The Family Dinner by Laurie David
with recipes by Kirstin Uhrenholdt
We sit down as a family for dinner probably most every night, and I have to admit that I’m always on the lookout for new cookbooks. I think trying new recipes is fun. It doesn’t hurt that my husband will eat just about everything and Amber (10) is usually pretty good at trying things or finding parts of a meal she’ll eat.
While this book is chock-full of recipes, it’s more than a cookbook. Davis discusses why having dinner together is important and offers steps to making those dinners successful (no cell phones!). There are conversation starters, some of which I can actually see working and not just leaving kids rolling their eyes at you. “What is the grossest thing you have ever eaten?” “Describe your dream vacation. Give lots of details.” Those two questions alone could probably keep the talk going at our table for hours, with more details than I’d necessarily want. Another idea is to comb the paper for current topics to discuss, like oil drilling or cell phone etiquette. The dinner table is a wonderful place for a respectful debate.
Other chapters include games for after dinner and even family dinners after divorce. One of my personal favorite chapters is “Grace Is Gratitude.” “Expressing thanks for food is as basic a ritual as exists in the world. ” (pg. 195) And the graces she provides are not solely Christian and Jewish, they include a Buddhist Blessing and even a Chinese proverb.
The recipes are wonderful. Reading through them, a lot of them sound tasty. Last week we had my in-laws over for dinner and I tried the Apple Cider Chicken. Usually I wouldn’t try out a new recipe on them, but this one sounded so delicious and simple that I had to give it a shot. And it was a hit. Everybody ate it up. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of it, but it was chicken cooked with apples, onions and bacon in cider and chicken broth – yummy! Next up is the Chipotle Orange Shrimp with Caramelized Bananas and Black Beans. Amber won’t eat the beans, but she loves shrimp and really who can pass up caramelized bananas?
This is a special book that I can see myself referring to again and again.
I forgot to add it’s illustrated with full-color photos of a lot of the recipes, ideas and celebrations.
The Giveaway:
Thanks to the Hachette Book Group, I have one copy of The Family Dinner to giveaway. To enter, just leave me a comment below by November 25. While you’re at it, tell me one of your favorite family dishes. I’ll announce the random winner on the 26th.
Open to the US and Canada only, no PO boxes. The winner will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win this same book in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy in the mail.
Published November 3, 2010
245 pages
I received my copy from the publisher for review and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon associate.
pasta cooked with bacon, salsa and parsesan cheese…my daughter devours it!
My family seems to love anything with bacon.
Even when it’s just the two of us, we sit down at the table, with no TV or other electronics, for dinner. We’ve done it for so long, I can’t imagine eating any other way.
Ah, well if it’s just me and David, I have to admit that we don’t always sit down together. Sometimes we do, but sometimes it’s catch as catch can.
My husband and I love pumpkin anything and lately we have made pumpkin bread, bundt cake and squares. We tried to make pumpkin fudge lately but well it failed.
I love pumpkin too. There’s a pumpkin roll in our fridge right now.
What a fantastic book. Count me in on the giveaway. One of my favorite things to eat at home are potato dumplings. Can’t get enough of them and they are so simple. Blend raw potato and flour in a blender till you get a pretty thick batter. Make them into small dumplings and boil them. While all that is going on, cut some backon up into small pieces and fry it up with some chopped onion. Put that over the dumplings and it’s so good.
Thanks for the giveaway.
fforgnayr@yahoo.com
This sounds good and like something I could actually do. Thanks!
They are even better as leftovers. Fry them up in a fan with a little butter.
thanks for the chance to read…and use…the family dinner 🙂
This sounds like a great book, and the chicken you made sounds delish.
The no-cell phone rule at the dinner table is a must I think.
I saw Laurie David on The View and her chinese fried shrimp balls sound absolutely wonderful…I have a great recipe for a Halavah Cake that I would love to share with both she and Kirstin.
We love pasta and pesto. It couldn’t be simpler or more delicious.
Please count me in. I’d adore a new cookbook.
bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com
We love sushi.
Many of our favorite meals are those with soup – chicken vegetable, vegetable beef, french onion, and gumbo are all favorites.
shetreadssoftly(at)gmail(dot)com
We love homemade mac and cheese. Classic comfort food! Yum.
Sounds like a great book!
lasagna is our fave
spynaert@hotmail.com
We are Polish so one of our traditional favorite dishes is Cheese Pirogi, yum! Great giveaway, thanks.
This book looks wonderful. I make a great pepperoni pasta. It’s one of only a handful of dishes I’d say I’m great at making 😉
I love different kind of rice, but my favorite is Puerto Rican Rice. It has lots of flavor and there is never left over. Thank you for the chance to win.
Just reading the list of everyone’s favorites made me hungry!