In the Mood for Quick Family Food

Simple, easy to read and use cookbook perfect for today's busy families or any family that wants to lessen their time in the kitchen but still enjoy home cooked food!

Superb book and easy recipes but more important fun food to make with good options for leftovers, Loved it!

These recipes are simple but delicious!  My kids helped me make some of them, too.  The kids agree that these are great!

A very nicely put-together cookbook with a lot of usefully healthy and tasty recipes. Many of the dishes have a realistic amount of prep work if you've got hungry kids running around waiting to be fed. A few criticisms: firstly, that there's a huge over-emphasis on desserts - surely not many families have dessert after dinner every night of the week?! Second, I thought occasionally the ingredient list looked a bit long for regular weekday meals. But overall, I would absolutely recommend a lot of the recipes in here!

In the Mood for Quick Family Food is a great cookbook with easy, yet unique recipes. It's set up in an easy to follow format, with beautiful pictures. My only complaint is that there isn't a photo for every recipe.

Author Jo Pratt has written a comprehensive cookbook when it comes to explaining British recipes for the American reading audience. Her cookbook gives clear explanations allowing cooks from both sides of the pond to cook from her recipes. An example of this is the use of Fahrenheit, Celsius and Gas Mark temperatures throughout her recipes allowing a cook to choose the correct oven temperature based on the stove being used.

Her recipes though are targeted more for a European audience as most Americans typically do not eat beans for breakfast. You'll find a recipe called Cowboy Beans-On-Toast that uses pork sausages and beans served as a breakfast meal.

Some of the other recipes you'll find in her cookbook include:

Pork and Hoisin Wrap Salmon and Seafood Crumble Chicken, Cheese and Corn Quesadillas  Meatballs with Olives Classic Vanilla Sponge with Butter Icing

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a free galley from NetGalley.

Even though I am vegetarian and gluten free there are many recipes in here for me. Simple and delicious . Several in here are already my favorites , the creme brulee made with yogurt and several pasta recipes.

Great cook book for someone on the go. Lots of pictures and easy directions to follow.

Full of inventive ideas for family meals,  dinners for two, and for entertaining, this is a great book for busy families.

I loved that the recipes were inventive without being fussy. I also loved that Pratt included suggestions for creating variations and for using leftovers.

Although she's British I really liked that every recipe include measurements in metric, English, and Imperial. She even remembered to include oven settings for Europe, the UK, and the US.

This helps make the book not only great for family food but an accessible introduction to modern British home cooking.

Since I have  a family of four and a very busy schedule, I am always on the lookout for a good cookbook filled with easy-to-make, original meals. This book definitely fulfills my requirements. I love that the author used a variety of foods such as pasta, rice, beef, chicken  and fish. She even included treats like milkshakes, cookies and cakes. (Any cookbook author can win me over with  cake recipes; I love cake!) 

I definitely recommend that you pick up a copy of this if you have a busy schedule. Even if you don't, it's always nice to have some extra time for other things.

 I really enjoyed this easy to follow cookbook which has simple and unique recipes. I love how the author makes sure that the recipes can be followed no matter where you live and I especially love how there were many recipes I had never seen before but looked delicious and easy to put together. I highly recommend this cookbook!

A nice mix of recipes, family friendly but also plenty for adults and entertaining. Plenty of recipes to inspire me and give ideas which is what | look for in a cook book.

Even if you don’t cook for a big family, the recipes in In the Mood for Quick Family Food are quick, easy, and different from the norm. Jo Pratt, the author, is a British food writer, stylist, and presenter in the UK, so the British influence is evident in the recipes. There are beautiful pictures of most of the dishes, which is very inspiring for those looking for something good and fast to prepare for dinner. The recipes are for dishes that are quite innovative, and not the normal bland foods that we sometimes prepare for children, fearing they won’t like something different. Several pasta dishes, such as Spaghetti and Courgette (Zucchini) Carbonara, lemon linguine with Walnuts, Spinach and Blue Cheese, and Pantry Pasta Puttanesca all are quick, easy, and tasty. We also loved the Meatballs with Olives and Mediterranean Baked Chicken and Rice. Next up is the Red Wine Sausages with Puy Lentils. There are Mediterranean, Persian, English, Indian, Italian, Spanish, Moroccan and Asian dishes, so cooks will have nice variety to choose from.

The cookbook features great main dishes, and also salads, appetizers, and breads, as well as scrumptious desserts. So far every recipe has turned out picture perfect, since the instructions are easy to understand. There is a comprehensive index so finding recipes is easy, and the book is organized into sections on Monday to Friday recipes, Weekend Recipes, and Entertaining Recipes. One thing that is really helpful in this cookbook is that there are suggestions for using the leftovers in new dishes. 

All told, this book is recommended for anyone who has minimal time but wants to make food that is yummy and different from the norm. 

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

For a busy family this book is a godsend.  Lots of tasty dinners kids will love.  Can't wait to try them out.

Easy to understand, great photos and delicious recipes....this is the one you need to buy and keep in the kitchen at all times

A lovely cookbook.  Wonderful pictures and chock full of interesting food.

A little heavy on sweet items for our family but that is my only complaint.

I love that there are so many options for measuring.  It doesn't just tell you you to do 1 1/4 cups of grated cheddar cheese it tells you to do 150g/5 1/2 oz/ 1 1/4 cups of grated Cheddar.  Really covers all bases of measuring and helps you achieve success in the kitchen.

So far my family has tried both the Savoury Muffins and the Ricotta and Courgette Fritters.  Both were big hits in my house of 6.  I have several other recipes on my to try list.  Mediterranean Baked Chicken and Rice, Simple Beef and Barley Casserole, and although we don't do many sweets in our house we are looking forward to trying the Sticky Toffee soon.

New mom or dad? Soccer mom hauling kids to practice and games? College student without much cash — and even less time? Newly married couple with little time to spare from long hours on the job? If you’re pressed for time and don’t want to eat out all of the time,  In the Mood for Quick Family Food has the answer for you.

Jo Pratt — working mother, mom to Oliver and Ross, wife to Phil — came up with a strategy for getting a healthy meal on the table, despite everything. She divides her cookbook into “Monday to Friday Survival” for everyday; “The Busy Weekend” in which Pratt points out that, even though parents aren’t working, they usually have even less time due to museum outings, athletic practices, and more; and “Cling on to Your Social Life” (a.k.a. even parents can have the occasional dinner party).

The recipes never call for esoteric ingredients, and, even though Pratt is English, she thoughtfully includes American measurement as well as metric. And, darling mum that she is, Pratt includes pudding recipes — desserts in American-speak — for the tots (and us, too!) What a gem this book is! Whether or not you’re not in a hurry.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was given this book by NetGalley and Watkins Media Limited, in return for an honest review.

This was a fun cook book to read but I wouldn't buy it because the food is not what my family would eat. I did really like how the author noted the various temperatures at which to cook something (fahrenheit, gas 4, etc) and how she didn't just use regional terms (courgette/zucchini) so the book would be easily understood by people of multiple regions. She did a great job, it's just not the type of foods we eat.

Family food will be everyone's favorite. The author covered all the components of the meal. Each recipe is well explained with a beautiful picture.............

I was sold by the name "In the Mood for Quick Family Food" as a busy wife and mom I am always looking for quick meals that are good, good for you and kid friends. This book had it! I was thrilled when my child and I were looking at the recipes and they were like "can we try that" and "wow that looks good". Since the kids were still on summer break we had a cooking day and tried out a bunch of the recipes. I love that I did not have to go to the food store to get ingredients for the recipes. I already had everything in my cabinets. Nothing is worse the seeing  recipes and having to make a huge food store list of weird ingredients! I also loved the new twists on some of our family favs! I also loved loved loved the tips on freezing foods. I get excited for fall because that is when I try to prepare dinner and stock up our freezer with them so we always have a delicious meal on hand! 

This cookbook is a must for busy moms! I will be making more from it this fall and can't wait.

Fantastic book, packed with great recipes the whole family will enjoy. Even the kids have been testing out making some of the recipes with me and it will be a book we return to again and again.

This cookbook was written to be good for the family that's very busy. The author, in her introduction, talks about going from life, pre-children, yo life now with children

I looked at the recipes, the table of contents is set up nicely beginning with Monday -Friday meals then other chapters later are ex. Breakfasts, drinks etc. more weekend type ideas. 

To me, with or without children, it looks a bit complex. It doesn't seem like very easy meals M-F plus, she uses foods I personally never heard of such as naan bread. Perhaps I'm stupid, or maybe this is a common type bread in certain areas, but not mine. I dont know what it is, where to even buy it, where to look, or what it looks like. This already has me in cookbook overload & doesn't make me feel real at ease, with these easy weekday, busy time meals, as I'm stressed over bread

Nice family pictures included, her young children are either A) smart for their age or B) making them look as if they're helping, when they're just playing pretend cooking, to stay out of mom's way while cooking. I personally wouldn't buy this type cookbook. There are many many more out there that really are easy meals for busy families, I just wouldn't consider this one of them

I'd actually consider 3.5 stars, but since not half stars,Mathis didn't impress me enough to push it to that 4 star rating

I received a digital copy from net galley & nourishbooks.com in return for an honest review

I am a fanatic when it comes to cookbooks and I read them cover to cover like I would a novel. I loved the color photos this cookbook had to offer, but there were a lot of recipes that would not appeal to most of my family. I do plan on trying a lot of the dessert recipes though. I liked that most of the recipes would feed a family of two adults and two children. Overall, an okay book.

Jo Pratt's latest book is In the Mood for Quick Family Food.   I have mixed feelings about this cookbook.  I marked several recipes I thought we would enjoy.  I always prefer to try out a recipe if I have time.  Being that I am currently very short on time, the "quick family food" part was definitely a positive.  I chose the recipe for Very Special Fried Rice.  I realize that fried rice is easy enough to make without a recipe.  I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand and just enough time to cook.  W was happy with how it turned out.  He specifically mentioned that including some pineapple was a nice touch.  

The positive is that the recipes for the most part are quick to make with minimal processed foods.  The negative is that many of the recipes will probably not go over well with children.  I think that perhaps British children are more open to eating more foods.  The children I know are much too picky to eat dishes such as One-pan Hot-smoked Salmon Biryani or Pea and Tuna Fishcakes with Caper and Lemon Mayonnaise.  

If you have adventurous eaters in your home the negative may not be a factor.  Then by all means give this cookbook a try.  I do recommend looking over the recipe index first.  The quick recipes may win if your family is not picky.

disclosure:  I received this e-book from NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for this review.  All opinions are my own!

I am crazy about this recipe/cooking book…recipes are not very creative…some recipes call refine sugar, and lots oil!!!

I was hoping for a family friendly cookbook that wasn't heavy on the carbs/pasta/flour containing foods. There were some good recipes in here that I would try, but not much that I couldn't have come up with on my own. I like the idea of the book and would love to see another one that is less reliance on recipes containing flour.

The recipes look healthy and yummy. I would happily eat them, but most don't seem like things I'd make - not easy enough for this mom who doesn't love to cook. The book has a good layout.