Russo - Stirring Up Fun With Food: Over 115 Simple, Delicious Ways to Be Creative in the Kitchen

EVEN HER TOMBSTONE READ, She saved the world a lot. I am also a wife, a mother, andsince I am writing thisan author.

Food and the experience of cooking mean something different to everyone, but to me they have always been about family. Mealtimes have always been when I unplug for a bit and engage in real, honest connections. Once I had kids, this experience became even more important. I wanted my kids not just to love food and to make healthy choices, but to experience the special bonding that happens in the kitchen and around the table.

How often do you hear My kid doesnt eat vegetables or My kid only eats white food? I was determined that I would never utter these phrases about my kids. And I knew from the start that I didnt want to hide ingredients. I wanted my children to know what they were eating, and through exploration, I believed they would learn to love different flavors (even Brussels sproutspeeled apart, seasoned with a little truffle salt and shaved Parmesan cheese, and baked did the trick). By making them creative and fun, I was able to remove the stigma that vegetables werent delicious.

most people know me as BUFFY the VAMPIRE SLAYER. The superhero. The role model.

I learned quickly that to get my kids to be adventurous with their choices, I had to involve them in the process of preparing food. Next came the tricky part. Unlike my husband, who went to culinary school, my related expertise thus far had been restricted to keeping up with the latest restaurants and making reservations at them. So I wound up learning about cooking with my kids, and sometimes even being taught a thing or two. What I initially thought would be intimidating became an adventure. In all honesty, at first I was worried that it was too late for me to learn, but I found the reality to be the exact opposite.

I discovered a new creative outlet that I was actually good at, and I realized that making fun food with my kids was about more than just getting them to eat. Measuring ingredients; pulling together pots, pans, and bowls; stirring, whisking, dumping, rolling, skeweringand waitingare skills that helped them develop self-confidence, expand their vocabulary and creative thinking, and sharpen math concepts as well as their fine and gross motor skills (and mine too, for that matter).

But why food crafting? (And what exactly is food crafting, you might wonder?) As there is no truly acknowledged definition of food crafting, we will have to go with mine:

Food crafting is taking basic food preparation and elevating it to a level that is both fun & creative.

Why stop at cutting brownies into squares? Why not put them on a stick and decorate them? Why not fold broccoli spears into a yummy cheesy muffin? Isnt it more fun to eat food out of a jar? I quickly realized that the possibilities for presenting were endless. Now, dont get me wrong: not all my ideas were home runs. But creativity takes practice, and ultimately it leads to invention, so I just kept trying. (Someone once told me that the difference between success and failure is trying one more time. So true.)

FUN FOOD CAN ALSO COME THROUGH THE MAIL

Three years ago, Gia and I and one of our best friends, and fellow mom, Galit Laibow, shared similar epiphanies: we were living in a society that was constantly becoming more digitally connected while at the same time becoming more and more domestically disconnected. We were reading more about breaking the Internet than breaking bread. It was disturbing. Thats when we decided to embark on Foodstirs, our brand devoted to creating better-tasting and better-quality products that would encourage true connections in the kitchen.

We spent a full year creating our signature organic baking mixessourcing the best-quality ingredients (who knew biodynamic sugar even existed?) and developing the recipes to please us, since we were our target audience. We developed products that we were looking for (organic and ethically sourced anyone?), but could not findbaking mixes that feature the best, purest ingredients, each of them clearly listed on the package. Throughout this book youll see recipes that call for boxed mixes. You can check out our current lines of mixes and kits at www.foodstirs.com and at select retail locations. Your recipe will still be easy as pie, and youll have the peace of mind knowing that youre using the best ingredients possible.