by lcreekmo on August 31, 2009
I’ve been thinking about food a lot this summer. If you’ve read this blog very long, you know that I spend a lot of time figuring out how to please a very picky 10yo vegetarian at the table. And perhaps it was the media blitz surrounding Frank Bruni’s new book Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater
[no, I haven't read the book yet], wherein he talks about his love affair [and tortured relationship] with food — but at any rate, I’ve spent a while considering how much I enjoy food. I love growing it, thinking about it, preparing it and eating it.
I love no holiday more than Thanksgiving — a gathering of family and friends, careful preparations and a groaning table.
And I have been thinking about how this feels like a very positive part of my life, this love of food and sharing it with my friends and family. And I notice that the 10yo — honestly — could care less about food. She eats every day, but much more because she is hungry than because she likes food, per se. She’s a fan of Cheetos like any other 10yo, but her food cravings and desires don’t go far beyond that.
There’s a part of me that can read all that and say, OK, probably a healthy thing. Why on earth would you be concerned about a child who eats when she’s hungry?
I’m not really. But I wonder about what created this love of food in me, and I wonder if there’s a way to consciously share that. I enjoy thinking about how to make better tasting, more nutritious meals for my family. And in this day of instant anything, that seems to me like an enormous gift to them.
by lcreekmo on February 3, 2009
I’m a cookbook collector. I can own that. I’m also a simplicity freak [converted packrat, the worst kind] who makes fun of everyone she knows who collects, well, anything. But I can admit upfront that I have this one weakness. I’m particularly prone to getting cookbooks that fall into the “bible” category. I have The Silver Palate. The Joy of Cooking. How to Cook Everything. The Moosewood Cookbook. The Best Recipe. The New Best Recipe. A Mediterranean Feast. You get the picture.
Many years ago, I bought the Italian bible: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. Frankly, I don’t use it as much as I should, but it’s my go-to for sauces in particular.
I’ve made Hazan’s alfredo sauce approximately a zillion times. I’m an alfredo fan, and it’s a quick sauce to make, as well. A 10-minute gourmet dinner.
But I have never in my life made that sauce as well as my 9yo did Sunday night.
The recipe itself is simple:
1 c. heavy cream
2 T. butter
Melt together over low heat until slightly thickened. Add:
2/3 c. grated Parmesan Reggiano
Stir til melted. Season with salt, pepper, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.
Boom. That’s it. And yet I’ve gotten this sauce wrong more often than not. After I tasted the 9yo’s version, I immediately knew why.
I love, love, love my Microplane graters. I have one for zest, nutmeg and Parmesan sorts of things, and a larger one for softer cheese. Ever since I’ve owned them, I haven’t used any other kind of grater. I used to use a Zyliss grater for Parmesan all the time. It produces a thicker grate–so the finished product is denser than it is with the Microplane.
[Yes, we're about to dive off the culinary cliff, in which I demand recipes with weights and measures.]
I had the 9yo use the Zyliss to grate her cheese, because there’s no way to slice off half your arm, like there is with the Microplane. End result? I’m guessing her sauce had 2-3 times as much Parmesan as mine usually does. And the result was to-die-for.
You could certainly achieve the same result with the Microplane, just by using lots more than 2/3 c., or by packing it down [how much??], but the best thing would be to know how much cheese we’re actually talking about. Saying 1 c. of something solid really tells you nothing. Liquids are more predictable when you’re measuring volume. This is why your cereal is measured by “weight” and not by “volume.” 12 oz. of cereal = 12 oz. of cereal, but 12 oz. of the exact same kind of cereal might be 2 c. or 3 c., depending on how it packs into the measuring cup on any given day.
So, next time we make alfredo, we’ll use the Zyliss and weigh the result. Then we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with in the future.
by lcreekmo on January 28, 2009
I recently wrote about my journey parenting a vegetarian. We had an interesting situation come up last night, and it reminded me about a tip I’ve been practicing unconsciously — but that seems so critical now.
We were having hamburger patties with sauce [really ridiculously easy, but still tastes and feels homemade], and the 3yo said, “You didn’t give [the 9yo] any meat.” Now, we’ll ignore for the moment his stunning lack of observation, since his sister hasn’t eaten any meat for 2/3 of his life.
I responded, “The 9yo normally doesn’t eat meat. If she ever changes her mind about that, she will let us know. In the meantime, get to work on your dinner.” [The 3yo is such a social beast that the vast majority of our mealtimes are taken up by my telling him to shut up and eat already.]
I went on about my business, but a couple of minutes later, the 9yo grabbed the spoon, served herself some meat and said, “Well, never mind being vegetarian. I can have meat if I want to every once in a while.”
HA!
I don’t know that she’s going to change her mind about the whole idea, but the incident was a great reminder for me that we spend a lot of time telling kids who we think they are — when we should spend our time supporting them as they explore their choices.
by lcreekmo on January 10, 2009
I’ve blogged some here off and on about the 9yo being vegetarian. It isn’t surprising — her stepmom has been a veggie as long as we’ve known her. I was a veggie for about 1.5 years several years ago. One of her best friends has always been veggie.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to cook for a vegetarian kid who doesn’t actually like vegetables.
So over the past year and a half, I’ve built up a number of strategies to handle the 9yo and ensure she eats well.
I’ll also throw in on the front end that she, her pediatrician and I have discussed her diet in some detail, and the doctor’s advice: Give her a multivitamin and don’t worry about it. And I work pretty hard to do just that. The absolute last thing I want is to set up a control fight over food with a very skinny, fairly emotional 9yo girl.
But I have also worked hard to make her aware of her food choices, and to be in charge of her own healthy eating. Here are some of the strategies we use:
- Make a list of favorites. About a year ago, I had the 9yo write out a list of every single thing she liked to eat. And I told her, if she wrote it on the list, she was agreeing to eat the food whenever I served it. From that list, I got everything I’d ever need to make her a lunch for school and dinner several nights a week, no questions asked.
- Don’t let a favorite food become a crutch. We only serve mac and cheese once a week at our house. The 9yo would eat it every night if I let her. But what if she burned out on it? Then where would I be? And heaven knows, it’s not the world’s healthiest food. So I watch for the emergence of other monopoly foods, and I try to reserve them for when they’re truly needed.
- Don’t make two meals. I’ve told the 9yo many times that I make one meal. I will always make enough to feed both her and the omnivorous sorts in the house, but I’m not making two meals at one sitting.
- Give the child control, within limits. All that said, we only have one real rule about food in the house — you have to try it. So if I’ve found a new veggie dish, the 9yo agrees to try a bite. If she doesn’t like it, no harm, no foul — but she makes her own peanut butter sandwich. And, don’t ever make a meal with all new foods — not fair to kids [and hell, to many adults], who often need time to adjust to new ideas.
- Help her become a nutrition expert. From the time the 9yo was about 3, and now with her younger brother, I’ve taught my kids a lot about nutrition. At first, it was just “grow food” vs. “fun food.” You have to eat some grow food before you can have fun food. As the 9yo became vegetarian, I ramped up the details. She knows how important it is to get protein every day, and knows several ways she can get some. She also knows that foods like tomatoes and spinach are super-healthy. As she grows older, I’ll continue to add to those details.
- Support your child’s choice. This may be the most important one on the list. The 9yo became vegetarian because she’s very tender-hearted toward animals, and she can explain very clearly to anyone who asks that she won’t eat something if you have to kill an animal to get it. So I help her at restaurants and at friends’/relatives’ homes — inquiring if there’s chicken broth in a casserole, or reminding her where gelatin comes from. You wouldn’t believe the relatives who try to sneak meat products off on her. I find it disrespectful, and I think the 9yo appreciates the backup when another adult questions her choices.
Coming soon: I’ll share some kid-friendly vegetarian recipes.
