't disappoint. This book would work for families of any size, and also for people cooking for just one or two.
