For families, eating right has become a monumental challenge. Cultural messages convince us that we no longer have time to cook, and food marketers spend billions persuading us that packaged, processed food is convenient, satisfying . . . and the key to happiness. Half of all our meals are now eaten outside the home. The result? Skyrocketing rates of heart disease and diabetes and unprecedented levels of childhood obesity. This crisis is movingly portrayed in author and activist Laurie David's new documentary (coexecutive produced with Katie Couric), Fed Up! Luckily, we have a solution: Studies have clearly shown that eating home-cooked meals reduces obesity and develops lifelong healthy eating habits. There is an exciting movement afoot that involves a skillet, a few good knives, and some fresh ingredients: Home cooking is making a comeback. In The Family Cooks , David inspires parents and kids to take control of what they eat by making it themselves. With her longtime collaborator, Kirstin Uhrenholdt, David offers more than 100 recipes that are simple, fast, "low in the bad stuff and high in the good stuff," and designed to bring kids into the cooking process. The authors also demystify cooking terms and break down basic prep techniques, creating stress-free meals that foster health, togetherness, and happy palates. The Family Cooks is the ideal companion for unseasoned chefs of all stripes, whether they're parenting or being parented. “With these delicious recipes that celebrate flavor and seasonality, Laurie David gives parents a simple roadmap for bringing children into a new and lasting relationship to food. All families should have this wonderful book in their kitchen!” — Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café, founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project, and the author of The Art of Simple Food I and II “Wow! A dream come true for busy parents. Fun to read... gorgeous to look at...delicious to eat. Family Cooks will make your kids ask for seconds and build great eating habits to last a lifetime. How great for the price of just one book!” — Harvey Karp, MD, creator of the DVD/book The Happiest Toddler on the Block Laurie David is the producer of the new documentary Fed Up! and produced the 2006 Academy Award–winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth . She is also the author of the bestselling Stop Global Warming and of The Family Dinner . The recipient of numerous honors, including the Producers Guild of America's Stanley Kramer Award, a Humanitas Prize Special Award, Glamour's Woman of the Year, and the Audubon Society's Rachel Carson Award, David has been featured on Oprah , Good Morning America , The Today Show , CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. Introduction I'm so glad you're here! Because there's something I'm bursting with excitement to share with you: Home-cooked, healthy food is the solution to our physical, emotional—and I'd even wager spiritual—problems. As if that wasn't enough, it's also a key to bringing pure goodness, vitality, and fun into our lives. It's as simple as that. With our easy and quick recipes and a basket of healthy ingredients, you will discover how truly life-changing, loving, easy, and delicious home-cooked food can be. It all started for me about five years ago, when I woke up with an irrepressible longing to channel my inner homesteader. To this day, I am not sure where this came from, having grown up on Long Island and lived most of my adult life in Los Angeles. Trust me, farming was not even on my radar as a hobby, let alone as a vocation. As a longtime advocate for environmental causes, I kept my protest sign, but moved aside my pumps to make room for a pair of green muck boots (much to the horror of my fashion- conscious daughters). I tossed my Teflon (which I learned was fuming cancer- causing chemicals into my kitchen!) and bought a now-beloved and well- seasoned cast-iron skillet. I stuck my hands deep into the earth, planted seeds, pulled up carrots, then stuffed them back down when they looked too small (turns out that is upsetting to a carrot). I figured out how to weed sitting down (much easier on the back) and gave up on manicures, my nails requiring such vigorous scrubbing it was a lost cause. My hair went from blow-dry to something crazy only a rubber band and a hat could control. Then, to really seal the deal, I married a blue-eyed farmer down in the field. He taught me how to herd cows (oy, they are so much bigger up close!), to squish bugs (little freeloaders munching on our green beans), and to leave the baby vegetables alone. He is still trying to teach me how to plant a straight row (won't happen). Together, our garden grew, our homegrown dinners got better, and we started organizing Sunday potlucks for friends and family. I had decided to make some healthy changes in my life, which inevitably led me to improving the food my family and I ate. The more I learned about how real food is grown, the more clearly I saw h