Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook: Real Food for Real Life offers so much more than delicious, easy to assemble family-friendly recipes with food photos. The book includes time savings tips and strategies for busy families, strategies to help make your food budget go farther, for school lunch ideas, for getting your kids involved in shopping, cooking, and meal planning, for family bonding time, along with a family friendly one week meal plan.

I enjoyed reading about Sarah’s upbringing and her education. As a psychology major, Sarah knows that nutrition is only one part of a healthy family and life. Besides nutrition and exercise, her book focuses on mindfulness, being present with your family, making time to play, spending more time in nature, scheduling and limiting technology time for yourself and your kids, among other things. She also includes a section on understanding your kids and their needs.

The Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook contains 220 recipes. My favorite recipes included the Best Ever Chicken Wings, The No Potato Salad, and the Family Style Short Ribs with Brother Mark’s BBQ Sauce. I made the wings twice, increasing the ginger the second time around. This recipe has a sweet taste without any refined or concentrated sweeteners. Apple juice does the trick. The recipe freezes well.

My friend Anne made and shared the No Potato Salad and the Ribs with me a few months ago. Of the two, I liked the faux potato salad best. I’m already a fan of cauliflower and have been enjoying it steamed, blanched, or made into a mashed potato alternative for years. Recently I’ve also liked it as a base for cous-cous like salads and pilafs. It’s so much more nutritious than wheat or rice.

I found Sarah’s No Potato Salad refreshing and satisfying. It had the seasonings you’d expect in a mayo sauced potato salad but with a lighter flavor and texture, making it a perfect dish for pack lunches, potlucks, picnics, buffets, and do-ahead dishes for meals at home. I ate what she shared with me a few days in a row. (See photo of salad below)

I’ve marked other recipes I want to make from her book, including her Riced Cauliflower, Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs, Brined and Sauced Baby Back Ribs, Turkey Sushi rolls, Zucchini Sticks, Scrumptious Seafood Chowder, Rocket Fuel, Pumpkin Muffins, and Pork & Apple Sliders. Although I’ve eaten paleo versions of many of these recipes, I’m always open to trying new twists on some of the dishes I already know and enjoy.

I recommend this cookbook for families that want to eat a gluten free, grain free, dairy free, paleo, primal, real foods diet rich in nutrients. Even if you don’t follow any of these diets strictly, this book can give you ideas and inspiration and help you bring your family together over wholesome and delicious meals.

What’s in the picture? Sarah Fragoso’s No Potato Salad with Elana Amsterdam’s grain-free Olive-Rosemary Bread, and cucumber boats with goat chevre and lox (Nova Scotia cold smoked salmon).

No Potato Salad

Prep: 40 minutes        Serves: 5 to 6

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 6 eggs, hard-boiled and diced
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 1/2 a medium sized red onion, finely diced
• 3 to 4 celery stalks, finely diced
• 1 cup diced dill pickles
• 3/4 cup Mayonnaise (preferably homemade)
• 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• black pepper to taste

• Cut the cauliflower into large floret and steam for about 7 to 8 minutes or until tender but not mushy.
• While the cauliflower is steaming, add the diced egg, onion, celery, and pickles to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
• Once the cauliflower has steamed, remove it from the pan and let it cool in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, rinse the steamed cauliflower under cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Remove the cauliflower from the fridge and chop it into small pieces. Add the cauliflower to the mixing bowl with the diced egg, onion, celery, and pickles. Add the remaining ingredients (mayo, dill, mustard and black pepper) and mix well.