Sally Sondheim - A Dinner a Day: Complete Meals in Minutes for Every Weeknight of the Year

Copyright 1996 by Suzannah Sloan and Sally Sondheim All rights reserved. Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com First eBook Edition: November 1996 ISBN: 978-0-446-55715-3 The Warner Books name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc. I loved not having to think up what to fix every night, and my kids were wild about the desserts. Diana, medical transcriber, OH How wonderful to have everything laid out for me a whole weeks worth of delicious dinner suggestions at a glance and with the Countdown, I didnt even have to think about what I was doing. Cindy, dental hygienist, WA How I wish I had this book when I was first married. I cant wait to get my hands on it now.

Im going to be the first in line at my bookstore. A DINNER A DAY should be the hottest gift item of the season. Mary Ellen, homemaker, MO My whole family has a great time with these recipes. The kids even got with the program and wanted to help cook. Joanne, theater coordinator, WA Thanks to your innovative cookbook, my life will be so much easier and, wonder of wonders, my twelve-year-old daughter is now interested in cooking. Susan, attorney, MA This book is a steal at any price great meals, easy fixing. Susan, attorney, MA This book is a steal at any price great meals, easy fixing.

Each night is a whole new adventure, and my family is as excited about it as I am. Cynthia, bookkeeper, CA I loved the shopping list! I went to the store once all week. How great! This is perfect for people who dont have time to agonize about what to make for dinner every night. Erin, sales clerk, WA Im going to give A DINNER A DAY as a Christmas present to everyone I knowmyself included. Joan, beautician, OR What a time-saver the shopping list was. Sue, legal secretary, TX What a pleasure it is now to go into my kitchen what wonderful meals youve created. Sue, legal secretary, TX What a pleasure it is now to go into my kitchen what wonderful meals youve created.

I cant wait to have a whole years worth to play with. Marion, homemaker, MN I work every day. I dont want to have to work hard when I get home. Thanks for turning my dinner hour into a joy instead of another job. Judy, interior decorator, GA Im really picky when it comes to food your recipes are terrific. My son would never eat Brussels sprouts until I fixed your Sprouts & Onions.

Now he cant get enough of them. Wendy, registered nurse, AL We dedicate this book to Howard Schage, William C. Newell and Hal Sparks who valiantly swallowed our failures as well as our successes. In an undertaking of this size, there are bound to be many people who had a hand in making it happen. We would be less than nowhere without our cadre of home-cooking testers: Diana, Bill, Harrison and Parker Browning Cindy and Claudio Bucceri Erin and Jeff Chandler Mary-Ellen, John, Megan and Sarah Cooper Joanne, Ed, Christina, Charles and Robyn Ellis Janice, Tom and Jennifer Guisness Carol, Joe and Stephanie Harmon Susan and Jay Hurley Cathy, Wilson, Ceanna and Trevor Leake Cynthia, Mark, David, Brian and Kimba Lee Joan, Charles and Andrea McKenna Sue, Steve and Adam Neely Alice and Ed Poake Marion and Richard Powell Maureen, Tim, Ricky and Tanya Rieman Judy, Ted and Rebecca Rosen Denise, Joe and Justin Roulanaitis Wendy, Peter, Scott and Susie Trask Jane and Bill Zabinski And we sincerely thank our very supportive group of tasters: David Chall Joanne Chase Shawna Clark John Hilden Anna Johansen Sue Klein Pamela Teige Helen Sturdy Townley MLin Kendrick-Stafford We are indebted to Gary Reese, Rick Nakata, Glenn Sigrist, Todd Kowalski and the entire staff of the Town & Country Market, Bainbridge Island, Washington, for their patience, their expertise, and their enthusiasm.

Everything. A Dinner A Day means exactly what it says. A Dinner A Day means exactly what it says.

And we say it to you every Monday through Friday for an entire year. From the very first page, you will see that this is unlike any other cookbook you have ever owned. At any price. Perhaps thats because it comes from an unlikely source; not two professional chefs, not two trained dietitians, not two culinary expertsbut two working mothers. Two women from opposite sides of the country who came together, first as friends and then with a common focus: translating the love of good food into the monumental achievement of putting a delicious, nutritious meal on the family table, night after night, year after year. Our first step was to put dinner in its proper perspective.

Once we realized that preparing the evening fare need not be the focus of an entire day, but simply an enjoyable and creative hour, we were able to take all the worry out of planning and still retain the confidence that we could achieve great things. We are both products of mothers who rotated half a dozen basic menus, week in and week out. Suzannah grew up knowing, if it were Tuesday, that meant meat loaf, and Sally knew, if it were Friday, that meant flounder. We were adults by the time we discovered that the sky wouldnt fall if we had pasta on Friday or chicken on Tuesday. Today, we are both champions of innovation and variety, as well as masters of stress-free, fuss-free cooking. And now you can be, too.

The question Whats for dinner? no longer has to be perceived as a dire threat. From now on, it will be a loving gift. Each of us raised three children while we held down a full-time job. Each of us spent years figuring out that our commitment to our careers did not have to shortchange our families. We learned that, even with limited time and resources, we could produce terrific dinners, five nights a week, in an hour or less, that would have our families licking their plates. As our children grew up and began to emulate us, and as our friends begged for our secret, it occurred to us that, if we could share some of what we had learned the hard way, we might make things easier for others.

Then once we found that over 70 percent of the families in this country prefer to home-cook on a regular basis, we knew exactly what to do: provide our foolproof method to everyone who wants to put meals on the table that can make each evening memorable and have even the cook looking forward to dinner. Our secret is simple: we have redesigned old-fashioned home cooking to fit perfectly into todays more fragmented lifestyle. In other words, the taste that used to take our grandmothers all day to prepare can now be produced by you in a matter of minutes. Sometimes we think we must be clones, because so often we both have the same idea for the same recipe at the same moment. At other times, we solve a problem precisely because we are two different people who can come at it from totally distinct perspectives. Either way, one of our biggest joys in preparing this cookbook was our discovery of how willing most foods are to work with one another in helping us create new and exciting taste experiences.

Depending on where you live and your ethnic or cultural background, some of our foods and food combinations may seem unusual to you; okay, even weird. We admit to doing this on purpose. So often, we tend to rely on the few foods that are familiar to us, that are easy to prepare, and that we know our families will eat. Just like our mothers did. Without realizing it, we narrow our options and close the door on potentially wonderful discoveries. Think of all the foods that grow on this planet, and how lucky we are that they do.