The Flexible Family Cookbook

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       September 20, 2020

 

Author  Jo Pratt

Distributor:      Murdoch Books
ISBN:                 9780711251687
Publisher:         Quarto UK/Frances Lincoln (Adult)
Release Date:   September 2020  

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What’s for dinner, Mum is a cry mothers everywhere are familiar with, as the family gather after work, sport or school. Once this was an easy answer, but in today’s world of dietary intolerances, the need for quick, nourishing and often cost effective meals, meat and three veg is often not an option.

Jo Pratt, award winning writer, cook and mother has gathered together many of her tried and true recipes to help make feeding a family considerably easier, with built in sections titled Flexible, for every recipe, making them easy to convert  for gluten-free, dairy and vegan diets, if required.

This would have to be a hallelujah moment in many households, as struggling to come up with nutritious meals to please everyone is important, but often is far more challenging that ever though, as many of the recipes that are firm family fav’s passed down through the generations, often do not convert well at all to gluten free flour or substitute ingredients.

Divided into seven sections a terrific Dietary Index at the rear of the book, certainly makes checking what is suitable for specific requirements such as pescatarians, vegans and many other dietary challenges facing the modern cook, simple and easy.

Beginning with Brunch and Breakfast the recipes are based on getting the family up, and leaving the house with a nourishing start to their busy days.  A delicious bowl full of Roast Tomato and Lentil Soup is great for hitting the spot on a cold winters day, which has both vegan and dairy-free options and for the small family does for more than one meal, which is a true bonus of home cooked, verses take-away or ready to go meals, as it makes enough for six large serves.

Pratt states clearly this is not a health food cook book, which it is not, as there are some decidedly naughty dishes such as Chocolate meringue mousse cake, but it certainly offers a pathway out of the ordinary into a lovely, fresh selection of options to feed the ever hungry family, just as summer is fast approaching.

Bon appetite!