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By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2009

"Baking Unplugged," by Nicole Rees (Wiley, $29.95)

So you don't have a standup mixer or a turbo-charged Cuisinart food processor to lean on for your baking needs. So what? Rees shows that with a few basic tools anyone can produce delicious cakes, breads, pastries and other baked goods. (She brags that she's had the same few bowls, spoons and measuring cups for decades.) If we may be so bold, might we suggest readers proceed to page 60 and bake the Sour Cream Crumb Cake. There just isn't enough of that stuff to eat in the world.

"Chili Madness," by Jane Butel (Workman, $12.95)

When this book first came out in 1980, chili was more of a side dish than a lifestyle. These days, you can't swing a spatula without hitting some sort of chili cooking contest. (With apologies to our own in-house pioneer, Steve Otto, whose chili cook-off will be 22 years old this year.) This book offers many of the standbys that made the book popular almost three decades ago. As an update, there are 130 new recipes for such dishes as Moroccan Chili and White Lobster Chili, both of which call for beans. Mr. Otto would not approve.

"Weight Watchers in 20 Minutes," (Wiley, $29.95)

There was a time when an hour was the standard by which recipes were measured. Then Rachael Ray came along to set the culinary Greenwich Mean Time at 30 minutes. Weight Watchers now says you can cook – get this, healthy food – in 20 minutes or less. What's next? Nanosnacks? Blintzes in a blink? But we digress. This book helps those counting their points to make quick dishes that keep them on their diet. Even better: It offers time-saving tips with almost every recipe to streamline the process even more.

Jeff Houck can be reached at jhouck@tampatrib.com.

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