Rush-Hour Recipes: More Than 230 Quick-to-Fix Dinner Recipes Your Family Will Love…Even Slow-Cooker Meals and Potluck Dishes by the editors of Gooseberry Patch Books (Gooseberry Patch Books, $16.95)
The main thrust of this cookbook is to serve up delicious recipes for satisfying family weeknight meals. Most of the recipes in this collection can be prepared in 30 minutes or less and use ingredients that are familiar and can be found in most of our pantries.
This user-friendly cookbook is divided into six basic chapters: 5-Ingredient Favorites; One-Dish Dinners; Slow Cookers to the Rescue; Soup’s On; Make-A-Meal Sides; and Speedy Potluck & Party Foods. The recipes were submitted by family cooks from throughout the country. For example, the Crumbled Honey Mustard Pork Chops is the creation of Sarina Skidmore of Urbana, Missouri. Tiffany Jones of Locust Grove, Arkansas, submitted a Zesty Mexican Noodle Soup and Sharon Gutierrez of Escondido, California, a Five-Ingredient Favorite, Chicken Chilaquiles.
Potlucks are extremely popular and some of the standouts in that chapter in this collection are Mexican Pasta Bake, Darlene’s German Potato Salad, 22-Second Salad; and Italian Bowtie Pasta Salad. I love my slow cooker and there are dozens of meal ideas such as Savory Red Cabbage and Apples, Easy Sauerbraten Beef, and an easy Tortellini Broccoli Alfredo. One of the soups is a tempting Hearty Healthy Minestrone.
I tested three recipes from this cookbook: a tasty Melinda’s Mexican Manicotti that required just five ingredients, a Hearty Chicken Soup which filled my kitchen with the wonderful aroma of simmering chicken and vegetables and spices, and the Very Best Texas Caviar, an incredible appetizer. There are numerous variations of this recipe but this is one of the easiest I have found.
This fun cookbook features a wide-variety of recipes for almost every taste and every occasion. This Gooseberry Patch collection is delicious, in every sense of the word.
VERY BEST TEXAS CAVIAR
16-oz can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
16-oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
15-oz can shoepeg corn, drained+++(see below)
2-oz jar sliced pimentos, dsrained
1 c celery, chopped
1 c green pepper, chopped
1-1/2 tsp jalapeno peppers, chopped (I used two)
Optional: ½ c onion, chopped
Tortilla chips
+++shoepeg corn is a sweet corn
Combine all ingredients except tortilla chips in a large serving bowl; toss to mix. Pour cooled vinegar sauce over the vegetable mixture. For best flavor, cover and chill overnight. Use a slotted spoon to serve with tortilla chips. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
VINEGAR SAUCE
½ c oil
¾ c cider vinegar
1 T water
1 c sugar (I used agave nectar instead)
1 t salt (I used sea salt)
½ t pepper
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Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Cool.