Plenty of cookbooks promise quick, simple recipes that will get you out of your restaurant rut and back into your kitchen, whipping up weeknight dishes with time left over for Lost reruns. Then you try to cook from them.

Cut to the following week: The cookbook's good as new, on a shelf, and your takeout menus are back in heavy rotation.

In The Gourmet Bachelor, Chad Carns doesn't offer empty promises. The book is instead structured as a flat-out challenge. For exactly one month, Carns wants you to swap your nightly order-in routine for a home cooked menu that incorporates flavors from around the world -- then see if you can go back to your microwaving ways. Thankfully, the book delivers the goods that will help you go the distance. Broken down by week, the recipes range from ricotta pancakes to butter-poached lobster, and rarely require half an hour over the stove.

Meet Chad Carns

Chad Carns grew up in a diverse family, passionate about food. He remembers watching his grandmother mold one egg, a cup of flour and a splash of water into Sunday dinner. Carns worked as a Greenwich Village graphic designer during the day but -- like a magnet --  felt NYC pulling him to explore a new culinary adventure every night.  Carns eventually put his award-winning, graphic design career on hold to study global cuisine and wine at the Institute of Culinary Education.