Newsletter: How to keep all your family well fed + inspiration for Independence Day cooking

Creative cooking for busy families

Cooking for a young family is always a challenge, with time at a premium, a range of different bodies to keep healthy and well-fed, and disparate tastes to cater to. We have a generously stocked Family Bookshelf to help you tackle that challenge. Find sound advice on organising your kitchen, batch cooking, tips and shortcuts to maximise time, and catering for fussy eaters.

Recently added to ckbk, My Fussy Eater by Ciara Attwell, puts paid to the idea that pleasing the picky among us is difficult or results in dull food. This book is richly endowed with great food everyone will want to eat – here’s to the end of cooking separate meals! Try Cheesy Chicken Fritters, or Toad in the Hole, followed by a sure-to-be-popular piece of Strawberry Banana Bread.

Also by Ciara Attwell, and recently added to ckbk, is We’re Hungry: Batch Cooking Your Family Will Love. The 100 recipes here will also please the fussy eaters in your household, and Attwell tackles some of the best ways to ensure your kitchen time is well spent.

Batch cooking makes sense when you have many to feed and little daily time to prepare food, but if you need inspiration about what to make look no further.

Try Sausage Jambalaya, or Meatball Gnocchi Fake Bake. She has even got snacks sorted – Chocolate Peanut Butter Flapjack anyone?

Pictured above: Tutti Frutti Frozen Yoghurt Bark from My Fussy Eater by Ciara Attwell

What's on the menu for 4th of July

July 4, Independence Day, means fireworks, and parades, and parties, for communities across the US, and US communities across the globe. And parties mean food, celebratory food. So, what to cook for your Independence Day celebrations?

You will want a table full of American classics; hamburgers and hotdogs, cheesecakes and s’mores. Explore our collection for Fourth of July Menu Inspiration. Make the perfect Barbecued Corn, and Mom’s Potato Salad and Coleslaw, alongside your Hot Dogs, or Fall Apart Baby Back Ribs with Maple Chipotle Sauce.

If you are grilling burgers, we’ve put together a whole collection! Beef and Beyond: Our Best Burger Recipes contains 36 terrific recipes. Try Dirty Burgers with Secret Sauce, or swap out the beef and make things really celebratory with a Lobster Burger.

And what about the sweet stuff. Take a look at these Summer Cheesecakes for the ideal dessert. Try Lime Cheesecake with Strawberries, or a classic New York-Style Cheesecake. If it’s a cookout, then s’mores are the order of the day. Our S’mores and More collection shows you how to make the classic gooey campfire treat, and throws in some creative variations on the theme. Try Deconstructed S’mores, or S’mores Pancakes.

How to take your dishes from Simple to Sensational

Newly added to ckbk, Jun Tanaka’s Simple to Sensational offers two dishes for the price of one. First master the “Simple” recipe for a tasty dish, ideal for weeknight cooking. Then learn the chef tricks to turn it into a “Sensational” showstopper to impress your guests on a special occasion.

The American-born Japanese-British chef is a regular on our screens, and knows a thing or two about making great food accessible to novice cooks. His TV series "Cooking It" saw him teach beginners, and it inspired him to write this book. Try Wild Mushroom Risotto, then elevate it to Crisp Wild Mushroom Risotto with Mozzarella. Follow it with Warm Rich Chocolate Pudding, then go the extra mile and make it into a Chocolate Fondant with Cherry and Mint Compote.

Ingredient spotlight: raspberries

The raspberry comes from the same family as the blackberry, cloudberry, dewberry and salmonberry; all fruiting plants that come from the rose family. They come in a range of colors, from white to an almost-black purple, although deep pink is the most common, and the most commonly cultivated.

Raspberries at their best are delicious raw; tart, and full of red-fruit flavor. Eat them unadorned, or with a sprinkling of sugar and a glug of cream. They also work well in bakes and other recipes, retaining their sweet-tart taste. Take raspberries and cream one step further in a Raspberry Tart with Crème Pâtissière & Rosemary. Keep cool with a Raspberry Mocha Semifreddo. Finally explore our recipe collection to make the most of Radiant Raspberries.

6 of the best summer puddings

It may be summer, and our tastes tending to lighter dishes, but we still want pudding! With fruit in abundance there is no shortage of good things to make.