20-40-60 Minute Dinners had some good recipes, but I was hoping for a little bit more. There was a variety of categories ranging from college friendly (my personal favorite) to slow cooker to freezer meals. The recipes were in a unique format that made it extra easy to follow along. I also really liked the cute illustrations that filled the pages.

Kate Otterstrom had the unique and helpful idea to organize the recipes in her cookbook by the time required to make them rather than by category like most cookbooks. This takes a lot of stress out of planning dinner because you can easily find something you have time to make.

The categories are: College-Style Dinners, Quick-Prep Dinners, Slow-Cooker Dinners, Frozen Dinners, Time-Consuming Dinners, Accompaniments, Breakfast, Baking and Candy. Each recipe is a complete menu. She also includes gluten free options.

This cookbook reads like a blog with a story or explanation at the beginning of each recipe. Some are typical classics like meatloaf with roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes. Some are unusual combinations like pancakes with smoky carrots. Others are variations on a classic like adding orange tofu to Hawaiian haystacks. My favorite recipe is Thai-Style Noodles with Cucumber Salad, Sticky Rice, and Peanut Sauce.

I am all for cookbooks that are broken up into time needed sections. I've used multiple cookbooks that are 30-minute dinners, but it was nice to use one that offered different dinner prep times. How this cookbook is broken out is great. You can quickly see what section you have time for and then go from there in selecting your recipe.

Another aspect I enjoyed was how each recipe was broken down with the ingredients matching up with their instructions, so it was straightforward on what is needed and what happens next. You don't have any of that page flipping to remember how much of a certain ingredient is needed, it's right there when you turn a page. Love that there are pictures for every recipe, so you know what you are getting, and the little illustrations were a nice little touch throughout.

The recipes themselves-at first i was thrown off by how many ingredients some of them called for. But then I realized some of these recipes, most of them actually, she is giving you ideas on a whole meal. Which is great when you are meal planning and don't want to think about it too much! And the recipes that are a lot of ingredients-you will find that many of them are kitchen staples, so it doesn't have to impact your budget too much. At the start of the cookbook there are some pretty generic recipes that tell you to buy premade pieces of the meal. Which I don't love, but at the same time it is ok to give yourself a break in the meal prep department and buy things premade from time to time. You need it honestly at times and some days you just don't have the time to spend in the kitchen.

The gluten-free variations at the bottom of the recipes are an added bonus for those who are gluten intolerant. The author herself has such health limitations when it comes to cooking so the input comes from one of experience.

Overall, this is a good cookbook with a great mix of meal ideas. The ones I've made so far are delicious and I'm looking forward to trying more out.

*I received a complimentary copy from the publishers, publicists, and/or authors. A review was not required, and all opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by the concept of this cookbook - giving you different prep/cooking times, based on how much time you have (or, if you're me, how much time you can tolerate spending in the kitchen.) I was most excited about the 20 minute section, because I'm all about getting cooking over as soon as possible. I was hoping for more actual recipes in that section, but the majority of them are simply buying prepared food at the store, so that was kind of disappointing.

I took her salad bar idea and ran with that one night, and I think it was a hit with everyone except my anti-green anything child. I was so focused on getting all the salad bar prep done that I completely forgot to try the Chickpea Socca, so I'll have to make sure to do that another time.

I think there are a handful of recipes in here that I can have my kids try, which will (hopefully) be fun for them. I also appreciate the color pictures of each dish, so I can know what it's supposed to look like.

20-40-60-minute Dinners: Meals to Match the Time You Have is a great cookbook for anyone who is busy and has a limited time to prepare meals. While most of us have times when it’s fine to take an extra bit of time to prepare a meal, it’s nice to know that suitable meals can be made in 20 minutes or 40 minutes, or less than an hour. This fun cookbook has quick ideas for college kids who need to study, or soccer moms who need to feed kids before the game or before late afternoon lessons.

There is a variety of recipes that will appeal to almost everyone. Most are simple, with short lists of ingredients. The recipes aren’t written in the traditional manner, but they are still easy-to-follow. The recipes aren’t difficult and can be followed by beginning cooks as well as more advanced.

There are even some recipes for those who love to cook and don’t mind spending 2 or more hours preparing dinner. It’s very nice to be able to select recipes based on the time you have to prepare them. The cookbook includes beautiful photographs of every meal, and that makes it easy for those in a hurry to choose something that fits into their time frame.

Al told, this is an excellent cookbook to have on the cookbook shelf. It includes some unique ideas for a variety of meals that will appeal to kids as well as adults.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

#BookRevew: 20-40-60-MINUTE DINNERS (Meals to Match the Time You Have) by Kate Otterstrom

The recipes are delightful and the pictures look so delicious. We have family members that are gluten intolerant so the gluten free recipe was helpful. These recipes can come in handy when life gets busy and we just need to make a quick meal. Easy to make in a short amount of time. I am thankful that they include healthy ingredients too. I wish the recipes were more filling though. I find them to be more like easy to prepare snack foods. It's like when you need to eat something right now while you're making a big dinner. I still appreciate them. I think if you live alone, these are good options for an evening meal. Sometimes, we just want something light and simple for dinner.

Recipes included:

Gluten-Free Flour Blend
Mac and Cheese with Candied Sausage and Green Peas
Pancakes with Homemade Syrup and Smoky Carrots
Homemade Noodle Soup with Mashed Potatoes and Green Peas
Chocolate Angel Food Cake

This book is something I will definitely use and recommend to family and friends.

Rating: 4 ⭐
Pub date: 04 Apr 2023

Thank you Shadow Mountain Publishing and #netgalley for the complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

The title of this recipe book really caught my attention with its novel approach to setting out recipes. However the execution was poor and the recipes were not very appealing, The recipes are laid out as College-Style Dinners, Quick Prep, Slow-Cooker, Frozen, and Time-Consuming Dinners plus Accompaniments, Breakfast, Baking and Candy.

The first section could have been left out completely. Lots of processed food ingredients and several ‘recipes’ that tell you to go out and buy pre-made deli salads and meat and call it a day. The time-consuming recipes are baffling, with one such meal requiring you to just cut up individual salad ingredients and put them in bowls. I’m not sure who I would say the target audience is, but it’s definitely not your average home cook who knows their way around the kitchen,,, or the grocery store for that matter. The real recipes are in the baking section, which doesn’t really fit with the theme of this book being about dinner recipes,

My other gripe with this recipe book is with the ingredients and method layout. I thought we had a universally agreed upon structure with a list of ingredients then the steps. This book instead chooses to list a few ingredients next to the steps on what to do with them, then moves on to the next lot of ingredients, etc, This makes it challenging to grasp what you need for the meal, particularly when this list gets spread onto the next page and you realise your missing half of the ingredients.

Overall this was disappointing and unappealing for a home cook with an Australian food pallet. Thanks NetGalley for the temporary review copy. Unfortunately I won’t be buying or recommending this one.

Thank you Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This is a book with simple, easy to follow recipes that uses readily available ingredients and is broken down into time increments one might have available to put a meal on the table. It’s a nice beginning book for those new to cooking, college students, or anyone looking for an easy, no fuss meals.

Not sure if it was just me but the formatting seemed off whenever I opened this book, both on kindle and on the netgalley app which is unfortunate because I think it would have been much easier to follow had the formatting not seemed so awkward. Not sure if it was just something wonky on my end or not, though I did try messing around with it to no avail.

No onto the recipes... I wasn't impressed. Which I know wasn't the point but I was hoping for more from this and unfortunately it just didn't deliver. However, if you're someone who finds cooking difficult and don't have a very specialized pallet this one is definitely for you. Folks living out of a dorm or small kitchen would definitely appreciate this, I think.

I really liked this book. The writing was entertaining the voice of the author really coming through. The photos and little illustrations delightful and the recipes and ideas carefully thought through. Some ideas were very simple which makes this book suitable for cooks just starting out.

This would be a great cookbook for a new cook. Most the recipes were quite simple so for someone that cooks every day (like I do) won’t find as much useful. That being said it’s a really nicely laid out cookbook. I would definitely recommend this for a first time homeowner or a recent college grad.

Overall a decent cookbook for someone just starting out or just moving out on their own. I feel like the initial chapter could have included different recipes that had some more substance to them. There are lots of recipes from scratch that could have fit into this category that may have been better use of the space rather than buying prepackaged items like soups or the chicken in the park recipe which is quite literally buy fried chicken. I like the overall idea of the organizational system of time rather than category though as someone with adhd this makes life so much easier. The illustrations are absolutely adorable and I like the way a lot of the photos are done.

I love to read cookbooks. It's so fun to see new recipe ideas and try new things. I really love it when a cookbook has a unique thing about it.

This one by Kate Otterstrom is unique in a few ways. I love the way the recipes are organized by the amount of time they take to make. That is a huge game changer in the dinner prep time. It would help so much if more cookbooks were organized this way.

I really liked that the author showed gluten free adaptations for each of the recipes. No one in our immediate family is gluten free, but we do have extended family members that need to be. It's super helpful for when you're taking a meal somewhere to have ideas of how to adapt.

I loved the concept behind this cookbook!

I was sent an e-copy as a gift from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for allowing me to view this book. I like the idea of quick, easy to make recipes but was not a fan of this book. I didn't see any recipes that I and my family would really like, and I wasn't a fan of the stories before recipes. I guess when I am looking at a recipe book I'd like to see just recipes, but that's just me.

#204060MinuteDinners #NetGalley
This cookbook has recipes that go from basic, picking up items from a local deli, to more complex recipes. It has a photo for each recipe and step by step instructions. I saw a couple of recipes that I would like to try. The concept was a great idea, I just wish the recipes weren't so basic for the quick meal ideas. The author is gluten-free and shares her recipe for gluten-free flour.

I love the layout of this cookbook. I love the charts with the recipes and steps listed together. I think this cookbook would be perfect for a college student or a newlywed couple. It has lots of great recipes in it.

I was really excited by the premise of this book, but it ultimately fell flat for me. The recipes are in chapters on College-Style Dinners, Quick-Prep Dinners, Slow Cooker Dinners, Frozen Dinners, Time Consuming Dinners, Accompaniments, Breakfast, and Baking and Candy. Chapter subtitles have time ranges on them, so that helps things make a little more sense.
What I liked: the recipes were in a table format, showing the amount and ingredients and what to do with those specific items, then the next row had other things to move on to. Also liked that each recipe had a photo and gluten-free variations.
What I didn't like: the entire first chapter (college style) was basically taking packaged and/or already prepped items and putting them together, which I don't consider true cooking. I didn't find any of the recipes in the book particularly unique.
Overall, I think this book is best for a family who has very little cooking experience or is used to all of their meals being takeout or at a restaurant. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with better cooking experience.

What a simple but genius idea! A cookbook containing recipes adjusted to the time you have available: 20-minute recipes when you’re extraordinarily pressed for time, 40-minute ones for a lazy evening, and 60-minute recipes for the weekends or days off. What could be better?

Alas, unless you are the most inexperienced of cooks, most of the recipes are ones you already have: pancakes, vegetables and dip, bagels with cream cheese and lox, club sandwiches. When pasta carbonara, a slow-cooker strata and Thai noodles are your most adventurous offerings, well….

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This is a good book from someone who is new to the kitchen. Easy to follow recipes broken into the time to produce is great for a novice or in a hurry, but wants a delicious finished product. There are very simple quick recipes to more substantial meals. Some include not actual recipes, but more of a buy a few pre-made items from the store and serve as a meal, but for a beginner looking to create a menu these could be helpful. The recipes that require actual cooking are good, but again for more of a novice. If you’ve got any experience in or creativity in the kitchen this is probably not for you, but a good book for someone looking for ideas and help to become more comfortable creating delicious and healthy meals.

20-40-60 Minute Dinners by Kate Otterstrom is a cookbook organized by time constraints. The photos in the book are average, and in my opinion, could be improved on. Most of the recipes use process foods, but there are a few healthier choices like the Roasted Cauliflower with Thyme I made for this review. Over all, this cookbook was not for me. There were only a handful of recipes I’d even try. I do feel it would be a good cookbook for a young person whose just learning to cook or a college student.

Each recipe includes a blurb, prep time, cook time, servings, ingredients, and instructions. Recipes are divided into the following sections:

1. College Style Dinners
Example: Corn Chips and Chili with Vegetables and Dip.

2. Quick Prep Dinners
Example: Toothpick Dinner (This was one of my favorite recipes from the book).

3. Slow Cooker Dinners
Example: Seven Layer Dip and Tortilla Chips and Crudités.

4. Frozen Dinners
Example: Chicken and Corn Casserole with Sautéed Cabbage.

5. Time Consuming Dinners
Example: Focaccia Style Pizza with Greek Salad (Another favorite of mine).

6. Accompaniments
Example: Roasted Cauliflower with Thyme. (I made this dish for this review, and it was quick and easy and flavorful. One of the few healthier dishes.)

7. Breakfast
Example: Granola

8. Baking and Candy
1. Breads - Example: Flat Bread
2. Baked Treats - Example: Chocolate Angel Food Cake (I’m excited to try this one.)
3. Candy - Example: English Toffee

My review is voluntary and all comments and opinions expressed are
my own.