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!

I can’t believe it’s been a year since the filming of the Sesame Street segment! It was last spring when I received a phone call from a location scout that they wanted to film a kids cooking class and asked if they could do it in the JCC in Manhattan kitchen where I worked. I was planning on leaving my job as culinary arts director just a few months later so the timing was extraordinary. I had spent over five years building and developing the kids cooking program so being asked to be on Sesame Street with my adorable students was the perfect send off from a great job.

It was an intense experience - I’m used to working long days on my feet but filming what ended up being a 2+ minute segment took 12 hectic hours. I found kids from past classes who loved to cook (and always made me laugh!) and decided on a Mexican themed menu. Two of my wonderful teachers (and friends), Jacquie and Maggie were filmed as well. Jacquie is a native of Mexico City and Maggie’s husband is from Oaxaca, where she once lived so we all worked on the menu and coordinated the kitchen set up together. The kids did a fantastic job - they were well-behaved, sweet, and funny.

My favorite quote is from Tabitha, who, at the time, was 5 (going on 40). When Murray asked her what it’s like to eat her own cooking, she said, “It feels good because you’re tasting the food that you made, instead of tasting somebody else’s.”

I now have a link to the video - check it out! (Note: it takes a little while to load.)

Here are the recipes we made with Murray:

Stuffed Mexican Corn Cakes
This recipe is very creative and kids love to prepare it. You can use any ingredient as the filling as long as it’s cut very small. And it’s great for entertaining – serve it as a sophisticated appetizer for adults and as a main entrée for children.

1½ cups masa harina (which is corn flour - found at any major grocery store, a common brand is Maseca)
1 cup water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon olive oil, for dough
¼ cup cheddar cheese, grated
¼ cup black beans
¼ cup canned corn
1 tablespoon olive oil, for pan

In medium sized bowl, combine masa harina, water, salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil. If mixture is too dry, add a few drops of water and press together by hand until it’s a firm ball of dough.

Break off small pieces of dough and roll into the size of a ping pong ball – continue until dough is gone. Flatten each ball into a flat patty, four-inches in diameter, on a non-stick surface like parchment paper.

Put your thumb directly into the center of each patty to form a wide, shallow indent. In this indent, add just a teaspoon of ingredients of your choice—cheese, beans, corn, or anything else. Then fold dough over the indentation and re-shape into patty. Make sure it’s not too thick so that it will cook through.

Bring skillet (iron skillets work best) to medium high heat and add enough oil to coat bottom of pan. Add a few corn pancakes to pan but don’t crowd. After 3-4 minutes, flip each one over and cook the other side. Each side should be just a bit browned but still mostly light yellow. Serve hot with guacamole, salsa or sour cream.

Yields 6 - 8 corn pancakes
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Recipe by Julie Negrin and Jacquie Grinberg © 2005

Creamy Guacamole

The key to great guacamole is finding the right avocadoes. Look for ones that are dark green and indent just a little when squeezed. (I only buy them from April - November since I live in the north.) If they are unripe - hard and bright green - just store them in a paper bag for a couple of days and they’ll be ready for eating. Even small children can help make this dish.

2 ripe avocados
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice
1 plum or on-the-vine tomato, gutted and diced
¼ cup red onion, diced (optional for kids)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon crushed garlic (or a dash of kid-friendly garlic powder)
Optional: 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely minced

Cut avocados in half and remove pit. Scoop out avocado into a medium sized bowl. Mash with a fork and mix in lime juice until creamy consistency. Add salt, pepper, onions, and garlic, if desired. Gently fold in tomatoes and stir briefly.

Serve immediately or, for best results, chill for 30 minutes before eating with chips, quesadillas or Stuffed Mexican Corn Pancakes.

Preparation time: 10 minutes (plus chilling time)
Serves 2-4
Recipe by Julie Negrin © 2000

I have a confession: I’m writing a cookbook. Doesn’t sound like it should be that much of a secret, right?

Well, the reason I haven’t mentioned it publicly yet is because once I announce it, then I HAVE to do it. So, there you have it – if you just read that sentence, then I took the plunge.

There are a few reasons that I decided to blog about the creation of my cookbook:

1)    If I promise it’s coming, then I have to finish it. I work best under pressure.
2)    Several friends (mostly chefs) wanted to hear about my self-publishing experience and I thought others might too.
3)    It may be a good way to get feedback from parents before printing it.
4)    And the most obvious answer: to start marketing it. But in reality, I’m just hoping to finish the dang thing. I’ll worry about selling it later.

This cookbook has been sitting inside of me for years. The parents of my young students were the ones that planted the seed. They loved the recipes the kids made in class and encouraged me to write a cookbook for parents. It sounded like a good idea. I mean, really, how hard could it be? (Ha.)

So, I did what most aspiring writers do in New York City. I signed up for a writing class. I was fortunate that I could take one at the JCC in Manhattan where I worked. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details but let’s just say that I was not a star student (okay, I sucked). And lest you think I’m just being modest – I have several classmates that will vouch for the sucking part. It’s been a long road from that first class to the launch of my blog – a long and very red-penned road. As you may have noticed, I still have trouble being concise….

I started working on a book proposal – I spent a LOT of time on it. When it was finally done, I showed it to a few agents and publishers who loved the concept but thought the niche was too small (i.e. “bugger off”). This was a couple of years ago before cooking with kids became trendy.

Someone suggested I self-publish it. I was aghast. Self-publish? No way. I wanted a legitimate publisher. But the more I started researching it, the more appealing it sounded. With the modern print-on-demand sites now available, I wouldn’t end up investing tons of money and getting stuck with stacks of unsold books. And I’d have total creative control (I admit it, I like being in charge) and it would be faster than the usual 18 months it usually takes. I spoke with other authors who agreed that self-publishing didn’t have the stigma it once had and that new authors have to self-promote and market their own books anyway.

You are probably wondering what the book is about by now! I’d like to keep the details under wraps for now. But I will tell you this: it’s a cookbook for parents and kids and it’s going to contain my most popular recipes that have gotten rave reviews over the years. Each recipe will have clear instructions and have been tested multiple times (which isn’t always the case for many cookbooks on the market now) using simple, healthy ingredients. All these years, I’ve been doing the “simple” thing and it’s nice to see that simple is now a “trend” (according to Janet Helm at nutritionunplugged.com – great blog.) I love cooking and teaching complicated, intricate recipes. But over the years, I’ve found that the most rewarding feedback I receive from students was that they still cook recipes from my classes – and they loved the easy, simple ones best.

So, this is first of many installments:  I purchased a self-publishing package at authorhouse.com after researching several different sites (which I will blog about later). And lately, I’ve been testing recipes and taking photos. And let me tell you, I have a lot of respect for food photographers now! It’s not easy but I’m really enjoying the creative aspect of cooking, creating, and photographing. This book is truly a labor of love.

Over the next few months, I will be sharing my experiences with you. My goal is to have it ON sale by the end of 2009. You heard it here first. I have to go now and start cookin’….

I recently wrote the  following article for a wonderful site, www.savvyauntie.com that offers resources and an online community for aunties. Although the article is targeted toward aunts, it’s still useful information for parents, grandparents, sitters, teachers, and anyone else that spends time with kids (or likes asparagus). This will be the first of many posts on how to encourage children to eat more nutritious foods - many parents mention that this as a big issue for them.

Getting Kids to Eat More Green

Green, green, green! It’s definitely the color of 2009. But a lot of kids aren’t a big fan of green – especially when you’re talking about vegetables. I know that it’s hard for us aunties to feel like we have much influence on our nieces and nephews’ eating habits. But there are plenty of ways for you to introduce a love of food, even vegetables, to your nieces and nephews even if you don’t see them frequently.

Even the smallest of activities can help you and your nieces and nephews forge a bond in the kitchen so that they become open to eating new foods with you. When my nephew was only 2 years old, I began making smoothies with him and talking to him about how it’s important to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Now, at 7 years old, he constantly peppers me with nutrition and food questions and trusts me when I encourage him to try a new dish – and of course, he still loves smoothies! Even if you aren’t a confident cook, you can still make basic recipes like yogurt parfaits (yogurt, cut fruit and granola or graham crackers layered in a clear glass).

Once you have them excited about sweet, fruit-based recipes, you can try introducing them to vegetables and more exotic cuisines. They will often be more receptive to trying a food for you that they might not otherwise try for their parents. While many parents are often too busy (and tired) to keep introducing a new food (it can take up to 15 tries, or in the case of my 4 year old nephew, 150) you have the advantage of being the Cool Auntie who can make something as simple as eating a fun, new adventure!

Some tips on introducing new foods to kids:

Don’t make a big deal out of it. Keep your tone light and offer it only a couple of times per meal. Remind them that if they don’t like it, they don’t have to eat all of it. The point is to get them to TRY new foods – so compliment them for trying it, even if they don’t end up liking it. It’s fine if they spit it out but they must do so politely into a napkin.

Be a good role model. Introduce the new foods around other adventurous eaters – including yourself. Don’t expect them to eat something that you won’t - they are too smart for that. If they don’t want to even taste it, I’ll eat it instead and say “Mmmmmm” and tell them how lucky I am that I get to eat something so good.

Have fun with it! If you’re at a grocery store, make it a safari hunt or at a restaurant, pretend that you’re on an exotic vacation – they love immersing anything into a “story” so let both of your imaginations run wild.

Here is a spring time dish that is a favorite with adults and kids. Kids are more open to vegetables like broccoli and asparagus because they look like little trees. I can’t explain it – I just know it works. It’s very easy-to-prepare and this is asparagus season so try to pick up a fresh bunch at your local farmer’s market.

Parmesan Crusted Asparagus

1 pound green (or white) asparagus stalks, ends cut off
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Zest of ½ lemon (zest is finely grated lemon peel – it’s best to grate with a microplane)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup grated parmesan
¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Arrange asparagus on baking sheet. Whisk olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice in small bowl and pour over asparagus. Toss asparagus stalks gently to coat. Spread asparagus in a single layer. Sprinkle parmesan and salt evenly over stalks. Roast until asparagus is tender, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 2-4
Recipe by Julie Negrin © 2006

Do you wish you had the time to go to a farmer’s market to buy fresh, local produce? If you become a CSA member, they will do the shopping and delivering for you!

This is a great time of year to become a member of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). They differ in how they are set up but essentially, a CSA member purchases a “share” of the farm’s crop at the beginning of the growing season. This way, the farmers have guaranteed revenue and each CSA member can count on fresh produce throughout the growing season. Some CSA’s deliver your box of recently picked, seasonal produce directly to your home while others have a pick-up location or on-farm pick-up.

If you need a little motivation to eat more fresh, local vegetables and fruit - there is nothing more inspiring than having gorgeous produce land on your kitchen counter each week. Many CSAs include recipes on how to prepare the produce you receive and also offer other items like milk or eggs - saving you trips to the grocery store.

And if you are worried about receiving too many vegetables - find a CSA that offers bi-monthly deliveries instead of signing up for the standard weekly box. Or start off sharing it with a neighbor, friend or co-worker. You’ll be eating better, saving money, and helping the planet and your local economy. Visit Local Harvest to find a CSA in your area and celebrate Earth Day by becoming a CSA member!

For ideas on how to integrate more vegetables into your daily eating habits, check out the recipes page of my website for tips and recipes.

And for those extra vegetables you aren’t sure what to do with? I recommend finding recipes that don’t rely on specific ingredients such as chili, stews, and soups so that you can take advantage of whatever is in season. It’s more economical and efficient to prepare these kinds of dishes.

I just heard great news! The school I teach for, PCC Cooks at PCC (Puget Consumer’s Co-Op) Natural Markets in Seattle won the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) award of excellence for best avocational cooking school.

This was announced on April 4th at the annual IACP conference in Denver. The theme of the conference was “Pioneering a Sustainable World.” PCC Natural Markets is definitely a pioneer in the locally grown foods movement - here is a little history about the store from their site:

“PCC Natural Markets began as a food-buying club of 15 families in 1953. Today, it’s the largest consumer-owned natural food co-operative in the United States. PCC has nine stores in the Puget Sound region and is owned by nearly 40,000 members who shop (along with thousands of non-members) in our neighborhood locations.”

I’m honored to be working for a school that is so progressive and forwarding thinking. I started teaching for PCC Cooks about 10 years ago which confirmed my desire to make culinary education a full-time career. I’m lucky that I am able to work with some of the same staff members I worked with 10 years ago because they are fantastic! Marilyn, Jackie, Alicia, and Rachel are extremely hard-working, passionate and dedicated to bringing a wide variety of cooking classes to adults and children for a very reasonable cost. Their stores are warm and welcoming – in fact, I’m still getting used to the staff greeting me with a smile after living in New York City for so long.

I recently finished teaching a round of Greek Isle Cooking classes for parents and their 4-6 year old children and Challah Bread Baking for parents and their 2-4 year olds. The kids were adorable, the parents were grateful to be learning new recipes and I was reminded of how lucky I am that I do something I love for a living.

For the spring/summer session, I’m teaching a class that’s just for grown ups. If you’ve always been curious about Sephardic* dishes that are simple yet mouthwatering, come join me for a class in May or June. Register soon at PCC Cooks – my classes fill up quickly! (Please note that I will not be teaching the June 22nd but have a lovely substitute filling in for me.)

*Sephardic refers to Jews that descend from Spain and in my family’s case, landed in Greek and Turkey for a few hundred years before moving to Seattle around 1900. So, the dishes I prepare are a mix of Sephardic/Spanish, Greek, Turkish and some Northwest influences like salmon.

Old World Sephardic Cooking

PCC Cooks at PCC Natural Markets
Seattle, Washington

Prepare to have a fun exploration of the mouthwatering delicacies enjoyed by the Seattle Sephardic community. While you prepare an authentic feast, you’ll hear the culinary history behind these traditional dishes with Turkish, Greek and Spanish influences. You’ll make Quasado (traditional spinach and cheese frittata); Pescado con Limón (poached salmon with egg-lemon sauce); Rice con Tomat (rice and stewed tomatoes); Borecas (potato- and three cheese-filled pastries); and Biscochos (sesame egg cookies). With fish, dairy and eggs. Members: $35, Non-members: $40

Monday May 18, 6:30-9pm. Greenlake .
Thursday Jun 4, 6:30-9pm. West Seattle
Monday Jun 8, 6:30-9pm. Edmonds
Wednesday Jun 17, 6:30-9pm. Redmond
Monday Jun 22, 6:30-9pm. Issaquah (Becky Selengut will be teaching for me)