Catherine McCord - Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh, and Easy Recipes

weelicious

For Kenya and Chloe, without whom
there would be no weelicious.

And for JG, without whom
there would be no Kenya and Chloe.

When you see this icon next to a recipe,
check out weeliciousbook.com/extras for
step-by-step cooking videos with Catherine!

If you bought this book or are flipping through it in the bookstore, chances are youre in need of help.

For countless moms like us, the task of cooking for our families can feel like a hopeless exercisean incredibly frustrating experience that creates all sorts of anxiety and conflict. Im very familiar with the inner mom-ologues: Why cant I make just one meal that satisfies everyone in our family? Why wont my kids eat anything I make them? If only I could inspire my little ones to eat healthy (let alone eat something). Similarly, if youre anything like the readers of my website, weelicious, the kitchen is not a place where you always exude confidence, and if one word on the cover of this book persuaded you to pick it up, Id wager its easy. Well, youll be happy to know that you are the reason I wrote this book.

I consider myself to be a pretty good cook. I spent my formative years in the Southwhere cooking is serious businessin a family full of food lovers who were always in the kitchen either cooking, eating, or gathering, and for whom our weekly Sunday night family dinner was a sacred event not to be missed. From a very early age my mom and grandparents exposed me to food and its relationship to the world around me, taking me to U-Pick farms and exposing me to their love of gardening. That doesnt mean I always ate healthy. My grandmothers most cherished cooking staple was not a bottle of olive oil or a pepper mill but a mason jar full of bacon grease that sat in a place of honor next to the stovetop and was the fundamental ingredient in everything she cooked.

In my teens and early twenties I traveled the world modeling and fell even more deeply in love with food, getting to experience the different flavors and cuisines of exotic and far-flung locales. Modeling was a privilege and it had its obvious benefits, but it hardly fulfilled my lifelong aspirations. However, it allowed me to save enough to put myself through culinary school, where I learned a lot and had the opportunity to work in some of the great kitchens of New York and Los Angeles. After cultivating an intimate knowledge of food over three decades, you probably couldnt find a person better prepared to cook for her new baby boy. Right?

Wrong.

It quickly became apparent that the one thing I didnt learn after all those years was that cooking for babies (and kids) is a different ball of wax entirely. Here I was, an experienced cook who knew my way around every corner of the kitchen and believed I could cook for any occasion, yet when I had my first child, I did not have a clue how to feed him. Im not kidding. I was completely paralyzed. So, if that was my experience, how is the person with no cooking background supposed to feed their kids?

The truth is, none of us is prepared for what we should be feeding these little creatures when they enter our lives, let alone how to go about doing it. Its a scary predicament for any mom to find herself in. Our first instinct as parents is to provide for our children in every way imaginable, and few needs are more important to meet than nourishment. When I had my son, most of the new moms I knew had never stepped foot into a kitchen before, and they all were experiencing the same anxiety as me. So my goal when I started weelicious became How can I make cooking as easy as possible for my friends? Because if my recipes will work for them, they should work for everyone.

Not convinced? Maybe youre thinking, This book isnt for me. Ive barely logged a total of two hours in a kitchen before having kids, and Catherine has had years of experience. She must have known what she was doing. I really didnt. What I quickly discovered when I started weelicious was that everything I needed to learn about cooking for babies and kids was just starting. I literally had to go back to the basics for everything I would make, but it had to be easy.

At the end of the day, I have always considered myself a lazy cook. No matter who it is Im feedingmy kids, family, or friendsif what Im making is not simple to prepare, Im not making it. And why should I? Why should you? Why should any of us spend more time in the kitchen than we need toespecially if were not having fun doing it? As important as food is, between trying to raise kids, work, pay bills, and run a household, none of us has the luxury of time we had before bringing these little wonders into the world. So for every recipe I create, I focus on convenience and using the minimum amount of ingredients to create the maximum amount of flavor.

If I havent scared you off yet, I promise that your life can change for the better if you buy into my philosophy. Spend just a little bit of time with this cookbook and youll discover that cooking for your family is not only easy but something youll look forward to. Really.

When I had my son, Kenya, I didnt know how to start educating myself about how and what to feed him. So I took my past knowledge, did extensive research, and started blogging every day about my experiences making homemade baby food. I had a blast, and in the beginning, my intention was to focus solely on babies, but as my son got older, so did the children of weelicious readers. The number of e-mails and comments I received grew daily, and the common refrain I kept hearing was, My kids wont eat anything I make them!

Adapting to the needs of my readers and living the challenges presented by my own son, I quickly discovered that the methods required to feed babies, toddlers, and kids were very different from the ones we employ to feed adults. Delicious food alone doesnt cut it. Kids experience the world of food quite unlike we grown-ups do, and so one must be sensitive to everything from shape, to color, to texture, to taste when cooking for them. I not only had to develop recipes but strategies for how to present food to kids. And while most moms approach feeding their families with the best of intentions, the pitfall most of us fall into is trying to please everyone in our familiesor what I call short-order cook syndrome. This condition occurs when moms, in an effort to get everyone to eat at mealtime, get stuck making something different for each member of the familyone thing for their baby, another dish for their demanding toddler, and yet something else for themselves and their spouse. It takes all the joy out of food, and that makes me sad.

Once you become a parent, the subject of food never goes away. Having to provide three meals and one to two snacks a day, what to eat is constantly on a mothers mind. Just figuring out what to make your kids is hard enough. Factor in trying to navigate each childs unique and ever-changing relationship with food and it can drive even the most level-headed mom or dad crazy. After years of experience with my own little ones and talking with thousands of parents and their own children, I have developed tips, strategies, and ideas that make moms look forward to preparing their childs food and inspire the pickiest little eaters to get excited about the next meal to come.