Welcome! I’m honored to share this webinar with you and help you gain some insight about careers in the field of food.

Listen to the webinar here.

HOW TO CREATE A MEANINGFUL CAREER IN FOOD

This webinar will help you gain clarity about:

-How to get unstuck and clear about your next career move.
-How the business world as we know has changed forever and what you need to do to change along with it.
-How to identify which course of action is a waste of time and which path will lead you to fulfillment and success.
-How to get ahead of the curve by identifying smart business ideas and career options that will become more and more in demand as we head further into the 21st century.

“What is the recipe for successful achievement? To my mind there are just four essential ingredients: Choose a career you love, give it the best there is in you, seize your opportunities, and be a member of the team.” – Benjamin F. Fairless

As a cooking teacher, I have had the pleasure of watching hundreds of my students transform into adventurous eaters and talented little chefs. Even the ones as young as two years old will gobble up all kinds of “grown up” foods including brown rice, sautéed mushrooms, tofu, kidney beans, and caramelized onions. The key is getting them into the kitchen. Much of kids reluctance to taste new dishes is fear of the unknown. But if they help create the mysterious meal, they feel a sense of ownership and are more likely to try it. There is nothing more fun than eating your own art project!

In this video of my kids cooking class, you can see, hear and feel their excitement about ingredients such as black beans, mint, and cherry tomatoes. You’ll also see how easy it is for them to pick up sophisticated cooking skills like mincing garlic, dicing vegetables and emulsifying their own vinaigrette. They are so incredibly capable – we just have to give them the tools and education. How can they have healthy bodies if they don’t know how to cook healthy meals?

Cooking with kids is a fun and effective way to instill healthy habits for life. Exposure to scratch cooking helps kids develop a mature palate and a taste for fresh, wholesome ingredients. The earlier kids become accustomed to nutritious foods, the less likely they will acquire a taste for processed products. Teaching young people how to cook is also a powerful way to start a ripple effect beyond the classroom. Once children are empowered to feed themselves, they have the opportunity to show their families, classmates, teachers, communities, and future generations, that the key to good health starts in the kitchen.

For more information about cooking with kids, visit the new site, The Kids Cook Monday for recipes, resources and a community of people who love to cook with kids.

Rainbow Couscous Salad

A couscous medley is the perfect dinner for chaotic weeknights since it takes only minutes to prepare and you can add in leftover vegetables or meat from the night before. It’s also convenient for lunch boxes since it can be served at room temperature.

One 10- or 12-ounce box of plain couscous
2 cups any combination of vegetables, diced
3-4 scallions, sliced
¼ cup currants or dried cranberries
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
¼ cup fresh mint, chopped

Optional: beans, nuts, feta cheese, cooked chicken or shrimp

Dressing

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice(about ½ lemon)
2-3 teaspoons garlic, minced (about 3 cloves)
2 teaspoons white miso
1 teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons of honey
½ cup olive oil

ADULTS: Cook the couscous according to package directions.

KIDS 4 and up: Add the diced vegetables, scallions, and dried fruit to the couscous and stir. Gently fold in the parsley and mint (and the optional ingredients, if using).

KIDS 6 and up: In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, miso, celery seed, oregano, black pepper, and honey together and slowly add in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the couscous and vegetables and stir. Serve this dish cold or warm. Store the couscous in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

KID TIP:

-Since this dish can be easily changed according to taste, encourage kids to come up with their own dressing and combination of vegetables.

COOKING TIPS:

-Suggested vegetables and other dried fruit options: carrots, celery, radishes, mushrooms, spring onions, leeks, artichokes, raisins, or chopped apricots.

-Try adding seasonal vegetables, such as sautéed leafy greens in the winter, roasted beets in the spring, or peas in the summer.

-Miso is a fermented product like vinegar so it can be stored in your fridge indefinitely. It should not be heated.

-I recommend white miso because of its mild, kid-friendly flavor, but you can use any kind of miso. (Or, omit it if you don’t have it on hand.) Most health food stores carry several different flavors so feel free to experiment.

Prep time: 30 minutes   Total time: 40 minutes   Serves: 4-6

Recipe from Easy Meals to Cook with Kids © 2010 by Julie Negrin

We are finally easing out of winter and heading into spring (even though it doesn’t feel like it yet!) but I wanted to share a squash recipe that’s perfect for Passover and gluten-free folks.

The reason why I love teaching people how to prepare squash is because the most difficult part of the recipe is slicing it open – the oven does the rest. And, because no matter how old my students are, if it’s their first time experiencing spaghetti squash, they are delighted to discover it’s resemblance to pasta! Kids are so intrigued by it that they often forget that it’s a new food (that happens to be a vegetable) and eat it like they would noodles. That also may have to do with my marketing strategy which includes introducing it as “just like spaghetti” and omitting the word, “squash.” When it comes to kids, it’s all about marketing….

Give it a try while the weather is still cool! Both the sauce recipe (from my cookbook, Easy Meals to Cook with Kids) and the squash yield plenty of leftovers for lunches or after-school snacks.

Baked Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash

Water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Using a sharp knife, cut spaghetti squash in half. Scoop seeds out and either throw away or save them to lightly toast in the oven later.  Then cut each half into even quarters.

On a half-sheet tray or a 9 x 13 inch pan, add enough water to barely cover bottom of pan.  Place squash pieces in the pan with the shell facing up.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until squash is soft and pulls apart easily.

Basic Basil Tomato Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 yellow onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 3 cloves)
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot or 10 baby carrots, diced
One 14-ounce can of tomato sauce
One 28-ounce can of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
4 tablespoons fresh basil (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1-2 teaspoons dried Italian Seasoning
1-2 cups water
Kosher salt or sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Optional: bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, or additional fresh herbs, chopped

In an 8-quart stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the oil on medium heat. Cook the onions on low heat until translucent, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the garlic, celery, carrots and any other vegetables, and cook for 15 more minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomato sauce, crushed or diced tomatoes, bay leaf, half the fresh herbs, the spices, and water and bring it to a boil.

Turn the heat down to low, and simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. You may need to add water since the sauce thickens while it cooks. Stir frequently, especially if you don’t have a heavy-bottomed pan. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the sauce from the heat and take out the bay leaf. Add the rest of the fresh herbs and stir well.

To create a smooth texture, purée the sauce with a hand-held immersion blender (or in a regular blender once it’s cooled down). This sauce can be used for pizza, calzones, pasta, lasagna, manicotti, or eggplant Parmesan. You can store it for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Cooking Tips:

-You don’t need every single vegetable or herb in order to prepare this recipe – but the onions are a must. Try making Caramelized Onions to create a richer tasting sauce.

-This recipe yields more than you’ll need for one meal so that you can freeze the leftovers in dinner-sized portions. Don’t forget to date them!

-Use up your wilting vegetables and bruised tomatoes for this recipe instead of letting them go to waste.

-Italian Seasoning is a mixture of basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram and other herbs.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1½ – 2½ hours
Yields: 7-8 cups
Recipe from Easy Meals to Cook with Kids 2010 © by Julie Negrin

When I was a kid, my mom used to cook dinner for around ten people almost every night. There was my family of six plus a couple of friends from school or family members like my cousins or grandparents. As teenagers, we didn’t have a lot of rules but there was one that, if broken, was a serious infraction: If we weren’t coming home for dinner, we had to call. Otherwise, we’d better be in the house by 6:30pm every night. It sounds so quaint now, right? It doesn’t have to be.

We’ve all heard about the studies showing that kids who share a family meal do better in school, have a larger vocabulary, etc. etc. Laurie David just published an entire book, The Family Dinner, dedicated to resurrecting the family dinner. I know that for many modern parents, this can be a huge challenge.  One or both parents may get home too late to eat with the little ones. When the kids are older, they often have after-school activities that keep them out of the house until just before bed time.

I trust that the data from these studies is accurate. For me, however, the topic of family dinners is so much more personal than statistics. There a lot of things I can now imagine living without as a child – Hebrew school (no problem there), piano lessons (again, easy), sports (much more difficult, I loved them), and countless other things that I can’t even remember now. And that’s the point. In the last couple of decades, it seems as though we’ve prioritized everything but the family dinner – for experiences that will probably end up as hazy memories as adults.

Our family dinners are some of my most vivid childhood memories. It’s where we learned how to converse, debate, learn diplomacy, cope with teasing, navigate controversial topics, tell jokes, serve other people food, share our food, learn manners, and, more than anything, it’s the one place where my siblings and I all had equal footing and access to our parents. What we said during dinner mattered. We mattered, even as just kids. Our family dinners are the reason I now have a career in food. Cooking together with my students and sitting down to eat with them replicates this extraordinary experience every time I teach a class. No matter how technological we get, we are still humans that crave sitting around the fire and sharing our day.

It’s not easy. I get that. This post isn’t meant to make anyone feel bad if they just can’t get the family together throughout the week. Rather, it’s meant to help people re-think how they feed their family beyond nutrients and cooking techniques. Borrow the Jewish tradition of holding a family dinner on Friday nights, connect on the weekends for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s challenging, but it’s possible.

It doesn’t need to be some gourmet meal! My mom spent maybe 30 minutes preparing dinner. Here are some quick-n-easy dinner ideas that my lovely Facebook pals shared with me. A few of them are professionals but many of them are home cooks just like you! For other recipe and family dinner ideas, visit a wonderful new website, The Kids Cook Monday or purchase my cookbook, Easy Meals to Cook with kids.

1. Definitely pasta…basically noodles and whatever else I have lying around – usually some kind of vegetable (kale, squash, tomatoes), some kind of protein (usually tofu or white beans), some combination of herbs, a drizzle of olive oil and some cheese. it’s good every time! – Leah Koenig is a write and author of The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen

2. I’m a big fan of cook once eat twice (or thrice?). Roast chicken one night becomes the base of a soup or tacos the next. We also like Brinner (breakfast for dinner) – egg white omelets filled with veggies and a quick grating of a good quality hard cheese, low fat quiche, pancakes or french toast made with whole grains and a big fruit salad. I also have a recipe on my blog for a Mediterranean Pasta which is very versatile and can be done in 30 mins or less. -Melissa Marks-Shih, chef and blogger, EveryoneIntoTheKitchen.com

3. Cubed chicken sauteed with honey/garlic/spices and broccoli, mixed with quinoa. All in one meal, in under 30 minutes. – Dr. Maya Shetreat-Klein

4. Quesadillas with whole wheat tortillas and veggie/bean fillings – healthy, crowd pleaser, QUICK and great use of many leftovers. -Naomi Friedman Rabkin

5. We love homemade pizza, I make a big batch of crusts and freeze them. I top them with whatever toppings the kids are into (mostly cheese and olives). Also tacos/enchiladas with soy meat and cheddar cheese. -Cynthia Kravette Gamel

6. Vegetarian chili with quinoa. Kids love “wrap tortillas” (cheese melted on tortilla, rolled up) with it. -Micol Rubin Bayer

7. Chicken breasts or tofu “grilled” on a stove top grill pan, couscous and veggies sauteed in tamari! Kathlyne Jones

8. Tacos- black beans mashed with sauteed onions and bell peppers, topped with a little sharp melted cheddar, sliced avocado, tomatillo salsa wrapped in soft corn tortillas. -Joey Lee, TheKidsCookMonday.com

9. Gluten free pasta, Edens organic pizza and pasta sauce, a little cheese and a heaping helping of broccoli. Easy and yummy! -Sandi Kaplan, www.zingbars.com

10. Who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner? Tonight was french toast, eggs and a smoothie! -Megan Rose Stolber

11. Grilled Chicken Breast with a spinach salad (that has strawberries) and green beans. – Sandra Sarfati Levin

12. Pasta, or tacos and quesadillas. We also like burgers. Our new favorite is the maple glazed chicken from the Easy Meals to Cook with Kids cookbook (we can marinate it the night before and just cook it the night of). -Ilyse Reiter Wagner

Looking for conversation starters for your family dinners? Check out The Family Dinner Downloads via Huffington Post.

Granola bars are supposed to be healthy, right? Unfortunately, many of the products on the market are not as nutritious as we are led to believe. This is the case for many products that beckon you with their front-of-the-package claims. “Low-fat!” “Zero trans-fat!” or, my favorite “Made with Whole Grains!” The last one should read “Made with Whole Grains that were pulverized, processed, bleached, and mixed with a bunch of additives and sugar.”

The fact is that more claims usually equals unhealthy products. The food industry is getting pressure to make improvements from consumers all the way to the White House. This doesn’t mean that their products are going to become healthy – maybe just a little less unhealthy. What will probably happen is that the companies will become even more savvy in the laboratories where they develop their goods and in their marketing departments which are hell-bent on selling.

Find out how label savvy you are:

1) Healthy foods have labels that tell me everything I need to know: True or False

2) I can make good food choices if I read food labels closely: True or False

3) Low-fat products are not better and, in some cases, may be worse for me: True or False

4) Products that say “Made with Real Fruit” contain 90% or more of real fruit: True or False

5) Products that say “Contains Zero Trans-Fats” may still have .5 grams of it: True or False

6) Ingredients are listed in order of weight: True or False

7) Products that are fortified with added nutrients are better for me: True or False

8) It is easy to tell the difference between products made with refined flours vs whole grains: True or False

Here are some tips on how to outwit the food industry:

1) FALSE: Many terms such as “natural” or “healthy” are unregulated. In fact, the FDA has been sending warning letters to companies for the last year or so to admonish them for making false claims.

2) FALSE: The majority of the foods that are best for you have little to no packaging and/or labels: fruit, vegetables, fish, lean meats, nuts, and seeds don’t have packages that tell you how healthy they are. Beans and grains may come in cans or plastic bags but there is only one ingredient (themselves).

3) TRUE: If ‘s it low in something, it’s usually going to be high in something else. Remember the low-fat craze of the 90′s? Many of those products had (and still do) contain extra sugar – and not the pure out-of-the-ground sugar but usually something ending in -ose (like dextrose) that was created in a lab.

4) FALSE: Products that claim to contain “real fruit” may only have a few drops of the real thing. There is no law requiring how much real fruit must be in the product.

5) TRUE: Any food that contains 0.5 grams or less of a nutrient can be listed as zero grams on the nutrition facts label. This can add up to a lot of harm trans fats if we are eating packaged foods throughout the day.

6) TRUE: Keep in mind that if a product says “contains whole grains” but there aren’t any grains listed until the bottom of the list, then you know it doesn’t contain much of it.

7) FALSE: We tend to go a little overboard in this country when something is revealed as good for us rather than depending on Mother Nature. For example, after folic acid was added to flour in Chile, one study showed an increase in colon cancer. When in doubt, eat unfortified foods that occur in nature.

#8 TRUE: Be aware that manufacturers won’t necessarily call their processed flours “refined” on the label. Anything that is listed as corn, rice, wheat, or oat flour IS processed and refined unless it specifically tells you that it is “whole”.

This Granola Bar recipe was developed by my cousin, Sonya. She is a kindergarten teacher who is passionate about sharing her knowledge about nutrition with her small students. This recipe is a winner with both adults and kids. The more foods we prepare at home, the more we know exactly what we are putting into our bodies.

Sonya’s Homemade Granola Bars

3 cups whole oats
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour (or any flour – we use corn flour for a gluten-free option)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup honey
1/3 vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
CUSTOMIZE: 1/4 cup raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, or anything else you want to add to your bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well. If you’re short on time and dishes, add the wet ingredients directly to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Otherwise, combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl before adding them to the dry. Transfer the mixture to a  a lightly oiled 9×13 pan. Use a spatula to firmly press the mixture into the pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until brown and firm. Remove from oven and cool. Cut into squares. Eat or freeze. Enjoy!

Recipe by Sonya Jassen Basseri

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

A few months ago, I was teaching my students how to poach eggs. The water was taking awhile to boil but that didn’t stop them from pestering me every couple of minutes – can we go? Now? NOW? I finally turned to them and calmly explained that you can’t rush nature. It’s a matter of physics – the water will boil when it’s ready.

The same goes for our bodies. We want to instantly look like the chiseled woman or man advertising exercise equipment or diet pills. Yet, once again, we can’t rush nature. In order to poach eggs, create a delicious, nutritious meal from scratch or get into shape, there is only one way to go about it: time and effort.

I recently spoke  with someone who offers therapy at a wellness company. She pointed out that long-term lifestyle changes aren’t just about working out and dieting. It’s also about changing our self-identification. Eventually, we need to shift the way we perceive ourselves – to go from identifying with being a fast-food eater to a person who likes taking long walks and roasted cauliflower. Clearly, this won’t happen overnight!  But in order to get there, we often have to fake it ’til we make it.

There’s been an urban myth that it takes around 21-28 days to form a new habit. A new study revealed that it takes on average 66 days to create a new habit. The researchers found that:

“When we want to develop a relatively simple habit like eating a piece of fruit each day or taking a 10 minute walk, it could take us over two months of daily repetitions before the behaviour becomes a habit. And, while this research suggests that skipping single days isn’t detrimental in the long-term, it’s those early repetitions that give us the greatest boost in automaticity.”

Becoming fit takes time. Go easy on yourself and create one new healthy habit at a time:

Start with goals that are small and realistic. If your goal is to start dinner with a salad, make sure you are well stocked with lettuce, veggies, and your favorite dressing.  Chop the vegetables on Sunday night. Do as much as possible to make the change a SUCCESSFUL one.

ADD something in instead of TAKING something out. When we try to avoid something, it just becomes more enticing. Instead of denying the body, feed it frequently with tasty, nutritious snacks and meals. The vending machine will have less power if you aren’t starving.

Work with your cravings. I love salty and crunchy foods, especially at night.  Instead of trying to deny myself (impossible), I make fresh popcorn. If you have a sweet tooth, invest in dried mango or papaya or keep small bars of high-quality dark chocolate around. The trick is to shift to healthier versions of your favorite foods and eat them in small quantities – not to eliminate them altogether.

Create a calendar. It sounds silly but adults respond to positive reinforcement as much as kids do. Get a calendar dedicated to your new habits. Mark off the days that you accomplish them. When you hit 30 days in a row for a new habit, reward yourself with something other than food: a massage, a pedicure, or a new work-out outfit. Or, instead, you can start putting money in your New Habits jar and save up for a vacation. The key is to make the process fun and rewarding.

Find support through friends or online. One writer is documenting her goal of “eating like an adult” at Slate.com.  Or, perhaps the website, SparkPeople.com is more your style. Whatever helps you make the shift – as long as it’s a site that promotes slow changes and healthful eating habits (and not extreme dieting or other unhealthy strategies).

New habits are uncomfortable at first but after awhile, they will begin to feel “normal.” Try adding a delicious protein-packed smoothie to your morning routine. By balancing your blood sugar in the morning, you won’t be as hungry throughout the day and will make better food choices. Make it the night before and store it in a to-go cup if you’re always in a rush!

Very Berry & Creamsicle Smoothies

2 cups vanilla yogurt
¾ cup orange juice
2 medium bananas, peeled and broken into large pieces
1 cup frozen strawberries OR ¾ cup frozen blueberries

For Creamsicle Smoothies: use 1 cup of ice instead of frozen berries
Optional: ground flax seed, protein powder, bee pollen, leafy greens

Add all the ingredients to a blender and purée until very smooth. Serve
immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to two days.

COOKING TIPS:
-You can use fresh berries when they are in season. Just make sure that you add a frozen ingredient such as ice or a frozen banana, so that the smoothie will become frothy like a milkshake.
-Replace the orange juice with pineapple juice for a tropical version.
-It’s best to avoid non-fat yogurts since they often contain added sugars. Instead, use low-fat or whole milk yogurt for this recipe.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Serves: 3-4
Recipes from Easy Meals to Cook with Kids by Julie Negrin © 2010

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” – Mark Twain