Mad Hungry Cravings

Quinn, the executive food editor of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and the host of Mad Hungry on the Hallmark Channel, offers her fifth cookbook, and the second in her Mad Hungry series for Workman; it contains 173 recipes designed to lure the family away from otherwise irresistible fast food and back to the dining room table. To accomplish this feat, she is not beyond venturing into the unhealthy. Witness her lumberjack breakfast sandwich, with its six eggs, eight bacon slices, four cheese slices, and some sausage to boot, or the bacon- and sour cream–laden potato skins. She can also, at times, be caught putting lipstick on a pig, by suggesting, for instance, that peanut butter with soy and Sriracha sauces can transform packaged ramen into a decent replica of cold sesame noodles, or that her N.Y.C. hot dog is “the kind you get at Gray’s Papaya,” though she pays no attention to the natural casing that gives the Gray dog its crunch. But balance is achieved with numerous nutritious recipes such as a chicken chive burger offered as homage to Shake Shack, and carrot and parsnip fries. Also, nutritious vegetables star in three of the book’s nine chapters: one focused on salads, one on veggie side dishes, and one entitled Noodles, Rice, and Corn. Though by corn, Quinn means polenta, with plenty of cheese. (Apr.)