From my heart to your table ❤️

The Simplified Cookbook is here!

Holy moly, you guys. We did a hard thing. I can hardly believe it. Today’s the day I get to say — The Simplified Cookbook is officially out in the world! 🎉

They say authors write the books they need to read. And if that isn't true with this cookbook, I don't know what is. As someone who doesn't necessarily enjoy making a giant mess in the kitchen or following complicated recipes most of my family won't eat anyway, cooking and meal planning have always been the parts of mom life I enjoy the least.

This was hard and complicated when my kids were small and home all the time. But it is a different kind of hard now that they're involved in sports and other activities outside of school. I know many of you are nodding your heads right now because you're living this too.

How This All Started

A few years ago, I decided to stop reinventing the wheel every day. Instead of trying new recipes on busy weeknights or planning for multistep, million-ingredient meals on busy evenings (or wondering at three o'clock on a hectic Tuesday afternoon what I was going to make for dinner) I made a list of my go-to meals and decided to stick to them.

These meals are the ones that just work. They're satisfying, stupid easy to make, and family approved. Side note: "stupid easy" is my most favorite term of endearment when it comes to recipes. Stupid easy is better than regular easy. It means you have to use very little brainpower to successfully get your family from point A (hungry) to point B (fed). This collection of recipes (and my inner love for finding easier ways to make our favorite dishes) because what so many of you will soon hold in your hands as The Simplified Cookbook.

What You'll Find Inside

The Simplified Cookbook is your easy guide to feeding yourself and your family three times a day. I've taken extra care to make sure most of these recipes need fewer than six ingredients and take less than fifteen minutes to prep. They can be tweaked to fit your tastes and some dietary needs, but the basic recipes are easy and delicious as they are.

Inside, you'll find recipes for:

• Breakfast (both for hectic mornings and slower weekend moments)

• Lunch (including make-ahead options that simplify the midday rush)

• Dinner (featuring slow cooker meals, sheet pan dinners, and more)

• Desserts (because sometimes you just need something sweet)

• And my personal favorite: "assembly meals" (for when you barely have the energy to open the fridge) for every category listed above.

Here's what I've learned over the years: This isn’t just about food. Dinnertime is about more than just filling hungry bellies; it's about nourishing our bodies and our hearts. It is a time for us to come together as a family, set aside the craziness of the day, and connect.

By embracing simplicity in the kitchen, we create space for that togetherness to happen. Added bonus? We all get fed. Happy bellies. Happy hearts.

In our fast-paced, activity-packed, nonstop world, finding moments to connect can be hard. Dinnertime offers a sacred slice of time for us to set aside distractions and focus on each other—whether we're seated around a beautifully set table with main dishes, sides, and dessert or standing around the kitchen, leaning against the cabinets, stuffing our faces with pizza that was just delivered. All these moments of togetherness matter.

Why I Created This Cookbook

When the idea of a cookbook was presented to me, I looked around the room and said, "Wait, me? Walk me through this. I don't love cooking. I love feeding my family and I love our time together around the table, but sautéing and chopping and mincing . . . nope."

At that moment, this concept clicked for me. Many, many of us feel this way. We love our people, and we love good food. But still. Our lives are so very full, and if cooking isn't your interest or talent, it can be quite overwhelming.

This cookbook isn't about becoming a gourmet chef or spending hours in the kitchen. It's about finding joy in simplicity, embracing "good" over perfect, and creating space in your life for what truly matters.

A Few of My Favorites

If you're wondering where to start when you get your copy, here are a few of my personal favorites:

• Sunday Morning Casserole: This recipe is our favorite Sunday morning breakfast. We love it so much, in fact, that we have it on Christmas morning. It's so easy to prepare that my kids can make it on their own.

• Egg Roll Bowls: I'm hungry just thinking about this bowl. It's super easy to make, kid and picky husband approved, and packed with fiber and protein. I make this a few times a month and save the leftovers for lunch.

• Sheet Pan Fajitas: This recipe has less fanfare than restaurant fajitas but is equally delicious. Serve on its own or with tortillas, and use different colors of bell peppers for a beautiful presentation. One pan. One knife. That’s it.

• Coca-Cola Pot Roast: It's so easy that I can throw it together while making lunches on a busy school morning.

• Crunchy Ranch Chicken: Y'all aren't even ready for this recipe. It's going to become a home run, five-star hit in your house just like it is in ours.

The Week That Made My Heart Full

These past few days have been jam-packed and absolutely incredible. Last weekend, we had a Launch Party for friends, family, and local media that absolutely filled my heart to its brim. I've never felt so loved and supported as I did standing in that room. While not everyone who had a hand in this cookbook was able to be there (and oh my goodness did so many people have a hand in it), it was a joy to celebrate with our local village. And it truly took a village to create this cookbook – not just tactically creating it, but supporting our family while we took on this heavy lift. From friends who picked up my kids from practice when I had a deadline to Bryan and the kiddos who taste-tested every recipe (even the failures!), this book exists because of community.

And just yesterday, I took part in a marathon television interview tour from my office – 14 news outlets in 3 hours, back to back! It was wild and so much fun sharing these recipes with audiences across the country. I kept thinking about how surreal it felt to be talking about cooking of all things, when that's been my greatest household challenge for years!

From My Heart to Your Table

What follows in this book is a very pretty presentation of my family's go-tos. I've gathered these over forty-two years of life, including fourteen years of motherhood, from friends, family, and happy accidents in the kitchen.

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that this book has come to fruition. This truly is from my heart to your table—a collection of recipes and ideas that I hope will simplify your life, bring your family together, and maybe (just maybe) help you find a little bit of joy in feeding the people you love.

I can't wait to hear how these recipes help you simplify your time in the kitchen and give you the time and space to enjoy meals around the table with your people.

Order your copy of The Simplified Cookbook today, and let me know which recipes become your family's favorites! Can’t wait to hug so many of you on the book tour!!

with love,

Emily