I received an e-mail a couple of weeks ago from Zoe asking if I’d like to have a copy of Quick-Start Homemade: Time-Saving · Budget-Friendly · Easy & Delicious by Southern Living.

Yes.  Yes I would.

Listen.  When I was first married we traveled to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama vs. Tennessee game.  If you don’t know, the third Saturday in October is a big deal.

On our way from the hotel to the game we stopped to pick up a friend of a friend.  He jumped in the car and looked at the books in the seat and said, “You’re my kind of girl; you have your Bible and Southern Living.  That’s really all you need in life isn’t it?”

And maybe that’s true, but as it turns out, it wasn’t actually my Bible and Southern Living as much as it was my planner and Southern Living.  So it’s possible I was a little less his kind of girl than he imagined.

Tennessee won the game that day and I sang “Rocky Top” and  read recipes all the way home.

Southern Living has been a consistent go-to for cooking for a sweet forever in our house, so Quick-Start Homemade: Time-Saving · Budget-Friendly · Easy & Delicious is a very exciting addition to my cookbook collection.

This book specifically addresses meals you need to get on the table in a hurry. Around here that’s all the time. The recipes are also very budget-friendly and they have all been triple-tested in the Southern Living test kitchen, so you know they are good.

The book includes a list of pantry staples and “jump-start” ingredients that allows you to prepare dinner fast.  It is arranged by staple ingredients with chapters titled “Pasta,” “Salad Greens,” “Chicken Breasts,” and so on.

Y’all.  There is an entire section for recipes using rotisserie chickens.  Who knew there were over 40 uses for a rotisserie chicken? Not one of them involves covering it in ketchup and calling it a day  which might be mildly depressing to my children.

We are having Bourbon-Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin, and I am going to take the “Easy Side” suggestion and make Orange-Spice Sweet Potatoes.  We are paying close attention to our food intake right now as we try to stay healthy and maintain weight through the fall and winter.  There are plenty recipes that are diet-friendly, and many more of the recipes can be made using lighter ingredients to reduce calories.

And do you know what else?  Most of the recipes are simple enough for your tween and teen children to make which cuts your preparation and cooking time by 100%.

Zoe also offered to give a copy away to my  blog readers.  You can enter 4 different ways.

1. Tell me your favorite fall food in the comments below.
2. Tweet the link to this post and the giveaway.  Post the specific tweet URL in the comments below.
3. Like me on Facebook.
4. Pin it on Pinterest and leave me a comment the link to the pin. (If you hover over the picture, there is a Pin button.  So easy!)

I am going to close the comments on Wednesday, September 25 at noon CST.

See y’all!