The Modern Proper: Simple Dinners for Every Day by Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer is currently scheduled for release on April 5 2022. For pretty much everyone, life gets busy—but you still want to cook up a good meal. Ideally a meal that is accessible, efficient, and doesn’t sacrifice any of the delicious flavors you love. This book can expand your “go-to” list and help you become a more intuitive, creative cook. Whether you’re a novice or a pro, a busy parent or a workaholic, this book will arm you with tools, tricks, and shortcuts to get dinner on the table. Every ingredient is easy to find, plus you’ll find plenty of swaps and options throughout. Each of the 100 recipes (some all-time fan favorites and many brand-new) includes prep time, cook time, and quick-reference tags. Recipes include: Stuffed Chicken Breast with Mozzarella and Creamy Kale, Stir-Fried Pork Cutlets with Buttermilk Ranch, Sweet Cider Scallops with Wilted Spinach, Tofu Enchiladas with Red Sauce, and more.

The Modern Proper is a well organized and comprehensive cookbook. I found that the descriptions, instructions, and suggestions were all well thought out and written. I like that the recipes leave plenty of room for home cooks to use the vegetables and ingredients that work best for their family. The recipes are pretty varied and do use mostly common, or at least readily available, ingredients for those that have good supermarkets accessible to them. There were several recipes that I would love to try for an adult only meal. However, I have to admit that I found most of the meals a little to involved and fussy for my house, aside from special occasions. For those that love cooking and entertaining, or have the family interest in trying new foods, this would be a great cookbook. I enjoyed looking at the photographs, and gleaned a few tips and inspirations, but this is not a book that would be added to my personal library. I think there are people that love to cook like this, and I think they will love this book and have the time and resources to put the recipes inside to good use.

Overall this is a great beginners cookbook. It has a variety of recipes that are fun, nutritious and easy to make. The book also provides you with a variety of options for many of the recipes which is a great way to teach you to use what you have.

A solid cookbook that I was very excited to get a copy of!!! I loved the recipes and the layout was gorgeous. I'm still undecided if I want to get a copy for myself, but I would DEF recommend if you like the Modern Proper recipes!!!

The Modern Proper has been one of my favorite food blogs for years, and this cookbook lives up to everything I hoped it would be! Their recipes are vibrant and full of flavor, without being too complex or hard to attempt. I love how easy to understand their recipes are, and also I love the photos that go along with them. For me, it is so much easier to attempt a recipe when I can see a photo of what the finished product is supposed to look like. If you are looking for a new cookbook that is packed full of flavor, but also not too complicated to try on a busy weeknight - grab this one! The "Creamy Tortellini Soup With Sausage & Kale" is INCREDIBLE. I've made it multiple times and is always a crowd pleaser! Can't wait to cook more of these recipes.

Thank you to NetGalley & Simon Element for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I don't think I can give this one a full 5 stars as I only got to read some segments of it but what I did read I loved so much. If you are a fan of The Modern Proper you will love this cookbook which features so many amazing recipes. Some of my favorites include the Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Toast for Dinner, and Everything Bagel Sausage Fried Rice. All were so good and easy to make.

Thanks to Simon Element and NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

*Note only some sections of the book were reviewed.

To say I’m excited about adding this beautiful cookbook to my collection, would be a vast understatement. The ladies behind The Modern Proper have put together a collection of recipes that you will love…over and over again! Several of my very favorite, tried and true, recipes from over the years are Modern Proper recipes, and they are absolutely fabulous! Pick up a copy for you, for a friend, for the seasoned cook, or even the beginner - no one will be disappointed! From family classics, to new flavor combos, to creative cooking solutions, this cookbook is a hit!

The Modern Proper offers easy recipes with enough twist to elevate dishes you and your family already enjoy.
The combination of meat and meatless makes this a go to recipe book. The recipes combine ingredients you may already incorporate into your dishes and gives some twist in the suggestions. The result is more variation to add to your list of quick repeats and favorites.

THE MODERN PROPER by Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer is a new cookbook with "Simple Dinners for Every Day." Unfortunately, my preview copy was poorly formatted and missing entire sections that were listed in the Table of Contents. For example, I tried repeatedly to find the recipe for Roasted Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce and recipes for condiments like Honey Mustard Vinaigrette or Peanut Sauce also seemed to be missing. I did locate Vodka Sauce Baked Gnocchi, but the recipe began, THEN showed a list of ingredients, and then finished the recipe. That was very disconcerting. Potential readers may have an easier time navigating THE MODERN PROPER web site where Erickson and Mortimer have been sharing their love of food for years: https://themodernproper.com/

Like many others during the pandemic, I’ve explored more recipes in the past two years than I ever have before. Many of the cookbooks I have read have been focused on the food and health benefits and ease of creation while others have tilted toward the experience of the home cooked meal shared with family and friends. The Modern Proper seems to be a nice combination of both. Chapters are organized by food types and seem to be mostly mains: chicken, eggs, meatless, beef, pork, and seafood. I like the inclusion of a soup and meatball section along with recipes for dips, spreads, and dressings. The recipes are well organized and easy to follow with many having a full color photo. I found many of the techniques to be detailed and therefor easy to replicate. This cookbook is one I’d be pleased to put on my shelf to refer to again and again.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review the Modern Proper by Holly Erickson and Natalie Mortimer.

The Modern Proper by Holly Ericson and Natalie Mortimer is a cookbook that contains updated modern recipes. You will find a wide variety or recipes that ranges from Meatless to recipes that use proteins such as chicken, pork, beef and seafood. The photos beautifully feature recipes. Some of the recipes you'll find include:

Any Roasted Veggie with Romesco Sauce
Spicy Unstuffed Pasta Shells with Roasted Garlic and Chevre
Skillet Pepperoni Pizza with Blistered Tomatoes
Skillet-Fried Pork Cutlets with Buttermilk Ranch
Garlic Butter Steak Stir-Fry with Snap Peas
Mom's Nachos

Review written after receiving a modified galley from NetGalley. Some of the information was omitted to provide better ARC images.

Recommend

This cookbook is visually stunning and the few recipes that I made I really enjoyed! I do wish that I had been able to see the entire cookbook though because some recipes referenced other ones that were unavailable to me with the version I received from NetGalley.

I admire anyone for whom this would be a weeknight cookbook, but that for sure isn't me! As a solidly middle-class Midwestern girl, these recipes are more of what I would consider "weekend" or "company" recipes, and aspirational ones at that. Trying almost any of the recipes I read would require a trip to the store for ingredients I don't usually have on hand, but the effort might be worth it. This is not simple or traditional fare, but would be fun for someone looking to change things up or experiment with a new style of cooking.

As a cookbook, this is well-organized and functional. Ingredient lists and instructions are clear, recipes that cater to special diets/nutritional needs are marked, and there are attractive pictures of the finished product for nearly every item. Foodies and/or intermediate and advanced home cooks may find a lot to enjoy here.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

Ever want to impress someone with a gorgeous yet flavorful meal but you don’t want to slave over a stove for hours? Then this book is definitely for you. This is a huge.....huge...cookbook. From meatless meals to mains with a ton of pictures. The cookbook has a Mediterranean food feel to it but a ton of gorgeous recipes that look amazing. It also helps you distinguish between a vegetarian dish, or gluten, or family friendly. I bookmarked a bunch a recipes to try since I’m heavily invested in bowl meals. Five star dining in my future!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC to read and voluntarily left my opinion.

Erickson and Mortimer have put together a straightforward inventive healthy cookbook peppered with marvelous photos of yummy meals for 6-8 people. Pictures and descriptions alone will spark your return to these recipes. I particularly enjoyed the lack of ‘filler’ recipes. No drinks, desserts, snacks appear in these pages which are focused solely on nourishing meals, suitable for either families or dinner parties. The authors focus on quality ingredients and cooking techniques to encourage the depth of flavors. Marvelous!

I have been a fan of the Modern Proper instagram and have enjoyed making their recipes, so I was excited to get my hands on this cookbook. The pictures are stunning and the recipes themselves were easy to follow. I would say this book would be best suited for someone looking to have a collection of simple recipes for weeknights or someone who would like to start out their journey in the kitchen.

My review is based on only receiving three chapters of the book in a limited ARC, and they were not the chapters I would have been most interested in.
This cookbook is full of beautiful photos, and the recipes are in chapters on All Day Eggs, Meatless, Chicken, Pork and Beef, Seafood, Meatballs, Soup, and Things for Dipping/Spreading/Dressing.
What I was able to see looked good. I liked that some of the recipes were labelled as being kid friendly. Unfortunately, without having the intro and Essentials sections to read, and seeing fewer than half the recipes, I am unable to rate this book any higher.

The Modern Proper is a beautiful cookbook, and would be a great addition to anyones kitchen. Granted, while there isn’t anything novel about this style of cookbook, I feel like it’s still a comprehensive list of weeknight meals that sound like things I would want to make. Not to mention that the photography is stunning as well!!

The one thing I noticed is that for a book that supports using short cuts like canned and jarred foods, I noticed one recipe called for cooked grains in the ingredients list, and personally, I would have preferred that be included in the cooking instructions. While it’s not complicated to cook grains by any means, it’s nice when recipes time things out to all come together appropriately without having to figure it out on your own if you are cooking after work on a weeknight.

All in all it seems like a great cookbook full of go-to staples, as well as other exciting recipes to try.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!

Nowadays, it's just the two of us, but I still love to experiment in the kitchen. And this cookbook—with stunning photography—introduced me to new and trending ingredients and fare. For example, when I served the simple gribiche—a cucumber, egg, olive concoction—we didn't want our meal to end.

Arriving in bookstores in April, THE MODERN PROPER is stuffed with healthy dinner ideas and meals packed with vegetables and grains. Saucy Grilled Cheese with Asparagus? Yes, please! Curried Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Tahini Yogurt Dressing? Wholesome, impressive, and delicious. And the Summer Steak Salad will be a go-to any time of the year.

A huge thank you to Simon Element for this advance copy. Since I only received a portion of the cookbook, I look forward to seeing more!

The recipes we are able to see look very tasty, and the photography is beautiful! Can’t wait to see the entire book!

I am so excited for The Modern Proper cookbook! I made Spicy Salmon Chowder, Steak Sandwiches with Horseradish Mayo, and Skillet Pepperoni Pizza (my pictures of the recipes I tried on IG @erinmasonhoyt). All of the meals were delicious, great portion size, and were easy to make. Each recipe was delicately and intentionally seasoned which let the flavor of the main ingredients shine! I will definitely be pre-ordering The Modern Proper and can’t wait to try more! Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element for the ARC!