Mike Adamick - Dads Book of Awesome Recipes

For Dana and Emme, my favorite chefs

I learned my cooking skills on the fly and on the go. As a child, I was the go-to holiday pie maker for family parties. I wielded frying pans and managed hot ovens. I deboned my own chickens and learned just how much mustard to use in a glaze. I learned knife skills and measuring ratios. I learned to read recipes or just wing it with ingredients we had around the house.

I learned to take charge.

I learned, most of all, to be creative.

Now, as a stay-at-home dad for nearly nine years running, Ive moved on from pies and become a master at everything from the easy weeknight meal to the lazy weekend family dinner, from the healthful after-soccer snack to the classroom party treat. But I know I was capable of cooking real dishes at, say, age 10, and Im teaching my daughter that she can do it, too. Cooking your own meals at a young age teaches independence and responsibility and lets kids enjoy a sense of pride and accomplishment. What kid cant use those qualities?

But it doesnt just happen one day. It requires work and practice and help. Thankfully, Ive had a lot of help along the way, picking up beloved casserole recipes from my mom, Teena, and inventive tips and tricks from my wife, Dana. Ive learned the art of a good dessert from my mother-in-law, Marilyn, and how to make the absolute best barbecue from my father-in-law, Duane.

Above all, Ive learned from my daughter, Emmeline, that working together in the kitchen can provide some of the best, most joyful memories in the world.

Cooking, for us, is indeed a whole family affair.

In Dads Book of Awesome Recipes, I will impart all the tips and tricks and recipes and wisdom Ive learned over the years in the trenches of parenthood and from my entire family of top-notch chefs. Youll find delicious egg dishes for breakfast, easy sandwiches for lunch, fun-to-make and fun-to-eat snacks made with fruits and veggies, and dinners that will have everyone asking for seconds. In all of the sections, I tried to provide a well-balanced mix of recipes to keep the intermediate or advanced chef happy (Arzak-style eggs anyone? Gnocchi?) and the beginning sous chef confident (Apple pie in a bag? Dont mind if I do!).

In addition to all our own favorite family recipes, Im pleased and proud to introduce you to a few other dads who provided some recipes that have become staples in their own homes.

These guys? Theyre amazing. I met them through the tight-knit dad blogging community and weve become good friends. When I decided to write a cookbook, I knew immediately they had to be involved. Youll be glad they are.

From Whit Honeas astoundingly large sandwich to Jason Sperbers mouthwatering kale potatoes, from Doyin Richardss Boomin Banana Bread to Chris Routlys perfect gnocchi, their recipes and insights into cooking with kids make this book so much better, and I am so grateful for their contributions. These are dads who have huge hearts, and amazing knife skills to boot. Im thrilled to feature their family favorites and hope youll be just as delighted as I was at their creativity and talent.

Just like their families and mine, you and your tribe can experience the warm, delightful feeling of gathering in the kitchen and creating a wonderful meal together. Usually, theres laughter, joy, a big mess, and, sometimes, a magical mistake that somehow makes things even better.

I hope that in making these recipes you, too, will find that feeling of joy together.

At first glance, this is a family cookbook. But look closer and its so much more. I promise. Its also a conduit between you and the next generation of cooks in your family. Its a guidebook, a map, a compass rose. Just like your kids will remember how you taught them to shoot free throws or multiply fractions, theyll remember that you showed them the fastest way to dice an onion, how to tell if an egg is cooked, and how to bake a mean cake.

This book should be used as an opportunity for passing on those important cooking skills to the next generation, for letting kids tinker in the kitchen, unleash creative sides, and learn, along the way, important life skills that will make them not just masters of the kitchen but masters of what they put in their bodies. Lets face it: Theres a ton of junk available out there for very little money. Teaching kids to cook and use quality, healthful ingredients keeps them not just fed but healthy as well.

Thats the main philosophy of this book.

In an age of bubble-wrapped childhoods and helicopter parenting, I want Dads Book of Awesome Recipes to provide that old-school throwback vibe when kids were given looser reins and more responsibility.

In short, if theres any takeaway from this book, its this: Let the kids take the lead.

Most kids already want to emulate their parents and do the same things they do. Thats why toy companies make kid-friendly workbenches, doctor kitsand kitchens. So dont shoo them out of the real kitchen. Instead, invite them in.

You and me? We know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Were adults. We can make all manner of dishes. We can manage sizzling frying pans and hot ovens. We can handle knives and rolling pins and electric mixers.

But young chefs? They will delight in making something we consider incredibly easy. They will feel pride and joy and a happiness that will urge them on toward more complicated meals and fun times in the family kitchen. As an adult, you may think, Fruit on a stick? Thats it? Believe me, I get it, I do. Some of these recipes may seem ridiculously simple to adults. But again, to a beginning chef working on a first recipe, it may well be a Michelin-starred culinary adventure. You have to start somewhere, and I hope kids and adults find a few fun recipes to start that journey together. You dont always have to go big. Sometimes you just have to go. So there are plenty of recipes in here for the littlest beginners.

If youve got an older child or an experienced chef, steer them toward forays into cooking the perfect steak... attempts at recreating simple lasagnas in individual cup cakes... and throwing together an easy, delicious side dish. (If you have an advanced chef, swap roles! You prep or wash and clean while he or she pulls everything together.)

Throughout the book, youll notice there are many sections where I urge you to get your little sous chefs involved. This is really more of a reminder than anything. The whole book is designed for them to take the lead, with many of my favorite family recipes tailored for small hands and beginning chefs.

When it comes to some recipes, you have to follow the instructions closely. Add baking soda and powder to the mix and you have light and fluffy pancakes. Leave those ingredients out, and you have crepes. From cakes to flapjacks to cookies to fudge, there are plenty of recipes in here that can teach kids to follow directions, to measure, to be precise. These are indeed important skills. Pass them on.

But there are also scores of recipes in here designed to let kids unleash their creative sides. Youll notice I use lots of pinches of salt or drizzles of olive oil or splashes of hot sauce, rather than precise measurements. I want young chefs to learn not just how to follow a recipe but how to make it their own, how to make it sing, how to make it better.