Even though I’m not cooking for a family of my own, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on How to Feed a Family by Laura Keogh and Ceri Marsh, the ladies behind the Sweet Potato Chronicles blog.
Confession: I had a tiny fangirl moment when I realized this book was happening, because I read The Fabulous Girl’s Guide to Decorum, which Ceri Marsh wrote with Kim Izzo, when I had my first publishing internship. It was my first “real job” and I felt like I was learning some city-girl secrets in there.
This is pretty much the Fabulous Girl’s cookbook. Even if you’re not trying to get a meal on the table for fussy kids, HTFAF is full of crowd pleasers. There’s not much in this cookbook that screams “kid food” – everything’s so scruptious looking (lush photography!) and full of good stuff. Besides, nobody’s pickier than kids, so if the recipes in here are kid-approved, I’m sure there won’t be any complaints.
I flagged practically everything, but started with the Pumpkin Granola (p18). I added chia seeds to mine, and since my apartment-size oven can only fit apartment-sized baking sheets, mine were more “bars” than “clusters” – all the better to eat while running for the streetcar, in my opinion. Seriously, everyone’s aflutter about Pumpkin Spice Lattes right now, but this stuff’s got everything you love about the PSL, in granola form. Plus craisins. Who DOESN’T love a good craisin?*
I can’t wait to try out the lemon linguini and wagamama cookies, and drooled more than I care to admit thinking about making the sweet potato mac and cheese (seriously. I dare you to check out this cookbook and not dream about it).
Go pick this up. Seriously. And check out the Sweet Potato Chronicles online. And cook everything. Even if not for a family. (Better if not for a family – then you get all the leftovers to yourself!)
*If you don’t like dried cranberries, I don’t think we can be friends. Sorry.
