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.

Cook Like a Pro for the Holidays

I love cooking for parties - but it’s taken a lot of trial and error to figure out how to do it without becoming a stress case. I also picked up a lot of great tips from the wonderful chef instructors I worked with in New York. The key is to be as organized as possible:

Choose the right recipes for entertaining. When searching for holiday recipes, look for dishes that can made ahead of time and easily reheated. Soups, grain and pasta salads, and many appetizers like hummus, bean dips, tzatziki, and tapenade taste better the day after they are made.

Talk to your host/hostess. If you are a guest at someone’s house, always ask your host what you should bring so there aren’t 15 pies for dessert (true story: I made 2 homemade pies – Pecan Pie and Apple Pie and when I arrived there were literally another dozen pies brought by guests). And make sure that your dish transports well and won’t be difficult to reheat if the oven is occupied. Better yet, bring something that can be served at room temperature.

Plan ahead. If you commit to making or bringing a certain dish, make sure you have a great recipe already on hand and the ingredients are easy to find. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had frantic friends emailing me for recipes at the last minute - it’s much more fun to cook when you’ve already taken care of the homework.

Shop and cook on different days. I rarely shop and cook on the same day - the only ingredients I’ll pick up at the last minute are items like fresh herbs, fish, or berries. I like to get all of my shopping out of the way as early as possible. I’ll buy pantry items a week ahead of time and gradually finish the rest of my shopping as my “Cooking Day” approaches. This strategy also means you’ll save money because you will have time to look around for the best prices. During Thanksgiving week, I try to avoid going to the grocery store after Monday.

Keep it simple. Even the most accomplished cooks get frazzled on the holidays. So, whether you’re a gourmet chef or novice cook, pick recipes that you are familiar with and that are easy to prepare. There are plenty of delicious dishes that rely on flavorful fall ingredients rather than complicated cooking techniques. Pick something that you’ll have a good time preparing - your guests will taste your enjoyment.

Find a sous chef. There are days where I really enjoy cooking alone and other times, I prefer company. It’s a great excuse to get together with a friend and be productive at the same time.

And for those of you who have guests who don’t eat poultry, check out Kim O’Donnel’s new cookbook, The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook!

His name is Timmy. He is 5 years old and he doesn’t like to try new foods. I’m guessing that’s why his parents put him in my after-school cooking class at PS 75 (in New York City). It’s Wednesday afternoon and I announce to my small students that we are making Pumpkin Pie Pasta.

This is my fourth week with them, and thankfully, they are starting to trust me. Timmy, however, is  still pretty resistant to eating anything unfamiliar. This is common for this age group - except that also he tells me and the class over and over again that he isn’t going to eat whatever we are making. Or, on this particular afternoon, he starts begging me for plain pasta. I tell him we are making Pumpkin Pasta, not plain pasta. He doesn’t relent. I persevere. We are in a stand-off. Who will be more stubborn? I will, of course. That’s my job.

After they prepare the pumpkin puree, I dump the cooked pasta directly into the pumpkin bowl so that there is no plain pasta left. I sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese. They start eating and there is silence. This is a group of 5-6 year olds. They are never silent. And yet, this week, everyone of them sits quietly while they eat their pasta - even Timmy.

A lot of parents of my students ask me how I get kids to eat new foods. Here are some tricks of the trade I’ve picked up over the years:

Keep it low-key. I recommend offering something new once or twice and then walking away. No begging, negotiating, or bribery. I will often put the new food on the edge of their plate so that they are exposed to it. I ask them to try one bite and if they don’t like it they don’t have to eat the rest. Then I walk away.

Take advantage of peer pressure. Introduce new foods when they are around adventurous eaters. This works well when they start elementary school because they want to fit in with their friends.

Be firm and clear - and stick to your guns. This is really important but can be hard to implement. Create meal time rules and stand by them - even if your kids are older now. One friend of mine, whose children are 9 and 6, recently stopped cooking multiple meals but allows each child to pick dinner once per week. Whatever you do, be consistent.

Have high expectations and don’t pander. The food industry has done an excellent job of convincing us that kids will only eat their expensive, highly processed kiddie food. If that were the case, our species would have died out long before Lunchables were invented! The children of chefs are perfect examples of not pandering. Chefs expect their children to eat sophisticated foods and the kids respond to that expectation.

Model good eating habits. Be exuberant about your love for a healthy dish. And if you’re a picky adult eater, then make it a project to try new dishes with your kids - a team effort.  Remember that they will eventually eat like you. It might be when they are 7, 12, or even 18 but eventually, they will mimic you.

Use reverse psychology. If they don’t want to eat something, I will often say, “Awesome, that means more for me!” and pop it into my mouth and go on and on about how good it is. You know how your kids only want to play with a toy when a visiting friend shows interest in it? Kind of like that.

Treat them like a chef. Obviously, I suggest cooking with kids - but I also advise having conversations about food, discussing which vegetables look interesting at the market, and asking them if a dish needs to be tweaked. I take them very seriously and they respond in kind. When I ask them if a dish needs more garlic, salt, pepper, etc., they nod and think about it and then declare which ingredient they want more of. They are brilliant chefs. They don’t doubt their creativity. I love it.

I have to give you this famous Pumpkin Pie Pasta recipe now, right? We also made the Crunchy Roasted Pepitas in class which were a huge hit too.

P U M P K I N  P I E  P A S T A
Try adding some protein like chicken or white beans for a more balanced meal.

1 pound of bow ties
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½-1 cup canned pumpkin puree
½ stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
ground black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
½ cup of grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
½ cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, except for the pasta and basil. Heat the butter a little if necessary. Set aside.

Cook paste until al dente. Drain pasta well and immediately add to sauce bowl. Sprinkle with basil and toss. Serve at once with extra parmesan.

Recipe by Jacquie Grinberg, adapted from Joie Warner’s No-Cook Pasta Sauces
For information on how to cook with kids, check out my new book, Easy Meals to Cook with Kids, available via my website.

It’s that time of year - when chocolate and candy start to appear everywhere. We are headed into two solid months of decadent goods, which can make it difficult for even the most determined health nut to stay on track (yes, that includes me). The best way to combat the urge to nibble on every goodie we encounter is to find delicious alternatives. So much of the American Food Philosophy is about deprivation. I’m all about eating and enjoying - I just try to find foods that make our taste buds AND our bodies happy. I found a couple of recipes, salty and sweet, that you can prepare for your Halloween parties or, if you’re staying in, for yourself and your family to munch on while you greet trick-or-treaters.

I also researched and prepared a list of trick-or-treat products that you can pass out on Sunday. You can find the list on my recent blog post, “Healthy Treats For Your Little Ghouls And Goblins,” on the SavvyAuntie.com website. You can satisfy the urge to spoil the kids in your life while also feeling good about what you’re giving to growing bodies.

R E C I P E S - a little salty, a little sweet:

Crunchy Roasted Pepitas
I had these at a party recently and they were delicious - almost ADDICTIVE. They will satisfied the urge to munch and distract you from less healthy offerings. You can usually find pepitas near the nuts in the grocery store - yet they are safe for kids with nut allergies.

1 cup large raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 tsp. ground coriander
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne (optional)

ADULTS ONLY: Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F.

KIDS 2 and UP: Toss the seeds with the olive oil on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and large enough to hold them in a single layer. Spread in an even layer.

ADULTS ONLY: Roast the seeds in the oven, stirring occasionally, until golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately toss the seeds with the coriander, salt, dill, pepper, and cayenne, if using. Let cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a small serving dish or two and serve. (If you’re working ahead, refresh the pepitas for a minute or two in the oven before serving).

Recipe by Leslie Revsin (with a little adapting) from the Fine Cooking website

Mrs. West’s Pumpkin Cookies
My friend Jackie Topol was given this recipe by her kindergarten teacher and has been making them every year since - clearly a winning recipe! She sometimes refers to them as “scookies” because they are similar to a scone - somewhere between a cake texture and a cookie. Although there is sugar and butter in this recipe, rest assured, it’s best if we eat treats that contain “real” foods that the body recognizes and avoid processed ingredients as much as possible.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and/or pumpkin spice (or a mixture of both)
Optional: 1/2 cup walnuts

ADULTS ONLY: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

KIDS 2 and UP: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Drop small spoonfuls, one by one, onto greased baking sheet (or one lined with parchment paper).

ADULTS ONLY: Bake for for 15 minutes.

I have this image of Mr. Potato Head playing with the other foods on the playground and suddenly, school officials come over. Mr. Potato Head stands paralyzed, wondering what he did wrong, when the officials firmly put their arms around him and walk him off the school grounds.

The latest out of DC: “The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, recommended that the U.S. Department of Agriculture stop participants of the federal Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC, from buying potatoes with federal dollars. The institute also called for the USDA-backed school lunch program to limit use of potatoes.”

This is a perfect example of how far off-track our relationship to food has become in this country. We have this massive crisis (obesity), water bursting through dikes from every direction and we focus on one small area - which may or may not be an actual problem. We’ve been doing this for years - with fat, sugars, and most recently, salt. Maybe we need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Is it the potato (or fat, or salt) that is the problem - or something else?

After carefully evaluating the obesity epidemic for more than fifteen years, I have developed a few theories about what caused this flood in the first place. One of them is the enormous amount of additives and preservatives (a.k.a. chemicals) in our diets. A Princeton University study showed that high frutcose may cause more weight gain than table sugar, even when calorie intake is the same. Several years ago, studies showed that people drinking diet soda were MORE likely to gain weight. I do realize that any writer can find a few studies to prove a theory - but it can not be denied that our waistlines have been expanding alongside our use of chemicals in our food system.

Of course, there is more to it than chemicals - an epidemic of this size is going to have multiple causes. However, I think it’s safe to say that the potato is not a major player. I suppose I can see why people would see it as one. Potatoes are often converted into deep-fried products. However, there is a big difference between products made with processed ingredients and cooking a whole potato from scratch. Much of the food, including potatoes, served in school lunches are made with additives similar to what is served in fast food restaurants. I took the above photo of a food label for Breaded Chicken Patties in an elementary school kitchen. The list of ingredients in McDonald’s french fries doesn’t look much different (it’s incredible how many preservatives are used in their menu - check it out at this link).

McDonald’s French Fries: Potatoes, canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, safflower oil, natural flavour (vegetable source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain colour), citric acid (preservative), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent) and cooked in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with THBQ, citric acid and dimethypolysiloxane).

I have nothing against french fries - I just prefer to eat them without antifoaming agents and sodium acid pyrophosphate. As I mentioned in my popcorn post, making something from scratch may take a little longer but tastes infinitely better and will be much appreciated by our bodies. The following recipe has three ingredients: potatoes, oil, and salt - naturally.

Healthy Homemade French Fries
I bake the french fries in this recipe but you can also deep-fry them. It’s a lot easier and healthier to bake them and they still taste delicious. My teen students loved this recipe so much that they would eat them right off the pan. Make sure you cut the potatoes evenly so that they cook at the same rate (NOT like this photo that I bought at Istock.com). Thinner is better for this recipe so that they get crispy in the oven.

3 russet potatoes, washed and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425º (or to 400º for convection, which is best for this recipe).

Kids 10 and up: Cut potatoes into 1/8 inch slices.

Kids 2 and up: Pat dry well to remove any extra moisture. Toss with olive oil and salt and spread out on a baking sheet lined rubbed with oil or lined with parchment paper (foil will not work with this recipe). Make sure pieces have a little room and are not piled on top of each other.

Adults only: Bake for 25-30 minutes until crispy.

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Serves 2-4
Recipe by Julie Negrin and John Scoff