"The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner," by Liz Edmunds (Palmer/Pletsch, $24.95), is organized around "themes" for every night of the week. This is the plan that helped Edmunds, of Woodland, feed her airline pilot husband and their seven children. Monday is Comfort Food, Tuesday is Italian, Wednesday is Fish & Meatless, Thursday is Mexican, Friday is Pizza, Saturday is Grill Night and Sunday is Family Traditions.

The book gives suggestions for mapping out menus, making a shopping list, stocking the kitchen and figuring serving sizes. She also gives some "pep talks" about how important family dinners are and solutions to the usual excuses for not cooking dinner.

Some of the recipes are easy, such as BBQ Dogs Your Way and Red-And-White Mostaccioli (a pound of pasta layered with a jar of spaghetti sauce and 3 cups of mozzarella), but others are more involved, such as Indian Fry Bread, Homemade Corn Tortillas and Pizza Dough from scratch. There are numerous photos of the food and Edmunds and family members making and enjoying it. Edmunds teaches cooking classes at Sur La Table and other local venues.

"Family Comfort Favorites," by Kim Warren (KW Press, $22.95), has about 40 recipes, and nearly half of them are main dishes such as Chicken Parmesan, Italian-Style Pork Chops with Red Peppers and Mushrooms, and Linguini with Shrimp and Broccoli. What sets this book apart are the luscious color photos that illustrate the step-by-step directions. This a great book for novice cooks who want to learn more, because they can see what different stages of the cooking process look like. One drawback is that the recipes don't have serving sizes. You don't know if a recipe will yield too much for your family of four or not enough for a family of eight.

There are also seven soup/sandwich recipes such as Asian Pork Noodle Soup, 10 side dishes such as Roasted Winter Veggies, and Five desserts, including Blackberry Cobbler.

Warren, of Salt Lake City, teaches classes at the Orson Gygi store and is the cooking host for KJZZ-TV's "The Home Team" program.

"Robin to the Rescue," by Robin Miller (Taunton, $18.95). You may already have tons of recipes. But this book offers time-saving strategies for using the recipes. For instance, how to make a meal kit ahead of time, so you've got the components to quickly assemble Seared Almond-Crusted Chicken or Beef & Mushroom Tart. Or, when you're making Thai Chicken & Noodles or Chipotle Pork Soft Tacos, double the batch and "bank" it in your freezer. Or use your slow-cooker for Parmesan-Sage Pork Loin or Sesame Chicken. And "morph" your leftovers into dishes you won't recognize the second time around; for instance Cereal-Crusted Chicken with Curry Cream gives you the makings for Warm Chicken-Cherry Waldorf the next night.

Some recipes sound a little more exotic than basic home cooking, such as Warm Edamame Rice Salad with Teriyaki Tuna, or Coconut Beef Satay With Thai Peanut Sauce. But most of them come together with a minimum of fuss. Each recipe gives the total time needed to make it, as well as prep time, active cooking time and "walk away" time. There are also about 40 color photos of finished dishes.

Miller is the Food Network star of "Quick Fix Meals With Robin Miller."

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E-mail: vphillips@desnews.com