Book Review: Don't Panic: Quick, Easy and Delicious Meals for Your Family

Alternative Title to the Post: Why I would never make it as a food blogger ;-)

First off let me say, this post is sooo late! I was supposed to post this the week before we left for Ireland and somehow I totally forgot! Partly, because honestly I stocked up on the cheapest food I could find that week to squeeze every penny out of our budget for our trip. Also partly, because when I excitedly opened up the book when it arrived, I didn't see anything in the contents that screamed "cook me right now!" so I put it on the shelf to go through again, and there it sat in the midst of vacation getting readiness, all alone and forgotten.

So, as I have mentioned, although there are some recipes in the book that look ok, I was disappointed that nothing really stood out to me as something I was dying to try. My general rules of thumb for new recipes are that it has to contain mostly ingredients that I would have around the house, we have to already like the general idea of it, and has to be kid friendly.  Quite a lot of these recipes, I found, either didn't sound as good as I already make it, or had too many ingredients that I would have to buy specifically for that meal.

Now - there are some things that I may still try in here (and I have already tried some - pics to follow). There are some great things about the book, like the keys at the top which at a glance can tell you which dishes are lighter fare, the author's favorites, have minimal ingredients, are great for entertaining and freezable meals. I really like that. I also like that on the freezable meals, there are notes for how to make multiple batches for freezing. Great idea!

Now for your entertainment purposes - here are some pics of a meal I made from this book :-)

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken (p121)

 First I seasoned the chicken, then browned it in butter...

 After throwing PLACING the chicken in the crock pot, I mixed water, lemon juice, garlic and bouillion to the pan and brought it to a boil, then covered the chicken with the sauce.

Here you may imagine a picture of an ugly flowery crockpot which to save your eyes from the shock, I did not add a picture of. Although, you may imagine a yummy lemony chicken smell here...

I also made the Glazed Snow Peas Recipe on page 73 and I LOVED those!

That's all there was to it folks! It wasn't bad - not as lemony as I would have hoped and a little dry. If I made it again, I would shorten the cooking time and add more lemon, but I LOVED the snow peas (in fact I may have eaten all my kid's helping of those ;-)

If you enjoy cooking, you should at least glance through the contents of this one, because they are all pretty quick to put together and not everyone is as picky as me so I bet you will find a few winners :-)

PS - This book was written by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell, and Bonnie Garcia (I just felt the title was already so long it might break the title bar:-) )

Thank you SO much to Revell publishing for a free copy of this book to review, and their patience with me in posting it!