The thing about newborns is that although they might look and act like, and even be, mostly unmoving blobs of near humanity, they take a lot of time, attention and effort. I was spectacularly unsuited to a newborn (this eight-year-old thing is great, though), and particularly frustrated that I had no time to cook or garden, although I was home all day for three months. Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine got me through many a dinner.

Now Great Food Fast gets me through a week's menu planning. It's one of two recipe collections, along with Fresh Food Fast, published before the magazine ceased publication last year. Flipping through Great Food's recipes for the season inspires me to know what to cook those last straggling, unplanned days of every week.

Great Food Fast is the perfect resource for low-stress, after-work meals: recipes are quick, usually taking half an hour or perhaps an hour of sitting in the oven; ingredient lists are pantry staples like soy sauce, chicken broth, herbs; following the seasonal organization of the book keeps menus from getting boring and makes it easier to use fresh ingredients; the results are tasty enough for company.

About half the recipes are main dishes, some vegetarian (Greek salad, spinach salad, risotto with zucchini and peas) but most are meat based (chicken breasts in mustard cream sauce, rigatoni with sausage and onions, salmon, farfalle, peas and mint,). The remaining recipes are side dishes (cucumber-radish slaw), appetizers (asparagus-gruyere tart) and desserts, and a small section on basics, like poaching chicken and vinaigrettes. They are all simple, tasty, and modern.

Even now, looking up recipes for this review, I see new dishes I want to make.

Great Food is for any cook who doesn't have the time or confidence for elaborate meals, but still wants a dish they'll want to cook again.