My mother-in-law and her college girl friends get together every year for a weekend and have a blow out party.  They have picked themes over there years (some ridiculous, like a 50's themed murder mystery) and one year they decided to compile a cook book with everyone's best recipes.  My mother in law is a great cook, but her entries in their cook book were all from the Barefoot Contessa! Ina Garten is clearly her favorite cook book author and TV cook personality, and now she's got me hooked too.

      I received the Family Style cookbook for Christmas and didn't expect to love it as much as I do.  It has a wonderful simple layout that really appeals to me, it is just so clean, easy to use, not too wordy and has great pictures of really delicious recipes.  This particular book from Ina Garten revolves around planning complete meals for the family and I use it often.  My favorite recipes from the book are in the cooking for kids section and the Frozen Key Lime Pie is my mother-in-laws stolen signature dessert!

Enjoy XO Martha Do-er

Annabel is a real inspiration - a gorgeous foodie with a passion for home grown and home cooking.  Her background includes stints in forestry services ( she handled chainsaws, operated heavy machinery and recovered deer in one role) as well as studying horticulture at university.  With no professional training she has become one of New Zealand's best known chefs and has wide appeal due to her fresh and creative approach to food.

She has produced numerous cookbooks with international sales totaling nearly 2 million and has recently launched a television show, The Free Range Cook (to accompany her book) which has been syndicated in 70 countries.  Check outher website for a view of her cute cottage on the  shores of the stunning Lake Wanaka where much of the series is filmed!   [Okay am also doing my bit to promote NZ Tourism!]
This is a beautiful book full of lovely photos - with relatively simple and easy to follow recipes.  Annabel is a big advocate for organic and sustainable produce which we at the Pantry LOVE - so hopefully you will enjoy this book as much as we do!