The Zondervan Family Cookbook

This is my most often used cookbook in my collection. Its layout is great for my family as I teach my younger children to bake. It provides dialog for setting our own family traditions with baking. The recipes are noted for skill and time too. Quick & Easy is my favorite. It reminds me of good ole grandma's cooking and I love the opportunity to pass that down to my children! If you don't purchase this cookbook your missing out.

Pat Gundry has compiled a book with my favorite combination of features: recipes that real families prepare and enjoy regularly and warm family anecdotes. I've tried several of the recipes from Ms. Gundry's book and each one has been a keeper. I love reading about how families honor their heritage by handing down recipes as well as how they develop new family traditions with food. A good read, and a reliable source of new ethnic and down-home American favorites for your family.

I've had this cookbook for several years and love it. Even though I have over 100 cookbooks, this is one of my favorites and I use it often. The recipes are practical, easy to understand and delicious, some have become family favorites. Unique and delicious recipes such as Indonesian Stir Fry are sprinkled throughout the cookbook with classics like Johnny Cash's "Old Iron Pot" Family Style Chili and a variety of selection to please everyone from vegetarians to seafood lovers. My kids love the Chocolate Sheet Cake recipe. Obviously, I highly recommend this book.

Being a cookbook author, I approach cookbooks with a more critical eye than others do. As I opened this large tome, I was pleasantly surprised. My first thought was: "What an attractive layout!" The graphics are beautiful, warm and homey, as well as, useful with little icons identifying the type of recipe. The sidebars are a good read of inspiring personal stories from people who found a way to have family life even in today's fast paced society. The recipes are really varied from well-known traditional favorites to the unusual. The common denominator is that all the recipes are oriented towards a family meal, often involving the children in the preparation. Like Pat Grundy, I too believe that family ties are built and strengthened when a family cooks together and dines together. Although I have a pile of "must try" recipes and a bunch of original recipe ideas waiting to be developed languishing on my desk, I just had to flag a bunch of recipes in this book, to try when I get chance. The Zondervan Family Cookbook is definitely a keeper.

As a grandmother and the co-author of Grandloving: Making Memories with Your Grandchildren, I'm always thrilled to find another book that celebrates family. The Zondervan Family Cookbook while sharing delicious recipes, goes one step further. It also provides a wealth of ideas surrounding food and mealtimes that will help you create family fun as you build family traditions. Three cheers and thanks to Pat Gundry for compiling such a fine book.