Karmel - Favorite Family Meals

favorite
family
meals ALSO BY ANNABEL KARMEL The Healthy Baby Meal Planner

Annabel KarmelFor my children, Nicholas, Lara, and Scarlett,
a constant source of inspiration 1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com Text copyright 1999, 2005 by Annabel Karmel
Photographs copyright 1999 by David Pangbourne and copyright 2005 by Dave King Originally published in Great Britain in 1999 as Family Meal Planner by Ebury Press Published by arrangement with Cooking for Children Limited All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Atria Books, 1230 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, N Y 10020 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Karmel, Annabel. [Family meal planner] Favorite family meals / Annabel Karmel. p. cm. Originally published in Britain in 1999 as Family meal planner by Ebury Press. Cookery. I. Title. Title.

TX714.K3672 2006
641.5dc22 2005055880 ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7518-7
ISBN-10: 0-7432-7518-7
eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-9167-5 First Atria Books hardcover edition January 2006 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ATRIA BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases,
please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales:
1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com.

This book will take the worry out of everyday cooking, because with it alongside you, you will know that youll always have something in the house that can be made into a tasty meal for the family. These are some of my favorite tried and tested recipes for all occasions, from healthy breakfasts to lunch boxes, family suppers, recipes for entertaining, and even fun foods for children to cook themselves. As a busy mother of three children, I know how difficult it can be to find the time to make a home-cooked meal, so I have tried to create recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, healthy, and, of course, tasty. Each recipe has been tested on a panel of children who, naturally, didnt care how healthy the food was and were only impressed if it tasted good.

For many children, convenience and junk foods are no longer occasional foods but are becoming a regular part of their diet, and in this age of instant gratification, fewer and fewer families are sitting down to meals together. With the proliferation of processed packaged foods, many meals emanate from the freezer to be cooked in the microwave, and the kitchen is fast becoming the coldest room in the house. Healthy eating for children is crucial as it often sets the dietary pattern for life, and eating healthily from a young age can reduce the risk of developing diet-related diseases such as heart disease and some forms of cancer. For fighting disease, food is still the best medicine. Food is more than just a biological need; its preparation expresses parental love and caring, and its so very satisfying to see your family enjoy your lovingly prepared home-cooked meals. There was once a time when children ate mostly the same foods as their parents, and this book aims to provide you with recipes that the whole family will enjoy together.

You dont need to be a Supercook. These recipes dont require split-second timing, special skills, or expensive equipment, and most of them can be prepared in less than 30 minutes. Some weeks youll be able to plan ahead and know what youre going to feed the family for supper on Friday when its still only Monday, and other weeks you may only have time to think about Fridays dinner on Friday. A bit of time spent planning, cooking ahead, and freezing some meals over the weekend will make the week ahead much more manageable. Decide on the weeks meals and what advance cooking you need to do over the weekend. Then make a shopping list for the week and jot down on a calendar the fresh ingredients you will need to pick up during the week.

Naturally, there will be weekends when youre too busy or the weather is too nice to spend time in the kitchen and so you can just plan simple meals for the week ahead such as Teriyaki Chicken Skewers (page 55) and salad and fresh fruit. There will also be occasions when you havent even had time to do the shopping and its already six oclock, but you dont need to panic since there are lots of ideas here for delicious recipes that can be made from basic ingredients. Rather than thinking what are we going to eat and what are the children going to eat, we should be thinking of one meal for the whole family. A good solution to the problem of family members who want meals at different times of the day is to freeze some food in individual portion sizes so that you have your own stock of healthy convenience foods that can be heated in the microwave in a matter of minutes. Very often when you are making a recipe it takes very little extra time to prepare more than you need so you have portions left over to freeze. International cuisine can be another source of inspirationperhaps make a Chinese dinner for the family, choosing some of the delicious, easy to prepare Chinese-style recipes such as Super Vegetarian Spring Rolls (page 124) followed by Chinese Noodles with Shrimp and Bean Sprouts (page 102) and lychees with Caramelized Almond Ice Cream (page 158) for dessert.

Wouldnt it be fun to eat the food with chopsticksyou can buy child-friendly plastic chopsticks that are joined at the top, which makes it very easy for children to use. This is a book of everyday family eating, and I hope it will be well thumbed and splattered with food and will help busy lifestyles become less chaotic. My aim is that this book will put the joy back into cooking, which is, after all, a labor of love.

Its getting late, youve got work to finish for the next day, the phone keeps ringing, the children want help with their homework, and you havent even thought about what you can make for supper. Do you find yourself staring at the contents of your cupboard for inspiration? Well, heres the answer to your problems. First of all, heres a list of ingredients to stock in your kitchen so that you will always be able to rustle up a delicious meal for the family, and second, lots of recipes that can be frozen ahead.

It takes very little extra effort or time to cook more than you need and freeze extra portions so you always have tasty, healthy dishes on hand, which can be defrosted and cooked at your convenience. Coming up with varied meals cant always be done at the last minute. Its a good idea to work out what you will make three to four days in advance, write a list, and buy all the fresh ingredients that you dont already keep in your kitchen from the supermarket. With Internet shopping, you dont even need to leave home and its a good idea to plan in advance. Remember that its easy to make more than you need when cooking a recipe and freeze extra portions so that you dont have to cook every day. THE HEALTHY PANTRY

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