Fast: Good Home Cooking product reviews

I must confess to being a bit of a fan of the recent television series The Food Truck and certainly found it really interesting and informative about the alternatives to regular "fast food". I was excited to see what this cook book would be like and as it transpired my excitement was rightly placed.

Firstly the photographs in this book are amazing. They are vibrant, colorful and capture the essence of the message that this cookbook sends. These recipes are full of flavour, quality ingredients and are straightforward to prepare and to enjoy with those closest to you. The central tenant of this cook book is that good quality tasty food shouldn't take hours to prepare and cook and be served up on fancy dinner ware to party guests. It should be prepared every day and served and enjoyed with those most precious to you, your family.

Even if you don't like cooking I think this book will appeal simply because of the stunning photos! many of the recipes are accompanied by several photos to assist you step by step in a recipes process. I need visual accompaniment when cooking so I can check that what I am doing looks right and what my finished product should look like. This book definitely gives me that. I love the texture of the book. The cover isn't completely rigid but is more hardback a than soft back and has a nice wide ribbon marker that is long enough to tuck back up if you want to mark two sections of the book for reference. The book is sectioned with most sections having three recipes that go together as a meal but obviously you can just pick whatever recipes from whatever section for your meal. I really liked this way of presenting the book and there is an index in the back if you wanted to find a particular recipe so it very easy to find your way around the book. There is a fantastic baby food and frozen yogurt section at the back.

I still haven't tired of just reading this book. I love leafing through it so much! I for the first time followed one of Michael's recipes and tried cooking polenta which is now a huge hit in our house. I have adapted some of the recipes to use gluten free flour and have had nothing but praise for the pumpkin cupcakes. Miss Three begs daily for a berry smoothie and we are slowly working our way through trying different main meals and accompaniments. These recipes are very nourishing which is how the book feels also. I definitely get a feel for the passion that the author Michael has for food and cooking in the compilation of this collection of recipes.

I can't recommend this book enough. I love how well it is put together to give you the confidence to attempt to prepare a meal you might never had had confidence to try and that many of the meals are actually just so simple yet taste so good that once you have made them once you will have no problems whipping them up time after time. This is cooking at its best. It is fun, it is healthy and it is best enjoyed.

This is the perfect book to give as a Christmas present, a birthday present or just a "thought you might love this" present. A 'must have' for any home cooks kitchen.