Are you looking for a cookbook that will challenge your kitchen skills and food knowledge, spurring you on to ever greater feats of culinary leger-demain with creations that will leave your guests gasping in astonishment and weeping with gratitude? A Slob in the Kitchen, then, is not the book for you. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a cookbook that acknowledges that the best recipes are those that get you in and out of the kitchen unscathed and produce something that tastes exactly like food—you’ve found your new bible.A Slob in the Kitchen is a book “for the host who isn’t afraid to crack a few eggs, crack a few jokes, throw a few curves, cut a few corners, and have a few laughs,” says self-proclaimed slob Karen Duffy. Her wisenheimer cooking primer provides nearly two hundred simple and completely approachable recipes that are so foolproof even a monkey could make them, yet are good enough to serve anytime, anywhere. Need some easy eats for a cocktail get-together? Try Buffalo-Style Shrimp or Fiesta Like There Is No Manaña Guacamole. Have hungry kids to appease? Throw them some Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi or let them burn off some energy with Kick-the-Can Ice Cream. In a retro mood? Check out the selection of Kitsch-en Classics for Spinach Quiche, just like Mom used to serve her bridge club. These recipes may not win you a spot on Iron Chef, but they will put a smile on the face of everyone you serve them to—and isn’t that why you cook in the first place? With Duffy as your guide you’ll be turning out soups, salads, entrées, desserts, and more—all without breaking a sweat or setting foot in a fancy-pants gourmet grocery. You’ll even pick up some cooking shortcuts and fun food trivia that make the whole process of getting food on the table that much more enjoyable.So if you’re finally ready to put down that takeout menu, toss the frozen entrées, and pick up a wooden spoon, take heart: A Slob in the Kitchen is the culinary Rosetta stone you’ve been waiting for, an empowering and entertaining introduction to the pleasures of presenting homemade fare without the angst.