Fast, deliciously nutritious family meals—minus the cleanup! Carla Snyder, author of the go-to One Pan, Two Plates cookbooks, takes her tried-and-true cooking methods and delivers 70 incredible, reliable recipes that everyone—including the kids—will love. And to top it off, they're all made in one pan and ready to eat in 45 minutes or less! Each one is perfect for a family that might have little time to cook but big appetites after busy days at work, school, soccer practice, dance lessons, and more. Recipes range from vegetables and chicken to beef and pork (not to mention some delectable seafood dishes) and include beverage pairings both for the grown-ups and the under-twenty-ones, which makes preparing an enticing dinner every night a whole lot easier.
This is the absolute BEST cookbook ever! Every meal I’ve made from it has been fantastically tasty - like restaurant-quality tasty (I try to prepare one a week, but, this week it was even two)! And I love how she always offers at the end of every recipe: a way to adult-up a recipe (usually spicier), suggests kids and adult drink pairings, and ways to satisfy older, extra-hungry kids. Now, do I prepare these meals in thirty minutes, no, but, that’s just because I’m a slow cook!!! This truly is a family-friendly cookbook, as my three kids also have enjoyed every meal that I’ve prepared from here; even when there are unusual, but fantastic, foods and combos of ingredients that are different from what is typically served (but, it also helps that they aren’t particularly picky eaters, as I’ve always insisted on the “at least try it” rule)!
Picked this up on a whim in our local Hallmark store and am extremely pleased!
The recipes are very easy to follow, and as promised, they are simple and adaptable to be very family friendly.
A few of our favorites so far this Autumn season included the Sausage with Cabbage and Lentils skillet, the Devilled Chicken (roasted chicken over a delicious brussels sprouts hash), and the One Pot Mac and Cheese with Ham and Spinach. Seriously - until this book, I could not find a true "one pot" mac and cheese recipe that called to combine everything, and put in the oven without precooking the macaroni - this is a game changer for our busy weeknights!
We loved this one so much, I picked up a copy for my MIL for Christmas.
I made the chicken pot pie with puff pastry topping from this cookbook. I seasoned it up a lot more than the recipe called for and added more broth since pot pies seem to always need more gravy! While it was yummy the puff pastry sank into the gravy and didn't cook, which was gross, and probably my fault because of the extra broth. I ended up cooking the puff pastry separate and adding it on the top.
I own and enjoy One Pan, Two Plates and always double the recipes, because leftovers are a good thing. So this book seemed right up my alley! Unfortunately, a lot of these recipes are aimed at the kids in the "Whole Family," which stopped this cookbook from earning a place on my shelves. Thanks to the library, I cooked some good meals and moved on.
I can usually find something I want to try from most cookbooks, but there wasn't anything in this cookbook that I wanted to try. In theory it should be a good cookbook because it's supposed to be easy, healthy meals in 45 minutes or less. I just wasn't impressed.
I haven't tried the recipes yet, but they sound delicious. I like the premise of the book. The recipes are diverse enough to find something that a family will enjoy
Most of the recipes included in this book would work as an entree, but they don't contain sufficient vegetables to make them 'complete' meals in my opinion.
So while I haven't made every single recipe, I've made about 5 or 6 now and can talk a little about it.
Overall, One Pan, Whole Family is a great recipe book. One thing I like is the fact that the ingredients are always accessible and affordable at my local grocery store. I just started setting out on my own as a young adult, and one thing that I've struggled with some other cookbooks is that there will always be one weird, obscure, or expensive ingredient that I can't find, and I have to move on to another part. It also takes a pretty great effort to make the food instructions as easy-to-follow as possible. Some of my favorite recipes include the Ribolita with Ham (so good, definitely favorite), Italian Sausage with Grape Tomatoes and Polenta, and the Tortilla Chip Soup.
I do have a couple issues with this book that keeps it from being a 5. First of all, do not listen to the times they give for some of these dishes. One Pan, Whole Family takes pride in most of their dishes being able to be prepared in an hour or less so that you, the reader, can save on both time cooking and time cleaning (with the one pan and all). However, some of the times they say to sautee or simmer something are just ludicrous. Always use your best judgement. If those onions still seem crunchy, they probably are. Also, the book also says to use a skillet for many recipes, but many of them I found to be better served out of either a higher rimmed pan or a larger-walled pot. I especially cite this for more soupy dishes that had no business asking for a 12 inch skillet. The two recipes I found to not turn out as well were the Cheesy angel hair pasta (the diced tomatoes they called for turned the whole dish a disgusting pink color with weirdly salty bits of tomato--I had to throw that one out) and the Italian Sausage with Lentils (the one-pot method made the lentils extremely undercooked, and I probably should not have eaten it). In general, soups had a better time being converted to a one-pot meal, and pasta dishes often didn't, since it became exceedingly difficult to time the pasta (dishes were either over cooked to make sure the pasta was ready or the pasta was almost mush because I needed to simmer down the water in the pan).
In general, I really did love One Pan, Whole Family. A lot of the recipes were very doable and affordable, and it's helped me stretch my cooking skills as I've had to start cooking for myself for the first time (whereas before I would cook with my parents). However, some recipes were hit-or-miss, and for anyone who is very letter-of-the-recipe oriented, you'll have to up the time and use a higher walled pot than a skillet for many of these dishes. I think this book does deserve a place on one's shelf though. There's a lot of good about it, but you need to practice your best judgement when you actually cook with it.