Family Food for Moms Podcast I Inspiration for Family Cooking and Dining I How to Enjoy Special Meals Together

Note: This is the last episode for 2025 - I'll see you again in January. Thanks for being part of my community - you are awesome! Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed Christmas to you and your family. Today, let's talk about crockpots - slow cookers. A crockpot is one of the most time-saving things, and I'm always surprised at how many people either don't have a crockpot, or they don’t know how to use...

Today we’re going to talk about what we can learn from Ireland, the green Emerald Isle, about food and nutrition, cooking and dining. Hopefully you can become inspired and get some good ideas from this episode. Ireland's food and dining culture has changed a lot over the last few decades. It used to be very simple, hearty fare, and that's the sort of food we’re going to be looking at. There'll be...

 Today we're going to be talking about some of my favorite side dishes to cook with a meal. We’ll look at some examples of side dishes, mainly from a few English countries, and maybe a couple of others. Generally they’ll be ones that are familiar, and you just need to be reminded of.  My favorite kind of side dish is steamed vegetables. These are very simple to make. There are green beans, chopped...

Today we're going to talk about what we can learn from India about cooking; dining and good nutrition - from the grandmothers and from the culture. It's really fascinating to see how they go about cooking and the relationship they have with food.  Indian cuisine is very interesting. It's fresh and spicy, made with whole foods as well as medicinal ingredients. Indian cooks cook slowly, paying atten...

Today we’re going to be talking about Swiss comfort food. Swiss comfort food is like no other, and Switzerland is so well known for its cheese and its chocolate. In a book by Weston Price, that famous dentist who toured the world, he talks about Swiss people many generations ago who lived on healthy, thick bread and cheese in the mountains, and how healthy their teeth were. There’s so much about S...

 I want to give you some ideas for lunches and snacks on the go. These are great for if you're a mom that's fetching and carrying your kids to and from school, extra-mural activities, or sports games, or for anytime you want to take food with; sometimes for your kids as well, and sometimes just for you. Sometimes you need something to eat in the car while you wait, or maybe you're just going to be...

Today we're going to be talking about Italian comfort foods, easy meals that you can make when you need something comforting. So, let's talk about Italian comfort food. Of course, there’s pizza and pasta. What could be more comforting? Let's talk about some deas for a quick, easy Italian dish or a comfort food on a cozy full evening, or even on a summer's day, or if you want some good snacks. 

Today we’re going to be talking about French comfort foods, which are one of my favorite kinds of easy comfort foods. I'm going to do a series with a different cuisine each time. We'll cover Italian comfort food, Mexican comfort food, et cetera, but this one is definitely my favorite because the French just have a way with food. We'll be talking about Croque Monsieur, French toast, and a few other...

Today we are gonna be continuing our Chef series, talking about Matty Matheson, what we can learn from him and his cooking style, ways that he can inspire us in our own cooking. I relate well to this one because it's all about being a little bit unorthodox and going with your passion and not necessarily doing things by the book - I like that.

Today we're going to be talking about six easy dinner ideas that you can make for dinner in less than an hour when you're stuck, and you're not quite sure what to make. I'm also going to mention five three-course meal ideas that are easy, but a little fancier. These are good for those days when you want to do something special, but it's still got to be economical and easy. So, here we go. Let's st...

 Today we are gonna be talking about having a fun date night with a dice theme. Previously I did a black and white ball date night, and you can tell I like black and white. So dice are obviously also black and white, but we're gonna focus more on the dice shape and the number and using the dice and dice games. So if you feel like a fun date night at home with your hubby, just some inspiration. So...

Recently, I've realized that I don't eat enough fruit. We’re always being told that we've got to eat more protein, or eat all these other things, but we’re not often told we need enough fiber. I really believe that natural fiber - fruit - is the best way to get it. There are so many other good benefits of fruit. So, here's our first myth - fruit is too high in sugar. Some people say all sugar is e...

 Today we'll be continuing our Chef series by talking about Nigella Lawson and some tips from her. She's an English food writer who cooks on tv. She's got bestselling cookbooks and cooking shows, but she has a very approachable, relatable style of home cooking. She’s not on another planet like a really gourmet chef, but somebody who's very good at what she does, and she teaches you in a way that h...

Today we are gonna talk about some ideas for an elegant high tea for friends or for your family. My mom just turned 80 and she came to visit for a week. We had a party for her with some of her friends from many years ago who live close to us and we did a fun high tea for her birthday. I'm gonna tell you what we baked, and served, and some ideas for what you could do in terms of decor to make an el...

The next chef we’re going to be talking about is Christina Tosi, the well-known pastry chef. I'm sure you've seen her on MasterChef or MasterChef Junior. She's amazing! She's known for starting Momofuku Milk Bar, and she’s so creative when it comes to baking. We love her compost cookies and her birthday cake recipe - it's the one we use all the time. The way she layers flavors and adds so much int...

 Today we're going to be continuing our series on what we can learn from famous chefs, present or past. This time, we're going to be talking about Julia Child. She was a famous chef, a cookbook author, and a television personality. I'm sure you've seen those funny old video clips of her on the little TV screen with the round center from the sixties. She was one of the first women to host her own c...

We’re doing a series on what we can learn from chefs about cooking. We’ll learn some tips and things they teach that will really help us to build and improve our own cooking. Today, we're going to be talking about Jamie Oliver, a British chef. He's a good one for helping a normal mom at home. He doesn’t do so much restaurant cooking; more home cooking, and he does it so well. He and his family, hi...

Today, I thought it'd be fun to talk about some tips from Gordon Ramsey about cooking. These are things that he advises, some of which I've tried, and others not yet. I find it really interesting to look at professional chefs, or at chefs like Jamie Oliver who aim to help ordinary people like you and I to be able to cook better, to make things easier and healthier, and et cetera. I'm going to do a...

Today we're gonna be talking about food on vacation - if you go away on a holiday. We recently went to the beach for a few days and it was amazing. I'm gonna talk a little bit about what meals we did and general ideas of what to cook and eat on a vacation!

(There won't be an episode on Wednesday this week, but I'll be back next Monday!!) I'm soo excited about the Downton Abbey movie coming up on the 12th of September!! ..so I thought this would be a good time to make this episode. We're going to talk about what we can learn from Downton Abbey again - from the show itself, and things that are significant when it comes to food, dining, and even cookin...

 Today we’re going to talk about some fun ideas for a food-themed evening with family or friends. Food-related fun that you can have with your kids. We'll chat about evenings involving food in a fun way for your younger kids, for your older teens; or for your family to do together. So, let's dive right in. 

Today we're going to talk about more simple meals for if you're learning to cook, just starting to cook, or if you just need something quick for dinner. Last time, we talked about using potatoes and pasta as the base of meals.  In this episode, we’re going to talk about rice and a few other ways to start your cooking with some easy meals!

Today I’m going to talk about two easy meal options that have variety for when you're just starting out cooking, or for when life is crazy and you want something very easy to do. I’ll talk about a way to plan things around potatoes and pasta so that you've got a good variety, and different ways to enhance the toppings, to add sauces, et cetera, to go with those. Start off with easy meals when you'...

Let's talk about pesto. Is your favorite green pesto or red pesto, and what do you like to have it on? Pizza, caprese salad - what are your favorite ways to use it? I'm going to talk about the origins of pesto, and then about some of the ways you can use it, and how to make it. I often buy pesto from the grocery store, and sometimes I make it. Both ways can be delicious, and there's so many differ...

Today we're going to talk about eggs, or rather about if you don't like eggs, and what's a good thing to have for breakfast in that case - what's a good way to use eggs, so that they don't taste too “eggy”? Here are creative ways of using them so that you still get the protein and the benefits like choline from eggs, but you don't have to just have scrambled or fried eggs. Maybe those are things t...