To Dad:

Thanks for making the best scrambled eggs with cheese ever. Thanks for trying to convince me that yams tasted like candy even though, at 4 years old, I already knew better. Thanks for buying huge vats of blueberries and strawberries from the local farmer every summer. Thanks for making me eat our homemade raspberry jam from 1975-1988 even though I desperately wanted Welch’s jelly instead. Thanks for giving me the Salad Loving gene. Thanks for always liking whatever meal I made for you - even if it didn’t always turn out, well…edible. Thanks for always washing the dishes and cleaning up afterward. Thanks for being such an awesome dad.  I appreciate everything you do for me. Love you and Happy Father’s Day!

For the past few years, it’s been easy to find expensive, cool gadgets to buy dad for Father’s Day. This year, give the gift of spending time with dad in the outdoors. All you need is some great food, a frisbee and an afternoon.

Planning for a picnic is easier than it looks - the key is to prepare finger foods that store and travel well. I recommend making a few gourmet sandwiches in wraps for easy handling or take advantage of crusty, sourdough bread from your local bakery. For “easy-to-eat without utensils” side dishes, prepare Insalata Caprese Skewers, a White Bean Dip and some chocolate chip cookies and you are good to go.

Try combining ingredients of your favorite meal into a sandwich - like  Roasted Turkey with Sun-Dried Tomato Tapenade, Grilled Chicken with Corn and Avocado Salsa, Roast Beef with Horseradish Dressing, Seared Ahi Tuna with a Wasabi Aioli and Picked Cucumbers, or Sautéed Vegetables and Mozzarella with Walnut-Almond Pesto. For more gourmet sandwich ideas, check out Top Chef host, Tom Colicchio’s new book, ‘wichcraft: Craft a Sandwich into a Meal–And a Meal into a Sandwich.

Remember to store your food properly in a sealed cooler on ice. Wrap each sandwich well in saran wrap and then in a ziploc and place on the top of the rest of the food in the cooler to ensure that it doesn’t get wet.

To prepare Insalata Caprese Skewers, buy bamboo skewers (found at most grocery stores) and thread bocconcini (bite-sized mozzarella balls), a basil leaf, and a grape tomato - repeat this until skewer is full. Prepare at least one skewer per person and lay in a long, flat tupperware. Drizzle with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper. It will take only 10 minutes to prepare and is a cinch to serve. Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic White Bean Dip

1 head garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans (or any white beans), rinsed, drained
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon of kosher or sea salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
5 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
Garnish with extra cilantro

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the root end of the head of garlic so that the cloves are exposed and drizzle with oil. Wrap in foil and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the garlic is very tender. Remove garlic from the oven and allow to cool. You can squeeze out cloves by squeezing cloves or scoop each clove out with a small spoon or knife. Transfer the roasted garlic to a small bowl.

In a food processor, purée beans and lemon juice. Add oil, cumin, lemon zest and roasted garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper. Add 3 or more tablespoons of cilantro (depending on taste) and pulse briefly into mixture. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to large bowl and serve or prepare 2-3 days in advance and store in sealed container in the refrigerator.

Preparation time: 20 minutes (plus roasting time)
Serves 6-8
Recipe by Julie Negrin © 2006

Crispy Pita Chips

2 pitas, preferably whole wheat
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt or sea salt
Optional: dried herbs like oregano, basil, parsley

Preheat oven to 350° F. Slice each pita into eight triangles and pull apart so that each pita yields 16 pieces. Lay each piece flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Brush each one liberally with oil and then sprinkle with herbs and salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crispy and brown. Serve immediately or store at room temperature in a ziploc bag.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yields 16 chips
Recipe by Julie Negrin © 2008

And if you haven’t bought a present yet and would like to buy food-related gifts for your dad, check out these grilling cookbooks and Williams-Sonoma kitchen tools.

Happy Father’s Day!

I’ve been working too much lately - so much that when I stop working, my brain just shuts off and I have to wait several minutes for it to reboot. One way to give my brain a serious rest is to turn off the real computer, hide the blackberry, and get outside where I can cook over an open fire.

This past weekend, I went camping. Camping was one of the top 5 reasons (after being near family, of course) why I moved back to the Northwest after living in New York City.  After living without a car for nearly 8 years, I realize that it’s not easy for a lot of people to spend time in the outdoors. However, it takes just a little creativity to find ways to prepare a meal outside (anyone that’s ventured through Prospect Park in Brooklyn on the weekend can attest to this).

Whether it means having a picnic at a nearby park, barbecuing in the backyard or backpacking in the wilderness - I think it’s human nature to crave a meal by a fire, surrounded by friends and family. I mentioned the concept in my “Can Cooking Make You Happier?” post and it was reinforced this past weekend while we sat around the campfire, laughing, eating and decompressing.

The importance of eating together as a family has been getting a lot of press lately. With hectic weekday schedules, it can be a challenge to get the whole family together, let alone coordinate with friends and extended family. But with summer finally here and families looking for inexpensive dining options, I can’t find a more relaxing and fun way to get together than to eat a meal outside underneath the stars.

While camping this past weekend, I saw a couple of boys, clearly city kids, having a blast racing tiny cars down a hill over and over again. I asked them if they were having more fun than if they were at home watching TV and they both looked up with huge smiles on their faces and said, “YEAH!”

Outside, sitting with the trees, I found it was much easier to “shut down” the part of my brain that worries about work, bills, projects, etc. And after we ate, I didn’t have the compulsion to turn on the TV or check my computer and blackberry. Instead, we all sat around and talked about nothing of any real importance. The only important thing going on was hanging out with each other and watching the fire cackle.

And of course, the best part of the evening was eating the food we prepared on open fire! Earthy, strong flavors never tasted so good.

So, here’s to cooking outside.  Here are some Campfire Cooking ideas (for mostly car camping):

MARINADES: I called my friend, Elana, expert camping cook, for some ideas and she said they usually bring marinated beef or chicken in a ziploc bag to throw right on top of the grill. They serve the meal along with some Farmer’s Market vegetables and guacamole and chips.

WRAPPED FOOD: Try baked potatoes, portobello mushrooms, or corn wrapped in foil and thrown right into the fire. I love grilled corn - it has such a great flavor versus the usual boiling option but it’s easy to burn so keep it to the side of the flame or throw it on top of the grill to prevent serious damage. Be sure to bring tongs or some other tool to maneuver the hot food.

ON A STICK: The easy route? Hotdogs. The more gourmet, healthy option? Meat and vegetable kebabs. Cut the meat and vegetables at home and marinate them in a ziploc - keep them separate so that vegetarians can make their own meat-free kebabs. If you are able to properly wash your hands, skewer them there at the site and then grill. Also, a few years ago I discovered how tasty grilled bananas on-a-stick with melted chocolate taste together. Or try grilling pineapple (or other fruits) and serving as is - delicious all by itself. And of course, s’mores are a camping necessity!

PAN ON THE GRILL: Bring along a large skillet - preferably iron, since it’s heavy enough to not be destroyed by the hot flames and will cook food evenly. You can cook pretty much anything you’d cook at home - but note how much more flavorful it tastes. Elana loves to make fajitas for dinner and then in the morning, prepares breakfast burritos. She scrambles eggs in the pan and then wraps them in tortillas with cheese and tops it with guacamole. That way, they have enough sustenance to go hiking all day with only a light lunch on the trail.

HAPPY TRAILS!

For more ideas, check out the Campfire Dude.

I’m far from being the first person to write about Amanda Hesser’s New York Times op-Ed article that gave Michelle Obama a hard time for not promoting cooking. Lettuce Eat Kale wrote a thoughtful post about it and ended the entry asking a valid question: how important is it that the First Couple cook meals for their children? Gastropoda and Eat Me Daily were a little more direct and dished it right back to Hesser, pointing out that there are plenty of people cooking on TV already and that it’s a bit of a throwback to suggest that the First Lady spend time in the kitchen.

I admit, as a cooking teacher, my first instinct upon reading Hesser’s piece was that I was glad that someone brought up the importance of cooking, which is a natural partner of gardening but often gets lost in the discussion. However, after a lively online conversation with two colleagues, Lauren Slayton, (nutritionist and owner of Foodtrainers) and Sarah Abrams (chef and cooking teacher), we all decided that Hesser’s message could have been more tactful and offered more realistic, positive suggestions for Michelle Obama and others who don’t like to cook.

Everyone’s reactions were very understandable - it’s easy to feel protective of Michelle Obama and the incredible work she has done by promoting organic, local, and seasonal food by starting a garden AND having local elementary kids work on it. It’s easy for someone like Amanda Hesser, or even myself, who love cooking so much that we made a career out of it to point fingers, but what if cooking does NOT make you happy? How important is it for parents to provide home cooked meals for their children if they can still find a way to feed them well?

With childhood obesity on the rise – is it really the job of our First Lady to provide a retro role model? Perhaps the USDA and the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act that’s up for re-signing this year could shoulder some of the responsibility. Maybe there could be more funding for schools to have gardens and kids to learn how to cook at school - instead of continuously slashing education budgets and keeping vending machines and junk foods in schools. I would hope that some other people and agencies within our government besides Michelle Obama could take this on.

When all is said and done, I think we are very lucky to have her on “our side.” She has legitimized the work of many of my colleagues by simply planting a pesticide-free garden. For someone who doesn’t like to cook, she has done a phenomenal job of promoting healthy living by her regular workouts and making a point of feeding her children nutritious foods. If parents are able to find a way to provide healthy meals for their children, with or without a White House staff, that should be enough.

So, for those parents who like being in the kitchen the same way I like to clean bathtubs, here are some tips on how to keep your families healthy without turning on the stove:

Sign Your Kids Up for Cooking Classes. If it’s economically feasible for your family, find cooking classes that focus on dishes with healthy ingredients (not just muffins and cookies) which can be a great way to expose kids to the world of cooking and nutritious foods without actually doing it with them. (I couldn’t help putting this suggestion first!)

Create Your Own Cooking Class, for Free. Find a family member or another parent who likes to cook and have cooking play dates.

Take Your Kids to the Farmer’s Market. Explore the market together and allow each child to buy a new fruit or vegetable and if they can read, have them find a recipe online that doesn’t entail much preparation like fruit salad. They can prepare the food while you supervise - this pays off as they get older and can cook full meals for you…

Explore New Cuisines while Eating Out. When eating in restaurants, forgo the kiddie menus and encourage your kids to try new dishes with unique and nutritious ingredients off of the main menu.

Keep it Raw. My mom always kept sliced fruit and vegetables on the lowest shelf in the fridge making it easy for us to nibble on melon, strawberries, carrots and celery after school. A lot of produce can be safely cut with a butter knife, so have the kids help out.

Hire a Chef. I know this isn’t possible for many families, especially these days, but perhaps there is a culinary student who will take a reduced fee or a college student in the area who could cook in exchange for housing or meals. I have a friend who offers a low rent to a grad student who, in return, helps prepare dinner and take care of her son. In times like this, there are lots of barter scenarios that are a win-win for everyone!

This past weekend was a feast for the Seattle foodie.  The Seattle International Film Festival (May 21 - June 14) presented all kinds of food films including, Food, Inc. And we also had the pleasure of having Washington native, Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain in town.

On Saturday afternoon,  I watched Food, Inc. and then walked over to the Paramount theater to listen to superstar chefs, Mario Batali, (chef, cookbook author, restaurant owner, Food Network star) and Anthony Bourdain (chef, author, “TV personality” - a term he is not fond of…)  shoot the breeze.  I’m glad I watched the movie first instead of the other way around. Although, Food, Inc. doesn’t quite fit into the “positive and upbeat” genre that I’m shooting for in this blog, I think that this film is way too important to not mention.

Food, Inc. is one of the most powerful documentaries I’ve seen in a long time. It is one thing to read about different disturbing facts over the years - and another thing entirely to see the look on a farmer’s face when he realizes that Monsanto (creator of genetically engineered seeds and products) is putting him out of business or listen to a mother who lost her 2 1/2 year old to E. coli but still can not get Congress to pass a bill, Kevin’s Law, for tighter food safety regulations.

The filmmakers did an excellent job of covering a lot of topics in a short amount of time while still maintaining a seamless narrative - not an easy task with such heavy and complex issues. It was produced by Participant Media, the same company that did An Inconvenient Truth so I’m curious to see the country’s reaction after Food, Inc.’s release.

You can read more about the movie at the official Food, Inc. website or at Sustainable Table’s blog. It opens in a few cities on June 12 and nationwide on June 19.

The second half of my evening just made me laugh. If there was ever two chefs that have achieved rockstar status, it’s Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali. The crowd went wild when they came on stage. And I’m happy to report that they were just as cool in person as you’d think they’d be - self-deprecating, cursing, snide, and funny as hell.

They covered a wide range of topics from Mario’s famous risotto story to the Food Network and their thoughts on Alton Brown (thumbs up) and Sandra Lee (four thumbs down). Not surprisingly, the topic of kids came up - and I was curious to hear what they said about how they fed their children. Bourdain is now the father of a little girl and Batali has two boys. Batali’s advice was to not make a big deal of putting a new food or ingredient on the table - he said he just simply plops down a new dish and says, “This is what’s for dinner.” Bourdain had a slightly more disturbing approach - I believe it’s called aversion therapy. He plans on wrapping gross food items in McDonald’s wrappers to create an “early traumatic related McDonald’s incident” for his child. I’m sure he was only joking…

When the topic of Alice Waters (founder of Edible Schoolyard and prominent leader of the Slow Food Movement) and feeding school children came up, Bourdain said that it was more important that Timmy learn how to read than to receive organic meals. Although, I agree that we need to focus on improving our education system, I also think we need to serve our kids better food.  Timmy won’t learn how to read if he hasn’t eaten properly - which is often the case for many of our school children whose only meal all day is at school.

I’ll end on a musical note - when asked which bands they would listen to in the kitchen, Bourdain listed off a few but said, Curtis Mansfield twice and Batali is a big fan of the White Stripes. It was a great evening and if you ever have the opportunity see them in person, I highly recommend it!

And check out another food movie, FRESH, showing in a handful of U.S. cities over the next few months.