Holtzman Rachel - Pull up a chair: recipes from my family to yours

Tiffani Thiessen has starred in Saved by the Bell;Beverly Hills, 90210; and White Collar. She was the longtime host of Dinner at Tiffanis on Cooking Channel and is now starring in the Netflix original series Alexa & Katie. She lives with her husband and two children in Los Angeles. Her website is TiffaniThiessen.com.
#PullUpAChair

Rachel Holtzman is a writer, editor, and recipe developer. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two kids.

Copyright 2018 by Tiffani Thiessen Creative, Inc.

Photography 2018 by Rebecca Sanabria

All rights reserved.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to trade.permissions@hmhco.com or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

hmhco.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Thiessen, Tiffani, 1974 author. | Holtzman, Rachel, author.
Title: Pull up a chair : recipes from my family to yours / Tiffani Thiessen with Rachel Holtzman.
Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018001643 (print) | LCCN 2017059617 (ebook) | ISBN 9781328710390 (ebook) | ISBN 9781328710307 (paper over board)
Subjects: LCSH: Cooking. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. Classification: LCC TX714 (print) | LCC TX714 .T4933 2018 (ebook) | DDC 641.5dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018001643

Cover and book design by Shubhani Sarkar, sarkardesignstudio.com

v1.0718

If your house is anything like mine, then you dont need me to tell you that we dont get together the way we used to. Mealsif you can call them that!are eaten on the run; we text more than we talk; and connecting with our families for more than 10 minutes between school, work, appointments, lessons, housework, and homework is not always a reality. Sure, I might look all glammed up and pulled together on TV, but you better believe that there are days when putting on real pants is a major victory. Now that I have two kids of my own, I understand more than ever just how hard it is to get food on the table and to spend quality time together, not to mention with our loved ones and friends, too. Where did we all go?!

Growing up, my dad worked two jobs, and my mom was home with me and my two brothers, working her butt off raising us. We didnt have a lot of money, and we definitely didnt have a lot of time together, but we always had family dinner. I remember walking into the house after school, and it would smell like supper. Id get a whiff of tomato sauce and think, Dads favorite! Or smell beef stroganoff and think, Ugh, no thanks. (By the way, Ive made it so much better with wild mushrooms, a splash of brandy, and creamy polenta... sorry, Mom.) But no matter what was on the table, it was an opportunity for us all to take a moment, feel seen and heard, and enjoy each others company, even if just for a moment before we all scattered again.

Ive tried to keep that come-together spirit alive in my own home. Okay, so maybe its not every nightmy husband has definitely been known to sneak my daughter out to McDonalds so I can have a few quiet moments with my toddler son (no judgment, please!)and its definitely not all perfectly pressed napkins and elaborate composed dishes every time I want to get people together. (Hello, DIY Pizza Party.) Its whatever we can make happen a few times a week so we can come back together again as a family, or with friends, neighbors, or whoever else happens to be in our house and with an appetite. Pull up a chair, we say.

Its the simplest sentiment, but it means so much. Its not just sitting down and eating; its about reconnecting with the things that make us all so much happier. Its about laughter and joy and conversation. Its no coincidence that #PullUpAChair became the hashtag for my Cooking Channel show, Dinner at Tiffanis; and it seemed like a natural fit as the title for this book. After all, these two projects were born from the same idea: Offer delicious, relatable food that any home cook could make (there was no culinary school for this gal!), throw in some fun ideas for celebrations and gatherings, and serve up inspiration for getting the people you love around a table, whether its over an unfussy weekday supper of Not-Your-Mamas Turkey Meat Loaf, a sunny-day picnic with Fried Chicken with Pickle & Potato Salad, or a lazy morning with Poached Egg Toasts with Kale. Oh yeah, and add a heaping side of sillybecause no one should take food too seriously.

Sure, the guests on my show might be fancy-pants celebrities, but guess what? It doesnt get more real than people shoving delicious food in their faces. And Im all about keeping things real. My love for cooking comes from the most honest, genuine place: watching my mom, aunt, and grandmother in the kitchen. Growing up, you could usually find me hanging out with them, helping make things like my moms famous Cream Cheese Pie (the recipe for which this book would not be complete without). And ladies were the ones taking the lead on the grill during BBQ season. (I thought marrying a Texan would change that for me, but not so much!) These incredible women not only taught me how to put great flavors together, but also instilled in me how special it is to share a homemade meal, no matter how humble. I realized that if I could bring people joy doing simple things like cooking up a Roasted Chicken Potpie, delivering a parcel of parchment-wrapped Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies to a new neighbor, or hosting a Backyard Camp-OutI could bring a little more of the good stuff into peoples lives. And better yet, I could share what I learned with anyone else who wanted to do it too. Pull Up a Chair is all about the little touches that go such a long way, from getting a pot of Four-Bean Chili on the stove with a spread of (store-bought) toppings, to giving everyone a section of the newspaper at breakfast. (Theres nothing like the cartoons or a crossword puzzle challenge to get your kids to sit at the table!) Or better yet, creating something handmadea detail I always like to includesuch as handwritten place cards or a hanging chalkboard with the meals menu.

The best part? It doesnt take that much timeat least not with a little advanced planning. And have I mentioned that Im a master planner? As a little girl, whenever my family was going on a trip, I would start packing and planning