Around the Kitchen Table: Family Meals + 2-Book & Recipe Card Set #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, delighted to host another discussion around the kitchen table with my fabulous foodie blogmates.

My younger son and his wife moved to Massachusetts from Puerto Rico last week (hallelujah!) and I snagged them here for their first two days. I was with my family of Wicked Authors blogmates all weekend. My younger (and only) brother, whom I rarely see, drives in today from California for a few days of visiting. And tomorrow we'll all be together - both sons, their wives, my grandgirl, and her great-uncle David.

All that got me thinking about meals I love to make for family. Both of my sons and their wives are now vegetarians, so that mostly rules out meals I grew up eating with my siblings and parents. Neither couple lives close enough for a regular Sunday family dinner, but being their mom, I do love to cook for the "kids" when they visit. And I'm not talking holiday meals, but ones that might hold memories or be favorites of the visitors.

So today, my fellow foodie-authors, let's share with our readers non-holiday meals you prepare for family or special friends, who often are family-by-choice. Any meal in the day counts, including dessert!

I'll start with an easy one, my famous whole wheat blueberry pancakes. My sons grew up eating them, and I love making them on a Sunday morning when I have the kids here. In our house we top the flapjacks with options of butter, plain yogurt, and New England maple syrup, and some like to add a smear of peanut butter. 

You can vary the recipe by using sliced bananas and chopped walnuts instead of berries, a recipe Robbie Jordan features in Pans 'N Pancakes, her country store restaurant in South Lick, Indiana.

Blogmates, what about you? 

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LESLIE KARST: I grew up in Southern California, the daughter of two Angelinos, so my family ate a lot of Mexican food as I was growing up. Which I still adore--partly because it's delicious, but also because it always reminds me of my mom. 

So one of my go-to family meals these days is calabacitas ("little squash" in Spanish), a hearty stew of zucchini, pork, corn, and aromatic spices. It's simple to make, and served with some hot tortillas, as well as a garnish of grated cheese and chopped cilantro, makes for a full meal. 

¡Que sabroso! 

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KORINA MOSS: I have to be honest, living away from family and having one son who's in college means I never serve big family meals at my house. I grew up in a big family in New York, however, and three of my siblings still live there. So when a group of us (with or without our children and their families) get together, my sister Kelly makes pasta and meatballs. Our Uncle Pete was Italian and we have very fond memories of our cousins' house on Sundays smelling like homemade spaghetti sauce, cooked with sausage and simmering on the stove all day. Luckily, my sister Kelly continued that tradition when she got married. Add plenty of parmesan cheese and a side of garlic bread, and it's comfort food and comfort memories in one big bowl. 

Mangia! 

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  As for Korina, geography and other practicalities mean I rarely get a chance to cook for family. A few years ago, when my late mother sold the house I grew up in and moved to an independent living community near my brother, cutting our distance from her in less than half, Mr. Right and I hosted her often. She was pleased by how well we cooked, readily admitting we were far better cooks than she ever was, and enjoyed everything we made. We, in turn, loved making her anything she asked. "Shrimp scampi," she requested one night, then pronounced it "the best ever." (There may have been some wine involved, and not just in the sauce.)

In my childhood, she made banana bread regularly -- I swear, I was an adult before I discovered that you didn't have to wait until bananas were overripe and marked down to 10 cents a pound to buy them, and that they were good. I made her recipe for years, but whenever I make these Date Banana Bread Scones, I can almost picture her sitting at our kitchen counter nibbling one with a perfect latte made with our home espresso machine. Makes me a little weepy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I'm sure she would have.

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VICKI DELANY:  What a great topic! These days my house is the centre of our family gatherings, and I usually host Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. As I live in the country in a popular tourist area, and I have a swimming pool, I get family visiting over the summer too.  The big event in my family this year is my mother’s 100^th birthday party in August. I’m not hosting the party at my house; we’re holding it at a lake-side resort nearby. But plenty of people will be dropping in Chez Vicki, and I’m looking forward to that.

As for meals we love, in the summer, it’s mostly outdoors on the deck.  A quick and easy barbeque, with fresh corn and plenty of salads. In the cooler weather, we love pasta.

One thing I always like to serve is a good dessert. I love to bake, but I live alone so I rarely get the chance. When I have family visiting, I go all out. Here’s a link to a family favourite: blueberry pie. MysteryLovers' Kitchen: Blueberry Pie Part Two: The Filling by Vicki Delany(mysteryloverskitchen.com)

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LIBBY KLEIN: I host a ton of family meals. My home is the hub for my found family and we celebrate a lot of events together. That usually involves me making the meat like a huge turkey or ham, and always a dessert. But when my children come home to visit, I go for casseroles. Mostly because they are easy to to feed a large group, and I have four children with spouses and eleven grandchildren! My dinner go-to is lasagna. My kids grew up on my lasagna so they request it. And what's not to love about 40 pounds of cheese! My brunch go to - always brunch because none of us are early risers - is going to be an overnight baked french toast like this blueberry delight. I'm all about feeding a crowd with as little effort as possible.

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MOLLY MACRAE: I come from a big family, married into a big family, and I like to feed people! I also like trying new recipes and using a captive audience of relatives as guinea pigs. Luckily most recipes turn out well enough. One of those, which I’m looking forward to making when one of the brothers comes for a visit this summer, is the fun to make Mediterranean Pressed Cob Sandwich. As befits a big family, this is a big sandwich that feeds six to eight. Depending on how many other brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren, etc. also come, we might make many sandwiches with a variety of ingredients. And I’ll ask my sister who lives nearest to bring her fabulous Deviled Eggs. 

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MAYA: When I was growing up, family dinners featured meat (or fish once a week), a vegetable, a salad, and a starch, usually mashed potatoes, sometimes rice or spaghetti. Pasta wasn’t a word we knew. There isn’t much difference between those dinners and ones I make today except that my husband and I are happy eating fish two or three times a week, and we eat pasta as a main dish.

But dinners look different when the whole family gets together. Like us, my daughter is an omnivore, but my brother-in-law doesn’t eat fish. And my son, his wife, and their two kids are vegetarians. A stir fry accommodates both meat eaters and vegetarians well. We stir fry the vegetables first and set them aside. We then use two pans, frying meat in one and tofu in the other. The final step is adding veggies and sauce to each pan, stirring, and simmering until hot. When I shared a recipe for a beef, mushroom, and asparagus stir fry, I included a photo of a variation on that recipe using different vegetables.  

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LUCY BURDETTE: Maya, your solution for your big family meals is so clever! I don't remake dishes that often and I blame this on Mystery Lovers Kitchen! So many new things to try and to post for readers. However, if a family gathering is on the horizon, I'm likely to cook up a big pot of spaghetti Bolognese, which feeds a horde.

Or I might make a chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust. Even the fussiest eater would be happy with that! 

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CLEO COYLE: Marc and I have wonderful memories of big family meals, but these days we mostly live a quiet life with our rescue NYC stray cats. One of our favorite everyday family meals (including nibbles for the cats :)) is this simple Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Lime. We roast two whole birds at a time, eat one warm with rice, and turn the second one into chicken salad for snacking, wraps, and sandwiches. (We chop up the white meat, add diced celery, chopped red onion, and dress it with mayo mixed with a little yellow mustard, salt & pepper to taste.) Although we make this roasted chicken dinner for two, this main dish is the kind that can be doubled or tripled easily if you have family or friends dropping in. Bon appétit! May your meals be joyful, every day of the week. ~ Cleo

Cleo's Roasted Chicken with Rosemary & Lime.

Click here or on the photo above for the free recipe PDF.

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B O O K  
G I V E A W A Y!

Readers: What do you make for family when they visit? Include your email address in case you win our fabulous giveaway!

Comments will stay open until May 8.