Cheap. Fast. Good!

The other day, Lily and I stopped into the local library just t kill some time. I picked up a couple of cookbooks while I was there. So far, I haven't even taken the time to look through the others because every recipe in Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross has been great! One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get us eating healthier food, preferably while spending less at the grocery store. (Which also goes along well with Lily's New Year's "Revolution" to try something new every day!) This book is the perfect New Year's find.

I'm a big fan of Mills and Ross' earlier effort Desperation Dinners, which is where I discovered several of our current family favorites. Their new cookbook focuses on cutting money from the food budget while still preparing tasty, flavorful foods. A lot of the budget-friendly cooking books and websites that I've looked at seem to advocate a bland diet full of delicacies like Kraft Mac 'n Cheese and hot dogs. Blech! Mills and Ross manage to trim the budget while still serving dishes with names like Ham and Asparagus Crostini (page 244), Balsamic-Glazed Vegetables with Pasta (page 228) and Fisherman's Seafood Creole (page 166).

Stay tuned to see if their recipes turn out to be as good as they sound! -- And also to see if I ever manage to run again!