Rachael Ray

I enjoy a lot of what she's done, and I'm especially happy with the overall taste simplicity of the meals. She doesn't use too many strange or hard-to-find ingredients, and often includes information about possible ingredient substitutes. That said, I don't much care for the way this book is arranged. It's set up menu-style, which makes finding different kinds of recipes a little harder than it really needs to be. I know she does her shows like that, and TV takes to that form very well, but show more cookbooks take to that form less well. Also, I like cookbooks that include nutritional information, and this one does not. I know it's easy enough to look up online now, but still.... it would be a nice addition. show less

Rachael Ray was one of the first Food Network shows I watched. I loved her in the early years and then felt she was a little overexposed and annoying. But this book of recipes and essays made me appreciate her again. The recipes are fairly common but the essays were insightful.

Rachel Ray magazines were largely how I learned to cook many years ago so when I saw this cookbook at the library book sale I snapped it up. Unlike other reviewers, I found this cookbook very approachable. I have a long list of meals I plan to make. Yes, I will need to pick up some things at the grocery store but thisbook never claims to be one where you cook completely from your pantry.

My family rather enjoys my cooking, but has a few criticisms: my budget is too large and it takes too much time. I really need to learn to prepare several meals at once, ahead of time, say on the weekend before the week. This is something Rachael Ray claims not only can be done but she does for her busy life. I figured this was I book I could learn from and would become a regular cookbook.

Not so: (1) Ray provides very little guidance on how to learn to create your own plan, but forces you to show more rely on her guide/plan for your week; (2) her plan is for 5 meals, including the meal you are to serve on prep day, therefore - if prep day is Sunday - you are cooking Friday night; (3) I question if these recipes will provide any leftovers for lunches, though this is dependent on family size; (4) there is no nutritional information for you to incorporate recipes into another diet/plan, e.g. I have no carbohydrate information to help me planning for the diabetics in my family; and (5) there are few pictures for guidance or to tantalize you into making a recipe.

Some people may be perfectly fine with with using her plan, not wanting to plan their own (hey, we all need a break sometimes). Despite my issues, there are a lot of positives for this book: (1) her weeks are organized into themes, which can be fun and reflect a certain taste, making the selection of week much simpler; (2) while there are disagreements as to what is average, the recipes are - I feel - made with popular ingredients and a lot of repeats, which makes the recipes cheaper, easy to source, and more popular with your family; (3) the recipes are a good balance of family favourites and more interesting food; (4) recipes are fairly consistently the same number of servings for your family, to simplify planning; and (5) throughout the book, there are Q-codes to scan for a little extra information or a video with more detailed instruction if you feel the instructions are not enough.

So I am displeased as it did not meet my purposes. However, I can concede that this cookbook has the potential to help others in simplifying their cooking schedule. It is not my favourite but I am keeping it for the future - the weeks I need someone to plan it for me. show less