It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day, Reviewed

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After years of throwing lavish, carefully planned dinner parties, hosting numerous food shows, and jet-setting across the globe, Katie Lee Biegel, co-host of Food Network’s The Kitchen, and author of Katie Lee’s Easy-Breezy Eats: The Endless Summer Cookbook, has settled down. She now prefers quiet dinners with her family to multi-day cooking affairs for dozens of guests. Smart girl. It took me decades to figure this out for myself. I now prefer small, quiet, simple dinners, with just a few people to the big parties that I used to host. Good food, and being able to relax while I eat it, is so much more important than acting as a high-end server to a house full of family and friends. That’s why I love her latest book, It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day.

There are four things I look for in a good cookbook. First of all, I want a lot of good, easy to prepare recipes. Second, I want beautiful photographs of nearly all of the dishes in the cookbook to use as both guide and inspiration. Third, I want a wide variety of recipes to suit a multitude of tastes. Lastly, I want recipes written in a clear and concise fashion using ingredients that I’m not going to have to run out and buy in some obscure specialty shop. This book fits these criteria. It is, in a word, wonderful. It is loaded with delicious, but simple dishes that will be sure to please every member of your family. In addition to being family friendly, a good many of them are company worthy as well, and who doesn’t love that?

The photos are mouthwatering, and there is a wonderful variety of recipes to suit all tastes and preferences. To my way of thinking, it is worth owning for the vegetable recipes alone. Think Crunchy Ranch Corn on the Cob, Soy and Lemon Roasted Broccoli, Fondant Potatoes, and more. Not a vegetable person? OK. How about the mouthwatering Animal-Style Burgers, Barbecue Potato Chip-Crusted Salmon, or Prime Rib with Beef Gravy, the latter far easier than you might think.

This is not to say that Biegel skimps on desserts; quite the contrary. Here you will find all forms of sweet deliciousness including Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cannoli Trifle, and Mocha Swirl Ice Cream.

It’s Not Complicated: Simple Recipes for Every Day is a book designed for a variety of skill levels, a plethora of tastes, and makes the perfect hostess, Mother’s Day, or wedding shower gift. You can buy a copy here; you might want to pick up one for yourself as well. In fact, I insist upon it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Abrams as a part of their Abrams Dinner Party Program in exchange for an honest review.