Feeding a Family: A Year of Simple and Healthy Family Dinners

by Sarah Waldman

40 seasonal meals, 100 recipes, and loads of tips and strategies to make weeknight dinners work

Reclaim the family dinner! In Feeding a Family, nutritionist and mom Sarah Waldman lays out all the tools you need to break out of the mealtime rut and turn dinner into a nutritionally fulfilling and happy occasion—despite busy schedules, long work days, and picky eaters. Through forty complete meals, you’ll discover hearty dinners the whole family will love, including:

· A meal for using up the best summer garden produce: Make-ahead Zucchini, Beef, and Haloumi Cheese Skewers with Chimichurri Sauce paired with Tomato, Peach, and Red Onion Panzanella and Lemon-Blackberry Custard
· A cozy and comforting dinner for a frenzied fall day: Creamy Tomato and Spinach Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons and Pear Pie in Cornmeal Crust
· The perfect meal for the busiest night of the week: Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken with Sweet Peas and Lemon-Pecan Shortbread Cookies
· A warming (and fun) winter meal: One-pot Slurpee Noodle Bowls with simple Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Date Truffles for dessert
· Sunday suppers for when you have a bit more time to play in the kitchen, such as Homemade Pasta with Heirloom Tomato Sauce and Pavlova with Blueberries

With suggestions for including older kids in mealtime prep, tips for feeding baby, and ideas for extending ingredients for “tomorrow’s dinner,” Feeding a Family is a playbook that includes the whole family.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction, Cooking

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2017

About the author

Sarah Waldman fell in love with food while playing “cooking show” with her little sister in the 1980s. Decades later, she followed that passion to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to study the connections between food and personal wellness. Now Sarah spends her time being a mother, food writer, and recipe developer. As a health-focused home cook, she develops and offers recipes for simple, whole-food meals appropriate for every member of the family. Her work has been featured in Fine Cooking, Shape, Edible Vineyard, Food52, and The Coastal Table. Sarah lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and two boys. On her blog (SarahWaldman.com) she shares healthy, seasonal recipes that celebrate a family-focused life.

Reviews

[Penmouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feeding a Family: A Year of Simple and Healthy Dinners by Sarah Waldman is one of the more commonsense "healthy" inspired cookbooks I've read. The author does use ingredients some would associate with the newer health food ideas i.e. coconut sugar, and there are a lot of vegetable/vegetarian-type recipes found throughout her cookbook. You also find recipes using animal-based proteins too.

I like how the author included money-saving tips and how to stock a pantry. I also liked her commonsense approach to picky eaters. An approach my parents took with me when I was a child and taught me to appreciate a wide variety of foods.

I did find one recipe that was missing a key ingredient as the Cheesy Butternut Squash and Mushroom Casserole was missing the mushrooms. As the book I was reviewing is a galley proof, I am sure this is an editorial error that will hopefully be corrected when the final book is published.

Some of the recipes you'll find in her cookbook include:

German Apple Pancake with Sharp Cheddar
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts
Chicken Thighs with Barley, Chard, and Mushrooms
Cinnamon and Sugar Crispy Chickpeas
Skillet Spinach Pie

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from Edelweiss.

[Mary L. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new or exciting here, and most disappointing was that many of the recipes are very similar, or even exact repeats of those found on the author's website and in her first book (ie: Coconut Chocolate Cherry Pops, Brown Rice Pudding, Black Bean Burgers, Gado Gado Salad, Chicken Thighs with Chard and Barley, Root Vegetable Sushi, her husband's famous Pizza Dough, etc.). SO many repeats. For a book with just 10 meals per season, I would expect all of the recipes to be original. Some "recipes" were so simple they don't even warrant a recipe (sugar-coated strawberries, tomato and avocado tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper? really?). Many of the recipes were just plain uninspiring: burgers, pizza, pasta, pesto, roasted chicken. I have a million recipes for those. Also, there were so many family pictures. I like a few personal photos to give a cookbook a sense of person and place, but this was overkill.

I found Sarah through her Food52 recipes (some of which are in the book, just adding to the fact you can find about half of this book's recipes online already), and purchased Little Bites, her first book, and I loved it. I wanted to love this book, but it was just a big miss for me.

[Kiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital copy of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a good cook. I am actually a novice when it comes to cooking.

This cookbook has some really interesting and yummy looking recipes. A lot of which is over my head in terms of skill level required. (That or I was just intimidated by the instructions.) Still, I was able to find a couple recipes that I look forward to trying.

[Darryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

Interesting enough collection of recipes. Some recipes however, have some weird ingredients, like coconut sugar, and bonito flakes. Also, one recipe really confuses me as it is called "Cheesy Butternut Squash and Mushroom Casserole" yet there are not mushrooms in it?

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good reminder that my family and I dislike most ingredients and that avocados are amazing...ly expensive (close to 3 bucks a pop these days).

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Sarah's food and blog for years and I am so happy to now own this beautiful hard copy collection of her recipes. Everything is seasonal, simple, and always delicious- totally doable even for the busiest mothers of young children. What I love best about her recipes is the fact that they are healthful but not restrictive. They make me feel GOOD about feeding myself and my family instead of sad that I'm missing out.
This lovely book, by way of Sarah's food and Elizabeth Cecil's beautiful photographs, takes you through a year of eating on the dreamland of Martha's Vineyard. It is just as wonderful to page through it as it is to taste the goodies within it!
Some favorite highlights include: Leek, Potato, and Feta Galette; Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken; German Apple Pancake with Sharp Cheddar; Kale and Sweet Potato Tacos with Black Beans; Cod Cakes with Poached Eggs; and the countless fresh and different snacks, smoothies, and desserts! Yum!

[Emily Coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely approachable and aesthetically beautiful. As a busy mom I like a go to cook book that has a variety of meals that are easy to pull off and inspiring enough to get the family excited for dinner! I love the ideas for next day "left over" dinners and love how she inspires parents to include the kids in preparing meals. The step by step instructions are so easy to follow its as if she's there with you cheering you on, "go mama"! I'm so happy to have a cookbook in my kitchen that i can grab, find a recipe and most likely have most of what I need already. I've already made the butter chicken 2 times! Its sooooo good and my 5 and 7 year olds love it too! WIN! I highly recommend this book to everyone. Simple cooking at its yummiest.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I didn't like this book but something about it just didn't ring true for me.

[Anna Bergholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful cookbook that you'll actually use! The recipes are approachable and exciting. Love that the recipes are for a complete meal so you don't have to think about finding 3 recipes to create a full dinner. Loved the suggestions for tailoring elements to kids and babies so parents aren't cooking separate meals for little ones. So many things I want to make! Would be a great gift for young families .

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah's put it all in one place! Her recipes are like great design: satifying, original, and substantive!!

[Heather Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Waldman has created a beautiful and thoughtful cookbook that inspires families to cook healthy meals every night of the week. In sections by season, Waldman offers up recipes for healthy and tasty pizza, pasta, tacos, soups, desserts, and more. I love that she took on restaurant fare, slow-cooker meals, as well as planning entire meals- main, side and dessert - so that all is taken care of for readers. There are tips for using leftovers, and for including the infants in mealtime. The photos are lovely, if a bit sparse, and there are plenty of both meaty and meatless recipes to please everyone at the table.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pub date: April 2017
So many healthy and yummy recipes I want to try! The author gives tips for family cooking, including what the baby can eat and what the kids can help with, but I was more interested in her beautiful food photo results. I can't wait to make the black bean quinoa burgers and sweet pea oven risotto, among others. I definitely will be recommending this when it comes out!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty good if you have a family consisting of 4 or less. If you got two or more kids and a husband who lives off of leftovers for lunches...well you are going to have to figure out how to extend some of these recipes. Maybe double some.

I did like how the recipes were fairly simple and not full of weird ingredients I haven't heard of. Sure there are things I know of that are overly fancy for the job in many recipes. And while you'll never find grava in my house, or arrow root for that matter, I imagine you can substitute it out for a more conventional ingredients. Also I am confident my classic sugar (made from beets nowadays) will be a fine substitute for raw cane sugar and coconut sugar. Kosher salt will just have to be table salt cause who needs 3 types of salt and 4 types of sugar and three types of starch in their kitchen? I have a fairly small kitchen and a limited budget for food. This is honestly why I only gave it 3 stars. I miss when recipes were "sugar" and "corn starch" and a pinch of "salt." But again, this book wasn't nearly as bad as books I have read in the past.

Anyhow, moving on. If you are interested in having meat free nights, there are several recipes in here that lend themselves to such. And very few of them are salads, thank god. Lol There are also some decent dessert recipes in here, particularly if you have yourself a rhubarb plant in the back yard.

So all in all, I've read worse, seen a few better. But it's decent.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

BEAUTIFUL cookbook!

Spine is not lay-flat.

Non-glossy color photos of each recipe, often featuring the author's lovely fam.

The author has two blondie boys, just like mine. :) Awwww.

Most recipes feature "How Kids Can Help", "For Baby", and "For Tomorrow" Neat!

Trying:
Roasted Carrots with Honey Butter: Easy & delicious!
Smashed Potatoes: Did not turn out. The potatoes took twice as long as recommended to cook, then didn't smash neatly.
Diner-Style Smashed Burgers: Nearly started a fire in my house. This one might've been cook's error. I'm not the best cook.
Frozen Melon Balls: Delicious and refreshing... but definitely took more work than the product deserved. You have to melon ball three different melons, then assemble, then freeze carefully in stacks on parchment paper so that they don't all get stuck together. And my preschooler got frustrated that the balls froze/stuck to my wooden skewer sticks. I don't regret trying, but won't make again probably.

[San Diego Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by George Erdosh for San Diego Book Review

"Feeding a Family" is specifically written for young families raising small children. With this in mind, when writing this cookbook, Sarah Waldman created a wonderful cookbook that any young family would enjoy and benefit from. The format is different: Waldman goes through a year, starting with winter, and suggests a large variety of recipes for the home cook. They are not difficult to make, many have few ingredients and may be whipped up quickly even by beginner cooks.

You can read this entire review and others like it at San Diego Book Review.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Sarah Waldman started getting interested in food and our modern food system, she read tons of books, but she also decided to become a nutritionist so she could help people make better food choices. After having children and trying to get picky eaters to eat healthy food, she started creating recipes that work for adults and can be modified for more picky or younger children. While I don't have children, I still found tons of recipes I'd like to try. All the recipes are centered around seasonal, whole food and the book is divided by seasons - I guess I'm a fall person because that was where most of the recipes I want to try were. Overall, a great cookbook is you're cooking for picky eaters, children, or want to try to eat more seasonally.

[Mary Woods · Rating 1 out of 5]

I consider myself a decent cook, I have a picky husband and 2 picky kids along with a kid that will eat anything. I bought this book and have made a fair few recipes out of it, all of which ended up in the trash and grilled cheese being made instead. The most recent inedible fiasco: splayed roasted chicken with spring veggies. Thank god I had cheese on hand as we all ended up having grilled cheese and fruit for dinner. Do I recommend this book? Nope! If I could give zero stars I would. This book is now in the garbage can along with the wasted dinner. Thanks sarah.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

As approachable and down-to-earth as every ‘cozy family-centered mama’ content creator out there… which is not at all. Being presented with the concept of realistically feeding a family and then immediately handed unrealistic suggestions for both ease of preparation and flexibility to adapt to family tastes is daunting; see the cinnamon sugar chickpeas as a dessert item and a DIY sushi roll dinner, complete with having the kids roll their own sushi and, at least in my house, get rice everywhere humanly possible.

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waldman offers recipes that are found on any family's dinner table. She gives the food a fresh spin and uses real ingredients. The recipes are given by season and many include variations and ideas on how to make it baby-friendly. I especially appreciate the layout of recipe on one side and the photo on the facing page. No flipping pages when cooking!

A nice cookbook filled with family-friendly real food.

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few cookbooks I purchased after using the library's copy. So many great recipes and I LOVE the format of recipes laid out as entire meals instead of "mains" in one section "sides" and "desserts" in other sections. And the desserts are so fast, simple and generally fairly low in sugar and feel a little more special than "here's some ice cream from the freezer". This cookbook is a new favorite go-to for my family!

[Hannah Yeley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite cookbooks to cook out of for my family! There are many recipes in here that I have made multiple times and will continue to make because they are delicious! Some of my favorites are the Meatball Sandwiches, Apple Dutch Baby, and the Rhubarb Cake! Can't wait for another cookbook from her!

[Kate Keaveny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coming up with recipes to feed a family everyday can be a challenge. This book makes a nice addition to help with ideas. I have not tried all the recipes but most of the ones I tried did work. I did have to improvise and add more flour to the bread recipe but eventually got it right. A useful book, although a little pretentious.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great recipes, and one of the only cookbooks that I've actually "read" and enjoy her approach...unfortunately none of these are quick or simple meals, but definitely helped this busy family remain fed on many levels. Plus, SO pretty!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love all of these recipes! Fantastic ideas here and beautiful photography.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful cookbook with some quick and easy recipes and meal plans.

[Brit Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautiful and doable book. It was stuff we eat, stuff to make together, fun to read. Flagging it to own it....

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am excited to try a lot of these recipes.

[Emily Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fantastic cookbook. Has a good amount of practical advice and story mixed in. Full of beautiful recipes that make eating wholesome foods seem very approachable.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am open to reading a variety of cooking books, and searching within them for any plant-based meals. I did find a couple good ones here. Also, I plan to make the coconut chocolate cherry popsicles

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tried a couple of recipes but they were underwhelming.