Billis - Make it easy: 120 mix-and-match recipes to cook from scratch with smart store-bought shortcuts when you need them

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Copyright 2016 by Stacie Billis

Photographs by Naomi McCullough

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First Da Capo Press edition 2016

Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7382-1887-8

LCCN: 2016003901

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Note: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own physician. The ultimate decision concerning care should be made between you and your doctor. We strongly recommend you follow his or her advice. Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the author or Da Capo Press. The author and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

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For Isaac and Oliver for making me a hungry mama. I love you both to the moon (pie) and back.

And for Michael for always eating with me. No matter what, nothing beats enjoying a great meal across the table from you.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

If this book is in your hands, youre probably eager for cooking to be easier than it is currently. If youre a parent, you may even be desperate for it. Cooking for a group of people night after night, each with their own tastes (and, probably, at least one picky eater) is not for the faint of heart. Doing it without completely losing your mind takes serious effort and the last thing you need is for someone to tell you that the problem is you:

You just need to relax.

You just need to make more time for cooking.

You just need to plan.

You just need to be more confident in the kitchen.

Screw that.

Dont get me wrong: Ive caught myself saying these things to many frazzled home cooks because being a relaxed, confident cook who loves planning meals and being in the kitchen is what has made me a great cook. But its also what has made me a professional cook. Not everyone loves cooking as much as I do, but everyone has to feed their clan. Ive come to understand just how thankless a chore it is for many and, if youre one of those many, its not your fault.

This became clear to me when I started working with personal clients, advising them on family eating, from dealing with picky eaters to helping them create personalized meal plans. I decided that it wasnt my clients fault that they were ordering in all the time or that they were functioning as short-order cooks (talk about thankless). I convinced them to make the same shift and, together, we solved the real problem; that they didnt have flexible cooking strategies and recipe optionsor they just werent clear on how and when to use them. When we fixed that, the results were amazing.

We made cooking easy. And Im going to make cooking easy for you, too.

HERES THE TRUTH: SCRATCH COOKING CAN BE EASY, EVEN ON A TIGHT SCHEDULE

For a long time before the entire country knew about artisan food and one of the quickest-growing fast-food joints promoted farm-to-table eating, home cooking trends were about convenience. Thirty-minute meals became fifteen-minute meals and semihomemade became a full-fledged cooking genre. We seem to have swung from one side of the pendulum to the other, and busy home cooks have been left stranded somewhere in the middle.

While Im thrilled that the conversation has returned to scratch cooking, I hear from parents every day through my work as the managing editor at Cool Mom Eats, my personal blog One Hungry Mama, and my work advising families, that busy home cooks are more stressed than ever about getting healthy, home-cooked meals on the table.

The shift in our larger food culture has made the same people who needed those convenience tricks feel terrible about using them. In many cases, with good reasons having to do with our health and the health of our planet. But not in all cases; theres also a lot of judgment.

At the same time, the rise in popularity of scratch cooking has led many to believe that, to do it, you have to pickle, can, grow, buy entirely organic, and otherwise commit to practices that, for many of us busy home cooks, are just not practical.

We are caught in a catch-22 and its made feeding our families hard on our schedules, on our budgets, and worst of all, on our psyches. If you dont believe me, check out some info from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

According to them, some families spend just less than half of their entire food budget on eating out. One survey showed that buying prepared or semiprepared meals and ordering in are two of the most popular strategies that parents use to help them ease the stress and anxiety of the relentless chore of feeding their families three times a day with already overpacked schedules. But get this: the same parents who reported using these strategies also reported that doing so didnt reduce daily stress. In fact, it often exacerbated stress and anxiety when the shortcut strategies led to meals that werent in line with their food and eating ideals.

So, basically, busy home cooks keep applying solutionsthe only practical ones theyve been giventhat dont solve the whole problem. Or at least the part that counts: how we feel about what we feed our families.