The Dinner Doctor

From Publishers Weekly
For her latest book, the Cake Mix Doctor Byrn turns her attention to doctoring other convenience foods to produce tasty home-style dishes. A QVC regular, Byrn tackles appetizers, salads, main dishes and her trademark desserts with her customary aplomb. The result is full of flavor and easy to produce in a minimum amount of time or supervision, a must for the busy homemaker in today's hectic world. Interspersed among the clearly laid out recipes are sidebars full of helpful tips, such as sizes of dishes to use and ways to doctor French bread. Scattered at intervals are her groups of "15 Ways to Doctor" which covers everything from spicing up canned tuna to putting a slow cooker to best use. From using coleslaw mix in the light sweet-and-sour Fast Asian Slaw to the microwave in the Micro-steamed Hoisin Fish and Vegetables, all the recipes are included for their ability to help cooks save time without giving up flavor. Although she overuses such staples as cream of chicken or celery soup, Byrn certainly shows that she's able to doctor more of the meal than just dessert. Nonetheless, the dessert recipes are the ones that really shine in this book. Whether it's luscious Triple-Decker Peanut Butter Cake or Slow-Cooker Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake, the desserts in this book will satisfy even the sweetest tooth. 16-page full color insert not seen by PW. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description
The doctor's back, and now she's curing dinner woes! Anne Byrn, the award-winning food writer and author of The Cake Mix Doctor and Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor does for dinner what she did for dessert-shows how to take common, convenient supermarket ingredients and turn them into meals that taste like they're made from scratch.

Making excellent use of the Crock-Pot and other labor-saving appliances, incorporating hundreds of shortcuts and tips, and cooking from a pantry of prepared foods--whether canned, frozen, jarred, dried, or fresh from the salad bar--the Dinner Doctor shows how to make over 200 fast and kid-friendly appetizers, salads, soups, sides, and main courses. Take, for example, a can of tuna, and think outside the sandwich: Add beans, tomato, and a vinaigrette, and it becomes a Tuscan Tuna and White Bean Salad. Turn that healthy mixture into a pasta salad with the addition of cooked penne. And make a speedy pasta supper by tossing the salad with sauteed zucchini and a generous shower of shredded Parmesan. Or, whip up a Tuna Noodle Casserole like mom used to make-but faster and healthier by lightening the traditional cream of mushroom soup with lemon juice and lowfat milk and using precooked pasta and frozen peas. There are dozens of ways to doctor deli-counter basics into stunning hors d'oeuvres. Five quick casserole toppers. Five zippy garlic breads and 30 ways to dress up frozen peas and frozen spinach. And the 15s--15 cold pasta sauces, 15 ways to doctor deli chicken, 15 meals made from summer tomatoes, and more.

About the Author
Anne Byrn is an award-winning food writer who has been featured as the Cake Mix Doctor on Good Morning America, Later Today, All Things Considered, QVC (regularly), and more than 75 other TV and radio programs. She lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

Byrn's two Cake Doctor books-recipes based on cake mixes doctored with various additions, fillings, and other garnishes-have sold more than 1.5 million copies. Now she provides easy recipes for the rest of the meal, using prepared convenience foods of all types. Andrew Schloss's recent Almost from Scratch also offers "convenience cuisine" recipes, but though there are certainly some combinations here that will make purists blanch, overall Byrn's recipes seem fresher and more imaginative. In addition, many of them are super-quick, taking no more than ten minutes to put together. There are also dozens of ideas for other dishes, such as "15 Ways To Doctor a Deli Roast Chicken," along with hundreds of timesaving tips and helpful hints. Some fans may be disappointed that Byrn has tackled savory dishes rather than sweets this time, but this book is sure to be in demand. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices