Ready, Set, Cook: How To Make Good Food with What’s On Hand (No Fancy Skills, Fancy Equipment, or Fancy Budget Required)

It would be nice to feel one could make a good, tasty meal at the drop of a hat with no mad rush to the store or a lot of preplanning. It can be done, and this clever book can show you the way. Of course, it does require already having your kitchen set up with a well-stocked pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. But no worries, Dawn Perry has everything laid out for you with easy-to-follow instructions for what to buy, how to make and store your own spice mixes, dressings, and other condiments, what equipment to have available, and more. In fact, the first half of this book is dedicated to getting everything in place one would need. This is followed by one hundred and twenty-five well-written recipes for a wide variety of things from Breakfast recipes (don’t miss the Scallion Corn Cakes!) to Starchy Sides (The Sweet Potato Grits are great) to Seafood Mains (check out the Shrimp and Chorizo with Crushed Croutons) to Sweets (including Half-Baked Peanut Butter Pie). There are, however, a couple of missing elements that keep this from perfect. There is no index and no nutritional information. Otherwise, this is great.