Banfield - The naptime chef: fitting great food into family life

Copyright 2011 by Kelsey Banfield

Photography 2011 by Steve Legato

Published by Running Press,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International

Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

ISBN 978-0-7624-4212-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011930505

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-4492-2

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Cover and interior design by Corinda Cook

Edited by Kristen Green Wiewora

Typography: Archer and Helvetica Neue

Photography by Steve Legato

Lineart food illustrations by Thomas Grillo

Food Styling by Katrina Tekavec

Food Styling Assistants: Sheila Magendantz and Kirsten Tyson

Food Styling Intern: Gigi Clark

Photo Styling by Mariellen Melker

Photo Styling Assistant: Marcy Miksic

Special thanks:

Sur la Table, King of Prussia, PA

Crate & Barrel, King of Prussia, PA

Scarlett Alley, Philadelphia, PA

Manor Home, Philadelphia, PA

Fante's, Philadelphia, PA

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

Visit us on the web!

www.runningpresscooks.com

dedication

To Daphne and Duncan, my favorite dining companions,
for their warmth, love, and appetites.

My deepest thanks to the following people:

My agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler, who believed in this project from the very start and was an endless source of advice and encouragement.

The talented team at Running Press led by my editor, Kristen Green Wiewora, who provided indispensable feedback and editing as I worked through my first manuscript.

The brilliant Steve Legato, Katrina Tekavec, and Mariellen Melker, who photographed and styled the images seen here.

Corinda Cook, who beautifully designed this entire volume.

I am so grateful to have met Adelaide Mueller, recipe tester extraordinaire, when I began this project. She carefully worked her way through every recipe in this book to ensure it was ready for print. Her professionalism and expertise were integral in producing the food on these pages.

A blogger is nothing without readers. So, thank you, dear readersboth the ones I know, and those I have yet to meetfor visiting my site every day and rooting me on.

For being my confidantes, mentors, and cheerleaders: Nicole Garwood, Wendy Littlefield, Barbara McLaughlin, Katie Rothschild, Ellen Williams, Callie Wright, and Kristina Yarrow.

It is nearly impossible to thank all of my friends in Cooperstown, New York, individually so I will just thank my hometown as a whole. I am so blessed to have grown up in such a tightly knit community to which I return time and time again. A huge thank you to everyone, especially to Moms knitting group for testing recipes, and for their endless words of wisdom and support.

This book is all about how I feed my family, and without them I would be lost. Thank you to Patricia and Geoffrey Banfield for welcoming me into their family and making me feel right at home at their impeccably decorated table. To my parents, Roger and Carla MacMillan, for teaching me that food equals love and should always be shared with family and friends. Growing up with two parents who loved to feed and nourish their family clearly rubbed off on me. To my brother, Will, for being an impossibly hip uncle to Daphne, for teaching me about Google Docs and then using it to share his incredible collection of grilling recipes.

Thanks to Duncan, for his role as chief taste tester, for being my rock, and for taking Daphne to the playground whenever I needed to write. And, finally, a hug and kiss for Daphne, the worlds sweetest baby and happiest napper. I love you to bits and chocolate chips.

The Naptime Chef is the ultimate kitchen companion for parents who love to cook and eat great food. When a baby arrives, whole hours of the day just seem to evaporate. Theres less time for ingredient shopping and making complicated recipes, and less time to spend flipping through cookbooks and magazines in search of ideas and inspiration. With a young child in the house there are no more uninterrupted evening hours to leisurely prepare meals. And so parents must adapt their cooking styles to be more efficient and straightforward.

All too often, as new parents seek to modify their approach to cooking, they are told to adopt the mindset that cooking is a now a daily responsibilitya choreand feeding their family is a problem that needs to be solved. Before children, cooking was fun! Its as if the arrival of a baby means that they ought to give up any hope of enjoying the pleasures of cooking and nourishing their families. But, what if parents actually enjoy cooking and baking? What if they are, in fact, foodies and love to spend time in the kitchen creating and eating delicious food with their families? How can they learn to make tasty, satisfying meals during a typically busy day?

When my daughter, Daphne, was born in 2007, I quickly realized that her naptime was my free time to get things done, and this included cooking. If I wanted to enjoy my passion for creating and enjoying great food, I had to use that window of time to my advantage. Having a child also meant I had to develop some new skills and techniques in order to meet the daily needs of a hungry family no matter how much, or how little, time I had available. I reinvented my cooking style and became The Naptime Chef.

The first few weeks after Daphne was born were a blur. Getting dressed each day felt like a major accomplishment, and take-out was our main source of nourishment. But after a month or two we fell into a daily rhythm, and I got excited to return to the kitchen. It was time to dust off my favorite recipes and flip through the growing stack of food magazines on my nightstand. Except instead of jumping right back into the swing of things I found myself putting together meals with only moderate success, hampered by an unfamiliar clumsiness. Everything felt strange and uncomfortable as I sliced and diced (more often than not, with an upset baby on my hip). I didnt know to plan or prep anything ahead of time. Id always loved getting home from work and pouring myself a glass of wine, taking my time with dinner. Post-baby, when dinner hour arrived I was so tired I scrapped any plans for cooking. Evening was also Daphnes fussiest timeand soon became mine too! Despite my best efforts, she was rarely content enough to let me get things done, making it my least productive time of day.