There's no better way to prepare for the coming week than with a comforting meal, and here is trusted cookbook author Lucinda Scala Quinn with a collection of her best recipes for getting the family together on a Sunday night. Recipes for classic chicken dinners like Chicken Parmesan and Vinegar-Glossed Chicken, hearty beef stews, roasts, and appetising sides like Maple-Thyme Roasted Carrots and Steamed Yet Crispy String Beans will make a satisfying dinner easier than ever. Everybody loves an excuse to gather around the table for a home-cooked meal, and these recipes will give you an excuse to do so more often.

Everybody loves game day, and some of us love game-day food even more. Here is the complete playbook for all the snacks, sides, and mains you'll need to feed the hungry crowd in your home or even at the tailgate. Impress with homemade Spinach Feta Pocket Pies and Quick Fried Chicken, or go for the tried-and-true classics like the perfect guacamole, queso fundido, or a French dip. Drinks like spiked lemonade and a spicy bloody Mary keep the party going.

Recipes and strategies for bringing back the family mealWhen first published in 2009, Lucinda Scala Quinn's "Mad Hungry "met with critical acclaim, but it wasn't just the media that fell hard for this book--it was mothers everywhere, who embraced her message to bring back the family meal and loved the ease, simplicity, and robust goodness of her recipes. The book went on to launch a TV series ("Mad Hungry with Lucinda Scala Quinn") and now, with over 65,000 copies sold, it is available in a paperback edition that will reach a yet wider audience. In "Mad Hungry," Scala Quinn shares winning strategies for how to sate the seemingly insatiable, trade food for talk, and get men to manage in the kitchen. She provides recipes for single-skillet meals, dinners that yield fabulous leftovers, and dishes that are a cinch to stretch fore extra guests. Her grab-and-run breakfasts will help kids start the day right, and her healthful drinks make it easier for guys to say no to soda. Along with her techniques that help make homemade meals second nature, nourishing both diner and cook, Scala Quinn offers empowering advice on how to feed one's family's spirits as well as fill their bellies.

Your family has a hankering--a yen for chicken tikka masala or queso fundido, for shrimp pad thai or a Philly cheesesteak--and they want it bad. So you decide to eat out at a local ethnic or roadside restaurant, or do take-out. It's expedient, but is the food really that good? Really really good? Because Lucinda Scala Quinn's versions of all those dishes families crave will knock your socks off and prove beyond a doubt that the foods you love can be made better, faster, tastier, cheaper, and more healthfully at home.

Lucinda Scala Quinn is all about smart strategies that simplify and make for great taste, so why outsource feeding our families when it takes less time, money, and effort to cook these favorite comfort foods ourselves? And why miss out on the untold gifts of sitting at home with your family around the dining room table? So next time there's a request for pulled pork or deep-dish pizza or chicken fettuccine Alfredo, or cold soba noodles or fried rice, forget about soggy takeout and overpriced restaurants--just crack open this book and you'll find simple recipes for all those dishes your family wants to eat, right now.

As those who cook religiously from Lucinda Scala Quinn's witty, strategy-laden books know, she is a master at producing meals that make people happy. Her recipes are the real deal - no speciality ingredients, expensive cuts or fussy techniques. And with over 130 recipes, there's something here for everyone: light fish dishes and inventive salads for mum, roasts and ribs for dad, can't go wrong pasta options for picky eaters and make it in a flash veggies, sandwiches and desserts for always starving teenagers. This essential guide to cooking for families is full of survival strategies for nothing in the fridge crises, feeding unexpected guests, getting Celebration dinner on the table before your family revolts and more. Essays throughout offer informative lessons for cooks at all experience levels and Scale Quinn's upbeat "you can do this" enthusiasm assures readers that they have a true friend in the kitchen.