I pre ordered your latest cook book before it came out last year. When I received it when it first came out I was so excited! Having tasty yet practical meals at my fingertips that are also healthy is so amazing. I love that they’re not complicated and using the meat for the next day makes such a huge difference! I also love that I don’t need to buy 20 different spices for one recipe that I’ll only ever use once. And love the tips for tweaks if needed. So for years we’ve been in this routine of what should we make today? And it would be 5:30 so we’d make something frozen or processed or rely on fast food and we’ve been stuck in that rut for years. Everyone eating something different and never at the same time. I’ve always felt self conscious we’re not making and eating meals together like ‘normal’ families do (those don’t exist and I know it now). You know you order too much take out when you start to make real recipes with real food and one of your kids asks “did you order that?” Ha!
But here’s the most exciting change it’s brought to our house, and why I wanted to share with you: I was abandoned as a child and was never taught how to cook. So aside from being an impatient person (I don’t want to cook a long tiring meal when it’s going to be consumed in 5 minutes) and a terrible cook, I also hated cooking because I didn’t know what I was doing. We’ve tried meal planning before but I always get overwhelmed at how long recipes are and how much I don’t know how to do so I would just scrap it. But this book has transformed our meal time. My husband and I made it a goal for 2022 to be eating dinner daily, at the kitchen table, together with our kids, having a home made meal. So I finally cracked open your book that had been siting for a few months. Chose a week’s with worth of recipes and wrote them out on a meal planning sheet (similar to your tear off one. Those are also a huge help!) This last week was our first week doing this and I’m so happy to tell you: it was a HUGE success! Not only did we make every single meal that we planned for, but we used every single thing we bought and no food went to waste (a first!) and we didn’t eat out the whole week. There was food left over for the next day and also some for hubby to take (he’s a deputy so a good meal is very needed when he’s working doubles).
Here’s the most amazing thing: I have 3 girls, ages 11, 9 and 6. My oldest has always had issues with food (not the normal picky eating). When my hubby and I made the decision to follow your book, we also made that decision because the list of preferred foods for my oldest was dwindling and we were getting concerned for her health. We were ready and at the point of enlisting professional help and having an eating disorder diagnosed. There has always been so much anxiety around food to the point where if we were going anywhere she’d ask what food was going to be there. So we sat her down to talked one on one and told her that we don’t fault her for her relationship with food- everyone has something they struggle with and have little to no control over and hers just happens to be food. We also confessed that the fact that hubby and I have not been good food/nutrition examples for her, that likely has had an impact as well. We have not modeled healthy eating or preparing our own food or sitting at the table to eat together, and that’s on us. We can’t expect her to try new things when we’re making the same poor choices over and over every week. And we also felt it wasn’t fair to jump from not talking to her directly about this to just getting help. We wanted to give her a chance to talk about it and try something before just jumping into help- we didn’t want her to feel attacked. So we made a deal with her- we told her our concern for her health and how we’re worried things might get worse if we don’t do something soon. We told her we’d seek help in two months if nothing changed, always reminding her she’s not at fault and there’s nothing wrong with needing help. In exchange for waiting for two months, we asked her to agree to try some food from the recipes from your book. We told her we’d still prepare something for her that’s a preferred food so she wouldn’t go hungry and she could still have something to rely on, but that she would need to try one single bite from each new meal. And we would not pressure her, make her feel bad, stare at her while she takes a bite. We took all pressure off. And let me tell you something that hasn’t happened in the 11 years of her life: she tried several new recipes. Not only did she try them, but she even LIKED a few of them! And more than that, you can tell that she is happy and more confident because she’s tried new things. We make it a point to talk about our days, etc and not stare while she eats to take all pressure off. She’s had a smile on her face after meal times and is less afraid to try new things- she knows it’s ok if she doesn’t like them but that it won’t hurt her if she does try them. That confidence and that smile- I have to admit I cried happy tears at the first meal. I could not hold it back and I’ve told her several times how proud I am of her.
I have been so happy the past week because of that, but also because all 5 of us are sitting down together with a meal and talking together and having a tasty, easy to pull together meal with zero pressure and all are enjoying each other’s company. My other two daughters are loving the meals as well and my heart is soaring when they rave about the meals, say how much they loved dinner, come home from school to smell the meat cooking and say “It smells so good in here!” and get excited to hear what’s cooking for dinner. Also that they’re getting good nutrition (a change we all desperately needed), they’re being exposed to new things and also seeing the example of eating together as a family and the importance of that. I’ve been so happy every day, a weight is lifted off my shoulders, I finally feel like I’ve conquered this scary giant that I’ve so badly wanted to conquer for many years but has been so hard while not only raising kids and both of us working, but having it also be wrapped in hurtful, sad childhood trauma of my own.
So I wanted to tell you thank you, thank you, thank you, and thought the best compliment I could give to you is to share our story. I’ve even noticed my 11 year old pick up the recipe book and look at it several times during the week as she’s interested in what’s in it now.
Thank you for breathing life and nutrition and new adventures into our household. Keep doing the great work you’re doing- you’re changing families for the better because of it.
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Reviews with images
Beautiful and helpful
I love cookbooks, and I have the other two by the same author. So I was excited to pre-order this one, and it didn't disappoint. Preordering gave me early access to some of the recipes and they were amazing. Her recipes use real ingredients, and taste great.This one is beautiful to look through, the recipes are made up easily and I love the concept that I cook once and end up with two completely different meals.Besides that, Garcia offers lots of helpful advice on how to get dinner on the table quickly but have it be healthy and enjoyable. One thing I really love is how accessible these meals are for everyone; no crazy ingredients, and if you have dietary restrictions it has substitutions written out so the whole family can enjoy. I can't wait to try them all!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2022
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Top reviews from other countries
Rebecca Kate van Oirschot
Not as great as I'd hoped
Reviewed in Australia on January 29, 2024Hollie
Great addition to my cookbook collection
Reviewed in Canada on October 16, 2021kathaliana
Parfait pour les soirs de la semaine
Reviewed in Canada on October 20, 2021