Book nook: 'Cook Without a Book'

COOK WITHOUT A BOOK: Meatless Meals -- Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians, by Pam Anderson. Rodale Books, 276 pp., $32.50.

Before you gasp -- no, it's not that Pam Anderson -- the Connecticut-based author is a Julia Child Award-winning cookbook writer, AARP food columnist and more.

She's encouraging meat eaters to become part-time vegetarians, not only for health reasons, but to save money so they can afford better meat -- organic meat not raised on factory farms -- when they do eat meat.

Confused about a title that says you don't need a book? Anderson writes that by using her "master formulas," you can learn how to take ingredients in your "decently stocked pantry . . . and start cooking by heart" rather than scrambling for recipes.