Catholic women who would like to exchange recipes and friendships may visit the website catholicmom.com. Barb Szyszkiewicz, the editor, is a devout Secular Franciscan who also writes at her two personal websites, CookAndCount.Wordpress.com and https://franciscanmom.com. Barb, a New Jersey native, has a lot to say about mothers cooking for their children during the year and in the summer, as well as how cooking helps them survive as adults. The first thing we consider while cooking with our children is their age.
Until my kids were ten, I didn’t cook with them very much,” she said. Time got in the way, and my little kitchen was ruined. It took a lot for me to let my kids join me in the kitchen since I used to feel like I was giving up my “me” time. Cooking is my escape; let me have this time. But I also understood that I wanted to help my kids develop that survival skill—the ability to make supper quickly—so they could become independent young people. Years have passed since I let them shop with me before I let them prepare supper. By the time they reach adulthood, they may be able to learn efficiently and follow instructions.
cook well and enjoy making supper
They now provide you with their own recipes. Now that the youngest is 21 years old, everyone can cook well and enjoy making supper. The kids who don’t live near me send me videos of their experiments in the kitchen, including dinners they make. That’s rather pleasant. It pleases me to see that they tried this as adults. The tip of taking notes on recipes while preparing supper was one I skipped about.
She made it known that her website, which they use like a cookbook, had the best dishes. The youngest, a university student, prepared Crunchwraps (recipe below) in the last week, much as Taco Bell does. He joined me in the kitchen, assisted with setup, and helped clean up.
Another mother from New Jersey, Lindsey Schlegel, talks about her fun summertime culinary adventures with her two to twelve-year-old children. “There are activities around dinnertime throughout the faculty year, which makes it difficult to get kids really interested in cooking,” she said. “Since the kids don’t have schoolwork over the summer, our timetable is more flexible, giving us more opportunity to examine skills and try out new techniques.
Cooking with kids takes longer than cooking alone
“Cooking with kids takes longer than cooking alone, but once we carve out the time, it becomes a family ritual.” A few weeks before, the kids were asked to prepare dinner—hen noodle soup, which they had already prepared—on their own. The older kids really like making supper and seeing how things work together as a group. It gives them a means of achievement. Appetizers like prosciutto and puff pastry around asparagus stems are favorites in our home. In fact, one of my children enjoys baking bread, while the other enjoys creating pastries. Usually, he speaks of opening a bakery that caters to allergies.
MaryBeth Eberhard, who is from Ohio, said that she lives with eight children, ranging in age from eleven to twenty-one. “We prepare a variety of dinner dishes,” she said. Additionally, sharing meals together is a great way to establish family customs and values. There are days when our children prepare supper. When required, young children must be grouped with older youngsters. In an effort to celebrate them, even in a little way, we try to be aware of feast days and prepare a special supper after we can. It connects us to the Catholic faith and heritage.
Family plants and maintains a backyard
“Everyone in our family plants and maintains a backyard,” she said. We use the produce that we grow, which includes young beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, berries, and so on. My son is cooking a meatloaf with potatoes and beans that are new to him tonight from that backyard. And the family’s favorite? According to MaryBeth, because the family plants blueberries and strawberries in their garden, the cake is now angel meals. There is always that one renowned person who dislikes a certain food. “We try to prepare for it via training. These are the times when selflessness and charity are fostered.
She said the family makes a lot of crock pot meals over the winter. “We defrost, cut, and toss it in while we finish our day’s worth of work and teacher assignments. Many of the items we now have canned and frozen, we consume. Even if the food isn’t quite as colorful and lively, we are always appreciative of it. We all notice them more during the winter months because of the effort we have put in this summer to preserve some of our fruits and vegetables.
Crackwraps with Black Beans
Barb Szyszkiewicz offers a replica recipe for a plant-based version of a popular fast-food item. “It’s easy to make and customize these meatless wraps!” With this recipe, we’ve experimented with many new filling combinations. It’s crucial to avoid packing the wraps too full in order to ensure that they completely seal. And because cheese creates the seal, it must be the last component layer. Making these with the kids is fun. Make a meeting line and prepare enough food for the whole family for supper,” she said.
Yields 4 servings.
Ingredients:
- One can of black beans
- One-half tsp. chipotle chili pepper
- Four enormous flour tortillas (10 inches)
- half a cup of finely chopped onion
- Two cups of shredded Jack or Cheddar cheese
- Four tostadas (about four to five inches)
- half a cup of bitter cream
- Two cups of finely chopped lettuce
- one cup of tomato dice
- 1/4 cup modern cilantro (optional)
- Pan oil
DIRECTIONS:
Fill a small pot with beans; do not drain. Add the chile chipotle pepper. Prepare supper in twenty-five minutes. Spread out a large tortilla on top of a cutting board. Using a slotted spoon, fill the center of the tortilla with about 1/4 cup of beans. Serve with 1/4 cup cheese and 2 table spoons of onion. Spread two tablespoons of bitter cream over a tostada and top with cheese. Serve with a quarter cup of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and cilantro. To ensure that the filling is completely covered, fold the tortilla’s sides inside toward the center. (If you think your Crunchwrap is too full, cut off a little piece of extra tortilla to fit within the hole.) Heat up some oil on a pan or griddle. Put the crunchwrap seam side down in the pan and cook the meal until it is browned all over. (I use a cast-iron burger press to ensure that the seam is sealed while cooking the first part.) To create the remaining three wraps, repeat the above procedures.
Nerfee Mirandilla’s photo on Unsplash