Kelowna-based dietitian Tori Wesszer launches ‘Fraîche and Simple’, a cookbook designed to help busy families prepare nourishing, stress-free meals with realistic shortcuts and make-ahead ideas.
Dinner has a habit of arriving with startling regularity, and Tori Wesszer has built a cookbook around that daily reality. The Kelowna-based registered dietitian, mother of two and founder of Fraîche Living has released Fraîche and Simple: Easy Prep and Make-Ahead Recipes for Real Life, a hardcover collection aimed less at culinary perfection than at helping busy families get a decent meal on the table without extra stress. The book, which went on sale on 15 September, includes more than 100 recipes, eight weeks of meal plans and a range of make-ahead ideas designed to reduce the evening scramble.
Wesszer’s message is that the problem for many households is not a lack of cooking skill, but a lack of time and mental space. She argues that parents should think in terms of overall habits rather than chasing flawless individual meals. That approach mirrors the way meal-planning services such as Fraîche Table, her digital planning platform, are designed to work: with structured menus, shopping lists and flexible options that make planning simpler rather than more demanding. Healthline’s guidance on meal planning similarly stresses that the process becomes easier when shoppers assess their needs, pick recipes in advance, build a grocery list and do some preparation before the week begins.
The cookbook reflects that philosophy throughout. Instead of expecting readers to spend their weekends batch-cooking dozens of identical containers, Wesszer focuses on realistic shortcuts such as making a sauce ahead of time or chopping a few vegetables in advance. The recipes are clearly labelled for prep-ahead, make-ahead, freezer-friendly and SOS meals, the latter being the sort of quick options that can rescue a chaotic evening. She recommends keeping ingredients such as frozen shrimp, eggs, greens, tortillas, vegetables and quick-cooking pasta on hand, so a stir-fry, omelette, tacos or pasta dish can come together in about 15 minutes.
Her list of recipes was tightly edited to match the demands of ordinary home kitchens. Ingredients needed to be easy to find, the instructions had to be simple and each dish had to pass the family test. Among the recipes highlighted are Butternut Squash Ravioli Lasagna, which relies on store-bought ravioli to cut down on labour, Thai Kale Salad with Sesame Tofu Croutons and a Pierogi Breakfast Bake that nods to her Ukrainian heritage. The latter carries personal significance for Wesszer, who has spoken about her grandmother, affectionately known as Boomba, and the way she used food to bring people together.
That sense of generosity runs through the book’s larger message. Wesszer rejects the pressure to strip meals down to a set of rigid rules and instead encourages cooks to add more vegetables, fibre, protein, colour and flavour where they can. She describes joy as an overlooked nutrient, and the idea fits a cookbook that tries to make room for both nourishment and pleasure. The commercial description of Fraîche and Simple also emphasises breakfasts, one-pan and one-pot dinners, soups, casseroles and simple sweets, reinforcing the book’s focus on practical, flexible cooking for real life rather than polished plates.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
