Editor's Note: We have a treat today! Sara, a lovely Style Lush writer, is reviewing one of her favorite cookbooks for us -- and if you read to the end, there's a chance for you can win your very own copy!
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By Sara
I can’t believe I am going to admit this on a foodie site but for a long time I never cared much for cooking. I know! It seemed silly to worry about cooking when it was just me and when I was first married, my husband and I would spend many leisurely hours at restaurants paying someone else to make us delicious meals. I figured I probably wasn’t very good at cooking since I didn’t know how to look in the fridge and pantry and just “whip something up.”
Then the first baby came along and did you know that at some point babies want to eat food aside from milk? That was news to me. Strangely, this little baby couldn’t cook for himself so it was up to me to do it for him. I still managed to do as little cooking as possible in his first couple years and my husband and I subsisted on a steady diet of whatever could be thrown together in ten minutes. We ate a lot of pasta.
Then something slowly started to change. We had a second baby last fall and suddenly it dawned on me that we had a family to feed. These people required sustenance and nourishment and someone to grocery shop for them. To say it took a decade to get me on board with cooking wouldn’t be an exaggeration … at all. So I started to seek out cooking blogs, recipe blogs, and family blogs -- anywhere I could find ways to make cooking for my family easy and fun for all of us. I needed guidance and someone to tell me what to do or how to do it. I began experimenting in the kitchen, well, as much experimenting as I could do with a three year old and newborn hanging on my person at all times. Through some trial and error I discovered that I didn’t totally suck at cooking. In fact, I was actually pretty decent at it. It quickly became incredibly important to me that I make cooking dinner a priority and, here is the summit of the proverbial mountain, eat it together.
Around last October I came across the epitome of cooking blogs. The queen of simple recipe blogs. The high priestess of family dinner … and no, I am NOT talking about that woman out on the ranch with the show on TV. I’m talking about Dinner: A Love Story. Jenny Rosenstrach, a former editor for Cookie magazine and Real Simple, authors this refreshing, witty, and friendly blog about her mission to bring families back to the dinner table. Her tagline says it all “it all begins at the family table.” BAM. Yes, it does.
(Photo from goodreads.com)
Not only does Jenny write this endearing blog but she also just wrote a cookbook, also titled Dinner: A Love Story! Wait, in all honesty, it’s not just a cookbook. It’s a family book. It’s her love story about her family and about finding joy in feeding her family as often as possible. There are no overarching platitudes about how your children will grow up to be drug smugglers if you don’t feed them farm fresh dinners and eat together every single night. Instead she writes a lyrical memoir about what eating together as a family means to her, interspersed with simple recipes for dinners at all stages of life. There are recipes for the newly adult living on their own for the first time.
There are recipes for young families where the thought of standing over the stove for an hour while also entertaining the under-three set makes you want to pack your bags for Aruba … alone. And there are recipes for families with growing children who have the ability (not necessarily the inclination, however) to sit still and enjoy a meal with their parents.
Jenny has written this book for all of us, wherever we are in our family lives. You don’t have to be an incredible chef to execute her dishes. They’re simple, fresh and very few include what she calls “page turners”( i.e. ingredients that just make a recipe seem insurmountable). As a loyal reader of the blog, I’ve been making a number of her recipes for a while now and was excited to see some wonderful new ones in the book.
My confidence in the kitchen has grown and our family dinner future looks so much brighter because of Dinner: A Love Story.
Do YOU want the chance to bring your family closer together over the dinner table? How about your very own copy of Dinner: A Love Story?
The rules & guidelines:
- To enter: Leave a comment answering the question: My favorite family meal is ______.
- Giveaway ends: Tuesday, 7/3, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
- Who can enter?: Anyone!
- Other notes: One comment per person, the winner will be selected by random.org and announced on the site by 7/9.
Good luck!
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Thanks to Sara for the incredible review and to the publisher (HarperCollins) for providing a review copy.
My favorite family meal is my mom's recipe for Chicken and Noodles. Such great comfort food and soooo good on a chilly fall day.
Posted by: Melissa | June 27, 2012 at 03:08 PM
My favorite family meal is Taco Bar. Several packs of warmed tortillas and tons of fixings. No two tacos need be alike! Even my two picky eaters find enough amongst the offerings to fill their tummies.
Posted by: Jaida | June 27, 2012 at 03:11 PM
My favorite family meal is my daddy's barbecued chicken with broccoli with cheese and smashed potatoes. So yummy!
Posted by: Ashley M. | June 27, 2012 at 03:16 PM
My favorite family meal is Chicken french. A little labor intensive so I always make a triple batch to enjoy for a few meals. I usually serve it with Roasted Asparagus in a brown butter sauce. The brown butter sauce is so delicious it makes me want to drink it!
Posted by: Chandra | June 27, 2012 at 03:19 PM
my favorite family meal is enchiladas! and guacamole! and beans! yes.
Posted by: kathleen | June 27, 2012 at 03:22 PM
Lately, my favorite meal is quinoa salad. I cook it in chicken stock for a heartier taste and add roasted vegetables and crumbled feta. Mmmmmm - great to grab and go for lunch or as a side with dinner!
Posted by: Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks | June 27, 2012 at 03:24 PM
My favorite family meal is homemade chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese. Everyone loves it, it's comforting and I feel like super mom.
Also, I LOVE this site and keep meaning to buy my copy of the book. I have one of her bumper stickers (Make dinner, not war) on my fridge.
Posted by: Hillary | June 27, 2012 at 03:24 PM
my favorite family meal is sushi night
Posted by: gail | June 27, 2012 at 03:27 PM
My favorite family meal USED to be pizza night but since I can't have dairy anymore it is now taco night. Everyone has something they like! Easy peasy! Or salsa chicken in the crockpot :-)
Posted by: Samantha Jo campen | June 27, 2012 at 03:37 PM
My family's favorite meal is tacos! Everyone can customize all their tacos themselves and it's ok to be messy.
Posted by: Christy M | June 27, 2012 at 03:49 PM
My familes favorite meal are homemade pizza made to order for each kid and adult.
Posted by: Bets | June 27, 2012 at 03:53 PM
My favorite family meal is Christmas Eve when we gorge ourselves on seafood...my mom buys a ton so it's pretty much all you can eat lobster, crab, oysters, and shrimp. She always makes veggies and soup and rice to round out the meal but we never have room for anything but the seafood. And of course, since they live across the country, it's nice to sit at a table together for a meal!
Posted by: LivLaughEat | June 27, 2012 at 04:14 PM
My favorite family meal is what my husband calls pasta fazoul! It's just whole wheat pasta with pesto and broccoli but my kids love it and my husband is very proud of his invention. :)
Posted by: Kristen | June 27, 2012 at 04:29 PM
spaghetti and meatballs. it's cliche but it never ever gets old to me.
Posted by: aly | June 27, 2012 at 04:33 PM
Ours is tacos! People can customize what they want, which is key when you are feeding two adults, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old. Plus, it's super fast. :)
Posted by: Kathryn b | June 27, 2012 at 04:44 PM
Tacos are my favorite family meal, but I'm looking for some new ones!
Posted by: Lisa Foley | June 27, 2012 at 05:46 PM
My favorite family meal (AKA: the meal that gets the fewest complaints) is our homemade pizza!
Posted by: Doing My Best | June 27, 2012 at 05:47 PM
my favorite family mean is take out pizza. What, is that bad?
Posted by: Anne | June 27, 2012 at 05:50 PM
My favorite family meal is roasted shrimp & broccoli with rice.
Posted by: ERica | June 27, 2012 at 06:30 PM
What an awesome giveaway! My favorite family meal is Sunday morning waffles!
Posted by: Shanna | June 27, 2012 at 06:36 PM
My favorite family meal is my dad's baked ziti! So tasty and familiar every time.
Posted by: Lauren | June 27, 2012 at 07:02 PM
My favorite family meal is my mom's BBQ chicken or her crawfish stuffed pork loin. One is an everyday meal and the other is Christmas dinner. I have yet to master the art of the family meal and can't wait to check out this blog. Especially since I still lament over the demise of Cookie.
Posted by: Brandi | June 27, 2012 at 07:06 PM
Pizza. Everyone love it.
Posted by: Maureen | June 27, 2012 at 08:47 PM
Taco night! The kids actually eat it and get excited about it!
Posted by: Jess | June 27, 2012 at 10:08 PM
My favorite is steak, baked potatoe and a beer. When I was in college cross country this was the meal dad would always make on my first night home for a visit
Posted by: Kat | June 27, 2012 at 10:21 PM