The Good Neighbor Cookbook
125 Easy and Delicious Recipes to Surprise and Satisfy the New Moms, New Neighbors, Recuperating Friends, Community-Meeting Members, Book Club Cohorts and Block Party Pals in Your Life!

By Sara Quessenberry and Suzanne Schlosberg

• About the book • An excerpt with recipes • Buy it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or      Powell's

About The Good Neighbor Cookbook

We’ve all faced the good-neighbor dilemma: We want to say “I care” or “I’m thinking of you” or “Hey, I’m no slacker!” by showing up with delicious homemade food. But we often have enough trouble getting our own dinners to the table. Who has time to pull together a meal for the new family down the street or a memorable appetizer for the book-club potluck?

Most of us have been to meetings where the heartiest breakfast fare is an assortment of donut holes or attended block parties where the food spread amounts to a bag of corn chips with bottled salsa.

I'm well acquainted with this culinary crisis. Fortunately, my partner in creating this cookbook, Sara Quessenberry, is eminently qualified to solve it. An accomplished chef with an eye for fresh ingredients and inventive flavor combinations, Sara rescues time-strapped cooks day in and day out at Real Simple.

Together we’ve fashioned a book that offers one-stop recipe shopping for any good neighbor. Sara’s recipes, all easy to transport, are uniquely designed to nourish old and new friends – the exhausted mom nursing a newborn, the friend who’s feeling under the weather, the couple who just moved in down the block, the family in mourning. The recipes here will make a hero out of anyone attending a PTA meeting, Fourth of July barbecue, church potluck, or business breakfast.

In The Good Neighbor Cookbook, you’ll find fresh takes on many classics and party favorites, all hassle-free, easily transportable dishes you can count on to be a comfort and a treat. The appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, and sweet treats in the book are organized by occasion. Chapters include:

• Bringing Home Baby
• Get Well Soon
• Welcome to the Neighborhood
• Novel Ideas for Book Club
• Block Parties and Barbecues
• Meet and Eat: Community, Religious, and Business Gatherings
• Condolences

The Good Neighbor Cookbook also includes time-saving shortcuts and tips for preparing food ahead of time and freezing dishes for later. With recipes such as Sweet Pepper and Spinach Lasagne; Zucchini and Parmesan Frittata;

An Excerpt from Chapter 2: Get Well Soon

When a friend or relative is recuperating, nothing brings more cheer, or earns more appreciation, than a nutritious, homemade meal. Arriving at the door with a lovely soup, hearty main dish, and a sweet indulgence in hand is a gift to the whole family. Your friend will find sustenance in your Stewed Chicken with Chickpeas and Lemon, Turkey and Dill Meatloaf, and Oat-Nut Scones (page 000); her caregivers will be grateful for all the time and energy saved.

This chapter includes dishes to suit most any get-well situation, whether your recipient is undergoing extended cancer treatment or hobbling back from knee surgery. Some patients are instructed to load up on fiber, in which case a pot of Beans and Greens Soup may be the best medicine. For those who need to limit roughage, Asian Noodle Soup is just what the doctor ordered.

The dishes here are flavorful yet not overpowering—ideal for chemotherapy patients who have a diminished sense of taste and also are prone to nausea. No doubt convalescence is not the occasion for five-alarm chili or corned beef with sauerkraut! If the patient doesn’t have much of an appetite, your gift will be feeding the family, so be sure to ask about their food preferences.

For this chapter, we have selected ingredients particularly rich in healing properties and immune-boosting nutrients—ginger, sweet potato, and bulgur wheat, to name a few. We also have kept the recipes on the lighter side, since people on the mend are less active than usual. Most of the dishes freeze well, so they can be enjoyed later.

Sweet Potato, Parsnip, and Ginger Soup

Prep time: 20 minutes/Total time: 45 minutes
Serves 6 to 8

The sweet potato-parsnip blend gives this velvety soup a hint of sweetness and a hefty dose of vitamins A and C, calcium, and potassium. Fresh ginger, known as a natural remedy for numerous ailments, adds a lemony warmth.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 medium), peeled, halved, and sliced
8 ounces parsnips (about 2), peeled and sliced
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 10 minutes (decrease the heat, as necessary, to prevent scorching). Add the potatoes, parsnips, broth, ginger, pepper, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
Using a blender or an immersion blender, puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot to reheat, adding more broth, if necessary, for the desired consistency.

Cook’s Tip: To freeze the soup, let it cool completely, then transfer to 1-quart resealable plastic bags and freeze them lying flat. This way you can stack them like books to economize on space. Using small bags allows you to thaw the soup quickly and without having to thaw more than you need. Freeze for up to 2 months or refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Zucchini and Parmesan Frittata

Prep time: 15 minutes/Total time: 30 minutes
Serves 6 to 8

This zesty egg dish is one of the easiest in the book, requiring just six ingredients—and that includes the salt and pepper! Delicious either hot or cold, it’s the perfect energy boost at any hour. For breakfast, serve the frittata with fruit; for lunch or dinner, serve with the Arugula, Radish, Cucumber, and Olive Salad on page 00. Or keep it in the fridge for a savory snack.

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 medium zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into thin rounds
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Heat the oven to 375°F.
Heat the oil in a medium ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 10 minutes. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, Parmesan, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the zucchini and sprinkle more Parmesan over the top. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until puffed and the center is just set, 15 to 18 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or chilled.
Refrigerate, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 days.