Protein-Packed Oven Pancakes: My new favorite cooking hack

April 15, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook. All in all, things move smoothly in my kitchen. There is only one major exception to this: pancakes. My whole family loves them and requests them a lot, but I have never been able to master them. I have set the smoke detector off so many times while making pancakes that we have a extra fan that we pull out whenever I make them. My younger son will ask, “Mama, is today going to be an alarm day?” And then there is the burning that happens—not all the time and never the whole batch, but just enough to make it really frustrating. I have tried all kinds of fats, different skillets, and different temperatures, but I have never been able to smoothly make a full batch of pancakes. It is incredibly frustrating.

So when I heard that you could bake a whole batch of pancakes in the oven I was overjoyed! There are a number of reasons why I am completely in love with this method of making pancakes:…

Spinach Pesto and the Power of Preparing Foods in New Ways

April 2, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

I am currently co-teaching a cooking class to a group of 6-9 year olds. Our goals have been helping all of the kids to gain confidence in the kitchen, introducing them to new healthy foods, and exploring new foods and food preparations.

Over the course of the past weeks we have been working with them to be open to trying new foods, even if the foods being offered are ones that they would normally be resistant to eating. We have done this in a few ways….

The Sibling Factor: The perks and perils of siblings at the dinner table

March 31, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Twice in the past month my younger son, who is a much more selective eater, has stunned us by happily trying and then falling in love with new vegetables (asparagus and artichokes). They are now two of his go-to requests when I check in with him about meals for the upcoming week. I wish I could say it was due to my inspired, creative, and especially delicious presentation of the foods, but the reality is that in both cases it has been due to his big brother….

4 Ways to Engage Kids Around Food in the Spring

March 19, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Spring is my favorite season. I love the way the world seems to burst forth with life and we all start to venture outside more. We are all eager to soak up some sun and start anew. Similarly, the plants are coming to life with bulbs coming up and buds appearing on the trees. I also love this time of year because it offers a wonderful opportunity to engage with kids about where our food comes from as we notice the changes that are happening all around us.

Here are some of my favorite ways to get kids thinking about where their food comes from during the Spring:…

Finding Flexibility: What to do when life throws you a curve ball

February 26, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

I was just saying (ok, maybe complaining) to my mom that in the past two plus months, every single time I have had a day to catch up on work projects there has been a sick kid or snow day. And today was no exception. Waking up this morning to discover that we had delayed openings for school was frustrating enough and by 8am school had been closed. Boy, did I get grumpy. As I sulkily sat down to figure out a plan for the day, though, I noticed that something interesting happened: when I took a deep breath and accepted the unexpected, I was then able to come up with a plan that would allow me to do some work but would primarily be focused on getting other obligations taken care of, tasks it would be easier for me to do with kids around, which would then free up time on other days. In other words, I was being flexible.

When our lives get super busy, remembering to remain flexible can be really challenging. We come up with a set idea of how things are going to go and then oftentimes convince ourselves that the approach we have come up with is the only option that will work. The reality, though, is that there is almost always another way. It may not always be the preferred way or the smoothest way, but there is usually another way.

Here are some of the things that I try to do in order to remain flexible (which is kind of against my nature) in these moments of unexpected curve balls:…

5 Recipes to Help You Stay Sane and Healthy During the Holiday Season

December 10, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

While this is a wonderful time of year for connecting with friends and loved ones, celebrating community, and giving gifts, it can also be a time of stress, rushing around, and sliding backwards when it comes to the foods we eat. For many of us, myself included, we can fall into the mindset of, “oh well, I haven’t been eating well anyway, so I might as well just eat that…” And while I am all for enjoying the special and comfort foods of the season, I also would like to avoid the colds, flus, and over-exhaustion that are making the rounds these days and one way to do that is to try to keep our meals simple and packed with wholesome ingredients. Here are a five my favorite recipes that help me to do just that.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

This one takes all of 10 minutes to prepare and is a family favorite. Pair it with crackers and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches for dipping, and you’ve got a complete meal!

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats

This is a great one to keep breakfasts on track. Make a big batch, freeze the leftovers, and you are set for a whole bunch of mornings. Some of our favorite toppings are: chopped up apple, defrosted frozen blueberries, chopped nuts, dried fruit, and a little bit of maple syrup.

Slow Cooker Fall Veggie Stew

This is a great, warming, comforting meal, and the leftovers freeze well, too!

Real Mac n Cheese

In the same amount of time that it takes to make the boxed stuff, you can make this!

Waffle Omelets

This meal can be made in 8-15 minutes (depending on how many you are making) and always makes my kids giggle.

Do you have favorite, quick, and easy dinners that you use at this time of year to keep your family eating well in the midst of all the craziness?

5 of My Favorite Cooking Gifts: Not too expensive gifts that can help make cooking more efficient and enjoyable

December 3, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

When I go to do kitchen and pantry evaluations with my clients, one of the things that they often complain about is that they don’t like to spend time in their kitchen. They find it stressful, cluttered, or too time consuming. What I tell my clients is that the secret to making cooking more enjoyable is to work with simple recipes in an efficient manner. That efficiency is largely dependent upon having the right tools on hand and having things organized in such a way that you can actually use the space you have. The following is a list of my top 5 not-too-expensive cooking tools, as well an extra out-of-the-box gift idea that may be just the thing for someone on your list……

Surviving Holiday Gatherings with a Picky Eater

November 18, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

The family is gathering around the table for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone is set up for a beautiful meal full of tastes, abundant food offerings, and gratitude. But then there is your child who is scowling, or maybe even refusing to come to the table. You feel embarrassed, perhaps angry, you are worried that your in-laws or your own family will judge your child or even you. The tension mounts… This is not going to end well.

As we all know, family gatherings can be both wonderful and intensely stressful. As you prepare for the season’s festivities, it can be helpful, both for you and for your child, if you do a little bit of thinking about ways to preemptively manage the tensions at the table. Here are my suggestions:

1) Put yourself in your child’s shoes. All of that food that is either unknown or unappealing to your child is likely to feel overwhelming and even scary. Your kiddo is very aware of the expectation that s/he should eat it all and that pressure probably feels pretty intense. Another way to approach this, think back to when you were a kid. I bet there was at least one dish that you thought was disgusting, but felt pressured to eat. How did that feel when you were little? Just by understanding a little bit about how your child perceives the situation, you may find you have a bit more compassion, patience, and flexibility in the moment.

2) Get on the same page as your partner. Talk about your concerns ahead of time and make sure that the two of you can be a team in your approach, both in terms of how you communicate with your child and how you communicate with any family members who might contribute to tense dynamics. Come to terms with the fact that this is very likely not going to be the meal where your child suddenly eats everything.

3) Talk with your child ahead of time. Discuss the fact that there may be unfamiliar or unappealing foods on the table, and that is ok. Talk about expectations of polite behavior—“No thank you” instead of “I don’t like that!” and staying at the table while everyone is eating together are probably good starting points. And come up with a game plan together for how to approach the meal. What foods is s/he willing to eat? How will you handle desserts (for ideas on this, check out this great piece by Caron Gremont of First Bites)? Is s/he willing to do one bite tries of one or two new foods?

4) Talk with anyone else you think you should talk to. Let your in-laws, parents, siblings, whoever know that in the interest of having a pleasant meal, it would be really helpful if pressure to try new foods was not put on your child during the festivities.

5) Remember to relax. The more tense you are, the more tense your child will be, which increases the likelihood of a meltdown.

Then, relax, and enjoy the time with family and friends, because, in the end, that is what this is really all about.

Constipation: The Messy Truth

November 5, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love the change in the light, the colors, the crisp air. I also love the produce: the apples, the squashes, the sweet and white potatoes.

Unfortunately, though, I have also noticed that Fall seems to be a time of constipation. For my family and for a number of my clients’ families as well, it has become a time of worry or even tension in the house because all of a sudden these kids who have been solidly potty trained (some even for years) start having accidents. Some wet the bed, some have pee accidents, and some have poop accidents. I don’t know why it seems to happen more in the Fall, I have my theories, but for some reason it does seem to be a pattern. So let’s talk about some of the symptoms of constipation and then what you can do to help your little one (or yourself!) through it….

My Favorite Cheap, but Healthy Ingredients

October 8, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

As the final installment of my series on saving money in the kitchen I want to talk about some ingredients that I depend on to keep my own family’s grocery bills down and that I also recommend to my clients a lot. These ingredients are staples in my house for two reasons: 1) they are cheap and 2) you can do a lot with them without much effort. So without further ado, let’s jump in….

The Balanced Kitchen

Time for food. Time for Life.