The Winning Recipe from Don't Panic: Quick Easy and Delicious Meals for Your Family

Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family

About the Book:

Your family can have great meals even when you are on the run. The ladies who brought you Don't Panic--Dinner's in the Freezer now offer busy cooks Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family. From quick meals made on the grill or in the sauté pan to crockpot dishes that require little prep and cook while you're out for the day, the recipes in this cookbook are tasty, nutritious, and require less hands-on preparation than traditional meals. Easy appetizers and desserts, one-dish casseroles and pastas, simple soups, salads, and side dishes, and even fast breakfasts round out the selections. Meals that are freezer-friendly are marked for those who want to make ahead.

You don't have to settle for feeding your family commercially packaged meals full of sodium and preservatives or fat-laced fast food. Serve them quick and healthy meals from your very own kitchen with this easy-to-use cookbook.

My Comments: 
I've been featuring this book this week and have done posts on Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Swedish  Blender Pancakes and Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies.  I told you I'd publish one recipe today, based on reader request.  I chose the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, since it was the one my family liked best and there was no clear reader favorite.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
20 oz fettuccine (I think you'd do fine with 2 12oz packages, there seemed to be enough sauce)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream (I wonder if you could substitute fat free half and half--I just used the good stuff)
1 1/3 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese (my husband bought the usual stuff in the can, so I just used it)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Grill chicken breasts over medium-high heat until done.  Slice across grain (1/2 inch slices)

While chicken is grilling, bring a large pot of salted water to boil.  Drop in pasta and cook according to directions.  Drain.

For alfredo sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan or skillet.  Add creme and bring just to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, then add Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Turn off heat; leave pan on warm burner.

Pour alfredo sauce over cooked pasta.   Top with sliced chicken breasts and sprinkle with extra cheese.   Serve immediately.  Makes 8 servings.  502 calories per serving.  21.6 g fat--but it tastes GOOD!

If I didn't pick your favorite, you can always buy the book, or search to see if another blogger made it.  

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family

The final recipe I made while reviewing this book was Brown Sugar Shortbread.  It made a very rich shortbread cookie.  The directions called for using softened butter and I softened mine in the microwave.  Maybe I got it too soft because my dough was too sticky to roll as instructed. However, ten minutes in the freezer solved that problem.  I liked the cookies but my kids  prefer to have stuff in their cookies.  

Contest Rules:

I have posted about Fettuccini Alfredo, Brown Sugar Shortbread and Swedish Blender Pancakes.  Leave a comment on the post which shows the recipe you would like me to publish.  I'll publish the winning recipe on Friday.

Swedish Blender Pancakes

Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family

The first recipe I tried from this book was Swedish Blender Pancakes.  It made thin, crepe-like pancakes that I served with strawberries.  My family liked them and if I had been able to use a larger griddle I might have been more fond of them, but due to the large number I needed to make and the small number I could cook at one time, I found my standard way of making pancakes (an add water only mix) to be much quicker.

Ingredients go in the blender

I thought pancakes were supposed to be round

This one isn't round either

This is nicely plated!

Couldn't get the second batch round either

Ready for the table!

Strawberries and syrup!

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family

This cookbook's version of Fettuccine Alfredo is made with grilled chicken breasts and took me about thirty minutes from start to table.  According to the book it made eight servings.  We fed five people with enough leftovers that I would serve it for another meal.  The recipe called for 20 oz of pasta, which was a pack and a half of what we bought; next time I'll just use two packs as there was plenty of sauce.  My family likes cheesy things and this was a real hit.

I microwaved some of the leftovers tonight for supper and while they tasted good, the sauce was clumpy and separated so that I could pour some butter off of it.  Perhaps another reheating method would work better--I just put my portion on a plate, heated until hot and stirred.

Grilling the chicken

Making the sauce

Assemble the dish

Plate and serve (and wish I'd been to culinary school to learn how to make it pretty)

Blog Tour: Don't Panic--Quick Easy Delicious Meals for Your Family

Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family

About the Book:

Your family can have great meals even when you are on the run. The ladies who brought you Don't Panic--Dinner's in the Freezer now offer busy cooks Don't Panic--Quick, Easy, and Delicious Meals for Your Family. From quick meals made on the grill or in the sauté pan to crockpot dishes that require little prep and cook while you're out for the day, the recipes in this cookbook are tasty, nutritious, and require less hands-on preparation than traditional meals. Easy appetizers and desserts, one-dish casseroles and pastas, simple soups, salads, and side dishes, and even fast breakfasts round out the selections. Meals that are freezer-friendly are marked for those who want to make ahead.

You don't have to settle for feeding your family commercially packaged meals full of sodium and preservatives or fat-laced fast food. Serve them quick and healthy meals from your very own kitchen with this easy-to-use cookbook.

My Comments:

This one is a keeper.  The recipes I've tried (three of them) are tasty.  All have been reasonably easy to prepare and the time involved has pretty much been as noted in the book.  There are a lot of kid-friendly recipes using thing that I either generally have in the house or which my husband can easily find at the grocery store.  None of these are recipes that will dirty every dish in the kitchen.  The authors have previously written freezer cooking cookbooks and this shows in what there are some freezer-friendly treats in this book that include directions for making large quantities as wells as proper freezing techniques.   In short, this is a real cookbook for real moms cooking for real families.  Grade:  A

Tour Special:  

As I noted, I have made three different recipes from this book.  I'm going to post about them on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, letting you know what they are, how they were received at my house and how easy they were to make.  I also have pictures.  The publisher has given me permission to reprint only one recipe so I'm going to let you, my readers, decide which recipe, of the three I made, will be published.  A comment is a vote.

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