The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner

Everyone, meet Liz. Liz, this is everyone.

Who could resist this welcome?

Liz is Bear’s aunt on his dad’s side, and she is just one of my very favorite people in the world, and a huge source of inspiration to me.

Bear loves to tell the story of when we first got married. I wore big black combat boots as I tromped all around the BYU campus, I died my hair black and wore leather jackets, and I was super active in the Feminist club. I warned him that I was not going to be some *Homemaker* (picture me holding my nose while I said that). I was not going to be [shudder] domesticated.

And of course now I could take Martha Stewart on in a crafting cage match.

I think I’m more surprised than anybody to see what path my life has taken, but I can really thank Liz for setting me on that path. In our early days of marriage we’d drive out to Liz’s house every Friday night to watch cousin Joey in the local high school football game, and every time she’d have some wonderful homey meal with fresh bread and cookies. Or all the girls would be standing around peeling apples to have a piping hot cobbler waiting for us when the game was done, and we’d talk and laugh and catch up with each other. Liz’s kids are some of our closest cousins because of those times we spent gathered around the kitchen island.

Through Liz’s example, I really saw what an influence a homemaker can have. How it’s not about drudgery or thankless martyrdom as you swoon from one unkempt room to another, it’s about setting the whole tone for your family. It’s not about being the family servant, it’s about serving your family by creating a place of peace, a place of warmth, a place of safety through your nurtuing efforts. It’s not mindless labor. It’s an artform.

And once I caught on that I had a choice – I could do everything halfway and whine about the fact that I had to feed myself everyday, or I could sack up and do it right – I set about my artistic training. I rummaged through Liz’s cookbooks and took all her best recipes, I spent hours watching hgtv and the food network, and I started cooking big elaborate meals for just the two of us.

Now thanks to Liz’s book, you can save yourselves ten years of effort.

The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner takes her 30+ years of experience cooking for a family and gives you all the tools you need for success. Her recipes are incredible, but what really makes the book unique is the structure she creates. Liz uses “Theme Nights” to make the chore of meal planning a science. Each night of the week has a subject to narrow down your options from every recipe ever created to something much more manageable, like “Mexican Night” or “Comfort Food”.

I wish I could buy this book for everyone I know. Especially everyone I know who struggles with dinner. I truly believe that cooking dinner for your family is the single best thing you can do to ensure a healthy kid, good relationships, and a happy home. I think that having someone who cooks at home trumps having a pool, having the fanciest video games, whatever. Cooking for your family will get everyone back home together.

I’m so proud of you Liz!