Tana’s Kitchen Secrets

With the last name of Ramsay (yes, wife of Chef Ramsay, the star of Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares), quirky, stylish, and cheery may not be the first words that come to mind, but cookbook author Tana Ramsay presents a well-written, well-packaged title designed with Tiffany-blue endpages and retro-illustrated chapter openers that reads like an edgy blog. As a busy mother of four, Tana creates easy and healthy meals, along with the goal of expanding readers’ recipe repertoires and cooking skills, assembling a solid collection of more than 120 recipes ranging from main courses to vegetable sides and desserts. Tana admits to often cooking two dinners, one for children, the other for her spouse. The collection toggles between kid-pleasing selections such as pizza and cupcakes, not to mention vegetable dishes any eight-year-old would approve of, such as Cauliflower Cheese My Way and vitamin-packed selections like frozen fruit, and adult dishes such as mussels with Belgian beer, and simple salmon, dill, and crème fraîche pasta. With a sober awareness of often-strained food budgets for the home cook, and an overall optimism and appreciation for family meals, this contemporary and useful everyday title should push readers to leave any preconceived notions of "Ramsay" behind and crack its spine. (July)