Michael Smith’s Family Meals (giveaway)
You know we recently vacationed in P.E.I, a place where beloved Canadian Chef Michael Smith calls home. You can’t go far on the island without seeing his face in a bookstore window or on a poster.
I’m a big fan of Michael’s cookbooks, Fast Flavours is in regular rotation – and his latest, Family Meals, is right up my alley. In fact, it hasn’t left my kitchen since it arrived in the mail; that is entirely the point of the book.
With sections such as ‘Lunchbox & Snacks’, ‘ Cook Ahead’ and ‘Family Meals in Minutes’, it’s obvious Chef Michael is familiar with juggling the demands of a busy household and a career. Â And while many family cookbooks deliver recipes to cook for your family, Chef Michael’s shows you how to have fun in the kitchen with your family. It’s a subject we love around here!
We gobbled up the nutmeg-scented Weekend Pancakes on a recent Saturday morning and I simmered a big batch of Sloppy Joes on my stove yesterday. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve never made sloppy Joes for my kids. “I think I’ll have another one.” said Noah, shyly, after making the first bun disappear in a twinkling.
The boys have pounced on Family Meals, too and we’ve bookmarked another  handful of dishes to make together: Rosemary Apple Braised Chicken, Broccoli Bacon Frittata and Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies.
True to Penguin’s style, the recipes are easy to follow, the photos gorgeous, and the book is a joy to cook from.  Michael Smith’s Family Meals is available online at both Indigo and Amazon and I’m giving away two copies today!
Giveaway!
Thanks to my publisher at Penguin Random House I have two copies of Michael Smith’s Family Meals to giveaway to North American readers.
To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me what meal brings your family around the table. Or a favourite meal as a child…
That’s it!
Winners will be announced on Sunday, August 10. Good luck to all!
As the oldest of seven kids, every dinner is a choice occasion to gather around the table, but none of us run, crawl and toddle our way faster to the table than when Momma makes chicken quesadillas. She’l spend all day in the kitchen to get them going, and we spend about half an hour to get them gone! Although, the family’s canned salsa goes just as quick!
Been following your blog for what seems like ages and I’m so glad you’ve remained consistent and true!
A recent fav and the beginnings of a tradition for my husband and I are fresh baked scones with homemade jam on a Sunday mornings with fruit and coffee. For dinner, a fail safe meal for us is lemon chicken or taco salad. Homemade pizza goes over pretty well too!
I would LOVE to win this book! My daughter is 4.5 and loves to help in the kitchen! I come from a large family and dinner together as a family each night was a must. It was our chance to chat and reconnect with each other. We always loved my Mom’s Hawaiian chicken with peaches, pineapple and a delicious sauce made from all of the fruit juices. SO GOOD! My family loves it now as well, although spaghetti might be our favourite – my daughter has LOVED spaghetti since she first tried it (I use my Mom’s recipe to make spaghetti sauce from scratch as well)!
amazingly, our family still eats dinner together a majority of evenings, even with teens & young adults. we love any ethnic cuisine & lots of veggies (but the best draw for my guys is a steak.) 🙂
around our house the smell of lasagna in the oven is what would bring my kids running for the table. Now that they are grown I get calls all the time Mom how did u make ur lasagna?
Tacos are my husband’s family tradition, and we are carrying it on with our little family. We’ve recently instituted a weekly taco night that all of us look forward to.
When I was a kid it was German Pancakes with mom’s Canned Peaches and whipped cream. It was such a treat! Of course we had no idea that really it was just a way to save on groceries that week, but it was a family favorite, for sure!
For us it’s a steaming hot pot of chicken curry. Comfort food in out house.
My little ones are fond of anything containing cooked carrots. We often make a stir fry type dish with chicken and veggies (carrots included of course) sautéed in a bit of butter, ginger and soy sauce, then mixed with just enough cooked short grain brown rice to soak up all the juice and make it all come together. Yummy!
In this hot weather, soba noodles bring my kids to the table!
In our house a fav is homemade filipino food, reminds my husband of his mom’s cooking. And my kids have grown to love the adobo. Also taco night is a big favorite with everyone.
My wife and I are “empty nesters” so it doesn’t take much to get us to gather around the table. When I was younger all my mother would have to say is “Sweet and Sour Pork Chops” and I’d come a running!! I’ve made them many times since but I don’t have that special touch that made them so enjoyable as a boy.
we love to have family meals on the weekend and sit outdoors. we do a lot of BBQing in the summer.
Homemade vegetarian curries are my family’s favourite!
Coming around the table as a family has always been important to my husband and I as we were growing up. Nothing was better than homemade lasagna or freshly brewed espresso with biscotti. Now we are instilling that same value with our son.
Any meal that we are together for is what brings my husband and I around the table. My favorite is when I make Beef Wellington once a year at Christmas 🙂
My family always used to make a dish we called ‘hilton head chicken’ because that’s where my mom ‘invented it’-on Hilton Head Island. We’d all rush to the dinner table on nights she made hilton head chicken.
Homemade pizza gets ’em every time, so long as I remember to put the pepperoni only on the parent half. The oldest’s fave is currently pork chops and my youngest loves broccoli (God bless him!)
Homemade pizza! My husband is always in charge of that and our boys love to help. I love sitting back and just watching them bond and figuring out toppings. 🙂
My favorite meal was my mom’s lasagna and garlic bread. No one could make them quite as good!
My favourite meal as a Chaldeans breakfast for dinner! I love pancakes with bacon, maple syrup and a runny fried egg! Yum
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
Lately, we’ve been eating a lot of frittatas, mixed with chopped greens and whatever is growing in the garden (grated zucchini, yellow beans, herbs, tomatoes), yum! Even the 1-year-old and 3-year-old dig right in.
Spaghetti with meat sauce.
Sharing a meal or playing a game brings my family around the table.
We love our mom’s Chinese egg drop soup.
My favorite meal as a child was this green bean and tuna casserole that my mom used to make all the time.
During the Summer months, one meal that really brings our family together is homemade pizza on the grill. We all love it!
We live in Texas and have Tex-Mex Tuesdays. My kids and husband love tacos, taquitos, enchiladas, tostados, etc. The best part is that it is a meal all my kids can help with, except maybe the 8 month old. 🙂 But there is always something as part of the meal that she can enjoy.
Homemade soup with “Sleepy Bread” (Cuban Bread), hot from the oven and butter. The name for the bread was coined when our kids were little and decided the bread made them feel full, contented and sleepy.
Chicken noodle soup is my kids favorite. They even ask for it in the summer!
I love getting together with family for a big hearty breakfast with everything! Greatest way to start the day!
My favorite meal as a child was anything Mexican or mashed potatoes. Thanks for the chance to win!
Everyone gets excited about homemade pizza at our house!
Roast turkey…anytime of the year gets them excited!
Dinner! I grew up with daily family dinners and that’s how we do it now. Rare are the dinners we eat apart. My daughter is 12 now and I hope we can keep it up. We’ve hit sports and still seem to manage even on those nights. More quick meals would be great help!
My family is all about the pizza. The kids just like it simple – plain cheese.
I recently got over my fear of kneading and made homemade buns for the first time. The kids loved them and said they were the best buns ever! So I will try and make them again (and frequently!).
Hi!
My family has always been big on sitting down to dinner together as a way to have some family time every day. Growing up Jewish in Argentina meant that the holidays were major occations for the whole extended family to get together and eat…a lot.
We now live in Canada but have kept true to our sit down and enjoy the meal and company culture.
My favourite meal growing up (and to this day) is my mom’s cheese quiche which she makes with a puff pastry crust, sour cream, some Parmesan, onions and sun dried tomatoes! Yum!
Thanks for the posts and great recipe ideas!
My kids are teens now and they do come running from time to time to see what’s cooking. They love the smell of meat. For some reason anything roasting in the oven they can smell all through the house and come investigating. Mac & Cheese however, is the most popular item I make. Thanks for your blog. I’ve tried some stuff and its all been well received. : )
A fav around our table is hard to pick as we cook so much and love cookbooks as well as Michael Smith but our fav is shepherd’s pie theres millions of veriations.
My mom would make toasted, cheese sandwiches, and butter both sides of each piece of bread, we would use a very old fashioned sandwich press from my Dads grandma. Plus she would cut the radishes into flowers, other veggies to dip in honey, soup… And, homemade snickerdoodle cookies. Usually on rainy colder days. We all loved it, plus easy for us to help. 🙂
One dish that can bring my grown family rushing over for dinner is pasta with cabbage, potatoes and cheese (a popular recipe on my blog). I’d love to win this book to help instill a love of cooking in the little in my grandchildren!
At our place roast beef and mash potatoes with gravy is a big family pleaser. We typically make this for Sunday night dinner and the best part is the sandwiches we make for lunch the next day with leftover meat, mayo and lettuce.. I’m hungry just thinking about it!!
The kids and Daddy all love homemade mac’n’cheese. We add steamed pureed spinach (makes it dinosaur pasta). Now if I could get them to like my lifelong favorite: eggplant 🙂
With a house full of boys, I think the only food that gets everyone’s taste buds watering is steak and potatoes. That is, however, served only for special occasions! We do make family meal time a priority around here and would love to have another resource to help make that time enjoyable.
We always eat dinner as a family, so any meal is enjoyed altogether! I love to cook and end the day gathered around with the ones I love.
My favourite meal as a child (and now my children’s favourite meal) is homemade mac & cheese, aka Macaroni Nonie in our house. And I’m happy to say that my kids can make it on their own now too.
In the summer it is fresh local corn on the cob (with lots of butter and salt) and a big bread salad with lightly toasted bread and lots of fresh tomatoes
Just like when I was a kid, one of our family favorites is TACO BAR. It’s been fun to see my boys slowly embrace more and more toppings – my oldest now adds beans, lettuce, tomato, and avacado to the standard meat and cheese.
But, as true northwesterners… nothing gets us moving faster than cedar plank salmon and corn off the grill!
Hi Aimee,
My family probably has two favourite. Homemade mac and cheese aka “cheesy noodles” (or “no-no’s” before my daughter could say noodles!) is a recipe passed down from my granny and never fails to bring everyone (included extended family and sometimes the cats!) to the table. And probably equally well loved with my own little family is homemade matar paneer. India is my hubby’s homeland and having spent some time there myself, we love the rich flavours and spices of a good homemade curry. My 2.5 year old daughter dives in with delight too…and I think her spice tolerance is quickly passing mine! 🙂