The title says it all. Real Life Dinners. This was a sample of what's to come. The recipes were clear and easy to follow. The pages were filled with bright and colorful pictures. I am looking forward to the book being published to see the rest of the recipes.

The pictures are beautiful, recipes tasty and stories are life giving.  What more could you want it a cookbook? Buy this for everyone woman in your life.  It's the perfect birthday, mother's day, Christmas or wedding gift!

I really enjoyed the author’s conversational style in this sample.She was fun to read throughout the book. Unfortunately for me the recipes weren’t what I was looking for. Too many of them were not easy or they prepared with too much of ingredients that weren’t the healthiest. Bacon wrapped chicken tenders is not going to be a go to weekly meal for my family.

My review is based on the excerpt provided via NetGalley.  My opinion could change if I view the entire cookbook. 

"Real Life" is a good title for this book.  None of the recipes seem original and I think you could find most of them in other sources.  Many of them you don't even need a recipe for (breakfast pizza, homemade hot pockets). 

In general, I think this would be a good cookbook for someone just starting out on their own, with or without a family.  It is a simple straightforward reference for a novice on how to make familiar dishes. 
If you are looking for a good wedding shower gift, this would fit the bill.  If you are looking for new recipes that you haven't seen or tried before, this wouldn't be for you.

I really enjoyed this sampler and can't wait to pick up the final book.

Easy to follow recipes. Good food, good ingredients, and easy prep.

Very nice recipes. Look easy to make and things that families would want to eat. Enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading the authors writing which to me drew one into the book instead of just jumping into recipes b

Nice cookbook with colorful pictures. . Personal favorite is the “Grilled Mushroom Kabobs” a recipe which features a nice balsamic marinade. The book hits a high note with recipes for a weeks worth of breakfast sandwiches complete with instructions on freezing and reheating each morning. Freezer burritos are another good one. The book only gets clunky with the overly long introduction and stories between the recipes. But readers/cooks looking for a nice book of recipes who don’t mind skipping the “lifestyle” notes will find a winner.  
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review.

Author Rachel Hollis stresses that she’s a real-life mom: She and her husband work outside the home, she has three children already and one on the way. Hollis sets the reader at ease immediately: Dinner doesn’t have to be a production. Who has time for marinades, intricate ingredients and a spotless kitchen? Instead, here’s how Hollis sets the bar: “Making sure my family is fed is a success, but truly taking the time to give them something wholesome and delicious is me at my best…. Just made, with love and care, by me … that’s the bar I set for myself. I don’t’ get there every day — not even close — but it’s my pursuit….” 

Who doesn’t love that goal? 

Hollis includes some easy-to-bring together meals and some make-ahead meals to freeze. The sampler intrigued me enough that I really want to see the complete Real Life Dinners. I don’t think it will be in the same league as Melissa D’Arabian’s Ten Dollar Dinners: 140 Recipes & Tips to Elevate Simple, Fresh Meals Any Night of the Week and Katie Workman’s The Mom 100 Cookbook: 100 Recipes Every Mom Needs in Her Back Pocket — both essential for any busy cook, whether a mom or not — but I do think Real Life Dinners looks as if it’s worth owning.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a sampler of Real Life Dinners from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

This cookbook provides a lot of easy recipes for quick family dinners. If you are a decent cook, they are nothing new but it would still helpful to have a collection of good recipes in one cookbook. I was excited to try some of the ideas but I wasn't impressed. The kids (3 and 5 years old) didn't like a couple of dishes, and the dish they did like was only ok for the adults. 

Biscuit pizza: great idea and the kiddos loved helping make these. My 3 year old even started eating mushrooms randomly. The biscuit dough is a little too sweet for a pizza but is was overall ok and everybody ate theirs. The main problem is that the recipe just called for a can of biscuits (8) and it wasn't enough food for all of us. The amount for that recipe just lists 8 pizzas and not the number of servings. My bad, I guess. 

Homemade Hot pocket: Again, the recipe makes 6 hot pockets (and no numbers of servings listed) so it is hard to gauge it there is enough food the first time you make it. It was barely enough for 2 adults and 2 (young) kids. We liked it, but the kids ate mostly the puff pastry - and the green beans I had as a side. 

Lemon-pesto chicken: Kiddos hated it - and they like chicken, pesto, and green beans <i>separately</i>. Go figure. Adults liked it but the 1/2 c of pesto became very oily after a trip in the oven. 

Italian dressing grilled chicken: it's essentially the recipe you find in the back of a Wish-Bone dressing bottle. I tried it a few years back and was underwhelmed. 

A lot of recipes are not friendly for <i>our</i> kids:
- "Grilled Mushroom Kabobs", which are marinated mushroom and onion on a stick. Good luck getting any kid to eat that!
- There is a whole section on "Salad for dinner". Maybe with older kids? It's ok for a 5 year old, the 3 year old not so much. 

We have been in a rut lately with dinners and had hope to find new meals but this cookbook did not work for us. It might work for you.  

Note: The arc copy has quite a few mistakes (6 oz instead of 16 oz of chicken breast in the lemon-pesto chicken recipe; steps were out of order in another recipe...) but I assume that the real cookbook will have better editing.

I only got an advanced sampler of this book and I really did not like it. When I read through cookbooks, I judge it by reading through the recipes and then marking through all the recipes that sound amazing and give me such excitement because I want to try them immediately and this was not the case at all for this book. These recipes seem overdone and actually outdated from all the new health restrictions that families are trying like meat less, gluten free or dairy free. I am not sure many people will want to buy this book when they can go on Pinterest and find these recipes for free.

Great resource! The author has compiled a wonderful array of recipes. This is very helpful. Would recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review "Real Life Dinners: Sampler
by Rachel Hollis'. I was amazed at how easy these recipes were to make. They were also super tasty. I've been trying to experiment  with new recipes to make at home and these were exactly what I was looking for. I especially enjoyed the slow cooker loaded baked potato soup and the bacon wrapped chicken fingers, I highly recommend this cookbook!

As a mom of 4 I struggle daily to get my family to eat ANYTHING!  I don't care if it is well balance at this point I just want them to eat something!  I want to learn how to sneak healthy items into their different meals without them knowing.
I requested Real Life Dinner in hopes of finding meals for my family and suggestions.  Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Each recipes will be present in a beautiful mouth watering imagine that will have the chief excited to try something new for their pickie eaters. Each dinner is focused on why family life is like now with easy and practical dinners for the busy family large or small.

Rachel Hollis starts off the cookbook with her stories and ever recipes suggest you try something that will fit into your family life style; different spices, or additional spices that will change the dinner to be closer to what your family might eat.
 I loved the Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup but my kids no so much.

I can't say this has saved my dinners or made them better or worse but at least its something new to try while avoiding the perfect meals of pinterest.

I received an arc copy from Netgalley for an honest review. This is a great cookbook that I will purchase for myself with excellent recipes and good background information.

#RealLifeDinners #NetGalley

I recieved a sample of this book from NetGalley and am so excited to order the book once its out. Out of the sample I had 6 recipes bookmarked the first time I went through it. That is more than I have gotten out of a collection of cookbooks lately.  Rachel Hollis seems to understand that life is busy and messy and hard to keep three meals on the table without taking up residence in the kitchen. She provides easy recipes, fun recipes, recipes that you can freeze and have when you need them. I would highly recommend her book, especially if you need a little more time in your life with your family.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Real Life Dinners provides recipes that I actually think I might try.  They're made with simple ingredients and don't appear to take all that much time.  In particular, I'm fascinated by Lemon Pesto Chicken and Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork.  Gotta try those very soon!  She also includes recipes that mimic frozen foods you buy in the store (e.g., Home Made Frozen Burritos, Homemade Hot Pockets, and  Breakfast Burritos.)  For busy families, this is a great collection of simple meals that kids will love and will not take much time.  They're organized in a 2-page format:  one page has an intro paragraph and an appetizing photo, the second page has a list of ingredients, simple directions (with icons telling how much prep/cook time and quantity served), and then a few photos of the steps in preparation.  Would make a great gift for young families or people just starting out on their own!

Directions seem clear but I didn't actually try any of the recipes. A photo to go along with each recipe would be nice. I find that I mainly judge a recipe by the photo on whether I want to investigate that recipe further or actually make that recipe. The personal bits were short, which is welcome.

This is such a great cook book! The majority I flick through seem to be really fancy food with far too many flourishes and obscure ingredients. Rachel Hollis' is suited to family meals made mostly from what you're likely to already have in your store cupboard.

The book starts with an interesting introduction from Rachel herself and summarises her interest in food and cooking, and really adds a personal touch to the book. There's then a section on some recommended store cupboard essentials, which I found really handy! It's also nice to see photos of Rachel and her family in action, cooking and baking.

Each recipe has a large full-colour photograph to have you salivating, followed by clear and succinct instructions. The only downside is the instructions are in italics which I found to be quite a strain on the eyes. Otherwise, this is the best cook book by far that I've seen in a long time.

I should not have requested this sampler! Since I did, the next step I need to make is to order the cookbook. It is filled with lots of yummy recipes for a busy family. 

One of my favorite things in this book are the  recipes for make  ahead breakfast entrees. I like the idea of making burritos and egg/muffin sandwiches that can be pulled from the freezer and heated. I sometimes buy these premade, and with these recipes not only can I save money, but I can also control what goes in them. The homemade hot pockets made with puff pastry are also a great idea. My family members can once again grab a quick meal on weekends and I don’t always have to rush home to cook lunch. (They’ll never miss me!) There are  make-ahead dinners that are great for some of the weeknights when I find myself overloaded and wish I didn’t have to cook.  Also included are  slow-cooker meals and ideas for the grill. 

This book is truly meant for busy moms everywhere!

OMG I'm counting the days for when I can have more! This book is filled with easy, practical and approachable dinners for busy families and believe me you need this one in your home!It's perfect for someone who doesn't know how to make food or someone who doesn't have a lot of time!