Family cooking

If you're anything like my wife and me, you are contently short on time but still desire yummy food. If so, try The Best 30-Minute Recipe by America's Test Kitchen (ATK). My wife swears by this cookbook.

The basic premise behind ATK publishing is that ATK chefs will make a standard recipe (say Mac and Cheese) 101 different ways, varying the amounts of each ingredient and using basic culinary knowledge to scientifically design the best tasting version of each recipe. A few years ago, I gave my wife a gift of the magazine Cook's Illustrated, the main magazine published by ATK. She (and I) immediately fell in love with their franchise. The only times we have been disappointed with a recipe is when our ingredients were poor quality (not the fault of the recipe, but of our grocery). But as we started having kids, my wife ran out of time to make some of these delicious meals. Hence the recommendation for the Best 30-Minute Recipe book.

The company also produces a TV show called America's Test Kitchen, which airs on local PBS channels.