How to escape the cooking routine of the same old dishes, meal after meal.

Many home cooks are stuck in a food routine that includes preparing the same 10 or 15 recipes over and over again, week after month after year.

2500 Recipes, the ideal guide to escaping that routine, offers 50 recipes each for foods ranging from snacks and sandwiches, to chicken and ground meat; from shellfish to grains; from winter vegetables to summer fruit. There's also a special section of dishes for special occasions.

Consider this common scenario. There is a chicken waiting to be roasted for dinner. Stop. Go the chapter that has 50 recipes for roast chicken. Each one is different. Most important, there are sure to be a few that are more interesting than that old reliable one prepared out of habit -- too often a bad habit. Without doubt, there will be dozens of recipes based on ingredients commonly on hand to please cook, family and guests. There's even a chapter with 50 scrumptious recipes for burgers and hot dogs. Each one is sure to delight.

All the recipes are quick, and most use just a small number of ingredients. But each recipe includes a "power flavor" that's easy to obtain and easy to incorporate into cooking routines. Examples include oils, herbs, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

There is also an entire section on basic cooking techniques and preparations, featuring seasonings, marinades, sauces, dressings and machines.

Andrew Schloss with Ken Bookman

Andrew Schloss' profile page

Ken Bookman's profile page

The recipes are simple and straightforward, with barely a paragraph of instructions for each one, but you'll never want for a basic recipe when you have this cookbook on your shelf... You can rescue your next unplanned family meal or lay out the menu for the week by simply browsing through this book.

Rainbo Electric Reviews

One could cook for a decade and still not scratch the surface of this cookbook... This book is jam-packed with thousands of recipes that are easy to follow and find because the book is well organized... I'll be referring to this book for a long time to come.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

This is a user-friendly collection that does not require trips to gourmet shops in search of difficult-to-find ingredients.

Tucson Citizen

This compendium is way better than good. It's superb.... This cookbook should be in the kitchen of every condo, time-share apartment, dorm room and second home. And you realtors, forget sending a bunch of flowers after you make a sale; give this cookbook to the new tenants.

Pittsburg Post-Gazette