I love cooking and eating and reading about cooking — I probably own approximately 150 cookbooks. Usually when I get a new one I browse through it, pick three or four recipes that I try, and then it goes on my shelf to be brought out once in a while. But when I cracked the covers of “The Fridge Whisperer’s 50 Fast and Fabulous Family Faves” and read the Cooking Tips & Hints in the front I went on to read through the whole book. This is the first time I have ever been inspired to make everything in the book – I’m not finished yet but I’m going to get there! The reason I’m not finished is that everytime I make something, James and Cameron clamour for me to make it again – and I do, with the variations suggested and others that I create, inspired by the “get adventurous” attitude of the book.

We got so much pleasure out of it we bought eight copies for all of our relatives for Christmas. Thanks for a fabulous source of culinary inspiration!

~ Sue Reynolds



 

I opened the book Sunday morning and noticed that I had all the ingredients, so that’s what I cooked…great book!

~ Barb Hunt, commenting on “Cheeseburger Pie” from The Fridge Whisperer: 50 Fast & Fabulous Family Faves



 When I tasted Deb’s delicious Pasta Caprese at a friend’s house, I loved it so much that I stopped off on my way home to buy the ingredients to make it for my own family. Deb takes three or four simple ingredients and creates a symphony of taste. Music, maestro, please!

I love Deb’s “Whispers from the kitchen” page that accompanies each recipe. It helps me make her recipes my own. But that’s a little like hanging up the Mona Lisa and saying, “I had a hand in that.”

Of note, my twelve-year-old loves making Deb’s Low-Fat Seasoned Tortilla Wedges – healthy, fast and delicious! And whisper, whisper – great with salsa.

~ Heather M. O’Connor

 

On testing a nut-free pesto for The Fridge Whisperer: Condiment Confidential, slated for release September 2010…


… the review on the pesto pasta. Pesto was awesome. Still trying to like whole wheat pasta. For those that like whole wheat, a fantastic dish.
~ from Chris and Caryn, Pickering, ON





Home cook’s comments based on Chef Deb’s recommendation to use low-cost basa fish instead of halibut…



Wow — talk about a home run. All the boys absolutely raved about the fish and the chips. And I told them they were supposed to provide honest feedback to help you out and they each pointed to each element and said it was great. You were right — not fishy at all. A very meaty fish. I find after eating takeout fish that the grease will upset my stomach after. Not so in this case at all. The batter didn’t really have a taste to it which is pretty common and it got me wondering if there is a way to give it a bit of flavour. A splash of lemon was good. None of the boys used the tartar sauce. They just gobbled it all down “au natural.”
~Yours in happy FW cooking! CR in the DR.



Around here, we refer to it as “the cookbook.” I have plenty of others, but my kids and I have been cooking so much from 50 Fast & Fabulous Family Faves that it’s become our new standard. We’ve made almost every entrée once and several of them two or three times.

The main reason we keep trusting these recipes enough to try new ones is that we can—each one has turned out the way we’d hoped. We also love the idea of “Whispers from the Kitchen.” I’ve always written in my cookbooks, but it’s usually been a one-liner scrawled in the corner. The idea of a lot of space to make notes sets this book “a shelf above” the others.

Here are a few of the notes I wrote beside our faves:
Low-Fat Mushroom and Barley Soup: “We all loved this.” (That says a lot – we rarely agree on what we like!) The only change I made was to substitute chicken stock for the beef stock.

Caprese-Style Pasta: I call this one “Easy Caprese.” I can’t believe how fast it is to make and how delicious. I keep all these ingredients on hand, including bocconcini, which I buy for this recipe.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Pan Sauce: “Chicken breasts to impress!” Really, this comes out so beautifully I’d be proud to serve it when people come over, but it’s a family favourite, too. p.s. Use a regular—not non-stick—frying pan for this one. Loved it!
~ S. Hinman, Whitby, ON