The Family Cooks

April 28, 2014
In this cookbook, environmentalist and film producer David (The Family Dinner) offers an "antidote" to America's unhealthy love affair with the "three amigos" of sugar, salt, and fat. With chef Uhrenholdt, David created easy, from-scratch recipes to get families off the merry-go-round in today's "food-carnival environment." Breakfasts feature porridge, granola, eggs, pancakes, and smoothies like the green apple almond milk Green Genie. For lunch, she provides recipes for crunchy cabbage-stuffed whole-grain quesadillas and a BLT with shitake "bacon." A section titled "Soupersalads!" includes a peppermint green pea soup, as well as salads with grains, nuts, and homemade dressings. Dinner showcases chicken, cod, pasta, and bean/grained-based recipes. Also featured are kid-pleasing sides like roasted cauliflower popcorn and a healthy coconut-mango pudding. With advice on training kids' palates, David busts the myth of the "picky eater" and explains how to "shop like a pro" and decipher nutritional information on industry labels. Essential guidelines for keeping the kitchen a safe, fun, and productive family place are included along with tips for avoiding waste and managing trash. For David, eating at home with the family is at the heart of the new food revolution; her essays celebrate our "inner homesteader" and might even prompt the resurgence of table conversation.

July 1, 2014

Author and film producer David (Fed Up; An Inconvenient Truth) follows her first cookbook, The Family Dinner, with a new collection of recipes meant to help families improve their health. Drawing on arguments from Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Mark Hyman, and other experts, she makes a strong case for the value of home-cooked meals and the importance of introducing children to healthy eating behaviors. Practical tips--including how to read food labels, visualize the sometimes shocking amount of added sugar in store-bought products, and confront picky eaters--are useful and not overzealous. Colorful and kid-friendly recipes from coauthor Uhrenholdt (e.g., seeds of power granola, weekday roast chicken with lemon and garlic) skew healthy, but not so much so that they'll exclude readers uninterested in making their own nut milks, teas, or hot cereal blends. VERDICT Written primarily for busy families with children, David's attractive guide to reclaiming the family dinner will also appeal to young couples and professionals trying to shop smarter and eat less-processed meals at home.

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