The Whole Smiths Real Food Every Day

October 19, 2020
Food blogger Smith follows 2018’s The Whole Smiths Good Food Cookbook with this broad, detailed collection of recipes for family meals that are nutritious and easy to pull off. She splits 100 recipes into chapters that include “Five Ingredients or Less,” “One-Dish Wonders,” and “In an Instant.” Two chapters are devoted to make-ahead sauces and meals such as grab-and-go sweet potato hash cups and Hangry Man Turkey ’n’ Taters, because “frozen pizza sucks and is never worth it.” Big flavors are key, notably in dishes such as apple sauce’s “cool big sister” chai-spiced kettle-style apples, sage-flecked pork and maple butternut squash, and a peach-bourbon sipper. Ways to use leftovers are celebrated throughout (like sweet potatoes and pesto chicken), dietary restrictions (paleo, vegan, nut-free, etc.) are conveniently indexed and noted, and all recipes can be made gluten-free. Handy tips abound—for example, defrost meat on a baking sheet to cut thaw time in half, and crumple parchment paper so that it will lie flat. Busy home cooks looking to put together healthy, tasty dinners would do well to pick up this breezy and encouraging book.