Family Food for Moms Podcast I Inspiration for Family Cooking and Dining I How to Enjoy Special Meals Together

#50 Lets talk about a Fabulous Ingredient - Parmigiano Reggiano!

 I'm going to be starting a new series, although it won't be consecutive. I'll just do an episode now and then on an ingredient that I think is very significant and is worth learning more about. Today we're going to talk about Parmigiano Reggiano, which is a wonderful cheese, and so valuable to our health. I want to talk more about its history, what it is, exactly how it's made, and what you can use it for, as using it in your food makes it truly delicious. 
So, let's get started. I love this cheese because it's a raw milk cheese - it’s made from raw milk. It's well aged, so it's got all the good stuff in it, and it's very delicious. I used to buy finely grated Parmesan cheese instead. It was just easier to have a jar of that in the fridge, and grab it whenever I needed to for pasta or other cooking. But then I realized that all you need is a tiny little grater and a block of Parmigiano Reggiano, and then you can get that good stuff very easily. You just use one of those small, fine graters to grate it over whatever you’re working with...

#49 Fun and Helpful Food Hacks to Use in Your Kitchen

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about some kitchen hacks. These are all just quick, simple hacks that you may know about and some you may not, but it's always good to be reminded!
I'll do another few hacks in a different episode, but I hope there are some things that you can apply.
Send me your ideas if you have some. You can do that at karyn@familyfoodformoms.com. I hope you have a great cooking week!

#48 What to Make with Ground Beef - Tons of Yummy Ideas

Just to let you know I'll not be on next week, but I'll be back the following week!
 Today we're going to talk about all kinds of different meals that you can make from ground beef, (or beef mince as some people call it). Bolognese on pizza is one of my favorite - with pineapple and feta (shocking, I know!)
I'm sure many of these are familiar to you, but others you may not have heard of or tried before. I'm going to get creative myself, and try one of these that I haven't tried before, because ground beef is a good cheap meat to be able to buy. Let's get into it!
 
 
 

#47 What Do Chefs Cook on Trains?

 I've always been fascinated by dining cars on trains. When I was a little girl, we used to travel on a train quite often overnight. And the best part was getting to go to the dining car. And it was always so beautiful with this wood paneling and like velvet and the tables would be set with a big white tablecloth and a flower in a vase.
And then you could order just like you in a restaurant. And I always found this so amazing. Like you look out the window and there's a beautiful view going by while you eat your dinner. So I think it's the best place to have a meal, in my opinion, is on a train, in the dining car, especially when it's fancy.
So today for fun, I thought it would be great to look at what kinds of food you can get on a train. It's not particularly for us to learn from, although. There's definitely principles that we can draw from it, but it's more just for fun to get some ideas of what chefs cook on trains.

#46 Fun Food Days to Celebrate Each Month

 Today we're going to have a bit of fun with an episode on the fun days that involve food each month. I'm working from a website called timeanddate.com, f you want to look it up there, but I'm going to give you some of my ideas for each of the days.
So let's start with January. I'm going to do January to June today, and then I'll do July to December another time.

#45 Help Your Kids Enjoy Vegetables and Use Veg More in Your Cooking

 Today we're going to be talking about how to get your kids to eat more vegetables, and to enjoy them. Vegetables can be delicious, and I think that as adults we know when they aren't. We know when they're dry, chewy, or bitter - they're not good.
The goal is to make vegetables that we enjoy, and to help our kids to enjoy them too. We don't have to hide them away. Sometimes that works, but it's also good to know that they taste good and that we can enjoy them. It’s also different for different ages - you may need a different strategy for your young kids than for your teenagers. It's a good thing to start as early as possible with making vegetables a normal part of life, a food that your kids like just as much as any other food.

#44 Tips on How to Spend Less on Food in Your Home

We've talked before about unusual budget ideas for spending less in the kitchen. I want to revisit that with a few more ideas that I may have mentioned before, but it's always good to be reminded, right? 
When we talked about saving money in the kitchen, we said that cooking in bulk is definitely a good thing, although I do find it a little bit overwhelming to always cook in bulk. I'll choose certain things that I know freeze well, and that I'll use again to cook in bulk. Getting the meat and the vegetables in bulk often saves money. Plus, somehow, if you divide your meal into two, you get by with a little bit less for each meal, instead of having a little extra and it going to waste. Doubling up on a meal is a good thing to do, whether it's a soup, a stew, a casserole, or a lasagna - all of those freeze well for another meal. 
 
 

#43 What to Cook when a Member of Your Family needs Gluten-free, Dairy-Free or Other Special Meals

 Today, we're going to talk about some ideas for gluten free meals, meals for if someone doesn't eat dairy - maybe a breastfeeding mom - and meals for any kind of dietary restrictions. We’ll look at ideas that you can make either for the whole family, or for that particular person, and how you can make some meals in advance and freeze them. This is just to give you some ideas that you can use if this is the case in your family. 

#42 What We Can Learn From World War II about Food and Nutrition – Part 2

 Today, we're going to talk some more about what we can learn from World War Two about food and nutrition. One of the biggest takeaways for me is realizing how resourceful people became when they had to be. They grew the victory gardens. They substituted certain foods for other foods. When things were rationed or not available, they made their meals simpler. They cooked more from scratch. If ingredients weren’t available, they learned how to adapt and edit recipes. For example, they made cakes without eggs if eggs weren't available. They were really rising to the challenge, and I admire that. 
Often today, we have many challenges with our shopping and our cooking, and having time to do those things in our families. It's amazing if we can figure out how to be adaptable; how to edit recipes when needed, how to be able to cook on a cheaper budget, and how to be able to use certain ingredients when others aren't available. We can learn not to have to pop to the grocery store for the smallest thing, but learn how to do without it, and to change and be adaptable in our cooking.
It’s also good to learn how to eat more simply, in ways that cost us money and time, like having a meal of simple meat with a side vegetable, and not always needing the fancy. We should balance the fancy with the simple and wholesome food. 
I'm going to talk a bit about rationing, and about what people did if a food was rationed, or it was not available. Then I'm going to talk about the kind of things that the soldiers and the people ate during that time.

#41 What We Can Learn from Our Grandmothers about Food and Cooking - Part 2

Our Grandmothers, Grandfathers, and Great Grandparents can teach us so much about food!
The way our grandparents ate is a fascinating subject. It’s inspiring to learn from our grandmothers in the way they cooked food to bring good health to their families. Today I want to do the second part of What We Can Learn from our Grandmothers about Food and Cooking. 
Our grandparents’ diets were shaped by where and when they lived; the era, the region, and the availability of ingredients, but in general, they ate simple, wholesome food. It was home cooked food with seasonal ingredients, and it often tied to family traditions and recipes that were passed down the generations. They cooked with love from scratch, and they enjoyed their food in good company. 
Here's part II of What We Can Learn from Our Grandmothers about Food and Cooking. Part 1 was Episode 15.