Gather: The Art of Paleo Entertaining

Let me start by saying that when I was little my mom, aunt, grandma and great grandma created events that teased every sense. Christmas was a gorgeous table setting with a full house of decorations, apple pie wafting out of the oven and a huge honey crusted ham on the table, music playing and you could just feel the love. My aunt would sing and my uncle would play the fiddle and guitar. My whole childhood is full of amazing memories like that...I can remember how the food tasted, I can remember what my grandma's kitchen smelled like, I remember the glow on a table set for 12 loaded with candles and real boughs of evergreen, I can hear the music if I still close my eyes. Every woman in my family owned Martha Stewart's Entertaining and it was proudly displayed on each coffee table. I remember the year I got my copy and it felt like all was right in the world. It's the holy grail of my family. All of these memories come flooding back at every holiday and they are tied if not anchored to food. Food equals love, family, comfort, acceptance, nurturing, and happiness....well in my mind at least!Before going Paleo i was incredibly sick and overweight and all of this at the shocking age of 23. I decided to get fit and healthy...started crossfit and dove head first into Paleo. Paleo fit into my daily life just fine, but it felt like something was missing at the holidays and birthdays. I had attached so much feeling and emotion to food and with it all removed i felt kinda empty. I avoided baking cooking with my mom at thanksgiving, pies for Christmas and goodies at Easter. I didn't know that there was a way to balance it all and still be healthy. Since learning how to moderately allow gluten free, homemade goodies into my diet all of the warm fuzzies have come flooding back. My sister and i are working on educating my mom to Paleo baking and she's really receptive. The last couple years have been so much fun in the kitchen and i don't have any guilt about gobbling up homemade truffles and macaroons.My Martha Stewart Entertaining is dusty in a box somewhere and I’ll always keep it bc of its significance in my life (my grandma & great grandma have since passed) but all my other baking books and non paleo cookbooks I let go. I've been building up my cookbook collection (loaded since the genera has been booming). When I saw your book sneak peeks I was excited, but I had no idea what to expect when I received it. I remember the day it came in the mail and I opened it...I was so overwhelmed by all the memories of my childhood. The scents & smells, the feelings of love and family....I know it's just a book, but flipping through it emotionally overwhelmed me the first time. Made me cry, happy & sad tears. I can't thank you Bill & Hailey for giving me my Martha Stewart coffee table book back:) I have something gorgeous that I can hand down to my kids and future generations. Gather has been proudly displayed on my coffee table since the day of opening. It’s going to be a permanent fixture there!This book is a masterpiece. It's gorgeous and it engages all senses. I love the themed meals, the decorating tips, the advice on how to prepare ahead of time. Don't even get my started on the pictures, AMAZING. Both of my children, 11 and 12 have sat quietly and looked through it. There's a lot of steps and planning that go into great entertaining and you have touched on all of them. This book is so comprehensive, even the most trepidatious entertainer can pull it off.B&H you guys are incredibly hard working and deserving of all the praise coming to you from the creation of this book. I can't thank you enough for this book, it's like a little piece that made the whole puzzle all fit together. I'm so excited to share it with my mom when she comes to visit this weekend. She's going to fall in love with it!!Food can be fun and healthy and empowering along with all the other emotions, you just have to build the correct paths too it...thank you for paving the way with gold <3

At my gym's holiday party this past winter, one of the other members came up to me, pointed to a plate of cookies and asked "are these normal cookies?" I replied "yes, eat one!" She was trying to find out of the cookies were made from wheat flour or not, and, in her mind, if they weren't made from grains, they wouldn't taste good - at all. She was laughing at herself when she realized who she was asking about the cookies - and that of course I'd say the grain-free ones were "normal."Fast forward four months and we still laugh about it - how good that cookie was to her, and how she was expecting it not to be since it wasn't made from wheat.I bet this is a familiar scene for some of you. You end up "tricking" friends of family by feeding them your grain-free goodies, and let them know after-the-fact that it was made from almond coconut flour.That's because (almost) everyone wants treats. I even overheard one very popular Paleo recipe blogger discuss recently on her Facebook page how, of all the amazing recipes she shares on her site, her grain-free chocolate cake is the number one visited page every single day.There's almost no way around the tendency most of us have to want treats now and then. I say, if you can't beat `em, join `em! Better yet... help them!In Gather, Hayley and Bill have presented the ultimate guide to creating and re-creating many of your favorites for holidays and special events - all free of grains, refined sugar, and other highly processed ingredients.This past weekend, we cooked from the Chinese food Takeout Fake-out menu for family - most of whom are not Paleo, by the way.A few of us got together in the kitchen to chop and prep all the ingredients, then we got to work on the recipes. We tackled the General Tso's Chicken first, as it's the most time consuming, but well worth the wait! The Stir-Fry Veggies and Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice each cooked in under 10 minutes, so we prepared them while the chicken was finishing up. The meal came together in perfect timing, and everyone feasted.What I loved about this menu is that there are a handful of more complicated recipes paired with a few very simple recipes - which is exactly how you want to approach a dinner party or gathering.You want to wow your guests, but you don't want every dish to take an hour or more to prepare. Pairing an intricate dish with something simple, fresh, and delicious makes for an easy entertaining experience as well as very satisfied bellies!The General Tso's Chicken was shockingly (to our family) similar to what we've had dining out - without that icky sort of "fake food"/heavy feeling- and there were only leftovers because we made extra! Let's be serious, who doesn't love Chinese food leftovers?!The Stir-Fried Vegetables were flavorful, clean, crisp, and light - not bogged down with heavy oils like you'd have dining out.To our surprise, the Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice was the "sleeper hit" of the table! Everyone raved about just how much the cauliflower took on the role of rice on their plates and only a few bites were left after we ate.Eating a Paleo or Primal diet doesn't need to create barriers to an enjoyable event for you and your loved ones - whether they eat "this way," or not.For most of us already eating Paleo or Primal is actually something we consider a lifestyle - not a diet. We find ways to make it work for us when we're on the road, in the air, at friends' homes, and at holiday gatherings. Sometimes, we sneak our grain-free versions of your old favorites onto the buffet or dinner table - and sometimes, if you're lucky, we tell you "this is Paleo."We want to share how delicious, nourishing, and pleasurable our food is with you.Gather helps us do just that, without fumbling or missing a beat.

I love this book. Every time I am entertaining, I go to this book. It has all the ideas to make up a meatl, tea or party. Nice pictures and easy instructions.

Lovely book. But ingredients hard to find

Not for your everyday eating - but it doesn't claim to be. A really gorgeous book regardless of your eating plan - you can get away with feeding 'normal' SAD eaters all the things in here I should think without them batting an eyelid!

I really was so very excited about this book. It seemed to be one of the first more gourmet, excited-about-food cookbooks coming out from a paleo perspective. Many of the paleo blogs that I follow had good things to say. I don't need another cookbook about comfort foods, or cupcakes and cookies. I don't cook for a family on a budget. Instead I want to cook food that is exciting and interesting for paleo and non-paleo's alike. The preview section has lovely Chinese food and it seemed so inventive in the way that it made non-paleo food paleo=friendly. I guess I should have seen the duck-fat listed in the ingredient as a warning. I mean, where does one get duck fat? -no ingredient listing didn't make this any easier. Granted, in this case, I was able to substitute olive oil. But what was more frustrating was the insistent use of dairy in almost all recipes. It seems that more than 75% of the recipes seem to have butter, chèvre, creme fraiche, buffalo mozzarella, heavy cream, etc -- with no substitutions!! And while some Paleos may use some dairy, it is not part of the original plan and I certainly avoid it in all of my home cooking. To me, this isn't paleo and made the cookbook a HUGE disappointment. What I was hoping that this book would do is give imaginative ways to get around non-paleo eating -- like was done in the Chinese food. I really felt like this chapter was a bit deceiving about what the book was about. Many of the recipes were very plain and especially unimaginative. Lobster tails with butter? Grilled Fish? Acorn squash? Do you need recipes for this? Sorry when I artfully cook for guests, I like to be creative! I also find the size of the book a bit obnoxious. It is HUGE but really, with no reason except to try to be arty for the coffee-table. Yes, sure the menu plans were fun. The recipes that I have tried were mostly successful. But after taking away all the recipes I can't eat because they are not really Paleo, there is not much that I am excited about.... Yes, the wonton soup is good! But you get it in the preview for free!I guess I am partly frustrated with the cookbook and partly frustrated for what I think is missing in the marketplace-blog community. Gourmet paleo food for everyday and entertaining that is based on the original paleo diet -- basically lean meats, veggies and fruits. Instead of trying to imitate regular foods, why don't we create inventive combinations that are new. I must say that my favorite recipes still seem to come from regular cookbooks that just "happen" to be Paleo or can be transformed with simple switches and substitutions. Where is the Paleo Ottolenghi?

A must for anyone wanting to add a little flair to their entertaining. Great quality book with beautiful photos. As pretty as it is functional