Julie Goodwin was the first MasterChef Australia winner and that is no mean feat.  If you haven’t watched MCA you need to find it, it is brilliant.  20 contestants move into a house away from their families and loved ones for 12 weeks where they undergo a very rigorous and demanding competition and where there is cooking going on 5 days a week.  The standard is unbelievable and it is a complete cooking journey full of amazing challenges.  Julie had a difficult road to the final and had to fight for her place in the elimination a fair few times. 

Julie is a homely cook and this book is no one particular cuisine, more family favourites and the first thing that struck me about this book was how many of the recipes were firm family favourites in our house.  Page after page I found myself giggling to myself or nodding or thinking how it is a favourite or maybe used to be a favourite but somewhere fell by the wayside.  This is what I would class as a great family cookbook, most of the recipes are staples and fit well into busy family lives.  There really are so many lovely recipes and the thing that made me laugh the most was little things I do and have changed, such as I always make a cheese sauce for my lasagne.  I know it is not authentic but to me it really adds to the rich comforting taste and makes the world feel better (sorry Italian readers), and I see Julie does the same.

I have a fair few cookery books now and I really love how beautifully designed the book is with the fabric on the left and the thick stitched bookmark.  A good bookmark should be on all cookbooks.  I also loved how reading through this really took me down memory lane, you can easily forget little things so when you remember them you should cherish them. From my first flick through I was smiling and remembering little things about my children when they were young.