Ray - Yum-O! The Family Cookbook

Thank you to everyone who is checking out our Yum-o! website and getting involved; teachers and parents who are encouraging healthy lifestyles; and to Kappy and Roe and everyone who works on Yum-o!Thanks to my family for making the kitchen the most important room in our house and for teaching me that good food provides you with a great life. Thanks to our terrific food team: Emily and the kids in the kitchen (Abby, Kara, and Patrick) who are always coming up with cute snacks. Thanks to my right and left hand, Michelle Boxer.This book wouldnt look as gorgeous as it does without the help of designer Jenny Beal. Of course, thanks to Pam Krauss and Amy Boorstein; these ladies really know how to get the job donefast!And lastly, thanks to Katie Workman and Gary, Jack, and Charlie Freilich; Marysarah Quinn and Katie, Dylan, and Mark Garafalo; Adrian, Rica, and Cyrille Allannic; Jeremy Allen; Suzanne Gluck and Kaye and Nick Dyja; Marykay Pavol and Riley, Ava, and Doug Jones; Rhea, Maxwell, Tracy, and Anthony McFarlane; Phoebe Bradford; Monty, Michelle, and Adam Boxer; Claire, Janet, and Frank Annino; Madeline, Meeri, and Steve Cunniff; Eric Martin and Veda Carey-Martin; and my photo team, Alexandra Grablewski and Megan Schlow.Helping your kids get and stay healthy isnt always easy, but preparing meals together is a great start in the right direction.The best way to help our children become healthier is to help THEM take charge of their own health. You can influence what your kids eat, where they eat, and encourage them to play and exercise more. You may not be able to control everything, but by making healthy choices when and where you can, youll start to see some positive changes.As parents, you are the most important influence in your kids lives.

Thats why the Alliance for a Healthier Generation is working with Yum-o!, and weve got lots of free tools to help you! Visit www.healthiergeneration.org to learn more.Oh, and dont forgetencourage your kids to pledge to Go Healthy at www.igohugo.org, where they can join thousands of other kids who are pushing (and pulling and tugging and running and bending) to get active, eat better and have fun.

The Yum-o! organization empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking by teaching families to cook, by feeding hungry kids, and by funding cooking education. For more information, check out www.yum-o.org. Copyright 2008 by Yum-o!
Photographs copyright 2008 by Alexandra Grablewski
Illustrations copyright 2008 by by Chris Kalb All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com Clarkson N. Potter is a trademark and Potter and colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request ISBN 978-0-307-40726-9
eISBN: 978-0-307-95496-1 Design by Jennifer K. Beal v3.1 The mission of Yum-o! is to empower kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking.

That means that every day, we are teaching kids and their families to cook, working to help feed kids who dont have enough to eat, and helping kids who want to learn more about food in school. We want to see a country where everyone can experience the joys of food and cooking. Youre an important part of the Yum-o! community. At www.yum-o.org, we are building a place where kids and their parents are talking and learning about food and cookinga community that is continually growing and changing, thanks to your participation. On the website you can find all kinds of fun things to do and learn. In Recipes, you can look up super- easy and healthy recipes from meand people like you! Weve got hundreds of recipes that you can choose based on your age and skill level.

Under Get Inspired, youll find loads of stories about other kids who love to cook in the Your Stories section. Thats where kids and parents share their favorite recipes and nuggets of wisdom from the kitchen. If you want to get involved and help your community, go to How Cool Is That? where we highlight people and organizations that are making a difference in our world. You can read these stories and get inspired to do something in your neighborhood or school, too! We hope that youll stop by the site and contribute your favorite cooking stories, tips, and recipes, and that youll let us know what youre up to in your community and at school when it comes to food so that other kids can learn from you. And we hope that youll spread the word, too! You can start by printing out our seasonal Kitchen Road Map to hang up in your kitchen and pass it around at school or at other gatherings. Its got tips and recipes all ready to go! Weve also got food trivia, printables, and more.

I bet you are one smart cookie! Thank you for being a part of Yum-o! Now, lets get cooking!

The totals at the market check-out lines can be scary these days. Lean meats and fresh produce are just too expensive to be included in many family food budgets. I think its the foods that are processed, dyed with colors, and mixed up with chemicals that should cost more: look at all the work that goes into them! The stuff that just grows should be cheap, right? Wrong. Still, be prepared to buy better food when it goes on sale by starting up a Family Good Food Fund. Keep a jar by the front door and every night when you come in the door, drop in your spare change. Once a month, tally it up and trade it in, using the food fund to stock up when the price is right.

Keep your eyes peeled for the occasional sale on lean meats and vegetables. Stock up on chicken tenders or boneless, skinless breasts; sirloin steak; or pork loin chops or tenderloins. Portion out the meats and freeze them so you can cook with them whenever you want. Veggies freeze well, too. Packaged frozen veggies are fine, but your own homemade broccoli spears will have even better flavor and be bigger than those in ten-ounce boxes. To freeze most any veggie, cut them in serving-size pieces and blanch for two minutes in boiling salted water.