Family Cooking
by Catherine McCord
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: CHAPTER
1
Cover and book design by Katrina Guinto VSCM 323: Typography III Fall 2018 Copyright Š 2012 by Catherine McCord. Additional content by Elizabeth Chapman from ABeautifulMess.com and Kristen Eppich from Chatelaine.com. Photographs taken from Unsplash.com. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Edition Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication Data available. ISBN 978-0-06-207844-5
Family Cooking
by Catherine McCord
N
IO
AN INTRO
4
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: CHAPTER
C DU
T
After personally struggling with wha t to feed my first child, I recognized a “new mom” dilem ma, that I could not find a solution for anywhere I sear ched: simple, nutritious, flavorful recipes for pare nts to make for their young eaters. Since that resource didn’t exist, I put my culinary school degree and life experience as a cook to work and created Fam ily Cooking, to address the mealtime needs of the entire family. My goals are to inspire you with read ily available ingredients; recipes that are fast, fresh and easy ; and provide you with a trove of trusted information. Meant to be an inspirational feeding guide, weaving together my personal experience feed ing my own kids, with fact-based evidence on children and eating, my new cookbook features simple fast and fresh recipes, to provide time-challenged parents — actually, what parent isn’t time challenged? — a varie ty of realistic solutions beyond the standard chic ken strips and fries. Best of all, many of the recipes can be made with your children, to help expose them to new foods, flavours, and textures, and to set them up for years of positive eating habits.
ONE FAMILY, ONE INTRODUCTION MEAL: CHAPTER
5
I never set out to raise creative kids. While I would always have described myself as a creative person... I placed all that on the back burner when we decided to start a family. As I held our first born daughter, Elsie, in my arms that very first time I remember thinking, “Oh my, what do I do? How do you do this!?� Overwhelmed by the task ahead, what came to my mind was to just love her and all the rest of it would work itself out. There would be two more kids, Emma and Doren, to be raised with this same philosophy. And I am grateful and so happy to say that this method worked. And good news, it’s pretty simple: lots of love! We spent a lot of time at home making stuff out of whatever, playing, laughing, and doing things togetherwhile building our relationships. I was very protective of how we spent our time as I felt family was foremost. Sometimes love needs space to live and grow. And it was important to me that an environment was created where the children felt loved, safe, and confident in being themselves. In reflecting back on these times, I have
6
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
found it so interesting that it was love that nurtured and raised creative kids, and not about anything that I did in particular.
I was very protective of how we spent our time as I felt family was foremost. Messes are a part of real life As a parent, do your best not to instill shame over creative messes. They are necessary for growth. Seeing the mess can help you to understand that sometimes creativity is chaotic. Sometimes it looks terrible during the process, but you gotta keep working through it. It helps you to feel OK with change, a very valuable skill when you become an adult. Messes need to be embraced as a part of the process and not just a bad obstacle to overcome. Get messy on purpose and dance on the roof ! Make it fun Having fun and keeping things childlike is such an important element to being a creative person ( for children AND
adults alike). Children naturally have SO many ideas and are inspired by nearly everything. It’s all around and it’s free! They love experiencing things. As a parent, you have the opportunity to allow them to have exposure and experiment/play with all kinds of materials and activities. All of these experiences become a foundation for them to draw from later. It is in the process that the learning is taking place, not from the end result. Oftentimes, I believe we get so wrapped up in the end goal that we miss sight of the process—which should be FUN. Find ways to have fun and enjoy everything that you do—even chores like cleaning a room. Support and encouragement Creativity thrives and grows with encouragement. It’s like what water and sunshine are to seed. They will just naturally grow with the proper amount. It’s important to always be looking for the positive and bringing those to light, rather than the negative.
It is in the process that the learning is taking place, not from the end result. Criticism does so much more harm than we realize. I do understand its place, but be careful. We naturally want to do better and do it again when we are being told how good we are doing. I know to push through and not quit because it’s part of getting to that space where I will be making decisions without fear. Children don’t know to do this and so they need to be continually supported. Encouraging and not criticizing creates a culture of love over fear. Unconditional love. And not the constant feeling that whatever they create must be pleasing or “successful” in some way. They should feel as if every idea they come up with is “the best” or AT LEAST worth exploring and that they can do anything and...
ONE FAMILY, ONE INTRODUCTION MEAL: CHAPTER
7
8
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
Recipes 10
Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
12
Chicken Noodle Soup
14
Creamy Pasta with Smoked Bacon and Peas
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: DINNERTIME CHAPTER
9
Spaghe i and Turkey Meatballs
PREP
COOK
10
MIN
25
MIN
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
Meatballs: 1 lb. lean or white meat ground turkey
1. Place the first eight ingredients in a bowl and stir
1 small onion, diced 2 tsp. Italian seasoning 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1 large egg, whisked 1 tbsp. olive oil Sauce: Greek yogurt 1 small onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 tbsp. olive oil 2 tsp. Italian seasoning 1 tsp. kosher salt
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
4-6
Meatballs: to thoroughly combine with a spoon or your hands. 2. Using wet hands, take a heaping tablespoon of mixture
and form into balls placing on a plate until ready to cook. 3. Heat oil in a sauté pan, add meatballs in batches and
cook on each side for 1 minute for a total 4 minutes. 4. Set meatballs aside. The meatballs will not be finished
cooking, and will continue to cook in the sauce. Sauce: 1. Heat a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add carrots and sauté for another minute. 2. Add tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and salt. Simmer for
10 minutes. Add par-cooked meatballs and simmer for another 5-6 minutes. 3. While meatballs cook, heat water and 2 tbsp. of salt in a large
pot and cook spaghetti according to package directions. 4. When pasta is al dente, drain, return to its pot and toss
in meatballs and sauce. Top with parmesan and serve.
I especially love them made de with beef, lamb or veal, While I love meatballs ma ectable red sauce in this key. As they soak up the del with lean or dark ground tur and tender. I love tossing on at and they will stay juicy dish, you can use either me esy flavor to boot. Doesn’t mesan to give it a slight che top a handful of grated par much more kid friendly? hing taste better and that a little cheese make everyt
10
SERVES
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: DINNERTIME CHAPTER
11
12
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
Chicken Noodle Soup for One
PREP
10
MIN
COOK
SERVES
10
MIN
1
PREPARATION
INGREDIENTS 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1. In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, heat chicken broth.
1 5-oz. chicken breast, sliced into strips to yield about 3/4 cup
2. In a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat, cook chicken strips
1 tbsp. soy sauce 1 tbsp. sake, sherry or white wine 1/2 tsp. minced ginger 1/4 cup baby corn in 1-in. pieces 1 long red chili, seeded and finely sliced into rings 1 scallion, finely sliced into rings 1 cup baby spinach
without any oil until they are opaque, then add soy sauce and sake, allowing them to reduce slightly. 3. Add chicken and sauce to broth. 4. Increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. 5. Add ginger, corn, chili, scallion, spinach, noodles and peas. 6. Simmer mixture for a minute or two until vegetables are
tender and noodles, if fresh, have cooked, or if cooked, are reheated. Serve.
8 oz. fresh or cooked udon noodles 1/2 cup sugar snap peas
Chicken Noodle Soup is our go-to whe n the kids are sick—and my husband swears by it. None of the rese arch is conclusive, and it’s not known whether the changes measure d in the laboratory really have a meaning ful effect on people with cold symptoms. However, at the very least, chicken soup with vegetabl es contains lots of healthy nutrients, increases hydration and taste s good so it’s bound to go down well when things aren’t so good . ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: DINNERTIME CHAPTER
13
Creamy Pasta with Smoked Bacon and Peas
PREP
COOK
10
20
MIN
MIN
PREPARATION
INGREDIENTS Sea salt
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
10 slices smoked bacon or pancetta
2. Meanwhile, cut sliced bacon crosswise into
1 lb. dried mini-shell or other small pasta
3. Add pasta to boiling water and cook to taste.
2 tbsp. olive oil
4. While pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over
thin slivers, or slice pancetta into julienne.
medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil and the butter.
1 tbsp. butter Freshly ground black pepper
5. Add bacon or pancetta and a sprinkling of pepper, and fry
until golden and crisp. Immediately add frozen peas and stir for a minute or two. Add crème fraîche or heavy cream and chopped mint.
2 cups frozen peas 2 tbsp. crème fraîche or heavy cream 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint leaves Juice of 1 lemon
6. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and drain the
pasta. Add pasta to the skillet and stir. Add lemon juice, and adjust salt and pepper to taste. 7. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. The mixture
6 oz. finely grated Parmesan cheese
should be thick; if desired, a splash of the pasta water may be added to the sauce to thin it slightly. 8. Add Parmesan and stir to mix. If desired, serve with
a green salad.
14
SERVES
Until relatively recently, bacon was simply an that was typica unhealthy brea lly served alon kfast meat gside a hearty (and adults) love Sunday breakf d it, but as a pr as t. Sure kids ot ien it’s full of so loves its bacon me nasty things so I’ve spent so . Our family m e time discover that my young ing plenty of ot ones will eat. Be he r varieties sure to give diffe of those made rent variations from other anim a tr y as some al s as well as vege even one fruit table-based pr might surprise oteins and you. ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
4-6
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: CHAPTER
15
How to Cook Perfect Pasta Every Time
DON’T put oil in your water or on your pasta. Adding oil to the water, or to cooked pasta to keep it from sticking will cause your sauce to slip off the noodles. You’ll also end up with greasy pasta, yuck.
Salt your water like the sea. Salting the water is your only opportunity to season the pasta itself. The water needs to “taste like the sea,” in order to flavour the pasta. Three litres of water requires a minimum of 1 tbsp. of salt.
Fill your pot properly. Use enough cold, fresh water that once the pasta begins to cook and expand, there will still be plenty of room for the noodles to move freely. You also want enough water to balance the heat once the pasta is added, allowing it to come back to a boil quickly. The rule of thumb is at least three litres of water to every 250g of pasta. 16
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
Bring water to a rapid boil before adding the pasta. Starches absorb water instantly and you want the water temperature to be extremely hot to begin cooking the noodles properly. Noodles that are added too soon with be soggy and improperly cooked.
Add pasta to sauce — not the other way around. Always have your sauce prepared before you cook your noodles. The pasta cooking should be the last step in making your dish. Keep your sauce warm in a large, wide saucepan, big enough to add your noodles to. Add immediately after they’ve drained.
this: Remember The best piece of pasta-related advice I can give is the last step in that the actual cooking of the noodles should be , the salad on your meal preparation. The sauce should be ready in the noodles. the table, everything ready to go before you drop sauce immediately Once pasta is cooked you want to add it to the You can’t fix that. otherwise it will begin to stick and become gluey. ONE FAMILY, ONE HOW-TO MEAL: CHAPTER SECTION
17
Write notes, stick pictures, add some doodles—use this space however you like to make this cookbook your own!
18
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL MEAL: CHAPTER
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: CHAPTER
19
20
ONE FAMILY, ONE MEAL: CHAPTER