Mr. Food's Quick & Easy Side Dishes

In his newest cookbook, Ginsburg, aka TV's Mr. Food, delivers upbeat, mainstream culinary advice on salads and side dishes, pushing traditional family fare that's updated in technique, convenience and sometimes in name but still draws heavily on the familiar--and fat. The nearly 100 recipes feature grains, pastas, fruits and vegetables in readily prepared dishes that don't often require more than six ingredients. Don't look for such exotica as quinoa or bok choy--Ginsburg sticks to supermarket staples like potatoes, onions, carrots and broccoli. Vegetables, which can be frozen, fresh or canned, are combined with basic pantry condiments such as mayonnaise (Rice and Broccoli Melt), peanut butter (Green Beans Satay) or condensed cream of mushroom soup (Creamy Onions). Most of these side dishes make extensive use of butter, mayonnaise, soup mixes and other ingredients reminiscent of the crushed-Ritz-cracker school of cooking common to old church and community fund-raising cookbooks. (July)