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. 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!
Lasagna was my favourite and still is! You can never go wrong with some classic comfort food. 🙂
When ever I am going to make pizza on the BBQ, everyone comes home, along with their friends. It is a lot of prep work, but it is so good it is well worth it.
Family nights are al,ost every night. It is very important to eat together. I think one of our favorite is a good bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce (homemade of course). I love Michael SMith. I have been watching him on food network for many years and his recipes are always very appetizing. I have tried a few over the years.
Breakfast on the weekend is our favorite. No rush to get homework done or to be anywhere. It’s a chance to enjoy a meal together and talk without any sort of schedule.
A big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs is a crowd pleaser here. I especially like all the veggies I can put into it and the kids just gobble it up! I can’t wait to see the lunch box recipes in Chef Michael’s new book. My daughter starts school this year and I could use some inspiration.
Stroganoff… in fact I am about to start mking it for dinner tonight.! :))
My favourite as a child (and to this day!) is my mother’s goulash soup. Always one the family enjoys together and she uses herbs, carrots and potatoes grown in out garden and beef raised by my uncle.
We have dinner around the table every day, but “Friday night pizza night” is the favourite!
One meal that us a favorite for our family is burgers on the grill. It’s one that kids and adults both enjoy.
Lasagna is a huge hit around here! I had to find Gluten Free noodles when I found out I have Celiac Disease. I think with a little thought I could still eat what I ate before and I make just about everything from scratch, so this has been a fun learning experience to say the least! My absolute favorite Chef definitely!
A meal that always brings our family together is breakfast, dads homemade pancake recipe with local maple syrup, eggs, bacon, fruit salad, strata, coffee and cranberry raspberry roll with icing on it!
Taco or any thing Mexican is a big hit at our house. I would love to get my kids more involved in the kitchen but it is hard to break our current pattern.
Tacos!! tacos made with ground turkey and michael smiths taco ‘seasoning’ recipie of course! can never go wrong…tortillas or hard shells or double decker soft with a hard around it! 🙂
We always enjoy breakfast foods, wheather it be pancakes, waffles or cinnamon rolls we enjoys theses year around!
Saturday morning breakfast is our family time! We have a busy week, and we get to linger over homemade pancakes, eggs … The works! And those are the memories I have of MY childhood!
Spaghetti is always a hit, and anything on the barbecue.
Your recipe for beef stew. We cook it in the slow cooker all day and enjoy it together for dinner on a bed of rice.
Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving dinner is my family’s favourite! Roast turkey comes second to the creamed potatoes, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce and fresh vegetables. For regular weekday meals, my husband enjoys shepherd’s pie, any meat and potatoes. My adult children still love tacos, fajiitas, lasagna and all homemade sweets. My favourite meal is my mother’s fresh steamed salmon with egg sauce, boiled new potatoes and peas.
burgers, tacos and anything involving pasta are my kids’ favourites.
We all love classic meatloaf. And anything involving lamb!
Mom’s beef stew
Moroccan cooked in a tajine..brings my family to the table way before dinner is ready. The aromatic spices fill the house..and the mouths begin to water..so absolutely delicious…Michael Smith is the first Chef I ever saw that showed us how to use it..thanks Chef Michael!
We love BBQ Ribs with corn on the cob and twice baked potatoes.
In my family, it is Saturday’s breakfast, French toast, fresh cut fruits.
I always enjoy Chef Muchaels roast chicken with apple cider and veggies! When I went to see you in Huntsville at the Deerhurst that’s what we had for dinner.
A couple of other fav family meals are Osso Bucco, and another is Pasta Bolognese.
my favorite meal to bring our family together is Lasagna Caesar salad and Garlic bread always a clean dish when everyone is finished lol
We love Michael’s recipe for sweet potato and chickpea curry. Fast and easy and oh so delicious!
Chicken pot pie or Quiche is a huge hit at my house!
Love Michael Smith’s recipes, I make his Split Pea soup all the time!
Sunday morning service berry pancakes with sausage a definite favorite in this house. Growing up hate to sound cliche but meatloaf with mashed potatoes, boiled cabbage and carrots oh and of course sweet pickles.
Most anything with fresh basil, but especially my mom-in-law’s recipe for lasagna!
Maybe it’s cliche, but our weekly homemade pizza is a family favorite. Pizza was one of my youngest’s first words 🙂
My favourite meal as a child was macaroni and cheese with crispy topping made out of potato chips. It’s now my daughter’s favourite and she requests it often.
Our favorite family meal is our traditional Christmas roasted chicken with all the trimmings. Stuffing, gravy and the veggies are done as corned beef and cabbage. Secret is we don’t wait till the Holidays to have it! It’s our favorite so we try to enjoy it several times a year! (mixed French Canadian , moi/ NFLD hubby tradition) I sometimes include my French Canadian Tourtière when we have guest sharing our meal.
My mother’s pan fried breaded cod fillets with boiled potatoes drizzled with butter and a tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce. awesome!
Pancakes are a favourite around our house- they are something that everyone, including the fussy two year old, can agree upon! They were the first food that I taught my daughter (now 6) how to cook on the stove. We use several different homemade recipes, including one of Chef Michael Smith’s recipes.
Breaded veal cutlets always gets them running to the table! Even great cold the next day…YUM~
Breaded veal cutlets always gets them running to the table! Even great cold the next day…YUM~
We all love Chef Michael Smith’s Spaghetti and meatball recipe. The kids know the smell, and it is the one night I don’t get asked “What’s for supper?”
Roast Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings!
My mom’s family comes from Hungary and the grand-kids always beg to get Halushga and Paprikas Csirke (Paprika Chicken). It’s the dish we always have when everyone returns home from around the country.
Spaghetti with homemade sauce always brings everyone to the table quickly at our house.
Our perfect family get together meal is Turkey with all the fixings. We look forward to it at least 3 times a year.We don’t save it for Christmas and Thanksgiving. It doesn’t matter if the weather is too warm, we tough it out to enjoy our favorite meal.
I like to think our family has created their own hit recipe, although I’m not entirely certain of its origin. What brings my family around the table is a batch of enchiritos. A cross between a burrito and a enchilada. My mother in law introduced me to this recipe and I loved it from go. And, now my kids gobble it up. Oh that and several cobs of corn will bring us around the table . . . Of course. 🙂
Oven roasted beef stew still warm was always a favorite!
Our favourite family meal is homemade lasagna, salad and fresh bread. With our busy lives, we have to make time to come together to enjoy a good meal all together.
We sit down to dinner everynight as a family – sometimes for a good 20 mins, sometimes for 5-10 mins (my son is almost three). Regardless, the biggest hit lately has been corn on the cob, new potatoes with parsley butter and steak. Garanteed clean plates and half dozon cobs gone!
Growing up my mom used to make a traditional Sunday dinner each week – roast beef and all the fixings, including Yorkshire pudding. Now I don’t make that every week , in fact rarely, but when I do it brings back floods of family memories!
Canadian weather+healthy family dinner=Lamb stew ! I also use the trick I’ve learnt from your “chef at home” show, hiding a bunch of baby spinach under the stew ;b Thanks for the trick Chef Michael Smith.
A couple of meals that my family really likes are grilled salmon with grilled asparagus in sundried tomato dressing and white rice. The other would be roasted turkey with cabbage rolls and mashed potatoes.
A big family favourite around our home is sweet and sour chicken with Chinese fried rice.