The mother, novelist, and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, talked to us about the magazine’s latest cookbook venture, Gourmet Today (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), her go-to quick and easy dinner, and what it was like raising a kid who would only eat white foods.

You’ve said that observing a changing food culture was a big part of the inspiration to create Gourmet Today. How would you say eating has changed in the last 10 years?

RR: In the last 10 years, we have become a food culture. We have the most sophisticated group of younger eaters in the history of the world. They have very restless, open palates, and they’re concerned with feeding their families food that is not only good for them but good for the earth. The notion of ethical eating was not on anyone’s radar 10 years ago, and it is now part of the culture.

How do these changes affect the eating habits of children and families?

RR: A big part of this revolution is about understanding that food choices are cultural. If you want your kids to eat well, they have to see you eating well and you have to be serving that food at home. You want your kids to like fruit? Have fruit at home. Don’t expect them to just magically like some mystery substance.

What do you say to parents looking to expand their kids’ palates in this era of more-exotic foods?

RR: My son Nick is 20 now, but when he was little, he only ate five white foods. And if he took on a new one, he gave up an old one. The teachers would call and say, “He won’t even eat cookies--he doesn’t eat chocolate!”

I think the worst thing you can do is to make a big issue of it. Mealtime should be pleasant, and you want your children to want to sit down to eat, even if you’re giving them a scrambled egg every night. At about age 9, Nick got really curious. He is now a complete omnivore.

What are your go-to kid-friendly meals?

RR: I always have extra cold rice in the refrigerator for making fried rice. If you’re lucky enough to have a kid that will eat anything, you can put a lot of veggies in it. It’s something I’ve found all children really like, and it’s pretty nutritious.

We also have a recipe for chicken, rice, and mango lettuce wraps (shown above) in the book, which kids really like because it’s something you get to play with. They tend to like anything you can bring to the table and have them put together--Asian food, pot stickers, anything involving dipping.

You once lived in a co-op in Berkeley and went dumpster diving to save money. What are your tips for making cheap meals?

RR: Eggs are the great cheap protein, they are delicious, and there are a million things you can do with them. Every kid loves a cheese soufflé because it is sort of magical. Chicken is one of those endlessly giving things--you can make skewers out of it; you can roast a chicken and serve half of it one day and make chicken sandwiches the next. Save the bones to make chicken stock, which you can use for soup or risotto.

You’ve said, “There is no more important thing you can do for your kids than have a family dinner.”

RR: I so believe that. If people open the door to the house and smell food cooking, it makes them feel loved and comforted. I believe that kids need to see their parents cooking, even if they are just throwing together a meal that is mostly bought. And, one thing I learned when I transitioned from being a restaurant critic to a mother that went home and cooked dinner every night was that you can ask your kid until the cows come home, ‘What did you do today?’ and all you’ll get is “Nothing,” but when you sit down at the table and everybody relaxes and you start talking about what happened during your day, then suddenly your kid will want to participate.

What's your favorite kid-friendly restaurant in your hometown, New York City?

RR: In New York, I think Asian restaurants are really great for kids--especially Korean restaurants, which are interactive with the grill right in front of you. My nephew was recently in town with his kids, and the kids went crazy for Kang Suh, on 32nd Street.

See more restaurant picks from Gourmet.

Today's New York Times brings us admirable lunch packer Sheri Chen: She sculpts cute creatures from rice and makes flowers out of veggies to get her picky 2-year-old daughter, Lucy, to eat her lunch. "I have to make her food look like something she recognizes," said Mrs. Chen. "If her boiled egg is shaped like a bunny and it is holding a baby carrot, she'll eat it."

Sweet crab makes a perfect centerpiece for a summer meal, and any kid loves a little fried nugget with dipping sauce on the side. Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier of Summer Winter in Burlington, Massachusetts, recommend these easy crab cakes.

 
For the crab cakes:
 
4 ounces crab meat 
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, plus flour for dredging
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon yellow onions, chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs 
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

1. Mix the crab meat, lemon juice, sour cream, and flour to combine in medium bowl.
2. Melt the butter in saute pan and cook onions over medium heat until soft. Add the bread crumbs and continue to cook for one minute. Set aside and cool.
3. Combine the onion mixture with the crab mixture. Season with salt and mix thoroughly.
4. Portion the mixture into two cakes and dredge them in flour.
5. Heat oil over medium-high heat and fry the cakes for three minutes on each side until golden brown.


For the remoulade:

1/4 cup sweet gherkin pickles
1/4 cup red onion
1 3/4 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 3/4 teaspoon sambal
1 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Finely chop the pickles and onion.
2.  In a bowl, combine the pickles and onion with the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (If you're in a hurry, mayo mixed with the grainy mustard is delicious on its own!)
 
 

My family and I just returned from two blissful weeks of vacation spent in a rambling old house we had rented in the midcoast region of Maine. When we were not admiring the rolling fog, gorging on crustaceans, dodging skeeters, and collecting stray lobster buoys from our sandy cove, we were eating and making pancakes. I would not be exaggerating if I said we ate blueberry pancakes pretty much every day for two weeks straight. And "we" includes one very picky 2-year-old who would happily subsist on ketchup and tubes of strawberry yogurt if we let him. But luckily, with blueberry pancakes, he comes to his senses.

During this sliver of time, we were surrounded by wild local blueberries, and we ate the little buggers by the pint. With the amount we devoured, I'm surprised my family wasn't rolling around like Violet Beauregarde by the end of our trip. On our first morning, Conor (age 2), Belle (age 5), and I set about making a monster-size batch of pancake batter that would last our entire brood (kids, parents, grandparents) for at least a couple of days (I've learned that pancakes made from batter that has been refrigerated overnight are even better).

My master recipe was inspired by one for buttermilk blueberry pancakes in an old copy of Saveur magazine (lovingly dog-eared and batter-stained). I add a few twists to the original recipe (I swear by frying pancakes in both butter and peanut oil, and I prefer cinnamon to nutmeg), but basically the key ingredient is buttermilk. It really makes a difference. Instead of having to holler out directions to my children like a fishwife, I translated the recipe into a cartoon:

The process is easy enough for little ones to each have a job (although there is always a tussle over the whisk), and the project is well suited for a vacation breakfast, when there is no deadline or schedule. And the recipe is something that can be freely interpreted. One morning we had some local raspberries from the market, so we added them with the blueberries to make very patriotic-looking pancakes.

If you're vacationing where peaches or plums are the thing, they would be fine too. I really don't think there is anything that can't be added to a pancake.
I have included the recipe after the jump, but remember, the last pancake should be for the cook, and it should be a whopper.

Continue reading Vacation Cooking: Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes »

Chef Joe Quintana of New York City's Rosa Mexicano shares his best lunch-packing tips and tricks:


Quintana spices up lunch for his twin daughters, Ashley and Jalissa, with the healthy and versatile addition of easy avocados. He adds a twist to Jalissa’s tuna sandwiches by spreading guacamole (made the traditional Rosa Mexicano way, with cilantro, tomatoes, white onion, and salt) with the tuna on whole-wheat toast. To keep the guac from browning, he keeps the pit in the mixture, and Jalissa can pick it right out when it's time to eat. Ashley, the picky eater, will only eat avocados if they are in her dad’s avocado mayo, which he adds to a turkey-and-cheese sandwich as a tastier condiment.

For an economical way to keep his girls hydrated, Quintana refills empty water and juice bottles with his wife’s homemade iced green tea for the girls to take to school.

To aid in the lunch box–packing process and to avoid mushy sandwiches, Chef Joe uses these special sandwich containers  to keep the sandwiches fresh and unsquished come lunchtime.

It's amazing to me how different sliced almonds are from their whole-nut brethren. Smooth, subtle, and somehow more almond-y than uncut almonds, those little blond shards have become my favorite stealth flavor and texture weapon lately. And not just because they are loaded with protein, calcium, fiber, vitamin E, and good-for-you fat; they are also scrumptious. To appease my addiction, I add them to pancakes, oatmeal, yogurt, salads, rice dishes, and whatever fruit happens to be on hand for breakfast. Much to my surprise, my 2 1/2-year-old--who thinks he likes whole nuts and often tries one when a dish has been set out, only to spit it into my hand moments later--loves them also. 

I've always been squeamish about mayonnaise. Actually, squeamish is putting it mildly. I am terrified of mayonnaise. Because of that, summer barbecues have made me anxious, what with all the cole slaw, potato salad, and macaroni salad. Then I stumbled upon this recipe for potato and scallion salad in The Antipasto Table. Not a drop of mayo in sight. Perfect.

Here's how it's done: Boil 2 pounds of peeled new potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool them until you can handle them. Chop them into medium-size chunks. Toss the potatoes in a bowl with 1/2 cup of chopped scallions, 1/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. You're done. Guess what I'm bringing to barbecues from now on?

I've been on a massive health kick the last few months. In addition to eating things like millet porridge and stir-fried chickpea salad (the latter courtesy of Heidi Swanson's website 101cookbooks.com), I've been reading a lot about food and nutrition. Among my new bibles are You, An Owners Manual by Mehmet Oz and Michael F. Roizen and The Anti-Inflammation Diet and Recipe Book by Jessica K. Black. These authors all believe in food as medicine. They've taught me that cruciferous veggies--there are only four of them, so they are easy to remember: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower--are extremely good for you. Extremely. According to Oz and Roizen, one study showed that eating seven servings of them a week (and one serving is a small handful) reduced the risk of bladder and gut cancers by 50 percent.  Continue reading Crucifers Even a Child Can Love »

With Anne Gingrass-Paik's (executive chef at Brix in the Napa Valley) marriage to her culinary-school sweetheart came the task of teaching her new junk-food junkie stepkids to eat more healthily--or tricking them into it. Here, her list of ten ways to sneak in the good stuff.

1. When making pancakes or pizzas, substitute a third of the white flour with spelt or another whole-grain flour.
2. When making hamburgers, use a mixture of half ground turkey and half beef and use light whole wheat buns.
3. Do the same when making meat loaf, and add in a few tablespoons of wheat germ too.
4. Use Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream on tacos or quesadillas.
5. Buy light whole-wheat tortillas for tacos and quesadillas.
6. Buy the first box of cereal of their choice and refill the box with a healthier kind.
7. Use low-fat peanut butter and low-sugar jelly on wonder whole wheat bread--they will never know the difference.
8. Substitute natural sugar like agave or brown rice syrup when making hot chocolate. Use organic coco powder.
9. Make your own ranch dressing with low fat Greek yogurt and fresh herbs. Serve with carrot sticks.
10. Make your own lemonade using agave to sweeten.