The Flexible Family Cookbook

75 quick and easy recipes with over 200 variations to keep the whole family happy

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Pub Date 8 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 10 Sep 2020

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Description

A cookbook to suit the whole family’s differing wants and needs, The Flexible Family Cookbook is full of simple and delicious recipes to keep the whole family happy.

Jo Pratt provides flexible adaptations for each recipe to account for allergies, intolerances and lifestyle choices.

Traybakes and one-pot roasts make for easy and convenient timesavers, whilst scrumptious puds and simple bakes help get smaller hands involved in the cooking.

Covering everything from gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free cooking and veganism, to suggestions for flavour and spice adjustments for younger or fussier palettes, this book will be a lifesaver in the kitchen and a crowd-pleaser at the table.

Over 75 recipes, each with flexible options, covering:
  • Breakfast and Brunch
  • Soups and Broths
  • Snacks and Small Plates
  • Main Meals
  • Sides and Accompaniments
  • Baking and Desserts
  • Dietary Index
A cookbook to suit the whole family’s differing wants and needs, The Flexible Family Cookbook is full of simple and delicious recipes to keep the whole family happy.

Jo Pratt provides flexible...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780711251687
PRICE US$35.00 (USD)
PAGES 192

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)

Average rating from 53 members


Featured Reviews

I found this cookbook to be fun and creative with a wide variety of easy recipes to choose from! Highly recommend!

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This was a wonderful, creative cookbook. The picture of the recipes were beautiful. And the recipes I tried were delicious. There were also a lot of other recipes that look great that I look forward to trying in the future.

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A lovely, creative cookbook that gives options for a range of dietary requirements to ensure that you can cater for your family flexibly and tastily. We have already tried the chickpea fritters which went down a storm and I am excited to try out more recipes.

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Loved the cookie and the risotto recipes. The recipe card style is easy to follow and the beautiful photos for everything perfect.

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The Flexible Family Cookbook by Jo Pratt is a game changer as far as cookbooks go! I was very impressed by the wide variety of recipes in every category, including breakfasts, main courses, side dishes, and desserts. I found the recipes to include a twist to some classic favorites as well as some I've never attempted at home before. There was also a variety of cuisines, for example Indian and Vietnamese. My absolute favorite thing was that each recipe came with tips on how to alter the recipe per your needs, for example making it gluten free or vegetarian. What a fabulous learning experience, opening up a new way of looking at recipes and understanding the quick fixes that you can use to adjust them to your dietary needs. I highly recommend this cookbook, not only for the amazing recipes within, but also as it teaches techniques that make you a more confident cook!

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There is so many recipes from this book that I want to try! Definitely putting it on my to-buy list! Amazing variety of recipes : asian, american, indian and more! Loving these ideas so much! Greatly recommend it. Thank you NetGalley for the free ebook copy.

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By far one of the best book of easy recipes I have read in my life. First of all the measures are in "European", then there is a picture for every recipes and last but not least, the explanations are really easy and the ingredients also.

Di gran lunga uno dei miei libri di ricette migliori che abbia letto in vita mia. Prima di tutto perché le unità di misura sono in "Europeo", poi per ogni ricetta c'é la relativa fotografie e per finire sia le spiegazioni che gli ingredienti sono facili.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

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Beautiful book and well organized! All the recipes have photos and they are mouthwatering! There are recipes for breakfast, soups, snacks, main meals, sides and desserts. I like that every recipe has a flexible way to do it depending on how you want it. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

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Love, love, love the cover. Seriously you had me at the pancakes. Flexible cookbook gives you similar family fun recipes with a flexible ingredient. It’s an interesting concept for families with a picky or sensitive eater, and some delicious renditions on familiar recipes.

What did I like? Tons of families have an eater or two with some sensitivity’s so this is a unique kind of cookbook with a flair for different ingredients. Anything in this cookbook can be made with several different renditions. I’m a dairy free person, so this was a fun way to get the same recipe but in different forms in case I make something for myself or others. Gluten free, meat lovers, pescatarian, vegan, are just some of the different forms.

Would I recommend or buy? Flexible family cookbook is an interesting take on recipes, and I would love a copy. I recommend it to families that have food sensitivities, since this only changes a couple of ingredients to make it versatile. A charming book to have on hand when you need it.

I received a complimentary copy to read. Five stars! Great cookbook!

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This cookbook has some great recipes with lots of variations for different allergens/sensitivities/preferences. I appreciate that these variations were built right into the recipe, instead of finding a recipe and then having to figure out how to adapt it for your own personal needs/preferences.
I also loved how many pictures there were of the recipes! I think there was a picture for every single recipe which was great.

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This was a very good cookbook with lots a yummy recipes that I am excited to try!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC for an honest review.

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Those cheesy cornbread muffins are a work of art! I am typing amongst a sea of corn bread crumbs.

This cook book is a stand out for me, not simply because it is packed with great family friendly meals but because there are ways to make them all Gluten free, dairy free or even upgrade them to create a whole new dish.

My family have gone crazy for the Sweet and Sour pork meatball tray bake and the chocolate chip cookies. There is so much jam packed into this book. Some of the recipes have become firm favourites in the house over the last week.

The pictures are great also, they are not over styled and unachievable.

I received this cook book from Netgalley in return for my honest opinions.

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What a useful book! Beautifully and clearly presented, this is the perfect recipe book for anyone catering for a range of dietary needs. The 'flexible' aspect, from the title, refers to an addition to each recipe which offers suggestions to slightly alter the recipes to cater for nut-free, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, pescatarian and meat lovers. Seven chapters of delicious and varied recipes. The index is also made more accessible by being organised by dietary need. Thank you to Jo Pratt, Net Galley and Francis Lincoln Publishing, Quarto Group for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Great recipe book! Easy to follow instructions and great ideas for family dinners. I like to cook but I'm new to the kitchen. I'm still in the learning process and this book has been a great aid, especially for those days that I have nothing in mind to cook. The recipes are delicious and user friendly.

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This cookbook gave a collection of beautiful recipes. The photography was spot on for each and they all looked completely delicious. I look forward to trying some of these recipes!

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This book is simple and easy to follow. The pictures are of a good quality and look like the actual product rather than a photograph that looks nothing like the recipe that you have used.
The ingredients are all common and easy to buy, you probably will have some of them already.
I really enjoyed the avocado, bacon and halloumi breakfast recipe. These are ingredients that I regularly eat, but I would not have thought about adding the halloumi.
I found the recipes were similar in the ingredients that I used, but in combinations that I have not thought about. Just enough change to make something new and interesting that I knew that my family would enjoy.
Each recipe had suggestions of different flavours or ingredients that you could swap. I enjoyed making some of these recipes. As someone who usually cooks from scratch this book offered me new recipes, but it didn't challenge me like other cook books do.

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Jo Pratt understands how families need flexibility when serving meals – one member may be gluten free, another can’t handle dairy, and another may be a vegetarian. In her excellent cookbook, The Flexible Family Cookbook: 75 quick and easy recipes with over 200 options to keep the whole family happy, she presents recipes that people will actually want to cook and eat, along with suggestions on making them fit with dietary guidelines for individual family members. The recipes are excellent and mouthwatering, and there are beautiful photographs of many of the dishes. Although most want pictures of every dish and this book doesn’t go quite that far, there are enough photos to make the book interesting and show just what many of the finished results should look like.

As is Jo Pratt’s style (she has previously authored several excellent cookbooks), the recipes are written in a succinct and easy-to-understand manner, so anyone – from beginner to experienced – can make these recipes. There is a good variety, too, including Mexican, Indian, American, Middle Eastern, and European influences to make it fun and to introduce new flavors. Most of the recipes are fairly easy, and won’t keep busy cooks in the kitchen too long. So far, every dish has turned out picture perfect and it’s easy to trust the recipes. The “to make” queue gets longer at every reading.

While a few recipes call for ingredients that aren’t readily available at larger grocery stores, most of us have good ethnic stores in our cities; alternately, some of the more exotic ingredients can be found online.

Once again, Jo Pratt has done an excellent job; this cookbook is highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

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This is a cookbook that belongs in every kitchen and I am glad I got to try it out. I loved it so much because they were pictures and easy to follow steps. I am a firm believer that if a cookbook has instructions it's easier to digest and follow. Could have used a few fun facts in the movie so that it could be way more interesting. I do recommend this cookbook ♥️Huge thanks to the publisher for my copy .

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This is such an enjoyable cookbook and has plenty of recipes that will keep everyone in the household happy.

I like that it’s broken up into 6 different meal times

Breakfast and brunch
Soups and broths
Small plates and Snacks
Main meals
Snacks
Baking and Desserts.

One of the favourite breakfasts that we tried from the book was the iced banana and Peanut butter smoothie, my goodness it is very tasty and was a hit with my son, he has special needs and so has a lot of sensory problems with food but he couldn’t get enough of this smoothie!

Other recipes that I have tried and enjoyed are,

Cauliflower and chickpea soup
Mexican street corn and prawn chowder (yum)
Popcorn cauliflower bites
Quick pan pizza
Super veggie cottage pie
Crunchy chicken and Parmesan schnitzel
Rainbow fries
Favourite chocolate brownies (which I served with stewed raspberries)

I could actually list so many more that I want to try! All recipes I tried were a hit and very easy to make


Tonight I’ll be making the cheese onion and potato pie and Jamaican banana and caramel pudding.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

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As the author Jo Pratt aptly describes her cookbook is the Swiss Army of cookbooks as many of her recipes options making it easier for the family to eat together. The author says her recipes cut down on the use of sugar while emphasizing the use of good fats. She also wrote there are some "naughty" recipes too rounding her selection of recipes.

Some of the recipes you'll find include:

Raspberry and Mango Smoothie
Loaded Breakfast Burriots
Simple Pho
Quick Pan Pizza
Creamy Salad Dressing or Dip
Rainbow Fries
Chocolate Meringue Mousse Cake

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

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Recipes are separated into chapters on Breakfast and Brunch, Soups and Broths, Snacks and Small Plates, Main Meals, Sides and Accompaniments, and Baking and Desserts. I loved that all the recipes included nice full color photographs. They also include a "flexible" section, with info on how to modify for special dietary needs. A Dietary Index also lists the recipes applicable under headings for special diet types, which is very useful. There is a lot of variety in the book in terms of flavors and types of dishes.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Jo Pratt tells us this is the Swiss Army knife of cookbooks, a multi-tool to provide practical recipe solutions for the demands of modern family life. Speaking as a mother of two, one of which is a pescatarian, I am always in the market for a cookbook which inspires me and allows me to cook one meal for all tastes.

Having studied it cover to cover, my conclusion is that you won't find many new innovative recipes, but in this book your family favourites are all in one place! Many of these combinations are ideas that I have torn out of magazines or highlighted in existing books I own. Where this book comes into its own is in the 'flexible' paragraphs at the bottom of each page. Here you can substitute ingredients or get ahead. You can even 'upgrade' or flavour swap.

The photography is very attractive and I do like an aspirational photo with each recipe when I cook something new. Photography was by Malou Burger - what a great name!

Recipes that jump out at me? Crispy halloumi and bacon, substituting chestnut mushrooms for the picky daughter. Tortellini minestrone. Popcorn cauliflower bites. Mexican baked chicken and rice. Tikka traybake. Sticky lemon and orange cake. Good solid recipes with limited amount of ingredients and simple directions. Four stars from me.

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This book is just fabulous, I want to buy a copy right now, please!

It is beautifully presented, with well-written instructions and explanations, and the photography is superb.

This, however, isn't the main reason I really need a copy. I have a white cell condition called Mast Cell Activation Disorder, as does my daughter. My son has a genetic medical condition which has resulted in him eating a reduced diet, my sister has cancer and now has to eat diary, wheat and sugar-free, my niece is a vegan - my darling husband eats everything!

We are a family who loves to cook and bake (I collect vintage recipe books and my daughter and I cook and bake from these and have Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages devoted to this). Having all these restrictions. both medical and ethical in our family can mean that we have to adjust and adapt to accommodate everyone because we all want to enjoy eating as a family. This is our 'normal' - whatever normal really is, and the perception is that we must cook several different dishes each evening. We don't, we just add or take away ingredients to enable us to all eat together, that socical side of a family meal is very important to all of us.

What Jo Pratt has achieved in this book, is exactly this. She's done an outstanding job of enabling families such as ours to cook and bake for everyone, and with this not being a nightmare or at a huge cost.
Jo - you're amazing, I have been extremely fortunate in that I have had the opportunity to review this book prior to publication.

I read the book through in one go, and we're cooking supper from it tonight. It's just what we needed. I'll be buying a copy for my sister, my niece and my daughter. I really cannot thank you enough.

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I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

Absolutely loved this
So many recipes I am going to try - I loved the fact that all the recipes are so doable and the photography is wonderful.

Its one of those few recipe books where all the recipes are so accessible - Its one I shall come back to time and again

A kitchen must-have !!!

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really enjoyed this easy, yummy, fun, family cookbook, easy for a novice and also impressed the chef in our family. Brilliant for my on/off vegetarian daughter, something for everyone.

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The pictures were beautiful and homey, the writing was fine-good but a bit impersonal. I like the "flexible" trope, but the flexible options for each recipe were mostly just general suggestions about what substitutions you could make - like, try strawberries instead of raspberries! Maybe it's because I don't have kids and people lose all creativity when they're busy trying to sustain a life (this is a joke!), but I probably could've thought of switching strawberries for raspberries myself, ya know? I think I was hoping for the ~flexible~ suggestions to be a little more out of the box. Overall, 3.5/5 rounded up to 4 for this cookbook.

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The Flexible Family Cookbook was full of simple, yet delicious recipes, but the really great aspect was the variations that were included with each recipe. Each recipe included ways to change the recipe and make it vegetarian or gluten free! It helped to create a more varied cookbook!

The recipes weren’t basic. Some of the things included were samosas, pho and Moroccan baked fish in a bag! All of the recipe instructions were simple and easy to follow! This one is well worth the read!

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This is a very good cookbook with a lot of good recipes that I am excited to try!

Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher for providing me with this book for an honest review.

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This is a great looking cookbook with recipes that have a lot of flexibility so you can cater to your particular family's needs. This book covers everything from gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free cooking and veganism, to suggestions for flavor and spice adjustments for picky eaters. I love all of the options! The photographs are beautiful and I really wish they had used a beautifully styled food photograph for the cover. The illustrated cover is not appealing to me at all and brings to mind those odd Gooseberry Patch cookbooks from the 1980's.

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I'm a big fan of Jo Pratt's previous cook books and I'm not dissapointed with this one. The stunning photography in this book ensures that I can always find something I want to make.

The book is split into useful sections and includes helpful notes on substituting ingredients for picky eaters or dietary requirements.

Highly recommended

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This overall was a decent cookbook. I appreciated that it provides flexible adaptations for each recipe to account for allergies, intolerances and lifestyle choices. As a mom of 2 small boys and a picky husband, having a cookbook on hand that offers delicious substitutions to recipes can be a lifesaver! The recipes were all easy to read and I loved all the accompanying photos.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Some good recipes within this book. Enjoyed cooking them with the ‘help’ of the teenagers. We were able to find things we hadn’t tried before and was good to get the kids in the kitchen as well and teach them new skills

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Loved it. I can't wait to make all of these different recipes. It was stunning to look at. It was also very creative and has a great variety of recipes to choose from

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This book contains a variety of family friendly recipes and because nowadays some family members may have nut, diary or gluten allergies or are vegan, each recipe has a note on how to change it up for these purposes, hence the "flexible" from the books title.

This book is divided into 6 main chapters plus an introduction and a dietary index:
- Breakfast & Brunch
- Soups & Broths
- Small plates & Snacks
- Main Meals
- Sides
- Baking & Desserts

The recipes come with both metric and imperial measurements, easy to follow steps and a list of the ingredients needed. Some of the recipes come with more than one idea on how to use the ingredients, for example, run out of left over chicken for the Chicken Broth, then it recommends chunky sausages instead.

Many of the recipes from the Main Meals do seem to be from foreign climates, though the recipes do look very appealing to all members of the family, and I'd certainly like to have a go at making The Chicken Noodle Spring Rolls, the Slow cooked Asian beef, Sweet and Sour Meatball traybake, Baked Tuscan bean and sausage stew to name but a few.

I have a nut allergy sufferer and a vegetarian in the household, so this is a great book for listing alternatives that I can put in the recipe instead, plus the dietary index at the rear is a good idea as it divides the recipes into vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free & sesame free and egg-free. Makes it much easier to find the recipes that would fit into your dietary needs.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.

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Flexibility is Fun and Adds Choices

This fun cookbook is meant to help satisfy family members' different needs and wants when it comes to food. Most recipes have flexible options, like how to do vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free versions as well as little upgrades, how to make traditional versions, and options if you really love meat, veggies, or cheese. For simple things like oatmeal, the author provides a variety of toppings. Each recipe has a photo, and the pictures look very inviting. Some dishes are more complex meant for lazy days, while others are simpler, ideal for a work night. The cookbook is divided into sections: breakfast and brunch, soups and broths, main meals, small plates and snacks, sides, and desserts. The author has included English/American standard recipes as well as ethnic ones. Indian flavors seem to be a favorite. I was surprised by how many recipes I wanted to try, particularly the soups and one gnocchi bake. I also found looking through the flexible options inspiring. I often sub out ingredients in recipes that I find, but it's fun to see how another cook does that. I've certainly got some new ideas for flexible options that I can use in my own recipes and others that I will come across. It was summer when I reviewed this; most recipes seemed better suited for cooler weather, so I intend to revisit this cookbook once the season changes. if you like cookbooks that give you a lot of options for each recipe—whether you are doing so for your family or not—you might find this book as fun as I did.

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