Don’t Just Celebrate–Relax! We all know that holidays are meant to be fun. But for the cook planning the feast, the holidays can inspire dread. Feeding the family on a daily basis is hard enough. Making the meal both special and delicious can raise the bar out of sight. In Saving Dinner for the Holidays bona fide Dinner Diva Leanne Ely will show you that festive meals can be as easy and relaxing as they are tasty. She plans the menus, provides comprehensive, itemized shopping lists that are organized by supermarket section, includes heirloom recipes, and even includes the all-important timeline so that your party goes off without a hitch. She also gives you a big helping hand in the kitchen and offers tips on how to make your table sparkle with warmth and beauty. There’s a Valentine’s Day Chocolate Feast not to be missed, a Mother’s Day dinner that can actually be prepared by Dad and the kids, a Fourth of July picnic that lights up the palate, and many other red-letter feasts. There are even recipes that help turn leftovers into delectable dishes.

Each section, arranged by seasons, provides six weeks of menus with recipes, side dish suggestions and an itemized grocery list.

Cooking 101 If you think that folding an egg has something to do with laundry, or that a wok is good exercise, you’ve come to the right place. Nutritionist and family meal-planner extraordinaire, Leanne Ely knows her way around a stove and a pantry–and she provides everything you need to know, from mincing garlic and barbecuing beef to pulling off your first dinner party. Select chapters feature tasty recipes that can be prepared with the greatest of ease. You’ll find practical and trustworthy advice on • equipping your kitchen: what you must have, what you don’t need • stocking your cupboards, fridge, and freezer with the essentials • selecting fresh produce and high-quality meats, poultry, and fish • slicing, dicing, sautéing, simmering, and other prep techniques • whipping up quick, scrumptious dishes with ingredients on hand • ensuring that your main course and side dishes are ready at the same time • preparing mouthwatering one-pot meals, from Lemon Tarragon Chicken to Easily the Best Casserole in the World • baking fast and easy cookies, pies, cakes, and cobblers Saving Dinner Basics also includes a handy glossary of common food terminology, a spice primer (it’s about time you discovered thyme!), and a troubleshooting guide for various cooking challenges. Let Leanne Ely help you turn your kitchen into what it was meant to be: the place where great meals begin. Leanne Ely is considered the expert on family cooking and healthy eating. She is a syndicated newspaper columnist (The Dinner Diva), a certified nutritionist, and the host of SavingDinner.com. Leanne has a weekly “Food for Thought” column on the ever-popular FlyLady.net website, as well as her own e-zine, Healthy Foods. She is the author of Saving Dinner, Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way and Saving Dinner for the Holidays. She lives in North Carolina with her two teenage children. “Anyone who finds cooking a mystery needs Saving Dinner Basics.” –Marla Cilley, The FlyLady, author of Sink Reflections

Leanne Ely doesn’t actually cook dinner for your family. It just feels that way. Certified nutritionist Leanne Ely loves delicious food and is dedicated to enticing today’s busy families back to the dinner table with home cooking that cannot be beat. In Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way, she integrates low-carb requirements into her mélange of dining pleasures for every season–providing easy-to-follow menus and highlighting per-serving measurements of calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, and sodium for each dish. Itemizing ingredients by product in convenient lists, Ely makes your grocery shopping quick and effortless. She also gives you a helping hand in the kitchen with shortcuts that take the stress out of cooking, and suggests menu variations for children and family members who choose not to go the low-carb route. The result? These dinners are not only balanced and healthy but truly varied and delectably good to eat. Main dishes like Low-Carb Beef Stroganoff, Crustless Quiche Lorraine, Crock-Pot Pork Jambalaya, Skillet Salmon with Horseradish Cream, and nearly 150 other entrees (plus recommendations for great side dishes) make dinnertime special in more ways than one.

Certified nutritionist Leanne Ely has a simple philosophy: “Make it and they will come.” Dinner, that is. Take-out, opening a can, or microwave fare shouldn’t pass for a nice, healthy meal–and nothing can replace a family’s time together. Believe it or not, preparing dinner can be a stress-free endeavor. Even your time in the supermarket can be cut in half! Full of practical tips on simple, healthy meal planning, Saving Dinner is the ideal solution for today’s busy parents who would love to have their family sitting around the dinner table once again–sharing stories along with a nutritious meal. Efficiently divided by season, each section features six weeks of menus with delicious recipes, side dish suggestions, and an itemized grocery list that is organized by product (dairy, meat, produce) to make one-stop shopping a snap. Plus the book is packed with helpful hints and short cuts in the kitchen that make cooking easier and more fun. From Big Basil Burgers and Salmon Carbonara to Crockpot Chili and Spicy Apricot Chicken, Saving Dinner will have your family coming back to the table–and back again for seconds! Leanne Ely is considered the expert on family cooking and healthy eating. Between her popular “Heart of a Woman” radio show in Southern California and her weekly “Food for Thought” column on the ever-popular Flylady.net Web site, thousands of fans have already discovered Leanne’s secrets to easily prepared, well-balanced meals.

This book is the follow-up to the successful Perfect Party Food. Happy Holidays from the Diva-of Do-Ahead brings the same how-to and do-ahead approach to creating menus for 12 holidays-with special emphasis on Thanksgiving and Christmas-as well as tips on recipe variations, decorating, and serving. Featuring a beautiful 16-page color photo insert, this is the perfect book for anyone who wants to take the stress out of entertaining and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Home cooking during the holidays: recipes and advice from a Belgian mother in a California kitchen. When I cook for my family I try to be mindful of everyone's different taste while making sure to provide the opportunity of getting out of their comfort zone. Trying to teach my kids to be adventurous and open to new cuisine and flavor variety is a driving force for me. A few years ago, we moved from Belgium to Los Angeles. With Whole Foods, farmer markets and fresh organic produce everywhere we turn, the local resources in this city are truly inspiring. I have always loved to cook ingredients as they are, to leave them true to their character and try not to cover them with too much spices or sauces. Moving to California has pushed me even more in that direction. The winter flavors and Holiday dishes are my favorite. They take me back to my childhood and I am flooded with memories of family gatherings when I was a little girl. We had a routine: we would all share a house by the seaside for Christmas and New Year. My grandma would be cooking with my mom and my aunts. My cousins, brother and I would be running all over the place having a blast. We would have a delicious dinner for Christmas Eve and then go to midnight mass. The next day, when we woke up to all the presents Santa had brought us, there would be crepes and hot chocolate with whipped cream for breakfast with Christmas carols in the background. The joy was always amplified by the food. I keep these memories in mind when I prepare Holiday meals today. What are the new traditions of the Holidays now that we live in California? How can I merge them with my old memories to provide them with the same sensations I once had as a child? Cooking can be scary and some people find it inaccessible. Especially during the Holidays where cooking is a part of the traditions, where you are serving more people than usual, and you're not making your ordinary dinners! Through this book, I try to demystify Holiday cooking while showing you that delicious food can be prepared without a culinary degree or professional background. Sharing what I cook makes me as happy as showing how simple, enjoyable, and quick it can be. The more festive your table is, the easier it is to feel that sensation of Holiday joy.