Homemade with Love

March 15, 2013
Too often, home cooks fear that producing nutritionally sound meals means spending a lot of time in the kitchen, time that very few can afford to devote out of their already overcrowded and demanding daily work schedules. Perillo respects these boundaries, so she has invented some relatively speedy but appealing dishes that emphasize sound nutrition. Sherry vinegar and molasses help deepen vegetarian onion soup. Tacos recycle leftover roast chicken. A spaghetti dinner proves much less burdensome when the meatballs are frozen ahead of time. Powdered chipotle lends popcorn a uniquely smoky flavor. For breakfast, she recommends getting dressed while boiling a pot of steel-cut oats for a morning cereal so much more satisfying than instant oatmeal. Even a birthday cake needn't make the harried homemaker resort to a boxed mix when Perillo can offer a quickly mixed and baked cake frosted in a simple buttercream. Symbols quickly identify recipes as gluten free, egg free, vegetarian, or vegan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)