Let's start with a quick disclaimer: I've known food writer and award-winning blogger Stacie Billis, a.k.a. One Hungry Mama, for a couple of years now, and definitely consider her a friend. We met online through our mutual passion for blogging about family and parenthood then soon realized we had a few IRL friends in common. And then we both ended up working with Kristen + Liz, the fab duo behind the Cool Mom Picks empire. Plus, there's the love of bread and good butter. (You ain't the only one, Oprah!)
Naturally, I'm super excited to help spread the word about her new cookbook, Make It Easy: 120 Mix-and-Match Recipes to Cook from Scratch—with Smart Store-Bought Shortcuts When You Need Them. It's filled with good eats, real-life useable tips and Stacie's funny, personable voice. Our friendship aside, you need this book! Read my Q&A with Stacie for more proof.
Photo Credit: Naomi McColloch.
BlogHer: When it comes to cooking, especially making something from scratch, our hearts start to beat a little faster and we have visions of mountains of pots and pans, crazy expensive grocery bills, and Martha Stewart shaking her head at us. Your cookbook is focused on, well, making it easy. What’s the basic formula for practical (as in real-life), delicious home cooking that the whole family will actually enjoy?
Stacie Billis: Start by knowing how to pick a recipe that's right for you. I find that home cooks tend to pick recipes that are either too ambitious for their skill level or take more time than they have. In Make It Easy, I walk readers through how to assess a recipe to know if it's right for you and the circumstance, because it's not as obvious as you may think. For example, a "30-minute" meal that has chopped carrots, onions, garlic and celery may take a professional recipe developer 30 minutes, but a home cook with beginner knife skills (or just dull knives) more like 45. On a busy work day, those extra minutes can cause the kind of stress that leaves you feeling like cooking for your family is a chore.
Make it something that YOU want to eat. The other thing that makes cooking feel like a thankless task: When your kids don't eat. It's the worst! But if you cook something that you want to eat, at least you get some payoff from the experience. Cooking has to feel worth it or you will never enjoy it. I know this gets into picky eater issues—and Make It Easy delves into some practical strategies from a child development POV for that, as well—but keeping yourself well fed helps fuel your ability to deal. Don't underestimate that!
Planning helps. Everyone hates this suggestion, but it's true. Meal planning can change the game completely. That said, I know that some people will just never do it and, for them, I've included some tips on how to think about meals or at least ingredients to make shopping and cooking easier. That's right: Make It Easy has meal planning tips for non-meal planners!
Set yourself up for success in the kitchen. This means different things to different people. Maybe it's reminding yourself to pour a glass of wine and turn on your favorite music before you start cooking, or to schedule your kids' TV time during your cooking time (or both!). I share lots of idea in Make It Easy for how to set yourself up for success in the kitchen from must-have kitchen tools that help home cooks save time to cheater shortcuts that no home cook should live without. And, of course, setting the mood. Hey, if we have to cook for our families, we might as well do everything we can to make it as enjoyable as possible!
Photo Credit: Naomi McColloch.
BlogHer: Even though it’s the middle of July, a lot of parents have their eye on back-to-school. How canMake It Easy help allay any concerns that might be brewing for us around family dinners, lunches, and how and what are kids are eating?
SB: Back-to-school is one of those many transitions during the year when families tend to experience a bit of chaos. Changing schedules, habits, and patterns is hard for everyone, especially children, and parents have to manage their own feelings and practicalities around such changes, as well as their children's. It's a lot. Make It Easy is packed with 120 mix-and-match recipes that come together quickly to make an entire meal—main and sides—so that you don't have to be cooking from multiple sources to get a well-rounded dinner on the table. Plus, I include a supermarket guide that helps parents grab the healthiest store-bought shortcuts so that they can get help from the grocery store without feeling like they're cheating the quality of their cooking or their family's health.
And, of course, back-to-school means snacks galore. The supermarket guide is super helpful for grabbing the healthiest options too!
What would you say is the biggest myth around cooking from scratch? What’s the one thing that makes you want to stand at the top of the Brooklyn Bridge and yell, "NOPE! Not true. Not even a little bit!"
SB: I've come to realize that nothing is true across all kitchens, because cooking is a very, very personal experience. Not to get too deep, but one's experience of cooking is influenced by everything from their skill level to their emotional relationship with food, so it's hard to say that there is one myth.
That said, I often hear full-time food professionals, from bloggers to recipe developers, say things like, "I'm busy with a job and have three kids, so if I can get dinner on the table, anyone can." It makes my blood boil! If you've become a food professional, as I have, you love food. Being able to put dinner on the table is not just about time. It's a truly daunting task for many, even people who may technically have the time, and that matters. They need solutions, too, and judging them isn't helpful.
Photo Credit: Naomi McColloch.
I just can't stand the judgement around food anymore, especially when parents are the target. We're already working so hard and trying our best. I just want to help parents figure out the right way for them to get healthy food on the table as often as possible.
BlogHer: Do you have an all-time favorite food or dish? Like, if you could only eat one for the next 60 days, what would it be?
SB: Crusty bread and extra fatty butter with crunchy sea salt on top. Heaven.
BlogHer: From all of your experience in the home kitchen and your years of churning out smart, family-focused food writing, what’s the one piece advice—you’ve read or been told—that still resonates with you today?
SB: Stop being so hard on yourself! I love cooking. I cook professionally. It's my passion! And, yet, never does a week go by when I don't have at least one day when I dread having to figure out dinner, whether because I'm tired, feel like there's no time, or just don't want to deal. (You know, on those nights when, if you were childless, you'd happily eat a bowl of cereal for dinner?)
Making dinner night after night is hard, so find the right resources, come up with an approach that works for you, and do what you can. When you just can't, your children will not die from take out. Finding ways to ease up on the stress of making family dinner will go a long way to actually enjoying being in the kitchen. And when you enjoy being in the kitchen again, you may find yourself cooking more often. It's a long game.
BlogHer: What do you hope folks come away with after reading and using Make It Easy?
SB: That cooking delicious food doesn't have to be hard or complicated or some big to-do. With so many special diets, parenting advice around food, food trends, scary food news, and so on, it's even hard for me to remember sometimes that a handful of simple, fresh ingredients can come together to make a nourishing meal that tastes good. And at the end of the day, that's all we need.
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