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I don’t know of a single woman who isn’t at least a little bit frantic from time to time. We juggle work and family and friends—and in the midst of all that juggling, we’re still expected to create delicious, healthy meals on a daily basis. But Frantic Woman Mary Jo Rulnick is here to help. Her new book, The Frantic Woman’s Guide to Feeding Family and Friends makes dinner quick and easy—and still delicious, too.
Rulnick’s approach is pretty simple: you do two full weeks of grocery shopping at a time (with one quick pit stop to pick up fresh items after the first week), using the shopping list provided. When you get home, you unpack your groceries, freezing them or storing them as Rulnick suggests—numbering each item for the day when it will be used. Then you’re all set for two weeks. All of the recipes are quick and relatively easy, so you won’t be frantically searching for something to eat while your family’s sitting around complaining that they’re hungry. Some days even suggest doubling up on some of the work one day—like cooking up two pounds of ground beef instead of one—and using the extras in the next day’s recipe. Rulnick also provides tons of tips and suggestions for spicing things up or toning things down to make things picky-eater-friendly.
The book is broken up into recipes for each of the four seasons—providing two different two-week menu plans for each season. She also provides special menu plans for vacations, weeks when you’ve got company, and those post-holiday weeks when you need good recipes for your left-over ham or turkey. And, on top of all that, there are recipes for side dishes and even potluck dishes.
The Frantic Woman’s Guide is crammed full of great tips and recipes that any frantic woman (or man) will appreciate. From slow-cooker dinners to kid-friendly meals, they’re dishes that you can make ahead—or quickly throw together so you can spend quality time with the family while dinner’s in the oven.
While I’m not nearly organized enough to follow the two-week plan, I’ve already skipped around and tried several of the recipes in this book. Of the ones I’ve tried, only one had a less-than-stellar rating—but it just needed a little spicing up. The rest were delicious. I even managed to impress my husband a few times (please don’t tell him that they took no time at all to prepare).
I tend to be pretty skeptical about cookbooks. Usually, they look nice, but I’ll end up finding only a recipe or two that I’ll actually take the time to try. More often, I find that the dishes require all kinds of ingredients that I don’t have in the house—and would never actually buy. And after I try a recipe or two, I’ll set the book aside, and it’ll collect dust on my shelf. But that’s not the case with The Frantic Woman’s Guide. It’s so full of quick and delicious recipes that I know I’ll consult it often. I’ve already found some new favorites—and I’ve got dozens more recipes that I want to try out.
No frantic family should be without this book.
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