Cyndi Kane, also known as "Hyacinth"--Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond's best friend--has created a delectable and immensely practical cookbook in Save-It-Forward Suppers: A Simple Strategy to Save Time, Money, and Sanity. Cooks who want to provide vibrant meals without the effort or expense of cooking a full meal every night will approve of the "Save-It-Forward" method. Save-It-Forward Suppers offers more than 100 recipes, broken into weekly menus with five or six delicious meals that build upon each other. For example, during a grains-focused week, on a Monday the menu suggests Chicken Milanese with Lemony Arugula and Quinoa Tabbouleh. Several of the items from that first meal are "Save-It-Forward" items that will be used later in the week--extra chicken breasts become Chicken Parmesan over Creamy Polenta on Wednesday, and additional quinoa turns into Beef, Black Bean, and Quinoa Enchiladas on Thursday.
With beautiful watercolor illustrations of each recipe and clear instructions on what to "save" for later use and where to take shortcuts ("this recipe... is just an assemblage of ingredients... the Save-It-Forward method lets you have a healthy home cooked meal with almost no prep"). Save-It-Forward Suppers is perfect for busy families that want to eat mostly home-cooked food. Menus cover surf 'n' turf, comfort foods and cooking with pantry staples, making it helpful for any cooking occasion. A welcome addition to any cookbook library, with meals from a wide variety of cuisines, Save-It-Forward Suppers is the best of both worlds: both pragmatic and beautiful. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Flagstaff, Ariz.