How Cook's Illustrated "Best 30 Minute Recipe" has changed my life

Sometimes--if my imagination is on overdrive and I squint really hard--when I look at my living room I don't see piles of toys or stains on the carpet. I see something worthy of Architectural Digest: my living room the way it was meant to be. Not the reality of what it is.

So many things about my life are different from what I'd thought they would be. First, I imagined a big, sprawling Craftsman-style house like the one in "Thirtysomething." I would publish a new critically-acclaimed novel each year. My writing would be effortlessly juggled with caring for my lovely, well-mannered, over-achieving children and putting a different gourmet meal on the table each night. (Which the kids would eat without complaining.) I'd barely break a sweat while running 6 miles each morning. My husband would happily take out the trash.

It's worked out a little differently. I love my house, but it is definitely more modest and has essentially no back yard. I have yet to finish a book - or even a chapter! My jeans are all a little too tight. And sometimes at the grocery store I pretend that I don't know my children, because they are that rambunctious. There are times that I feel like I'm not really successful in any aspect of my life.

Thank goodness for the "Best 30 Minute Recipe" book. To be completely honest, very few of the recipes actually take me only 30 minutes. Most are in the 45-60 range. But what it does enable me to do, is to put something different/interesting/delicious on the table just about every night. And it isn't just combing different canned or pre-prepared foods (sorry Rachel Ray). I'm toasting spices, sauteing aromatics, using fresh ingredients. Just doing it really quickly.

Thanks to Cook's Illustrated, when we are eating our skillet chicken pot pie, or Italian Bean soup, or tortellini salad with arugula and pine nuts, I can - for twenty minutes - taste the sweetness of success.