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The Six O'Clock Scramble: Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Dinner Recipes for Busy Families
A gift of healthy recipes with time-saving techniques, The Six O'Clock Scramble cookbook is a companion to Aviva's wonderful email-based newsletter service that provides busy moms with easy and nutritious meals for their families. The Scramble is a weekly e-mail newsletter that Five flavorful and healthy, tried-and-true dinner recipes with side dish suggestions, emailed to you each week.
Easy-to-prepare dinners in 30 minutes (or less), most with fewer than 10 ingredients.
Delicious, easy recipes like Asian Turkey Burgers, Tortellini Tossed with Fresh Mozzarella, honey glazed salmon and red beans and rice burritos.
Includes an organized grocery list so you can print and shop. Perfect for working or full-time parents, or anyone who wants to make easy, delicious home-cooked meals. "Aviva Goldfarb had one of those ideas--incredibly obvious, yet nobody had thought of it--that immediately make the pieces of your brain fit together with a neat click. A wife, mother, self-published cookbook author, and organizational ace, Goldfarb realized that for most people 6 P.M. was too late to start wondering what to cook for dinner. So she started the Six O'Clock Scramble, a weekly e-mail newsletter with five days' worth of dinner recipes, plus grocery lists. The meals (grilled teriyaki chicken tenderloins one night, baked huevos rancheros another) take about a half hour to prepare and are creative, healthy, unprocessed and kid-friendly without being adult-alienating. A subscription costs $5 a month - a small price to pay for a whole new kind of happy meal."-- O, The Oprah Magazine
Easy-to-prepare dinners in 30 minutes (or less), most with fewer than 10 ingredients.
Delicious, easy recipes like Asian Turkey Burgers, Tortellini Tossed with Fresh Mozzarella, honey glazed salmon and red beans and rice burritos.
Includes an organized grocery list so you can print and shop. Perfect for working or full-time parents, or anyone who wants to make easy, delicious home-cooked meals. "Aviva Goldfarb had one of those ideas--incredibly obvious, yet nobody had thought of it--that immediately make the pieces of your brain fit together with a neat click. A wife, mother, self-published cookbook author, and organizational ace, Goldfarb realized that for most people 6 P.M. was too late to start wondering what to cook for dinner. So she started the Six O'Clock Scramble, a weekly e-mail newsletter with five days' worth of dinner recipes, plus grocery lists. The meals (grilled teriyaki chicken tenderloins one night, baked huevos rancheros another) take about a half hour to prepare and are creative, healthy, unprocessed and kid-friendly without being adult-alienating. A subscription costs $5 a month - a small price to pay for a whole new kind of happy meal."-- O, The Oprah Magazine
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 2006
12 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Aviva Goldfarb
7 books53 followersAviva Goldfarb is founder and CEO of The Six O'Clock Scramble, an online healthy meal planner.
She is a Today Show and Washington Post contributor, author of 3 Six O’Clock Scramble cookbooks, including The Six O’Clock Scramble Meal Planner: A Year of Quick, Delicious Meals to Help You Prevent and Manage Diabetes (American Diabetes Association, February, 2016).
Aviva treasures dinner time with her family but was fed up with the stress of having so little time to decide what to make and cook healthy meals that everyone would like. So she created an online family dinner planner for busy parents like her that takes the Scramble out of 6:00 with a weekly dinner plan and grocery list delivered right to their email inbox or phone.
She is a Today Show and Washington Post contributor, author of 3 Six O’Clock Scramble cookbooks, including The Six O’Clock Scramble Meal Planner: A Year of Quick, Delicious Meals to Help You Prevent and Manage Diabetes (American Diabetes Association, February, 2016).
Aviva treasures dinner time with her family but was fed up with the stress of having so little time to decide what to make and cook healthy meals that everyone would like. So she created an online family dinner planner for busy parents like her that takes the Scramble out of 6:00 with a weekly dinner plan and grocery list delivered right to their email inbox or phone.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 17, 2008
Wowie!
This cookbook has changed my life! Ok, maybe not quite, but it certainly has the potential to.
With 52 weeks of recipes that take under thirty minutes to prepare, each week is full of healthy, eclectic choices.
There are 5 kid-friendly meals per week, making this book is a busy mom's dream.
Instead of just reprinting the same recipes I've been making for years, it is experimental & unique. Only two of the 20 recipes I've tried have gotten less than 4 stars from my kids who profess hot dogs & boxed mac and cheese as their favorite meal. (Like last week when I tried giving an organic mac & cheese, my three year old said, "Mom, I want the orange kind of mac & cheese.")
The expensive or unusual ingredients are dealt with in kind: expensive items are used rarely and with discretion, and unusual ingredients have an explanation of where to find the ingredient and/or what to substitute.
This cookbook has changed my life! Ok, maybe not quite, but it certainly has the potential to.
With 52 weeks of recipes that take under thirty minutes to prepare, each week is full of healthy, eclectic choices.
There are 5 kid-friendly meals per week, making this book is a busy mom's dream.
Instead of just reprinting the same recipes I've been making for years, it is experimental & unique. Only two of the 20 recipes I've tried have gotten less than 4 stars from my kids who profess hot dogs & boxed mac and cheese as their favorite meal. (Like last week when I tried giving an organic mac & cheese, my three year old said, "Mom, I want the orange kind of mac & cheese.")
The expensive or unusual ingredients are dealt with in kind: expensive items are used rarely and with discretion, and unusual ingredients have an explanation of where to find the ingredient and/or what to substitute.
October 29, 2010
You're feeling tired; it's been a long day, the kids are hungry, they're cranky, and chaos abounds. The witching hour has arrived and you're left wondering what you're going to make for dinner. Whether you work from home, outside the home or don't work for pay you are probably all too familiar with that hectic time of day when kids, and grown-ups, need to be fed, but inspiration (and sometimes motivation) just isn't there.
The answer has arrived. SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue by Aviva Goldfarb promises to “take the “thinking” out of meal planning, saving time, money and stress.”
The concept of the book is very straightfoward, make menus and meals that get you in and out of the kitchen with a minimum of fuss. But this is more than just a cookbook. Arranged by season it allows you to take advantage of what should be fresh, in season. and hopefully local, produce. Each seasonal section is prefaced by five weekly menus with a free organized grocery list available online. Particularly nice is the fact that these pages are a different color making it easy to easily flip through the seasons. In addition to the seasonal menus there is an ingredient breakdown showing which pages within each season the meat, fish, pasta, and other dishes are located on as well as the expected prep + cook time for each recipe. Vegetarian dishes are clearly marked as are make-ahead dishes. There's even a notation for those dishes that fall into the Scramble Express category, 30 minutes or less.
Each recipe comes with full nutritional information which is nice to have. I made the divine eggplant with chickpeas and mint on page 140 as well as the middle eastern stuffed pitas on page 156. These delicious and flavorful recipes were easy to follow and did cook up in the promised time.
Carrying through with the earth-friendly theme in the title, the frontpiece of the book notes that “A generous portion of the proceeds from this cookbook are donated directly to the Environmental Working Group.”
Less time in the kitchen with fast, healthy, earth friendly recipes? If you're a busy family, this is a book that can help.
SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue, Aviva Goldfarb, St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 2010
The answer has arrived. SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue by Aviva Goldfarb promises to “take the “thinking” out of meal planning, saving time, money and stress.”
The concept of the book is very straightfoward, make menus and meals that get you in and out of the kitchen with a minimum of fuss. But this is more than just a cookbook. Arranged by season it allows you to take advantage of what should be fresh, in season. and hopefully local, produce. Each seasonal section is prefaced by five weekly menus with a free organized grocery list available online. Particularly nice is the fact that these pages are a different color making it easy to easily flip through the seasons. In addition to the seasonal menus there is an ingredient breakdown showing which pages within each season the meat, fish, pasta, and other dishes are located on as well as the expected prep + cook time for each recipe. Vegetarian dishes are clearly marked as are make-ahead dishes. There's even a notation for those dishes that fall into the Scramble Express category, 30 minutes or less.
Each recipe comes with full nutritional information which is nice to have. I made the divine eggplant with chickpeas and mint on page 140 as well as the middle eastern stuffed pitas on page 156. These delicious and flavorful recipes were easy to follow and did cook up in the promised time.
Carrying through with the earth-friendly theme in the title, the frontpiece of the book notes that “A generous portion of the proceeds from this cookbook are donated directly to the Environmental Working Group.”
Less time in the kitchen with fast, healthy, earth friendly recipes? If you're a busy family, this is a book that can help.
SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue, Aviva Goldfarb, St. Martin's Griffin, New York, 2010
November 30, 2013
I am pretty dissatisfied with this book. Enough that I might give it 2 stars instead of 3 as a waste of my time.
This book is set up by the 4 seasons, each season with 13 weeks of recipes. Each week has 5 suppers, which seems accurate as we eat out at least once a week. And at the end there is like a list of sides. And school-lunch suggestions. But come on - there are NO DESSERTS! What kind of weekly supper planner does not even have one dessert!
I am pretty sure I had this on my to-read list from a list of books to help simplify life for busy families. In theory, this would help simplify supper. BUT ONLY SUPPER. Plus this entire book is really a vehicle to get you to sign up on her website to get weekly meal-planning emails. Well, that's then an email you have to deal with. She does give the website to download the weekly shopping list. Course that pdf is not precisely at the addresses she gave... When looking through her weeks, there are meat dishes only 3 nights. And at least one of those will be fish. Plus most of the meals are not ones my family would eat. And I don't mean that one person would not eat it, but multiple people. I would have to do way too much modifying to make this work for us. Which is against the whole idea presented.
This book is set up by the 4 seasons, each season with 13 weeks of recipes. Each week has 5 suppers, which seems accurate as we eat out at least once a week. And at the end there is like a list of sides. And school-lunch suggestions. But come on - there are NO DESSERTS! What kind of weekly supper planner does not even have one dessert!
I am pretty sure I had this on my to-read list from a list of books to help simplify life for busy families. In theory, this would help simplify supper. BUT ONLY SUPPER. Plus this entire book is really a vehicle to get you to sign up on her website to get weekly meal-planning emails. Well, that's then an email you have to deal with. She does give the website to download the weekly shopping list. Course that pdf is not precisely at the addresses she gave... When looking through her weeks, there are meat dishes only 3 nights. And at least one of those will be fish. Plus most of the meals are not ones my family would eat. And I don't mean that one person would not eat it, but multiple people. I would have to do way too much modifying to make this work for us. Which is against the whole idea presented.
September 27, 2010
My cooking life would come to a screeching halt without this book. This is the cookbook I turn to when I've been working all day, look at the clock and think, "Oh no, what can I make for dinner within an hour that everyone will like?"[return][return]This book goes beyond the simple kid-friendly recipes, and provides a happy medium between food that kids will definitely eat and food that adults want to eat. It introduces kids to new spices and condiments (curry, peppers, dijon mustard, etc.) in ways that appeal to them and ease them along the path toward eating more sophisticated food. My kids are 5 and 2 - notoriously known as the "picky eater" phase. Both of them have liked many of the recipes I've made from this cookbook.[return][return]Beyond the fact that the recipes are just plain good and crowd pleasing, most of them can be made with ingredients that you are most likely to already have in your pantry/fridge/freezer. At the beginning of the cookbook, Goldfarb provides a checklist of basics so you can stock up on anything you might be missing. This book has saved our family lots of dollars in takeout food. Highly recommended.
October 22, 2010
Her recipes are great - extremely simple, real ingredients, short ingredient lists. Plenty of vegetarian options. Organized by season. The back has a few different Indexes. One for best to feed a crowd, another for best recipes for picnics, ideas for baby food and kid lunches and more.
I love the index full of side dishes for ideas for quick side salads, how to dress up green beans or other veggies - all using ingredients I already have around. For me, that section is worth the price of the book. Each recipe also has side servig suggestions (with the recipe in the back). This book is very simple and practical. Would be great for someone newly on their own, a nanny, or someone like me who was tired of the same things but most cookbooks are too fussy for everyday meals.
I love the index full of side dishes for ideas for quick side salads, how to dress up green beans or other veggies - all using ingredients I already have around. For me, that section is worth the price of the book. Each recipe also has side servig suggestions (with the recipe in the back). This book is very simple and practical. Would be great for someone newly on their own, a nanny, or someone like me who was tired of the same things but most cookbooks are too fussy for everyday meals.
March 7, 2014
This was OK. If you started your kids young, it'd probably go well. Lots of fish--could be expensive for some of us in flyover country. Many of the meals seem low on fiber to me, and there is only a section of (not analyzed for nutrition) side dishes to choose from--you'd not be making much headway to ideal fruit and veg consumption on the main courses alone. But it's OK. Anyone with younger kids want my copy?
December 30, 2007
<3 meal planning -- makes life 100% easier.
The recipes are simple, but creative. And definitely doable for a novice and fancy upable for a pro.
If you get the book, be sure to check out this website for the accompanying printable grocery lists for each week.
The recipes are simple, but creative. And definitely doable for a novice and fancy upable for a pro.
If you get the book, be sure to check out this website for the accompanying printable grocery lists for each week.
February 13, 2009
This one has really quick recipes that are healthy, but because of the short cuts to get the food on the table fast sometimes we have to add more to the recipes to suit our family. I use this book in my menu planning when I know I am going to have a busy week. Family favorites so far include: Apricot Chicken, Red Beans and Rice, Asian Pasta Salad and Mango Coconut Chicken.
September 21, 2008
The best cook book ever! I've been through and tagged a ton of these recipes and everyone seems to like them. They are really quick and easy to make and healthy too. And for some reason I like making this food, probably because almost everything I've made has gone over well.
February 18, 2016
Great meal planning cookbook!
I was really impressed with the variety of recipes in this book, particularly the emphasis on vegetarian options! I can definitely see myself using this to ease meal planning.
I was really impressed with the variety of recipes in this book, particularly the emphasis on vegetarian options! I can definitely see myself using this to ease meal planning.
October 21, 2016
This book is a good idea, but the nutritional info is really outdated. So, the recipes emphasize low fat, low cholesterol, and some processed ingredients too. I also don't like the layout. The lists don't include page numbers for the recipes, which makes it more annoying to swap dishes.
April 16, 2008
Good quick meals with a online shopping list for the week. I have only done this a couple weeks, but I plan to get back on track! :)
February 15, 2009
great if you need quick healthy ideas.
May 5, 2009
Quick, easy to prepare, healthy recipes. I go to this book when I can't think of anything to make for dinner and don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
May 29, 2013
A gift from a friend.
My family loves the recipe for 'Home-made Chicken Nuggets' - it's excellent!
My family loves the recipe for 'Home-made Chicken Nuggets' - it's excellent!
November 11, 2012
A pleasant surprise! I was concerned it would be a Sandra Lee style dump-and-stir cookbook, but it's more interesting and has a wider range than that. Suggested by Unclutterer.
April 20, 2016
Just as the TITLE (and subtitle) mentions...this is an excellent one of many good choices out there for those very busy families who must not ignore healthy choices.....
August 5, 2009
healthy easy recipes, love it!!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews