Kids and a Cook™

Teaching kids to eat healthy & bringing families together!

Kids and a Cook™

Emily Stepp

Hi! My name is Emily. I grew up in New England, with two sets of very busy, professional parents, so home cooked meals were an exception rather than the rule. These were the days when the words 'cheese product' didn't set off alarm bells in our mothers' heads, and many of my dinners came out of a box or jar or microwave, and that was just fine with us kids. But on the holidays, my mother pulled out all the stops, which yielded either an incredible feast, or an incredibly funny story (often ending with one of our pets getting a stomachache.) To my mother, cooking was a high art form, only to be attempted with the help of "The Joy of Cooking," a glass (or three) of chardonnay, and an entire day of uninterrupted quiet. (Hence the infrequency of her cooking....) Nonetheless, cooking and baking became passions of mine from an early age. Inspired by my best friend and her mother, for whom baking was an art form that was practiced with love and passion (and less wine,) I learned to be comfortable around the various noisy and dangerous tools of the kitchen. At age 11, I started charging my stepfather $1 for (mandatory) cooking lessons. Our ambitious first dish was a Grand Marnier Souffle, our first bread was a beautiful, but doomed Challah, which even our dog couldn't bite into. Luckily, my grandmother and stepmother lent their influence; both women could not only 'throw' together a savory, simple and delicious meal, but also believed in the 'sit-down' supper, replete with beeswax candles, proper place settings, and manners. From all of these disparate styles of cooking and eating, I came to realize that no matter how we make it or eat it, food can be a powerful catalyst for connection, comfort, love, and laughter. At this point in my life, I am a wife to hubby, M, and the mother of two children; a son, J, who is almost 10, and daughter, L, who is just 1. Like so many other families, we have some food allergies and picky eaters, so of course everyone seems to want or need different things. I'm grateful to be home during the day so I can (theoretically, anyway) take the time to plan and cook healthy, tasty food, but I'm always looking for shortcuts, tips and recipes that will make meals even more of an enjoyable (and less time-consuming) experience. With apologies to Forrest Gump, I don't think Life is so much a 'box of chocolates', (although that would be totally awesome) but, more like an episode of "Iron Chef." We get handed some weird and unexpected ingredients, others we get to choose, and ultimately we have to figure out how make something wonderful and sustaining from them. And, just as on the show, the clock is always ticking, and (at least in my house) someone is usually screaming in the background.... Still, every day is a new chance. I love to try new things, and our family has lived in many neighborhoods- from the rural New England countryside, with local honey and maple syrup, to busy London, with its chorizo, tea, and 'rocket' salad, and now to metro New York City area, with bountiful farmer's markets and fresh mozzarella. There's been no shortage of opportunities to test my culinary imagination! Sometimes the results are winners, and sometimes I wish I still had a dog, but the lesson I'm trying to impart to my family is that there are times in life where you just have to close your eyes and try. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride with us!