Thirty-Minute Meals

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

The recipes assembled in these three popular Company’s Coming books
have a common theme: saving time in the kitchen.

The collections fit comfortably into the niche of delicious yet
practical food for just-plain-folks. Leaving the exotic, the
ultra-sophisticated, the international, and the trendy fare to others,
Paré presents dishes any of us can make, using ingredients readily
available from the mid-town supermarket. She’s not above using a can
of soup or a package of instant rice. If you want to make your own
stock, or are shocked to learn that crab comes out of a can, these books
are not for you.

Paré acknowledges that we want to make sensible food choices yet
cannot resist that chocolate fudge cake. She knows there’s a range of
appetites from picky kids to ravenous teens influencing the dishes we
cook. Accommodating all these factors results in recipes for the way
middle-of-the-road Canadians live today. Quick dinners on the table a
few minutes after we get home from work. Squares you are proud to take
to the potluck. A special salad for a neighborhood barbecue. A dream pie
to serve on the patio when your cousin comes in from out of town. They
all taste great, yet make minimal demands on your time, expertise,
patience, and grocery budget. The salads and desserts can be prepared
ahead of time and kept on-hand in the fridge or freezer. The casseroles,
pasta, and stir-fry dishes are time-saving marvels.

Each book is packed with color photos; when you see the beautiful
presentation, the urge to skip take-out and head for the kitchen takes
over.