Deidre Hall's Kitchen Closeup

How do those women you see on the tube decade after decade keep it glued together? Deidre Hall, best known to many as the ever-patient, impossibly good Dr. Marlena Evans for more than thirty years on NBC’s Days of Our Lives, is obviously having fun with this. Along with her longtime pal Lynne Bowman, Hall includes you in the conversation about food, friends, shopping, and cooking. In the hour or less it might take you to pour yourself a cuppa, sit down and read it through, you will have had more than a few laughs-out-loud, and you may also think differently about some things. There are great recipes in the book, but what's particularly great about them is they're the kind of thing you will actually make, and then make again -- every week -- because they are incredibly simple, forgiving, and yummy to boot. So good, in fact, you'll forget that they're vegetarian and extremely healthy. The idea behind Kitchen Closeup is to get you thinking a little differently about your food routines, to get you re-inspired with how simple it is to make good, fresh, food for yourself and your family. The book is small and light, meant to be carried with you to the store: it includes lists of what to buy organically, what to get as inexpensively as you can, and what to try and always have on hand. It's a great book for non-cooks, beginner cooks, very young cooks.