Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Another Cooking Blog? Why I Decided to Start Posting Kids' Recipes.
To paraphrase an old saying, “The best way to a child’s heart is through his or her stomach.” There’s nothing like sitting your kids down to a meal that they’ll enjoy and also happens to be nutritious for them. Unfortunately, with all the daily distractions of life, it’s gotten hard to find the time to cook a decent meal that kids will actually eat. In a two-parent household, juggling after-school activities alone can be a full-time job in itself. Being a single parent makes it even harder. When I first joined the ranks of single Dads, I realized I was in rare company. There were very few resources to draw from; cooking was just one of many skills that sometimes took a backseat to custody battles, housecleaning, laundry and kid carpooling. And juggling a paying career with all of that made it even more interesting.
My book started off as a simple idea a long time ago. Some of the other parents would pester me for recipes after their kids went home from one of our meals. And sometimes we’d trade recipes and ideas. The recipes had to be simple and easy to assemble and prepare while still being healthy. Over time, I learned more about what kids like (and what they DON’T like!). In these rushed times, it’s still better to sit down to a real home-cooked meal than to gorge on a fast-food or frozen dinner meal. In fact, it’s just better for any family to sit down together. I’ve been cooking for my family over many years now and my kids have grown up through a lot of changes and adventures. Of course, tastes also change as we grow so my cooking adapted. Spices and seasonings gradually got added and more exotic ingredients got introduced into the meals. So you could say that this book is a labor of love that has evolved over many years.
I first started collecting my thoughts and recipes at the beginning of this year (2004) as a New Year's Resolution. I wanted the final volume to be more than simply a collection of recipes. This collection represents 20 years of life with my two wonderful kids who have shared some incredible ups and downs with me. We've survived a difficult divorce and custody battle, dealt with their Mother's advancing bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide, as well as several complete re-starts in our lives. Throughout all of these life changes, we managed to choose and celebrate traditions that provided us with something to look forward to year in and year out. And that simple tradition of sitting down to a home-cooked meal was the one thing we could do any time and anywhere we called home.
While I now have more than 80 recipes written, I want to publish this book with closer to 100 recipes. I also want to test these recipes out with an audience before making the final selections for my book. I'm also going to interject occasional anecdotes and sidebars that I hope will hold the reader's interest. Blogging seemed like a fantastic discipline to get all of this done -- if I post something 5 - 7 times a week, then my entire book should be written in a matter of months. And hopefully with a lot of useful feedback that might help me make it a success! I also hope readers will try at least a few of my recipes and write me -- your comments and ideas will be most welcome.
My book started off as a simple idea a long time ago. Some of the other parents would pester me for recipes after their kids went home from one of our meals. And sometimes we’d trade recipes and ideas. The recipes had to be simple and easy to assemble and prepare while still being healthy. Over time, I learned more about what kids like (and what they DON’T like!). In these rushed times, it’s still better to sit down to a real home-cooked meal than to gorge on a fast-food or frozen dinner meal. In fact, it’s just better for any family to sit down together. I’ve been cooking for my family over many years now and my kids have grown up through a lot of changes and adventures. Of course, tastes also change as we grow so my cooking adapted. Spices and seasonings gradually got added and more exotic ingredients got introduced into the meals. So you could say that this book is a labor of love that has evolved over many years.
I first started collecting my thoughts and recipes at the beginning of this year (2004) as a New Year's Resolution. I wanted the final volume to be more than simply a collection of recipes. This collection represents 20 years of life with my two wonderful kids who have shared some incredible ups and downs with me. We've survived a difficult divorce and custody battle, dealt with their Mother's advancing bipolar disorder and subsequent suicide, as well as several complete re-starts in our lives. Throughout all of these life changes, we managed to choose and celebrate traditions that provided us with something to look forward to year in and year out. And that simple tradition of sitting down to a home-cooked meal was the one thing we could do any time and anywhere we called home.
While I now have more than 80 recipes written, I want to publish this book with closer to 100 recipes. I also want to test these recipes out with an audience before making the final selections for my book. I'm also going to interject occasional anecdotes and sidebars that I hope will hold the reader's interest. Blogging seemed like a fantastic discipline to get all of this done -- if I post something 5 - 7 times a week, then my entire book should be written in a matter of months. And hopefully with a lot of useful feedback that might help me make it a success! I also hope readers will try at least a few of my recipes and write me -- your comments and ideas will be most welcome.
