For those of you who are not familiar with the term foodie, Webster’s dictionary defines a foodie as a person who enjoys and cares about food very much… yup, that is me in a nutshell. I love everything about food. When I am not rushed with a million other things to do, I will admit that I actually enjoy food shopping and all that goes along with meal preparation. My first job as a teenager was working at a local pizza place that expanded over the years to become an exceptional Italian eatery. My shift would start at 4 PM at the restaurant and since hardly anyone ever came in before 5 o’clock, I would spend my time in the kitchen watching the cooks get ready for the night ahead. I am a visual learner, so watching people with true culinary talent was noteworthy for me. I worked in the restaurant business on and off for a decade. It was always my go-to part-time job in high school, college and even after college before I found a job in my field. Consequently I love experimenting with food and making delicious meals.
When my husband and I got engaged, we were part of a cooking club that was made up of me and him, plus two of his single male friends. Each month we took turns preparing an entire meal for the other 3 members of our group. The only rule was that it had to be a meal that you never attempted to make before. Once the four of us had a turn, we took the next month off and went out to eat at a restaurant we had never visited. I loved this little cooking club – we were all friends, so there was never the need to worry about impressing each other, though the meals we made were certainly impressive. Soups from scratch, roasts and pork tenderloin, sirloin steaks, homemade breads …. yum. I think what amazes me most in hindsight is that none of us had big, elaborate kitchens or fancy tools to work with; at the time we all lived in apartments so our kitchens were comparable to the size of walk-in closets! Yet, the time and energy and excitement that went into preparing those meals is what made them so memorable. Not the mismatched plates we ate off, if anything it was probably the lack of formality that we loved about these meals. Good food, good company, what more could a person want? Our little cooking club only lasted for a couple of years but it taught me to be fearless in the kitchen. If it had not been for our little club, I don’t think I would have contemplated hosting a dinner party for eight (while still living in our apartment – the one with the tiny kitchen) that had a menu that featured roasting an entire ten pound salmon, that the recipe called for stuffing with a combination of bean thread noodles (didn’t even know what they were at the time) Julienne carrots, parsnips, a fennel bulb, scallions and cilantro. I can remember visiting a local farmer’s market that was known for having a great seafood stall and showing the men behind the counter a picture of what I hoped to create, in The Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining book. I have always been a fan of Martha Stewart and still love nothing more than pouring over the pages of one of her cookbooks. For me, she is the epitome of a great hostess and I readily admit trying to channel my inner Martha when attempting culinary magic! I am not trying to give the impression that I attempt to channel Martha on a regular basis, but I can certainly do it when the desire or need arises.
So for someone as enthralled about food as I am, the question naturally came up during my first pregnancy as to what to feed my baby after the bottle. It was a question I pondered for quite some time. My gut instinct told me that jars of baby food were not the route I wanted to go. I know plenty of Moms that gave their children baby food from a jar, including my own mother. There is nothing wrong with doing that if it feels right for you. But the foodie in me, wanted more…. she wanted to make her own baby food. So that’s what I did. I found the most incredible book that guided me in making my own baby food. It was written by woman in London who studied at The Cordon Bleu School of Cookery. It is called The Heathy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel. The cover boasts that the recipes are Mom-tested and child approved. The cover was right. I love this book – it is sheer genius in my opinion. The recipes in the book are broken down by age appropriateness – so for example, a four to six month old might enjoy cream of carrot puree or peas with a hint of mint while a six to nine month old is ready for less pureed meals, like leek and potato with ricotta or chicken and peach delight. There is also a section for nine to twelve month olds and another one for toddlers. What I loved about making my own baby food is that I would spend one day a month, usually Sunday afternoons while my husband was home to entertain the baby (or babies as would be the case in future years for us:) while I made a month’s worth of food. Each recipe would make four (baby) portions, but I would usually quadruple that in order to stock my freezer. The author introduced me to the concept of using ice-cube trays. Each cube represented a single size serving of baby food. I would freeze little cubes of sweet potato with cinnamon and then when frozen, put each single cube into a snack size Ziploc bag and then package all the little snack size bags into one big quart size freezer bag. I would label what meal was inside and date it and then stack quart size bags of healthy, homemade goodness in my freezer. It was that easy. There was always a freezer full of food that required very little time and effort on my part. When it was time to transition my children from baby foods to table foods, I honestly did not have any trouble, since they had been eating my food their entire lives. As my children get older, their bodies were naturally able to digest more solid versions of the purees I had been giving them.
I fully believe that making baby food is what led my kids to be great eaters. There have been times when my kids were little and we would be at someone’s house and another guest would refer to one of my kids as a picky eater, and I would hesitate to respond. Not wanting to eat hot dogs and french fries is not being picky if you ask me. My kids always preferred fresh food (like bowl of strawberries and blueberries) to fast food. For years, I was not able to go to a fast food restaurant since one of my kids cried every time we went – simply detested all the food options at McDonald’s and Burger King. So much easier on my part to always have a cooler of yogurt and fruit on hand or to feed them before we went anywhere. Standard kid cuisine was not big with my kids because they never had it.
When my youngest daughter was born, as my one friend summed it up – was one that could be lured to the dark side. She loved popping into McDonald’s for a lunch date after preschool. The only difference between my youngest and my older three is that when she was in preschool, she was exposed to the world of fast food. Since her siblings were in school full-time, I had the luxury of having only one charge. So from time to time, we accepted the invitation to join other Moms and their preschoolers for a lunch date at fast food establishments. When my other three were in preschool, I would not have attempted to take three preschoolers and a baby to a fast food place at lunch time. Too crowded, too chaotic … too many witnesses for what might transpire. But seeing how much she enjoyed eating out, we ventured beyond fast food and started meeting her Dad for lunch. She enjoyed a bowl of chicken pastina soup just as much as she liked the chicken nuggets at the other place. She validates what I had always suspected … children adapt to what they are given. If a child only knows fresh fruits and veggies, I believe that child will learn to enjoy fresh fruits and veggies or at the very least, they will learn to tolerate them.
What I love about raising good eaters is that they are receptive (for the most part) about trying new foods. It makes it more enjoyable as the food preparer to know that those you are feeding will want to eat what you have made. I have also learned over the years never to introduce a new meal unless my husband is present. Unless it is God-awful he will compliment the meal and eat it. His endorsement encourages my kids to follow his lead.
The downside to raising future foodies is that they also have expensive taste when it comes to dining out. It is not uncommon to hear my children ask if it would be okay if they ordered soup or salad or an appetizer to start when dining out. I love that they love food as much as me, but as their Mom, it is part of my job description to teach them that eating out as a family should not require my husband to get a second job!
Right now our family is making a conscious effort to eat out less and save the dining out experience for special occasions. Like many families today, we are trying to teach our children the value of money and like most of life’s lessons, the best way to teach is by example. It is one of those times that our actions speak louder than our words. So for now, this foodie is responsible for preparing and recreating restaurant-style menus in the comfort of our own home. Lucky for me, I am a believer that children adapt to what they are given. Bon Appetit!
meganmurphyodonnell 