Product Description

The survival guide for first-time cooks, with 250 super-simple recipes.

Designed to help new cooks find independence, Starting Out is filled with crucial tips, basic cooking techniques, and guidelines for stocking cupboards and refrigerator with staples. A first cookbook, instruction guide, and food resource, the book includes easy-to-prepare dishes that any beginner can follow easily. There are even "first aid" tips for fixing food disasters!

Some of the features in this cookbook are:

• Glossary of common cooking terms
• Measurements chart
• Simple menus
• Party ideas
• Ingredient resource guide
• Shopping tips (and even tips for doing laundry).

Starting Out has more than enough delicious and nutritious dishes for the university student or budding executive. Included are simple, quick and effortless recipes for cooking for one, such as Turkey Burgers, Pad Thai, and Basic Curry. There are also more impressive yet still easy-to-follow recipes for entertaining, like Chicken à la King, Chicken Parmigiana, and Curried Peanut Shrimp.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1691 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 342 pages

Review
Cooking at its most basic... also a reminder that a good meal doesn't have to call for 27 ingredients. (Sharon Wootton Olympia Olympian 20061018)

About the Author

Julie Van Rosendaal's practical approach and healthy attitude toward food helped her achieve a 165-pound weight loss. She has since become well known for her great recipes and positive outlook on the joy that cooking (and eating) can bring when it's done mindfully. Julie is regularly featured in newspapers and magazines and on TV and radio across North America, teaches cooking classes, writes food articles and is in high demand as a speaker.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

No one is born with the ability to cook. Unless you had a parent or grandparent or good friend who taught you how (squeezing cookie dough out of a tube doesn't count), or took an interest in it yourself, you likely have become skilled at opening packages and reheating things in the microwave. Or perhaps most of your meals are prepared by the good folks at McDonald's. If this sounds familiar, sooner or later you should probably learn how to cook. Let's face it, you have to eat. Learning a few cooking skills will make life easier. It will also save you money, benefit your health, and come in handy if you're ever asked to bring something to a party. You may even become responsible for feeding someone else properly. Besides, man cannot live on toast and cereal alone, although many have made a valiant effort.

It took me a while to understand the saying "you are what you eat"--it applies not solely in terms of health, as in if you eat junk you'll feel like junk--but culturally, emotionally, and socially. We eat for so many reasons other than to satisfy ourselves nutritionally--food is a source of great comfort, to ourselves and each other, and is an inextricable element of any celebration or social event, whether it be a special gathering of friends or just your family (or even yourself) at the dinner table on a regular night. Few and far between are those who solely eat to live.

You don't have to be a cook to be able to cook. Most people who are convinced of their ineptitude in the kitchen are held back largely by intimidation. The best way to get past this is by doing it--fixing yourself something to eat on a regular basis is really the only way to become comfortable in the kitchen. Try something new, trust your instincts, even if you think you don't have any-and don't be afraid to experiment. Competence leads to confidence, and vice versa. And remember, even the best chefs have kitchen disasters.

The recipes that follow are meant to act more as guides, to encourage culinary independence rather than instruct how to follow a recipe. Start with the best ingredients you can find or afford, and you're halfway there. If you're not sure of something, look it up, call someone who knows, or taste your way through it. Food is one of life's greatest pleasures--cooking it can be, too. Just Do It.

Customer Reviews

A 23 year old Male perspective
My mom bought me this book as a going away present (I moved to Toronto with my girlfriend for school). I didn't realise how little I knew about cooking until I started. I had no idea how to cook meat or rice or how long to fry or steam veggies.

The best part about the book are the index tabs to all the different foods with meals attached; and all the little tips from Mom (how to do laundry, get out stains, how to buy fresh produce or meat etc)

If for whatever reason I lose this book, I will buy it again.

Highly Recommend for people just "starting out."

Can't recommend this book enough!
I received Starting Out as a birthday present from my best friend, since she decided that it was about time I stopped being afraid of the kitchen (and my many failures) and start learning to feed myself. This book is, as the subtitle says, *Essential*.

The recipes are clearly written and unambiguous, so that the beginner doesn't get confused. What I find extremely useful, are the descriptions of all kinds of fruit and vegetables and meat, including instructions on how to buy them in a grocery store, how to select fresh products, the best way to eat them, how long they last, etc. In addition to all this information, the book includes a number of *laundry tips*! It teaches you how to read the labels on clothes, how to get stains out, and how to keep clothes from fading.

It's not only the "Essential Guide to Cooking on Your Own", it should be "The Essential Guide to Living on Your Own".

Everyone needs this book!
I got this book as a wedding shower gift, after I'd been cooking for myself for years. This book is my first reference, always. It gives the basics, and then tells you how to make them more elaborate, which is great.

None of my other cookbooks have meatloaf, Jerk chicken, or any muffins under the sun!

A great read for newbies and vets alike.