THE PHONY GOURMET

“Somewhere close behind air and water is the need for food.”
― L.J. Martin, Cooking Wild & Wonderful

 

THE PHONY GOURMET

By: Pam Young and Peggy Jones

Genre: Non-fiction, Cookbook

Back years ago when I read S.H.E.written by these two ladies I learned a lot about organization.  I recently wrote a review about that book and decided to look into more books by them. 

While I learned a lot from S.H.E.  I am sad to say I was not overly impressed with “The Phony Gourmet”.  I was hoping for quick fix recipes that weren’t based on already prepared foods like Whoppers from Burger King that you harvest the ingredients out of and throw in a crust. 

Sorry ladies, but if I am going to go to Burger King to get a Whooper I’m going to eat it in its original bread product, not skin it and replace the bread with a crust.  That defeats the entire purpose of going to Burger King in the beginning.

Now if I was still mystery shopping to the point I was getting burgers for free three times a day it might be a recipe I’d consider just for a change in texture, but on a day to day basis.  Nope!

I also didn’t care for their fake cooking hints, like cooking your peelings from your carrots and such in a bundle to make your family think you’ve been cooking.  I don’t know about your households, but that would really cause problems in mine. If my guys smell food, they expect food to eat.

After reading several of the 75 recipes in the book I simply skimmed the rest because quite frankly this was not a cookbook in my estimation.  

In fairness to them though I am pretty much a scratch cook and make a lot of my own mixes as evidenced by my blogs Patterson’s Pantry and Patterson’s Pantry Recipes.  Although I do love a good shortcut recipe on my busy days.   These were not the ones for me.

My overall for this book was a C-.  Sorry ladies.

Jan who is too much a foodie for recipes like what is in this cookbook in OK

S.H.E. SIDETRACKED HOME EXECUTIVES...from pigpen to paradise

“You will never break free to newness until you are utterly disgusted with the old way.- Vernon Howard

S.H.E. SIDETRACKED HOME EXECUTIVES...from pigpen to paradise

By Pam Brace (now Young) and Peggy Jones

Genre: Non-fiction, organization

I first purchased this book back in 1979 when I had reached the end of my rope on trying without success to be constantly on top of all the demands that my home, children and all my other activities put on me.

I used the system for a very long time and then as life smoothed out I veered away from it.  In February 2011 I wrote about it in my blog post “My Life on 3 x 5 cards.”  Shortly after deciding to go back to this system we went back on the road for several months, so my good intentions faded into a distant memory.  Not to mention life re-arranged in numerous ways shortly thereafter.  Since then I’ve been doggedly working on my Princess Plan which seems to fit my schedule better. 

That, however, does not negate the value of this book.  It is a simple way to organize your life, be prepared for anything, know where everything is type of system and I would highly recommend the system to anyone looking for just the right idea for organizing their life.  It could actually be used with the Flylady system, my Princess Plan or any other numerous systems.  

I prefer it over Flylady because it is far more flexible than Flylady and there are no annoying emails throughout the day to nag you to pieces.  Sorry Flylady, but you simply did not work for me and my way of life. 

If you need little reminders throughout the week of chores you planned on doing then this system could easily be incorporated into my overall general decluttering Princess Plan because it deals mainly with the nuts and bolts of day to day organization while my PrincessPlan deals with getting to that magical kingdom called “Clean and Organized.”

It is basically a series of color coded cards that are for certain chores, for daily, weekly, semi-monthly, monthly semi annually and annually.  Each chore has a designated person and you move the cards through the cardbox as the chore is completed.  

There are also cards for gift giving info, calendar of events, menus and much more. 

It is written with humor and takes a realistic approach to being a home executive. 

Pam and Peg walk you through their journey from pigpen to paradise and are honest about some of the pitfalls they fell into.  

Pam’s last name is now Young and the book has been updated and added to over the years.  It also appears they have other books on the market as well.  I’m certain to check those out sometime in the future to see if I can pick up any hints from them as I did from the original book I purchased in 1979.

I give this book an A for being easy to use and understand as well as humorous.