I was embarrassed to see that I haven’t posted anything new for nearly 10 days. It’s not as if there was a shortage of exciting things happening. Between the kids being on summer vacation and the hot water leak under our house, I have been running ragged.
One of the more memorable events of my week included some time away from the kids…and an opportunity to have lunch with some other mommy bloggers. We were invited to dine at Calafia, a restaurant in Palo Alto that is owned by Charlie Ayers, the former head chef at Google and author of Food 2.0. Charlie and Deb (”Biggie”), the author of the popular blog Lunch In A Box, facilitated an interesting discussion about the challenges of making lunch for our kids. (I’ll write more about that part later, just be patient!) The event was sponsored by Zespri, the organization that manages all of the kiwifruit growers in New Zealand.
Don’t you love it when you make a recipe and it ends up looking just like the photo in the recipe? That usually doesn’t happen for me, especially with my very un-scientific method of cooking (adding a little of this and a little of that…) But tonight, I was thrilled when I looked from our serving dish to the recipe in Mariel’s Kitchen and back again.
This book, by Mariel Hemmingway, is beautifully photographed and documents simple steps that the reader can take to eat in a healthy and sustainable way. I love that the recipes are organized seasonally, so that I can easily focus on what is fresh right now. She even includes an entire section where she discusses how she has challenged her own family to “create an earth-friendly kitchen.” The list includes ideas such as:
buying bulk items (such as beans, nuts and baking ingredients) as often as possible, and pouring them right into containers that she has brought from home
avoiding throwing away food - instead she freezes items that are getting soft or puts them into soups
installing a good water filter on her tap, so that she can avoid using bottled water
It is comical when a school calls me and asks about our after-school cooking program, but then follows up with the question, “Do you require a kitchen for your class?” You would think that a “cooking class” would need a kitchen, but I have come up with a variety of solutions that allow What’s Cooking to keep running our after-school classes…even without a kitchen!
Of course, it is ideal when my teachers and I get to teach in a real kitchen. But over the years, we have gotten more and more creative - and can now teach almost anywhere (even at a farm festival, on top of hay bales!). It certainly helps when we have access to a few electrical outlets. Electricity allows us to use nifty tools like an electric skillet, rice cooker, blender, cuisinart, hot plate and waffle iron.
Here are a few examples of how you can cook with kids, even without a proper kitchen:
Thai Spring Rolls don’t require any electricity at all - just a bowl of hot water to soften the rice paper wrappers. With a recipe like this, kids get to use a variety of tools to prepare ingredients and a dipping sauce, and then assemble the fruits of their labor in a pliable rice paper wrapper.
Devilled Eggs, pictured above, are a fantastic example of something you can make anywhere…provided you hard boil the eggs before you start!
Rice cookers can do more than just cook rice! You can saute onions and other vegetables inside the pot or can use them to boil water to cook pasta or make soup. Most rice cookers have a sensor that will switch from “cook” mode to “warm” mode, making them ideal for use in a college dorm room, where safety is an issue.
Electric skillets are perfect for frying foods, simmering home-made ravioli or making home-made tortillas.
After 5 years of teaching cooking classes with children, I am bursting with ideas for cooking activities and projects with kids. If you need additional ideas or want some help coming up with fun and safe cooking projects to do with your kids over the summer, set up an appointment with me and I’d be happy to help!
This week, on A Million Cooks, I talk about family mealtimes during summer travel - a time in which parents frequently assume their kids won’t eat very well.
What would you like to hear about in future episodes?
Feeding America, Grain Foods Foundation and the Bread Art Project have partnered to help fight hunger in a wonderfully creative way. Their “recipe for action” simply involves creating a piece of bread art by the end of June - and for each slice of art created, the Grain Foods Foundation donates $1 to Feeding America. Their network feeds more than 2 million children under the age of 5 every year!
It’s fun - you can use your logo, like I did, or you can use their tools to create your own design. Plus, it is a simple way to feed the hungry without worrying that the food will go stale!
What are you waiting for? Create a masterpiece and feed a family.
Now that our backyard chickens are laying eggs, our kids are more interested than ever in eating these little orbs. They are full of nutrition, taste great and in our case, are super fresh. But the true nutrition content of eggs can be confusing, as we realized during a conversation at the table during Passover. It went something like this: Mom-to-Toddler: “No, don’t pick out the yolk. If anything, eat the yolk and leave the white. The yolk is where all of the protein and nutrients are.” Me-to-other-mom, “I’m not sure about that - I think that the white has a lot of protein.” Other-mom-to-me. “No - the yolk has to have the protein since that’s how the chick grows.”
Before I continue, I need to point out that I hate conflict. I try not to engage in arguments unless I know that I have a valid point. So, as usual, I backed down, saying that I would look it up. And when I say “look it up,” I mean that I would ask my friend Liz, who is a nutritionist and co-author of Meal Makeover Moms. I knew that she would know the answer! Keep reading →
After working for over a month to organize our 2009 Great American Bake Sale events, it seems pretty ironic that I am writing a post about healthier desserts options for your family. Maybe it is my guilty conscience - I filled up our community with sugar (it was for a good cause), and now I am compensating by giving you healthier options that you can add to your repertoire.
We have already talked about how challenging it can be to negotiate desserts with your kids. Instead of offering dessert every night, you could offer it as a special way to honor good behavior or celebrate an achievement. Some of my readers asked me for some healthier versions of “typical” desserts. Not only do these recipes taste great, they include healthy ingredients - so it’s almost like they are contributing to your family’s nutrition!
Don’t you love it when you make a recipe and it ends up looking just like the photo in the recipe? That usually doesn’t happen for me, especially with my very un-scientific method of cooking (adding a little of this and a little of that…) But tonight, I was thrilled when I looked from our serving dish to the recipe in 
This week, on 
Now that our backyard chickens are laying eggs, our kids are more interested than ever in eating these little orbs. They are full of nutrition, taste great and in our case, are super fresh. But the true nutrition content of eggs can be confusing, as we realized during a conversation at the table during Passover. It went something like this: Mom-to-Toddler: “No, don’t pick out the yolk. If anything, eat the yolk and leave the white. The yolk is where all of the protein and nutrients are.” Me-to-other-mom, “I’m not sure about that - I think that the white has a lot of protein.” Other-mom-to-me. “No - the yolk has to have the protein since that’s how the chick grows.”
