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Cooking Light the Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook
Whether you're looking for dinner tonight or planning ahead for a special occasion, Cooking Light The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook has just what you need. You'll find great ideas and delicious, reliable recipes for healthy dinner solutions in this menu-packed volume from the most respected cooking authority in America.Weeknight MealsWith over 350 delicious, easy, and healthy meals at your fingertips, choosing what's for dinner tonight has never been easier. Selections such as Tomato-Basil Soup, Steak and Blue Cheese Pizza, and Biscuit-Topped Chicken Potpie are sure to tempt your taste buds.Complete Menus and Game PlansGreat-tasting, healthy recipes are not all that this hefty cookbook boasts. There is also a complete menu for each recipe offering superb "serve with" suggestions, along with a detailed and thorough game plan for getting it all on the table quickly and efficiently.Photos of Every RecipeAnd
416 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Cooking Light
256 books32 followersCooking Light is an American food and lifestyle magazine founded in 1987. Each month, the magazine includes approximately 100 original recipes as well as editorial content covering food trends, fitness tips, and other culinary and health-related news.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 2, 2011
This is currently my most used cookbook and I don't think I've found a less than excellent recipe. These are recipes taken from the Dinner Tonight feature of the Cooking Light magazine. These entrees also include at least one side dish and there are more than one year of meals plus some more involved weekend dishes. Of the weekday variety, none take over one hour and they are all suitable for the average cook.
My favorite is probably the spiced tilapia with roasted pepper-tomatillo sauce and it's a favorite with guests. It's one of those dishes that even fish haters will like, such as my wife. She is always asking for the BBQ meat loaf and even though I have better meat loaf recipes, this one is the best that can be cooked and prepared under an hour.
Yes, I'm the chef in the house;)
This is also the best book for finding menus in a flash. For instance, this morning there was a sale of jumbo shrimp at the market. I bought some and opened this book for a recipe that used what we had in the house. Voila! Asian Rice with Shrimp and Snow Peas served with a spicy-sweet cantaloupe salad. This is one of my essential save-the-day cookbooks and, being Cooking Light, they tend to be healthy and low in calories. A plus any time.
My favorite is probably the spiced tilapia with roasted pepper-tomatillo sauce and it's a favorite with guests. It's one of those dishes that even fish haters will like, such as my wife. She is always asking for the BBQ meat loaf and even though I have better meat loaf recipes, this one is the best that can be cooked and prepared under an hour.
Yes, I'm the chef in the house;)
This is also the best book for finding menus in a flash. For instance, this morning there was a sale of jumbo shrimp at the market. I bought some and opened this book for a recipe that used what we had in the house. Voila! Asian Rice with Shrimp and Snow Peas served with a spicy-sweet cantaloupe salad. This is one of my essential save-the-day cookbooks and, being Cooking Light, they tend to be healthy and low in calories. A plus any time.
February 21, 2021
This is an older cookbook that I found a copy of at the thrift store a whiiiile back, but have just recently really went through, reading over recipes, marking ones I am interesting in making, and cooking from it. First of all, I have a ton of pages marked. I have cooked 6 recipes from here recently and each one has been amazing. The ones that I have made so far have been: Nonstop, No-Chop Chili; Sloppy Joes with Corn; Southern Shrimp and Grits; Sirloin Steak with Tarragon-Garlic Sour Cream; Penne and Chicken Tenderloins with Spiced Tomato Sauce; and Parmesan Chicken and Rice. Both my husband and I have commented that each one would be something we would want to make again.
Besides the great tasting recipes, let me get into some of the other reasons that this is one of my favorite cookbooks. I love a cookbook with pictures! I have made some recipes from books without pictures, and don’t necessarily only make recipes that have photos, but it makes it so much easier to flip through and decide what you feel like making for the week plus it shows you what the end result should pretty much look like. This in particular can be helpful with something like the Sloppy Joes I made, to see how thick or thin their resulting mix from the recipe was. Each recipe in this book includes a photo.
Another reason I really like this book is the general layout of the recipes with the ingredients, the instructions, the serving size and nutrition facts, quick tips, the photo, and a side bar Menu that gives you side options and even short recipes for simple sides to go along with the recipe. This side bar also includes a “Game Plan” that gives you tips on when to prep which parts, including making the provided sides, to be most efficient in getting everything done at the same time.
Lastly, each one of these recipes has been so quick and easy it has kind of surprised me. I am so used to spending longer on cooking things that either taste about the same or not even as good as the recipes from this book. I will say that some of the recipes recommend short cuts like buying pre sliced and chopped, frozen, or otherwise prepared produce and I typically opt out of those choices and just do fresh, but even then it didn’t take that long to make the recipes that I did. I am excited to try out some of the others I have marked very soon!
Besides the great tasting recipes, let me get into some of the other reasons that this is one of my favorite cookbooks. I love a cookbook with pictures! I have made some recipes from books without pictures, and don’t necessarily only make recipes that have photos, but it makes it so much easier to flip through and decide what you feel like making for the week plus it shows you what the end result should pretty much look like. This in particular can be helpful with something like the Sloppy Joes I made, to see how thick or thin their resulting mix from the recipe was. Each recipe in this book includes a photo.
Another reason I really like this book is the general layout of the recipes with the ingredients, the instructions, the serving size and nutrition facts, quick tips, the photo, and a side bar Menu that gives you side options and even short recipes for simple sides to go along with the recipe. This side bar also includes a “Game Plan” that gives you tips on when to prep which parts, including making the provided sides, to be most efficient in getting everything done at the same time.
Lastly, each one of these recipes has been so quick and easy it has kind of surprised me. I am so used to spending longer on cooking things that either taste about the same or not even as good as the recipes from this book. I will say that some of the recipes recommend short cuts like buying pre sliced and chopped, frozen, or otherwise prepared produce and I typically opt out of those choices and just do fresh, but even then it didn’t take that long to make the recipes that I did. I am excited to try out some of the others I have marked very soon!
November 25, 2018
Really a gorgeous book, great layouts and photos. But not very many recipes I want to try.
March 29, 2025
I appreciated the layout more than some of their other books, but none of the recipes stood out to me.
July 5, 2025
So many great, healthy, tasty recipes
February 2, 2010
Cooking light is one of my favorite magazines. I was given this book as a Christmas gift and so far I haven't been disappointed. Quick, easy and so delicious, it's hard to believe that it really is healthy food!
November 18, 2010
Only 4 stars because there were some recipes in there I definitely could not make. I've tried a few, and they have all come out spectacularly! I borrowed the book from work, but will definitely buy it!!
September 3, 2021
A gorgeous, cookbook with a lot of amazing recipes. I ended up donating it though, due to size and owning several other Cooking Light cookbooks with similar recipes. I’m looking forward to trying the Kung Pao Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza and Falafel Stuffed Pitas.
November 19, 2009
I've never been disappointed by Cooking Light's cookbooks. This one focuses on enticing, low-calorie dinner recipes, with each accompanied by a bright colored photo of the dish.
June 10, 2010
There are some really great recipes in here and a lot of them are surprisingly easy.
January 7, 2011
I'm not really a huge fan of cooking light but I enjoyed this cookbook. I'll be making a couple of recipes form this cookbook this week!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews