E8

By The Canadian Press

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Eating together as a family not only leads to healthier eating, but it also leads to better communication skills and a stronger bond with one another, says Ginny Love, whose cookbook Simply Love is full of family-friendly recipes.

With four children, Love's household is busy, but she has always stressed the importance of sitting down to the table together as often as possible as a family.

"I think it's important to eat together. Not only are you nourishing your family with food, but you are nourishing them emotionally and spiritually." In her family, this has contributed to good relationships, she says.

"And I like to cook," says the 47-year-old Love, who has been doing it most of her life.

She started at age 12 selling her baked goods at the Saturday market on Salt Spring Island, B.C., and eventually attended cooking school at the Cordon Bleu in London and classes at La Varenne when she was living in Paris. She returned to Vancouver and joined one of the top caterers in the city and then launched The Cooking Company Café and Restaurant, which served up wholesome, home-cooked food.

But when her three boys and a girl came along and life became too hectic, Love sold the restaurant. A few years ago she decided to start writing down some of her recipes, measuring properly and recording some of her tips, and the result is Simply Love, published by Hedgerow Press.

Many of the recipes that appear in the book had been prepared for those long-ago market clients, at her restaurant and for her family. Some also came from relatives, she says.

"It's a family cookbook. The feedback I've had, people say it's an easy book to use. I do use the book."

The book is peppered with tips to make life easier for the home cook.

"I'm a big believer in planning to decrease the workload," she says, and one section of the book is even devoted to organizing a Christmas feast. "I like to do things ahead," she explains, so that you can relax on the big day itself.

Love suggests making a double batch when baking and putting one in the freezer so that you'll have something to tote to bake sales or for school lunches.

Another section of the book focuses on casseroles that can feed 80 to 100 people.

"We put on community dinners in our parish - we feed about 70 people with generally enough so that people can have a second helping or to let people take some home."