A Tasty Tribute to Sheila Lukins

I was filled with great sadness upon reading that Sheila Lukins had passed away this week. She was 66, and had been diagnosed with brain cancer just 3 months ago.




Lukins' most famous cookbook, the best-selling and hugely influential Silver Palate Cookbook, sits prominently on my bookshelf, an original edition "borrowed" from my mom. Its pages are dog-eared and worn; hand-written notes from the early 80's fill the margins.



Tonight, a few friends will gather at my house for dinner and to watch Top Chef. I've been contemplating what to make... and now, having read Lukins' obituary, it seems only too obvious.



The always delicious and timelessly classic chicken marbella.


Fortunately, Lukins' recipes are forgiving and adaptable, as I'll have to make some changes. I won't have time to marinate it overnight, which is a marbella essential. And, since it's nearly noon and I haven't gone grocery shopping, I certainly won't have time to follow my mom's notes from 1983: "better warmed over next day. Very good at room temperature." (And speaking of mom's notes, I wonder if prunes will still be 32 cents... as she has fastidiously penciled-in.) no doubt, when my oven is set to 400 degrees for an hour in this smoke-filled Los Angeles heat, I'll certainly wonder why I didn't fire up the grill instead.

But, as we sit down to watch America's future culinary leaders compete for the title of Top Chef, I really can't think of any better way to honor such an influential cook who transformed America's palate during the last three decades. A scrumptious bite of moist chicken, salty olives, and sweet, melt-in-your mouth prunes is the tastiest tribute I can image.

Foodie Family Wife Swap

Want to swap lives with a junk-food-gorging, TV-dinner-feasting, un-foodie family? Here's your chance!

I occasionally get contacted by casting producers about upcoming shows featuring kid chefs. (I can't wait to actually see one on TV...)

Most recently, this came across my desk:

CASTING SEARCH:
Kid Chefs and their Families!

Casting Directors for ABC TV’s hit reality show, “Wife Swap,” are now conducting national searches for fun, dynamic, outgoing and interesting families to star on Season 5 of “Wife Swap”.

· Do you have a child that’s a chef?
· Do you consider yourselves Foodies? Do your kids like to prepare and eat exotic foods?
· Would you like to share your passion for gourmet food with another family?
· Would you be excited about the chance to change the life of a deserving family or improve your own?

If so, we’d love to consider you for prime time!!!! In order to apply you must have at least one child between the ages of 7 and 17.

To apply or get more information contact us today:
(TEL.) 646 747 7947
(EMAIL) jessica.jorgensen@castingrdf.com

And please be sure to mention Kitchen Kid!

FEATURED FAMILIES RECEIVE $20,000

What I want to know: what kind of food does the other mother feed her family?

Not to Be Picky...

The other day I was reading Oliver's Fruit Salad to hungry tot-chefs in my Kindergarten Books-for-Cooks class at Franklin Elementary School. The story is about a boy named Oliver, who -- having recently helped his grandpa harvest juicy grapes and delicate pears from a backyard garden -- refuses to eat the fruit his mom serves for breakfast. Nothing from a can, thank you very much. No jams either. And please, no juice. So off Oliver and his mom go to the supermarket, where they ooh and ahh at fresh fruit from pineapples and melons to oranges and apples. At home, mom empties the grocery bags onto the kitchen table.

"Now," said Mom. "You can eat an apple. Or a pear. Or a plum.
It's not in a jar or a can. It's all fresh, so help yourself."
Oliver shook his head. "No thank you," he said.
"I just helped Grandpa. I didn't eat any of the fruit. I don't like fruit."

Sound familiar? Sure. The very particular mandates and quid-pro-quos of a picky eater.

Perhaps you know one. Perhaps she prefers her noodles plain with a touch of butter and as much cheese as you'll allow -- NO SAUCE, EVER! She likely prefers her carrots raw and PLEASE DON'T LET THEM TOUCH THE CHICKEN FINGERS! Perhaps she'll begrudgingly eat her peas, but ONLY with a side of promise… of chocolate decadence cupcakes and vanilla ice cream. Your picky eater might even prefer, in fact DEMAND, frozen dino nuggets over your labor intensive, free range, organic, perfectly cooked famous chicken dish.

That afternoon I asked the kids in my class if they happened to know any "picky eaters" like Oliver. Lacey -- who just last week meticulously removed every trace of vegetable from her Wild Things Bagel Creature -- thoroughly contemplated the question with a scrunched up forehead and proclaimed, "I've heard that word before but I can't remember what it means."

Yeah, right. I bet you've heard it. And I bet you know exactly what it means.

That's because it seems like "picky eater" has become a variety of diet. There are vegetarians, vegans, locavores, and now, picky eaters. Google “picky eater” and you’ll get results from the Mayo Clinic, support groups for adult picky eaters, tips from youth nutritionists, and endless books on Amazon.com. I talk to plenty of moms each day who tell me right off the bat, "my son is a VERY picky eater" and then divulge the numerous ways Jonny shows-off his habit as if it were a badge of honor.

Since when did being a picky eater become a legitimate way to describe someone's food habits? Are we too accepting of this ‘condition’? Do parents enable the behavior by becoming the preferred caterer for the Picky Eater Club? And if kids aren't picky at age 2 or 3, what makes them outrageously picky by 5?

Take Felix here. Happily chowing down on guacamole straight from his backyard avocado tree. Will it be just a matter of months before he utters his very first complete sentence, which also just happens to be "YUCK! I WON'T EAT THAT!! I HATE GREEN FOODS!"

I’m not suggesting children everywhere should be happy eating tuna casserole for dessert and Brussels sprouts from their lunch box. But I do think at some point we crossed the line in how we view and embrace children’s eating habits. Picky eating is very likely an acceptable phase in a toddler’s development. Sometime after the age of 2 or 3 kids may even decide the foods they once loved, often the very same food their parents eat -- Indian curries, snap peas, goat cheese – now make them kick and scream and gag at the table -- even foods they've never even tried. But by the time the child is going to school, picky eating should become a diet meant to be broken.

I bring this all up, because I recently came across The Yummy Mummy. She doesn't hold back, and she's pretty hilarious. A few months back she posted a piece at Imperfect Parent, the dead-on, sarcastic, "The 10 Ways to Have Your Very Own Picky Eater". At Number 10:

Remind your kid what a problem eater he is. Kids love that. In fact, tell him in front of guests. Call him “picky”, fussy”, “difficult at dinner time” or say things like, “He’s like this because he’s adopted,” and my personal favorite, “He’s just like his father,” and then, roll your eyes dramatically. You will only have to label him a few times before he sullenly looks at his plate of food, pushes it away and demands to be hand-fed McDonald's French fries.

If this works, you can go the next step and tell him he is “bad” or “a demon seed” and remind him that he was an “accident”.

You can read the rest of the article and learn how to create your very own picky eater, here.

Okay, so back to Oliver and his fruit salad. As the title suggests, the story ends with Mom, Grandpa, and Oliver slicing and dicing all sorts of wonderful fruit for fruit salad. And of course, a surprised Oliver proclaims, "I like fruit salad!" And after three helpings... "YUMMY!" he says.

So I asked the kids in my class if there was a moral to this story. Without any prompting, 5 year-old Lacey, the prime contender for the picky eater club, perked right up: "It's like when you don't like a food, but your mom makes you try it. And then you actually like it after all, but you don't want your parents to know. So you make a face."

Hmmm.... just what I thought.

The best ways to wean a picky eater?
1. Cook with your kids. Get them involved in the process and they’ll crave the product.
2. Offer choice. Choice is empowering, so give your kids options rather than forceful mandates.
3. Choose healthy, colorful ingredients with tasty preparations.
Think roasting, homemade vinaigrettes, stir-fries, and veggie-art.
4. Set a good example. Why would your daughter ever eat tofu if you won’t try it either? Still picky? Dr. Sears offers loads more tips here.

Extreme Pantry Makeover

Once again, Mark Bittman hit a home run with his article in yesterday's New York Times. The champion of minimalism in the kitchen, the father of "less is more", Bittman gives the kitchen a clean and healthy makeover for 2009. With his "hot" or "not" list, Mark is officially the Joan Rivers of the pantry.

And he's right. There is a lot of room for improvement in the American pantry. On his "out" list: That green shaker of "cheese". The overly processed "bread" crumbs. Minute rice and Aunt Jemima. Out. Out. And out. For quick and satisfying meals, Bittman promotes using frozen veggies, homemade dressings, hunks of bacon, quality nuts, and dried fruits. I'm proud to report these are ingredients that shine in most of my family's weeknight dinners.

But what about the canned beans and organic boxed chicken stock he suggests we do away with...except, he notes, in emergencies. These two ingredients caused much controversy among the 250+ reader comments that were posted of the NYT site. While I do soak dried beans overnight (easy, yes) and cook-up batches of stock with leftover veggies and chicken, the ready-to-go pantry staples are shortcuts I -- and many excellent family cooks -- have come to rely on. (note photo!) They taste good, provide comparable nutrients, and require little more effort than lifting them from the grocery store shelf into your shopping cart.

Forget earthquakes. Forget terrorist strikes. As far as I'm concerned, when you've got a hungry 7-year old exhausted from a soccer game, or a growing teenage boy scrounging for a snack, you've got yourself the very emergency Mr. Bittman must be talking about! Indeed, a well stocked pantry or fridge can be the source of culinary inspiration. But it can also be a solution to a busy weeknight -- a source of nutritious staples (alongside the frozen peas Bittman touts) that you know, undoubtedly, will be there. Regardless of whether you soaked any beans last night, froze any vegetable broth, or stopped at the greengrocer for fresh-picked peas.

And speaking of quick dinners and canned beans, why not try the "Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw" that appeared in Bon Appetit's column, "Fast, Easy, Fresh" this month. In fact, it's a perfect recipe to start your New Year's Resolution of cooking with your family one night each week. Thanks to the canned organic black beans, my carnivorous husband really loved helping make this quick, tasty, and meatless taco.

You can cook up the recipe here.

(photo courtesy epicurious.com)

Nadda Frittata: a culinary road map for leftovers

I'm not quite sure what it was I made for dinner the night before we left for Christmas vacation. In the past, clean-out-the-fridge night, as my family knows it, usually features pasta or pizza dough on the main stage. But not this night. No, this particular night I very much wanted our 1-dish supper to be something egg-straordinary. To use up some leftover potatoes, a piece of pork, some languishing spinach, I was craving the creamy, rich, protein-dense platform of eggs. The problem, however, was the discovery --- half-way through my creative cookery, and with a successfully emptied fridge --- that we had just 3 eggs. Thus, dinner was not quite quiche, certainly no tart, and only vaguely frittata-esque. It was, however, amazingly and surprisingly, delicious.

I told the story -- and offered the "recipe" -- to my friend Beth. She's a fine cook, when cooking means following clearly defined steps and utilizing explicitly listed ingredients. (Which, you will soon see, neither of which my recipe provides.) "WHATever did you do? Go to the store for more eggs? Get take-out?" wondered Beth. She was horrified by the idea of cooking without a recipe, of cooking without all the integral ingredients pre-accounted for in a grocery cart days beforehand, and most of all, of beginning to cook without -gasp- having any idea what the outcome might be. Truth be told, I rarely follow recipes. And while I don't always know exactly what I'm making when I enter the kitchen, I usually have a pretty good idea by the time a pan is heated. But this "Nadda Frittata" as my family dubbed it, was truly a case of some destiny-deprived leftovers quickly tossed together in a desperate attempt for reincarnation. Until that is, it was presented on a plate. And eaten. Every. Last. Bite.

While I don't recommended cooking by the seat of your apron every night, I think we all have a lot to learn from such renegade methods. Discovery. Trial and error. Mistakes from which to learn. Curiosity. Surprises. Risks. These are the kind of experiences we encourage our children to have when they are at school, when they are making friends, when they are finding themselves in the real world. Yet so often parents describe their own kitchen experiences with precisely the kind of anxiety we don't want our children to confront. Stressed. Ruined. Boring. Same-old, same-old. Fear of failure. Lack of trust. Self-consciousness.

Sure, I could have gone to the corner store and gotten a dozen eggs. Or decided that spinach, pork, a mere 3 eggs, heavy cream, cheese, and potatoes might not exactly comprise a family dinner. In fact, I could have given up all together and picked up for the phone and dialed Thai take-out.

But I believe in kitchen adventures. Like any adventure, there are good times and bad, twists and turns, unknowns and uncertains. But the spirit of the adventure is what cooking -- and eating -- is all about. A while back in Food and Wine, famed chef and cookbook author Daniel Patterson wondered, "Do recipes make you a better cook?" Though I read the article nearly 3 years ago, his metaphor of recipes as culinary road maps still resonantes with me daily, and I implore you to read the article in its entirety.

"Good cooks rely on recipes – to a point… [they] make mistakes all the time. They take wrong turns and end up in strange places. Their attention sharpens as they try to figure out where they are and how they got there. Eventually they either reach their original destination, or discover that wherever they stumbled into is really the best place to be. Sometimes it’s important to get lost…. The journey is what a recipe is all about."

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Anyhow, on this particular journey, I got lucky. The nadda frittata was light, airy, comforting, and delicious. So delicious, in fact, I suggest you try it the next time you're faced with some stray leftovers and a little need for culinary adventure.

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Nadda Frittata
Of course, in attempts to clean out our entire fridge, these are the ingredients I used. I'm sure the next time I make nadda frittata a whole new set of ingredients will fill our plates. So please use this recipe as a culinary road map and adjust for your fridge's leftovers. One further note: the airy but rich flavor of this recipe no doubt came from the heavy cream. I would have probably used milk -- had we any -- but can say the addition of cream was worth every calorie and certainly worth keeping.

1. 2. 3.

In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, saute a few cups of fresh baby spinach with a little olive oil. Remove as it begins to wilt and set aside. Heat leftover (pre-cooked) potatoes and onions in pan. Top with sauteed spinach. Add additional leftovers, such as sliced pork tenderloin. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, some heavy cream, a dash of nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over pan mixture. Top with cheese. I honestly can't remember what I used. Mozzarella maybe? Get in frittata mode: stir lightly with a spatula until the eggs begin to set on top. Transfer pan to broiler... in full disclosure I think mine just went into a very hot oven. When eggs are just still fluffy and just set, and the top is ever so lightly browned, remove from oven. Slice and serve straight away.

This nadda frittata would sure be good with some peasant bread, or a cup of tomato soup. Or even, if you're lucky, a salad of crisp greens. But assuming you enter this kitchen adventure on leftover night, as I did, you'll be perfectly content letting nadda frittata fly solo on your plate.

Make a New Year's Kitchen Resolution!!!

For many kids, New Year’s Eve means chowing down on pizza and soda while watching movies with the babysitter.

But my childhood tradition on December 31st was very different. For me, New Year’s Eve meant driving 2 hours into New York City to shop at the specialty market, Zabars. It meant donning my fanciest dress-up clothes, costume jewelry, and experimenting with Mom’s make-up. New Year’s Eve had little to do with balls dropping or resolutions, but had everything to do with my favorite, once-a-year gourmet goodies from the Upper Westside “Epicurian Emporium”. We’re talking imported caviar on fancy rye toasts, smoked salmon with dill and marinated mushrooms, pickled herring, cured black olives, and (shhh) a few sips of champagne. Earlier in the day, I’d carefully prepare a hand-drawn menu of the evenings’ specialties and help my mom polish our proper silver and fine china. For our tiny crew (me, my mom, our dog Penny, and my stuffed animals) this was a very fancy occasion.

Admittedly I wasn’t the first child with such extravagant tastes (a six-year old in one of our after-school cooking classes lists escargot as her favorite food!). But today we tend to hear more about childhood obesity and picky eaters than kids who gorge on fancy fare.

Most American kids could use a few lessons on expanding their palate (and I don’t mean force feeding sushi to fish-hating first-graders). With busy schedules and over-worked parents, the temptation to serve chicken fingers instead of homemade pot-pie and frozen French fries as opposed to baked sweet potatoes is too great for many families. Family mealtime as Norman Rockwell would recognize it has become a long-forgotten American pastime. And in turn we are raising a generation of picky eaters who think peaches come from cans and have little interest in eating a nutritionally balanced meal.

The solution? Cook with your kids. It has been proven time and again that kids who help out in the kitchen are much more likely to become adventurous eaters. Kids with culinary instruction not only cultivate a more diverse palate, but also experience increased self-confidence, discover the important role nutrition plays in our physical and emotional wellbeing, and build the foundation for healthy life-long skills. Here are some other great reasons to cook with your kids.

In the spirit of the New Year, there’s no better time to change the way your family eats. This January, resolve to cook dinner with your family one night a week. If families that eat dinner together raise smarter, safer, and more secure kids, we can only imagine what will happen when families start cooking together! Regardless of your culinary prowess, or your tolerance for mess, this shouldn’t be as daunting as it sounds.

Here’s the plan:
Join me in making a New Year’s Kitchen Resolution! Commit to a Family Kitchen one night each week when soccer practice and PTO meetings won’t have you eating in the car. Earlier in the week, decide on a menu theme (Greek? Comfort food? No-silverware-required finger foods?) and plan and shop for the meal. On the night of Family Kitchen, make sure each family member lends a hand. Remember, this meal is much more about the process than the product. So take time, have fun, and enjoy your too-crowded kitchen. There are appropriate kitchen tasks for every family member, young and old.

With a happier, healthier family, Family Kitchen is one New Year’s resolution you’ll be grateful for well into spring. And maybe by next January when your kids watch the ball drop, they’ll trade roasted vegetables and baked salmon for those infamous chicken fingers and boxed mac and cheese.

Weather Report: Soup's On

It's raining in LA.

In fact, it's been raining in LA since about Friday. Wet. Cold. Rain. As a New England-er I shouldn't be so put out by this. (Especially since my in-laws are on day 5 without electricity toughing-out New Hampshire's ice storm.) But let me assure you it is quite easy to get accustomed to 70 degree sunshine 12-months of the year.

In truth, I love the rain. But I prefer the kind that comes in the depths of summer, that stirs-up the musty smell of dirt and just-mowed grass, that makes you want to run through puddles barefoot. Today's kind of rain -- the windy, damp kind that brings 45 degree temps to my coastal street, and heavy snow at 2000 feet -- is the kind of rain that makes you want to pull on your favorite sweats, curl up on the couch with a good (cook)book, and make soup.

So, I did just that. The best thing about making soup is that you really don't need a recipe at all.

1. Grab a nice big pot.

2. Saute some onions and maybe some carrots in a bit of olive oil.

3. Throw in whatever you've got hanging out in the pantry-- beans, potatoes, pasta, squash. (I was recently delighted by the variety of Trader Joe's 17 Bean and Barley mix.)

4. Now see what's lying around the fridge-- tomatoes, zucchini, greens, some herbs.

5. Add some liquid -- stock's nice, but water will do.

6. Let it simmer.

7. Depending on the ingredients, smooth it out with an immersion blender -- but only if you wish.

8. Serve it up in deep bowls, maybe topped with a little olive oil and some nice grated Parmesan.

9. Dust off an old movie, a favorite book, or round up your kids and re-tell the tale of the two beggars in Stone Soup.

10. Savor every moment of the comfort and warmth this little bowl provides you and your family. And don't be surprised to discover it's even better tomorrow.

And when the rain stops, soup may still be your family's security blanket. As Ad Age reports, selling soup is the number 1 recession-proof marketing strategy.

And the Economist Says...

...Wake up your kitchen!! Plug in the blender, dust-off the mixing bowls, and GET COOKING!

Today's lead story in at least two of the nation's best food sections is enough to make restaurateurs, butchers, and gourmet artisans cringe:

"From Dining Out to Cold Turkey", headlines the New York Times. "Food Lessons from the Great Depression," writes Mary MacVean for the LA Times.

In the LA Times, we read about depression-era recipes that encouraged families to make do with the little they had. Nothing says government bailout like sour grass soup and water cocoa. In the NY Times, we learn that 60% of Americans are cooking at home more and dining out less. And Ball canning supplies are up a whopping 92% from this time last year. It was also bleak a month ago, when the Times reported that the packers at a Minnesota Spam factory were practically working 8-days a week to keep up with demand for the infamous recession meat. Meanwhile, grocery stores continue to see double-digit increases in sales of inexpensive mainstays like rice and beans.

Okay, so Americans might have made some mistakes when they signed up for those variable rate loans, but it seems like they might be on the right track when it comes to nourishment. The one glaring difference between the Great Depression (1.0) and our current economic crisis? The role children play in the family meal.

Take, for example, Hattie Adkins, now 76, who recalls being a locavore before it was cool. Her family ate whatever was cheapest and closest, including wild rabbits from the nearby woods. As MacVean reminds us, this was a few generations back when "cooking was a family affair, with children sent to pick food from the garden or shell peas. With SAT prep classes or soccer or ballet, many families are lucky to get their kids to the dinner table at all."

(AGH. PLEASE don't get me started.)

Fast forward to 2008. Meet Tracey Gist, the Pennsylvania resident quoted in the NY Times article. She used to take her family to restaurants for dinner most nights of the week. But with the economy as it is, she's cutting back. And her kids are not pleased. In fact, they actually complained about a recent home-cooked roast chicken their mom served, and opted for canned ravioli instead! (I'm sure Ms. Adkins would have been delighted at the mere prospect of such a feast.) Ms. Gist mimics her daughters' fickle tastes: "it doesn’t matter what it is [I make] if it doesn’t come on a menu." Well you know what I have to say to this mom? TOO BAD. Get a menu. Put dinner on it. And if they don't eat it, well, that's what we call depression-era cutbacks.

In these uncertain economic times, it seems one thing is certain. Your kids will probably starve before they skin a wild rabbit or eat sour grass soup. ("Is that real grass? EWWW!!!")

But cooking at home is healthier, and it is cheaper than going out. (Barbara Kingsolver proves it on every page in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.) And does it really take that much more time? Many say no. Before economists turn cooking into a depression-era-only activity, let's also remember all the joys that come from a home-cooked meal. And it gets even better when kids actually help with the cooking. Schedule cooking dinner into your kids' lives -- right before SAT class and after soccer practice -- and teach them the kitchen skills they need.

That way, when they are parents themselves, and Depression 3.0 hits, they won't be one of the millions trading take-out for a nice can of Spam.

DeeDee, Meet Nintendo DS

My great-grandmother DeeDee was born over a century ago. In the 90+ years of her life, she witnessed everything from the Great Depression (that'd be 1.0), and the golden years of Ford (not 2008), to the proliferation of telecommunications and the personal computer. She nearly saw Al Gore invent the Internet.

But if there was one thing in the 21st century that would have really surprised her -- I mean blown her out of the water -- it'd be the Nintendo DS Personal Trainer: Cooking.

You see, before Nintendo, DeeDee was the original "personal trainer of cooking". DeeDee was an unbelievable cook. Her apple pie was the kind of dessert that could bring a dueling family together. She spent decades coaching my mom on the secrets of perfect pie dough, buttery ruggelah, moist roast chicken -- and there was nothing she cherished more. Some of my earliest kitchen memories are of DeeDee, my mom, and my cousins, gathered in her yellow kitchen tasting and laughing away. She embraced the true spirit of the kitchen, sharing the love and adventure that went into each recipe, and it showed in her food and in the memories that were created. It's been over 15 years since DeeDee passed away, and the smell of a perfect apple pie can still bring my mom to tears.

The problem of course, is that Nintendo-generated cooking "lessons" (and in fact there are others -- over 30 cooking apps on the iPhone alone!) are actually setting out to eliminate the priceless moments I shared with DeeDee in her kitchen -- the very human experience that is cooking! The conversations, the friendships, the tasting, the sharing, the mistakes -- the highly cherished passing down of family recipes from generation to generation!!! Can a computer take this away?

I can almost hear it now:

"So, Chef, where did you learn to cook?"
"Well, my first "real experience" was playing Cooking Mama, the absurdly popular cartoon game that pre-dated Personal Trainer, when I first used a chefs' knife. Next, I learned to use a can-opener in that very same game! Before I knew it, I was working with real knives, and I stir-fried some chicken with my GameBoy guiding me every step of the way. I scored a thumbs-up, moved onto quiche 101, and I've been the executive chef at Le Cirque ever since."

Sigh.

It's as if the makers of Nintendo have already heard my complaints and have their defense ready. A page on the website for Personal Trainer: Cooking, features 3 different videos showing 2 friends, a family, and a couple, all cooking together with their Nintendo DS coaching their every step. (And I mean literally, Every. Single. Step.) The videos are painful to watch. The young couple acts like they've never been to a grocery store or made a grocery list, never held a knife, never boiled rice. (Which, by the way, they do with a rice cooker, so we're not exactly talking brain surgery here.) It takes them 6 long and slow steps just to cut a cucumber.

While I realize not everyone has a DeeDee to help coach them through the basics of cooking, I just can't accept that learning from Nintendo is a substitute. There are neighbors and grandmas, uncles and aunts, who are eager to share their love for homemade goodness. Families who cook together share experiences that can't always be had outside of the kitchen. DeeDee passed on her passion and enthusiasm for cooking to my mom. And my mom gave me that very same gift. Would I really be excited about cooking dinner 7 nights a week if I had learned to cook from an electronic machine?

My favorite line of the video is when the young man remarks, "Wow, I can't believe Nintendo is going to tell us what to eat for dinner!"

Me neither.

Lessons in Gnocchi and Life

I spent the last 2 weeks eating my way through Paris, France and Piedmont, Italy. From steak tartare and moulles frites to fresh Genovese pesto and melt-in-your-mouth Barolo braised lamb, we ate some of the best meals of our lives. The trip was a gastronomic delight.

When we arrived at our rustic agriturismo (a working farm turned bed-and-breakfast) just outside of Alba, Italy, our hostess-extraordinaire met us with hands covered in flour. Alessandra -- inn-keeper, mother of 3 (including an 11-month old), cook, goat-milker, jam-maker, and wife to accordion playing, wine making, farm managing husband, Batista -- was busy making fresh gnocchi to feed nearly 60 people that evening. (Their family serves an 8 course dinner to hungry locals 4 nights a week, featuring cheeses, jams, eggs, meats, vegetables and wine, all straight from their farm. Dinner often begins with several antipasti dishes, followed by multiple pasta and meat courses, and after sipping the farm's own grappa, ends with Batista leading the guests in song and dance well after midnight.)

Make fresh gnocchi in a beautiful Italian farmhouse with an experienced cook? I was only too happy to help.
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With my hands now covered in flour, and through my poor Italian and her excellent English, Alessandra and I managed to discuss the things most important to us both: food and family. When I told her that I made my living teaching children to cook, she didn't understand. And it wasn't the language barrier.

"You mean like a nanny?" (Nope.)

"Well, why would you need to teach kids to cook?"

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I didn't need to give her my usual talk on the benefits of kids' cooking. We had a different misunderstanding. Though home to Slow Food, and the University of Gastronomic Sciences, in Italy, kid's cooking classes are a pretty foreign concept.

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"Why wouldn't the parents and grandparents simply teach their kids to cook?"

It was true. Hadn't recipes and techniques been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years in Italy and elsewhere? Why had so many parents in America misplaced the know-how, or ran out of the time, to pass down one of life's most important skill sets?

You can blame it on McDonald's or the microwave, 12-hour work days or Applebees. While I don't have the answer, I may have the solution. A lot of American families are busy, hungry, and kitchen-challenged. And yet the children's culinary market continues to grow. By encouraging this impassioned surge of interest that so many children have shown in the kitchen, and by indulging them in culinary lessons, we might just be changing the way the next generation thinks about food. I say, let's give kids the framework to appreciate the joy of feeding their family! Let's teach them to saute, shell a bean, and make soup from scratch! Let's make gnocchi!

And in 20 years these kids' kids might just learn to cook alongside their mom and dad. Just as Carolina and little Giovanni do at Casa Scaparone.

They'll Even Eat Radishes

There's been a lot of research lately which suggests children involved in preparing their own meals are far more likely to cultivate a diverse and nutritious palate.

Of course, those of us who cook with children don't need fancy studies to prove this. We see it every day. Like when a self-proclaimed salad hater devours his "Let-Us Rap" romaine leaf, stuffed with dried fruits and nuts, and quickly makes a second.

Today's New York Times has gone ahead and called "sending children out of the kitchen during meal time [to be one of] the most common food mistakes parents make". In fact, parents who choose to make dinner in the cloak of secrecy are actually doing their children a considerable disservice. In this latest study from Teachers College, children who learned to prepare their own whole grains and vegetables were even more likely to choose those same foods in the cafeteria. Yup, bitter radishes included.

So don't get stuck as a short-order cook, get cooking with your kids today.

Whole Foods Venice

Truth be told, I've never been a Whole Foods shopper. I've subscribed to the "Whole Paycheck" theory, and I'd much rather buy local than 2000 miles-away-organic. I'm pretty loyal to high-quality, cost-effective Trader Joe's, and the local farmers' markets.

But I'm afraid that's all about to change. Well, I'll at least have a new stop on the grocery circuit. The 48,000-square-foot Whole Foods Venice opened yesterday, and I was there.

What blew me away wasn't the impeccably organized fresh produce, the fish smoker, or 2 counters of domestic and imported cheeses. (Though the hand-pulled mozzarella demo and tasting was pretty neat.) The prepared foods section was like a gourmet global buffet in Vegas on steroids. I was overwhelmed by such things as a rice pudding bar. A chocolate fountain surrounded by dozens of fancy dessert creations. A taqueria. Learning that every egg used in on-site food production was laid by a cage-free chicken. A Korean BBQ and sushi counter. Did I mention the wine bar with a tapas menu? The gelato bar? Or the local artisans' area next to the shoe wall? Indeed, I get overwhelmed in a store of this caliber. Too many choices; too much variety! Can you imagine finding in Italy, a country made for foodies and locavoires, an entire grocery wall devoted to yogurt? I also worry about the corporate effects: how will the mom and pop bakery fare, the local taco truck, the pizzeria?


And the prices? $4.99 for a custom made burrito isn't bad. $2.49 for a cup of soup. $3.49 for a gallon of milk. 1 1/2lbs. of Fair Trade organic coffee beans for $9.99. Not bad. And while it might just be a marketing ploy discussed recently in the New York Times, I was impressed with the 24 page newsletter, "the Whole Deal", which emphasizes budget friendly ways to prepare healthy, gourmet food for your family. Whole Foods even offers a weekly Value Tour, which walks the savvy shopper through the store on a best deal mission. (Though I probably won't be starting date night as the publication suggested: gorging on appetizers at home, so I can save money on dinner out.)

For take-out and bulk grains, little can compare. I'll need to make a few more trips to really evaluate our new culinary show-stopper for groceries. But with such variety and eco-friendly values in my backyard, it's certainly something I look forward to doing.

If you've got little ones Growing Up Gourmet...
check out the Whole Foods' Mommy Mixer for new moms on Thursday, September 11 featuring organic baby food samples and cooking demos. Back to School Kid's Day, Sunday, September 14, 12-4pm. Value Tours are schedule for Sundays at 11 and 3. More info here.

Meals Made Together Taste Better!

Resolve to cook dinner with your family or friends one night each week! Pledge your support to change the way American families eat dinner. Sign the petition for a Kitchen Resolution today!

A Kitchen Resolution

While the rest of the world has to sit around and wait for January to start things anew, families are lucky. Back to School season is a time for all things new: new shoes, new locker combinations, new books, and New (School) Year’s resolutions. And I propose one resolution to start right away: cook dinner with your family one night a week. If families that eat dinner together raise smarter, safer, and more secure kids, we can only imagine what happens when families cook together. Regardless of your culinary prowess, or your tolerance for mess, this shouldn’t be as daunting as it sounds. Chances are your kids are already eager to unleash their inner-chef, and after a summer in front of the Food Network, they’ll jump at the thought of feeding their family.

The plan: commit to “Family Kitchen” one night each week when soccer practice and PTO meetings won’t have you eating in the car. Earlier in the week, decide on a menu theme (Greek? Comfort food? No silverware finger foods?) and plan and shop for a few recipes. On the night of, make sure each family member has a hand in all of the recipes. (Click here for some kid-friendly kitchen tasks.) Remember, this meal is much more about the process than the product. So take time, have fun, and enjoy your too-crowded kitchen.

What can you expect from this family adventure around the stove? Maybe something you can’t find at the table: An extra bite of middle school gossip? A surprised “mmm” from a 5-year old sneaking broccoli? A covert opportunity to test your 4th-grader's division skills? The Family Kitchen is one New Year’s resolution you’ll be keeping well past February..err... October.

What I Did on Summer Vacation

It's almost August... you've been to the beach, the park, the fair, and to see Grandma. Twice. Your kids took horseback riding lessons and learned to write HTML at computer camp. You've picked them up and dropped them off from more places than you can remember and more times than you can count. And yes, they are driving you crazy. And yes, there are still 42 MORE DAYS UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS!

Who's idea was this staycation anyhow?

But wait... there's a way to keep your kids busy AND have fun AND learn a thing or two along the way. (Oh, and in the process they may even help you make dinner -- and a margarita.)

The Unofficial Guide to

Getting Your Kids Cooking During the Dog Days of Summer

Teach your kids to...
juice limes

salt glass rims (see where I'm going here...)

zest lemons
tear basil

cut mint
wash veggies

wash lettuce

tear lettuce

spin lettuce

peel veggies

remove herb leaves from stems

slice cucumbers with a plastic knife

chop zucchini with a plastic knife

make pizza

dry-rub a steak for the grill

remove the seeds from red peppers

make hamburger patties, and wash their hands after

whisk a marinade

break eggs

pound chicken breasts
measure ingredients

taste-test the spice cabinet

make popsicles

make a salad dressing

blend smoothies

grate cheese

and....

Take a field trip to...

a u-pick farm for blueberry season

the Farmers' Market

a local dairy farm

the grocery store for an A-Z scavenger hunt (hey, it is air-conditioned!)
the grocery store for a global foods scavenger hunt

an ethnic neighborhood's market

a different Farmers' Market

On back-to-school-night, how pleased will you be to read your son's essay hanging on the classroom wall: "This summer vacation was the best ever! I helped make dinner for my family."

Nutrition 101

I am just days away from completing my first graduate-level course in nutrition. Throughout the semester, "Nutrition for a Healthy Lifestyle" reminded me just how complex the human body is, and how important it is we nourish it with the right foods. I've still got lots to learn, but the overview -- from antioxidants to zinc -- will serve as a solid foundation for understanding what we eat and why we eat it. Now that I'll be spending less time pouring over my textbook, I hope to share more ruminations about nutrition for kids on this blog. But after all the tests, and all the lectures, the most important take-away message is something I've known at heart all along: eat fresh; eat balanced; eat variety.

As a final project, I developed an informal website for kids: "Eating the Alphabet: the kids' guide to the WHY of nutrition". If your kids are tired of being scolded to...

"Eat your carrots!"
"Finish your milk!" and
"Don't eat those cookies!"

...and would like to learn why they should -- or shouldn't -- eat those goodies, this site is for them. It's a work in progress, but kids will learn about protein and carbs, iron and vitamins. Also, you'll find lots of links to other resources on kids' nutrition, including KidsHealth and MyPyramid for Kids.

The Kitchen Classroom

When the editors of Tastybaby.com contacted me about writing an article for their fabulous site, I was happy to accept. Perhaps you've heard of Tastybaby's exquisite line of natural, delicious and organic baby food like "Peas on Earth" and "Hip 2 B Pear". Did you also know their website is bursting with tasty and touching articles, too?

At any rate, I thought the most fitting story to share with health-conscious moms who want the very best for their children, would be about turning the family kitchen into a global classroom:

I’ve taught children in lots of fabulous places: three year olds on the ski slopes of Park City, Utah, high schoolers from a working-class suburb of Florence, Italy, hormonal adolescents in a public school classroom. But I founded Kitchen Kid, a Los Angeles-area culinary school for kids, because I think the best place to teach kids is in the heart of every family’s home: the kitchen.

So I’ve composed the top 10 reasons why you should stop cooking for your kids, and start cooking with them.

10. They call it culinary arts for a reason. Cooking is a tasty and tangible way for kids to express their creativity. Children experience success, independence, and increased self esteem when they put dinner on the table, all by themselves! And quite simply, cooking is a fun adventure for all the senses!

9. Kids love the prep work you hate. Washing potatoes? (Fun with water!) Trimming asparagus? (Snap off that 3rd grade aggression!) Chopping herbs? (Meticulous results with craft scissors!)

8. The kitchen is a classroom, and school becomes delicious! Kids hone skills like… Geography – find the Mediterranean Sea when you make hummus; map out the Silk Road when you stir fry. Language – steak frites anyone? Farfalle with prosciutto? Math – cups are in thirds and tablespoons in halves way before fractions are introduced at school. And science. Consider the chemistry of egg whites and whipping cream post electric mixer. Not to mention reading comprehension, sequencing, and one of my favorites, following directions.

7. Healthy snacks and yummy meals have thankfully begun to replace vending machines and drive-thrus. With the help of your tiny chef, roasting chicken and making snack bags won’t seem like such formidable tasks.

6. Kids are empowered to make their own wholesome choices when engaged in honest dialogue about nutrition. Teach them to eat a rainbow of colorful foods each day. They’ll be glad to know sweet potatoes fuel their brains, bananas boost their energy, milk makes them grow strong, and strawberries fight a cold.

5. An appreciation of where food comes from fosters an interest in local, sustainable, and organic ingredients. Long after they forget the nursery rhymes of barnyard animals, kids clamor to track the journey from farm to fork.

4. Your child’s palate will expand well beyond the limited fare of nuggets and buttered pasta. Children are much more likely to eat – and enjoy – foods which they had a hand in creating. In countless Kitchen Kid culinary classes, I’ve seen picky eaters chow down happily on foods they previously feared. Vegetables, fish, and funny textures included.

3. Dinnertime becomes family time once again. Kids and parents who cook together dine together. Norman Rockwell rests in peace.

2. You might just score a really delicious breakfast in bed this Mother’s Day.

1. Watching five year olds mix, mash, and measure is pretty entertaining! As one toque-touting tot-chef explained to me during cooking class, “I love to be shoe-chef!”

Dinnertime Challenges for Mom, Top Chef Style

Is it just me, or was the elimination challenge on Bravo's Top Chef last night hardly, well, a challenge? The task: cook a nutritious, simple, and kid-friendly dinner that American families would be happy to re-create. Oh, and spend $10 or less. If this seems an impossible feat, as Chef Andrew quipped, it's worth noting these astounding figures reported in Chef Tom Colicchio's blog: 10% of Americans rely on food stamps. Food stamps allocate just $1/meal per person. That means cooking a simple, nutritious, and kid-friendly dinner for your family of 4 for just $4. And the cost of food continues to rise...

Anyhow, it seems this 'challenge' -- or should I call it a 'regularly nightly task' for most American moms -- really stumped these talented chef-testants. So I've decided to critique each of the chefs so they'll be ready when they have hungry kids of their own.

Mark: I agree with the judges on this one. Your sweet curry entree lacked essential carbs and protein. Gail was right, sweet potatoes are a great source of vitamins, but a dinner of "just vegetables" doesn't work on the family table. How about mashed sweet potatoes with turkey burgers?

Dale: Good thinking. Pre-cooked sausages are a quick, inexpensive staple in the family kitchen. But your kids may find brats and cabbage to be the 'worst'. How about smoked chicken and apple sausage instead? Or an Italian turkey sausage kabob with sauteed red peppers and broccoli, with a side of brown rice?

Spike: Few kids get excited about olives and capers. But pasta with red sauce will always be a quick, inexpensive, and nutritious family meal. Jessica Seinfeld's been known to sneak some unique vegetables in there, too. I loved your idea for carrot soup -- I wish more American moms knew how easy and rewarding it is to make homemade soup.

Nikki, Richard, Stephanie, and Lisa: Lots of roasted chicken. Definitely a healthy, delicious way to feed a family. Think outside the BSB (boneless, skinless breast): it's a lot cheaper to buy whole chicken, thighs, or even bone-in breast. I liked Nikki's easy clean up plan and wished more chefs had considered using just 1 pan. Richard did a nice job introducing hot pink beets. Kids love the sweet taste and bright color when they are roasted. But left whole the texture is intimidating. Try running the beets through a food processor and toss with pasta and cheese. Though Stephanie's dish was deservedly on the bottom, whole wheat couscous is a great, quick kid-friendly grain. Mixed with some leftover chicken, chickpeas, and snow peas, it's one fast dinner.

Andrew: I loved this take on a 'kid classic': chicken parm. Your salad of fennel, orange, and apple was sweet and full of vitamin C. But Spike, no dad in his right mind would dare serve it on top of the chicken!

Antonia: How fitting that you, the single mom, knew how to "stir-fry" up a healthy, tasty, inexpensive kid-favorite. It's no surprise that this includes whole wheat pasta, chicken, and sweet veggies like bokchoy and edamame. I'm sure your daughter is proud!

I applaud Top Chef for inviting kids into the kitchen to help put dinner on the table: note to viewers, try this at home! And I know moms across the nation smiled in victory last night, confident their "Wednesday night chicken" or "surprise pasta bake" would have earned gushing praise from the Judges Table in this "challenge".

30 Meals in 30 Days

Cookie Magazine's online community really is "all that's best for your family." From baby strollers to beauty tips and exercise to entertaining, it's a one-stop, content-rich source for all things family. Though I am easily distracted by the "Do-Everything-Better Guides" (who wouldn't be lured by such a claim?) I of course visit the site for creative new ideas in the kitchen.

A must-read for any mom in the "What's For Dinner???" or "Feed My Family.. NOW!" slump, is Jenny Rosenstrach's article 30 Meals in 30 Days, where: "A mother of two sets out to expand her kids' palates, break out of a rut, and ultimately rediscover a small part of her old self."

My favorite part of the article is the week-by-week analysis and links for each new recipe. Rosenstrach offers helpful tips for advanced preparation, heads-up on the number of dirty dishes, viable substitutions for picky-eaters, and provides her family's report-card style rating.

If you're family's been gorging on grilled cheese, instead of Growing Up Gourmet, this is one article to read before your next trip to the store.

Eating the Most Out of College

There's no reason your Kitchen Kid should stop "growing up gourmet" when he heads off to college. In fact, perhaps he should choose his college precisely with the interest of becoming a teenage gourmand.

In loco parentis, the Bowdoin College dining hall in Brunswick, ME gives students a taste of culinary ingenuity that, sorry moms, just can't be beat, even in your own kitchen. How about homemade potato-leek soup, freshly baked rosemary bread, and bananas foster? How about a wheatberry salad with dried cranberries and fresh herbs, Maine shrimp cakes with spicy remoulade, and eggs benedict florentine? Still not convinced? Don't forget the annual Thanksgiving dinner under candlelight or the treasured fall lobster-bake complete with steamed clams and corn on the cob. Oh, and no one can resist that hot fudge...

The New York Times today notes that Bowdoin College's Dining Hall uses Fair Trade coffee, organic herbs and vegetables grown on campus, and an in-house butcher to create an ever-rotating menu of homemade recipes. They incorporate student requests and create genuine ethnic meals that respectfully honor traditions and holidays. But as any Polar Bear will tell you, it isn't just the food, but the experience of sharing meals with friends. In the Times, Mary Lou Kennedy, Bowdoin’s dining director, notes that the students, “love the community of food. They were Slow Food 10 years before it became a movement. At dinner, they come and stay for an hour and a half.” That's a good 85 minutes more than most American families spend together at the table. One alumna recalled "feasting from 5pm until we trekked to the library at 8, brains alert and satiated on good food and good conversation." This month, College Prowler named Bowdoin, "school of the year" thanks in part to its tasty treats, and the Princeton Review rates the College's dining hall #1 in the country.

Of course, the revelation in today's Times and these noteworthy publications is no surprise to me, or my dozen very best friends who reminisced about the "DH" over emails all day. Some of my happiest, funniest, most-memorable, and most special college memories (including my first kiss to my future husband) all happened in the Thorne and Moulton Dining Halls, thanks to a wise decision to follow my heart -- and my stomach -- to an unbeatable college in Maine.