Speaker 1: Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. Any advice for parents who are packing
Speaker 1: lunches for their first time kindergartener, which I'm about to do.
Speaker 2: Make it very easy for them. I would always think
Speaker 2: about how are you going to get the most nutrients
Speaker 2: in every single bite? So like raw fruits, raw vegetables.
Speaker 2: Don't make it hard for them. Don't make anything where
Speaker 2: they have to like peel stuff off, like make it easy.
Speaker 2: Do a bento box so immediately you lift it, you
Speaker 2: see all of your choices, because you'd be shocked that
Speaker 2: sometimes kids will end up eating the cucumber for the
Speaker 2: cookie because I don't know. Their bodies are different than ours.
Speaker 3: Thirsty and they just wanted something else exactly. Hello, everybody,
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Katie's Crib. Today's guest makes me salivate.
Speaker 3: Her food is delicious.
Speaker 1: She packs the best kids lunches I've ever seen. And
Speaker 1: for all of your mothers listening who have school age children,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you follow people on Instagram or have looked
Speaker 1: people up on blogs or whatever where you see all
Speaker 1: these moms making like the most amazing packed lunches ever,
Speaker 1: and you feel like a failure because your lunches suck
Speaker 1: compared to that. It ends here. Stop feeling like shit
Speaker 1: about yourself. We've got the one and only Catherine McCord
Speaker 1: here today, who is the Instagram behind we Delicious. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you all of her posts and pictures and recipes
Speaker 1: and descriptions of how you pack a kick ass kids
Speaker 1: lunch that they actually eat, and how to get them
Speaker 1: to eat it. She makes it seem achievable, easy and doable,
Speaker 1: and I.
Speaker 3: Actually use all of her tips and tricks.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but I know her personally because she's
Speaker 1: a former actress who I've done seen classes with together
Speaker 1: when we were up and coming like twenty years ago
Speaker 1: in LA. I don't even think i've seen her since then,
Speaker 1: so we've got a lot to catch up on. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you about her. Her name is Katherine McCord.
Speaker 1: She's a formal model, actress, and television program hostess. She's
Speaker 1: the founder of we Delicious, a website dedicated to helping
Speaker 1: parents expose their children to wholesome, delicious, homemade food. She's
Speaker 1: a best selling author of three books, The Smoothie Project, Welicious,
Speaker 1: Lunches and we Delicious Enhanced edition, and at the time
Speaker 1: of our recording, her fourth book, Meal Prep Magic Time
Speaker 1: Saving Tricks for Stress Free Eating, was just about to
Speaker 1: be released as of early April. Now it's available wherever
Speaker 1: books are sold, so make sure you get a copy.
Speaker 1: McCord is married to film producer and former movie studio
Speaker 1: executive Jonathan Gordon. A couple have three children, Kenya, Chloe
Speaker 1: and Gemma Catherine. Hi, it's been forever, Hi, I was
Speaker 1: busy doing your very sassy, sexy intro.
Speaker 2: Was it sassy and sexy? I hope so?
Speaker 1: And what the hell scene did we do in Lesli Khan?
Speaker 3: Do you remember this?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I love that you just remember that.
Speaker 2: I have no idea what the scene was, but we.
Speaker 3: Were paired up.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think I was twenty five, so that's fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago. Yeah, And you're so tall and beautiful, and
Speaker 1: I just remember us being assigned a scene together. And
Speaker 1: I had a one room studio apartment literally a piece
Speaker 1: of shit, but really anuffort made for small people, like
Speaker 1: for people only four foot five and below. And you
Speaker 1: are very tall and modelesque. As we know, you were
Speaker 1: a former model actress and television post. But I remember
Speaker 1: us rehearsing the scene and my couch was also a
Speaker 1: futon was also the bed I was staying in, and
Speaker 1: we were trying to like block the scene around my apartment,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this tall, gorgeous creature can't even take
Speaker 1: a step in this piece of shit, tiny thing.
Speaker 3: I'm so happy to see you.
Speaker 1: I can't believe what it is that you've made of
Speaker 1: your life, your three beautiful children, the incredibly successful books
Speaker 1: and website and Instagram, and information that you are bringing
Speaker 1: to all of us mothers out there in a very
Speaker 1: saturated market. I have to say, like, I get so
Speaker 1: much inspiration from you and the food you are giving
Speaker 1: to your children.
Speaker 3: How did this come about?
Speaker 2: I was very obsessed from a very young age in
Speaker 2: cooking from Kentucky. My grandparents were into farming, growing their
Speaker 2: own food. So they had a big old compost in
Speaker 2: the back that they would just throw everything and it
Speaker 2: would have like insane tomatoes and peas, all this stuff
Speaker 2: growing off of it. I was just like super obsessed
Speaker 2: from a very young age. There was no oil or
Speaker 2: but it. It was just a scoop of bacon, grease and everything.
Speaker 2: I had Bonappetite and Gourmet when I was ten years
Speaker 2: old and had a subscribe. Shouldn't obsessed with cookbooks, And
Speaker 2: it wasn't until I went to culinary school. I mean
Speaker 2: that was like definitely the trajectory. Somehow, like modeling and
Speaker 2: other things got in the way, but like, that's the
Speaker 2: thing I really always wanted to do.
Speaker 3: Wow, you make food looks so good.
Speaker 1: I don't for those of you listening who don't follow
Speaker 1: Wheelishes on Instagram, and you want to watch her children
Speaker 1: go with her to the farmer's market and show what
Speaker 1: her spread looks like and how she shops and how
Speaker 1: she then translates it into food for the week, and
Speaker 1: it's so remarkable. And your children are literally like sitting
Speaker 1: on curbs at farmers' markets, like crushing raw frickin' brussels prus. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so that's how you got started.
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Do you think that because of you your kids have
Speaker 1: been raised in the same way or one of your
Speaker 1: three kids is like a very picky eater or something,
Speaker 1: so you've gotten to experience my side of the coin.
Speaker 2: Hi, By the way, I love that you're asking this
Speaker 2: because I have been thinking about this so much lately,
Speaker 2: because I have a sixteen year old, an almost fourteen
Speaker 2: year old, and a seven year old. They have all
Speaker 2: grown up in the same house. They all eat everything.
Speaker 2: I will put everything in quotes, but everything. My son, though,
Speaker 2: became a vegetarian when he was five on his own,
Speaker 2: like we were like, who are you? And even when
Speaker 2: he was little, meat or if he would chew, and
Speaker 2: he was never into it period the end. My middle
Speaker 2: daughter she looks at a steak like it is the
Speaker 2: Mona Lisa. It is the most beautiful thing she's ever
Speaker 2: seen at all times. So I do think that nature
Speaker 2: versus nurture being around food, like they'll all eat every
Speaker 2: fruit and vegetable. So I do think that I was
Speaker 2: able to be like, Okay, here it is exposure. Let's
Speaker 2: go to the farmer's market. Let's have it on your plate,
Speaker 2: let's have it steamed and roasted, air fried brags like
Speaker 2: with saws without without Yeah exactly. But I do think
Speaker 2: that all you can have experiences like what My middle
Speaker 2: daughter will not eat orange cheese. It is a hard pass.
Speaker 2: She threw up mac and cheese when she was six
Speaker 2: years old and that was it. But I do think
Speaker 2: a lot of it has to do with the way
Speaker 2: they're raised and like the exposure.
Speaker 3: So let's say she doesn't give like orange cheese.
Speaker 1: Was there a time where you were still putting orange
Speaker 1: cheese on the plate and like offering it for her
Speaker 1: to decide and maybe change her mind? Or is it
Speaker 1: just taking off the menu for her? And if you're
Speaker 1: making something with orange cheese for dinner for everybody, you
Speaker 1: don't make it on hers, Like how do.
Speaker 3: You do that?
Speaker 2: So okay, let's even go back earlier. If your kid's like,
Speaker 2: I'm not eating broccoli, ugh, You're going to try ten
Speaker 2: different times, ten different ways, and they will eventually like
Speaker 2: it unless there's some kind of I do think that
Speaker 2: there are predispositions to just not liking certain foods, and
Speaker 2: that's okay, But I would say that almost every fruit
Speaker 2: or vegetable like that's something that we It takes some more,
Speaker 2: it takes some work. If something happens to a child
Speaker 2: that they're like, we did twenty three and meters with
Speaker 2: my son, Yes, and he has eighty seven percent predisposition
Speaker 2: to be to vegetarianism. That type of thing.
Speaker 3: Is just is real.
Speaker 2: It's very real. But I think it's exposure. I think
Speaker 2: you have to keep trying with kids, and there is
Speaker 2: such a thing as picky kids and kids that have
Speaker 2: no control in their life, and so they all food
Speaker 2: becomes the one thing they can be like, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna eat that.
Speaker 1: A bunch of seasons ago, we had this amazing nutritionist,
Speaker 1: pediatric nutritionist come on, who was very much about when
Speaker 1: you're making a plate for your kid, it's like you
Speaker 1: always give them a definite, like something that they always
Speaker 1: eat regardless, and you always give them a maybe, and
Speaker 1: then you can always also give them the no.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 1: Now I'm in this thing with my two year old
Speaker 1: daughter where the minute she sits down at the table,
Speaker 1: if there's something on her plate that she doesn't like,
Speaker 1: she points at it. She may a gagging sound. Jesus
Speaker 1: to sit down unless it's removed from her plate. And
Speaker 1: I know I'm speaking for all of us moms out there,
Speaker 1: like I'm tired. I'm like, fine, fuck it, I don't care,
Speaker 1: get it off the fucking plate. Like whatever are we
Speaker 1: having pasta wheels again? Pasta wheels again? Do you stick
Speaker 1: by that I'm making one dinner for the whole family.
Speaker 1: Is that something you've you put in to effect early
Speaker 1: on with your kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The first Reelicious cookbook is called One Family, One Meal,
Speaker 2: because I was like, I'm not going to be a
Speaker 2: short order cook. I'm not going to be like who
Speaker 2: wants eggs? And who wants waffles? And who wants pancakes?
Speaker 2: And you want blueberry? It's too much. When I was
Speaker 2: growing up, it was like, here you go eat it.
Speaker 2: This is it. We are a catering to our children.
Speaker 2: Generation are We're so concerned about their happiness and every
Speaker 2: bite that goes in their mouth and their friends and everything,
Speaker 2: and we need like the solution for me which has
Speaker 2: become a win. And this is what I do at
Speaker 2: dinner every night. I do a diy dinner and I
Speaker 2: put out everything because also when you have a vegetarian,
Speaker 2: it's easier that way. So it's taco nights, so there's
Speaker 2: ground turkey, and there's guacamole and salt. But you have
Speaker 2: to eat a vegetable or a fruit. It is not an.
Speaker 3: Option at every meal.
Speaker 2: Every meal. It's like a hard it's just it's a
Speaker 2: hard pass to not But I do always tell my kids,
Speaker 2: like we do donut Fridays where we go at for donuts.
Speaker 3: Oh god, yes, that right, at the time reporting.
Speaker 1: Let it be known that's also be donut Friday.
Speaker 2: It has to be donut Friday. But it means that
Speaker 2: other days, like I made chia pudding for breakfast and
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, there's no fruit, but I know that
Speaker 2: my daughter's snack has a fruit. The exposure if they're
Speaker 2: not seeing it, and then all of a sudden it
Speaker 2: shows up, even with a two year old. Though, I
Speaker 2: think dy is such a great move because when kids
Speaker 2: have their plate just show up and they're like ford objects.
Speaker 2: I have no control. I don't what is all this
Speaker 2: opposed to, like two choices, Like we've always done the
Speaker 2: two choice rule in our house. Do you have carrots?
Speaker 2: A do you want celery or apples or whatever it is?
Speaker 2: So I think giving especially younger kids some choice, that's
Speaker 2: your choice, really.
Speaker 1: Right, because I'm cool with either thing they pick exactly.
Speaker 1: So are all these things on a buffet and then
Speaker 1: they sit down or is all of these bowls like
Speaker 1: in the middle of your kitchen table is if you're
Speaker 1: feasteering Family's not funny.
Speaker 2: It's funny you asked that we happen to have an
Speaker 2: island and a kitchen table. So I tend to put
Speaker 2: the food on the island and like people stand up
Speaker 2: as they want more, doesn't matter, it's what works for
Speaker 2: your family. Like the DIY situation, it just works better.
Speaker 2: My other company, One Potato, it's very much built on that,
Speaker 2: where it's like here's the idea of the meal. But
Speaker 2: like you can break it down. One Potatoes a family
Speaker 2: meal delivery company, so you can get up to three dinners,
Speaker 2: bento boxes, fully prepared smoothies, lunches, everything. The meal are
Speaker 2: made to be very DIY and that you know, if
Speaker 2: you have a kid that just hates carrots, but you
Speaker 2: want to make this meal, you can just leave the
Speaker 2: carrots at It's not a big deal.
Speaker 3: I just can't believe what your children need, Like I
Speaker 3: can't believe.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like we're doing pretty good, Like I've
Speaker 1: got one who love steak, one who hates steak, one
Speaker 1: who likes salmon, one that's hates salmon, one that likes broccoli,
Speaker 1: one that hates broccoli, but one that loves they both
Speaker 1: love c couvers.
Speaker 2: Like I.
Speaker 3: Every parent has.
Speaker 1: Their battles to pick right that are just massive triggers
Speaker 1: in themselves. I'm weirdly not completely freaking out that my
Speaker 1: kids don't crush vegetables. Look, do I wish it was different? Sure, Again,
Speaker 1: it's not keeping me up at night. However, there are
Speaker 1: other things for those listening that do keep me up
Speaker 1: at night. But I have a lot of moms that
Speaker 1: this is the battle. This is the worry about what
Speaker 1: are they eating? How much are they eating?
Speaker 3: Is it good for them? Is it healthy?
Speaker 1: Are they eating their lunch? What do you tell parents
Speaker 1: and moms you're working at just to deal with the
Speaker 1: stress of this.
Speaker 2: I think you have to look at it as like
Speaker 2: in three or four day chunks or even seven day chunks,
Speaker 2: because also, let's just remember like little people's dot their
Speaker 2: system is just developing and they're trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2: And you may have a child that just can't poop,
Speaker 2: and so they're like, I'm constipated, but they don't know
Speaker 2: that they're constipating. You're like, why aren't you eating? Do
Speaker 2: you not like this? There's so much self loathing and
Speaker 2: so much like emotional stuff that goes into it, and
Speaker 2: I think you have to just let it go sometimes.
Speaker 2: That's why I like the DIY because make a bunch
Speaker 2: of foods and hope that like Timmy eats broccoli on
Speaker 2: Tuesday and Wednesday, but maybe he's just not feeling it
Speaker 2: on the next two days. I think that you have
Speaker 2: to look at every week as like an overall win
Speaker 2: and not as like every meal. There's so much pressure. Sure,
Speaker 2: and you can even do things which I've seen incentivizing
Speaker 2: some kids, and like everyone has a different kid that
Speaker 2: everyone's different with this, but like we did a palm
Speaker 2: palm jar for a whole different thing, but you can
Speaker 2: do a pom pom jar for food. Like you're gonna
Speaker 2: get a palm palm for every new vegetable you try,
Speaker 2: and when the jar is filled up, you we're gonna
Speaker 2: go like a special day to I don't know, the park.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be food related, or it can
Speaker 2: be a cake party. We're gonna get a special cake
Speaker 2: for you. Or kids are very visual in that they
Speaker 2: can see that win. Oh my god, I ate all
Speaker 2: those different vegetables.
Speaker 1: So you're you're putting the stress on exposure versus like
Speaker 1: actually enjoying.
Speaker 3: It's like actually trying things.
Speaker 2: But what you just said, like my child only likes
Speaker 2: cucumbers and carrots, I'm like, that's awesome. Cucumbers and carrots
Speaker 2: are two highly nutritious foods. Sure that those are wins.
Speaker 2: Instead of being like that's all they eat, look at it.
Speaker 2: Spin it into a positive and every time that they
Speaker 2: your child now eats cucumber's, carrots and broccoli. You want
Speaker 2: kids to feel empowered when you start to think that you,
Speaker 2: as a parent, are responsible for twenty one meals plus
Speaker 2: snacks per child for eighteen years. It's the one thing
Speaker 2: you cannot get away from unless you know your kid
Speaker 2: is like stealing the keys to your car. Like the
Speaker 2: reason that all the cheese It's got in your house
Speaker 2: was because of you. We have to take some responsibility
Speaker 2: but also be easier on ourselves.
Speaker 3: Totally. Did you have cheese its or goldfish in your house?
Speaker 2: No? I make them homemade.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, get the fuck out of here, goodbye. No,
Speaker 3: I'm kidding. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: But wait a minute. Here's my hack is I make
Speaker 2: a ton of them and then I freeze them, so
Speaker 2: you pop them out and then they defrost in thirty seconds.
Speaker 2: You have them all the time, but you only make
Speaker 2: one batch like a month or every month or two.
Speaker 3: And they are actually as good as of regular ass goldfish.
Speaker 2: They're better, but because they're made with homemade cheese, like
Speaker 2: real good.
Speaker 3: My dad is watering.
Speaker 2: I love it so good, They're so good.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about reward based food stuff? Is that
Speaker 1: like the no go in your house. I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone knew in the eighties or nineties that this could
Speaker 1: equal out into food issues. And my husband and I
Speaker 1: are two products of that, where like, Okay, you had
Speaker 1: the greatest thing happen, you get some fucking junk food.
Speaker 1: Or you had the worst day of your life, guess
Speaker 1: what you get to go house? An Italian meal and
Speaker 1: a canoli whatever it is.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: But like we either the best and the worst are
Speaker 3: both rewarded with food. Talk to me on this topic.
Speaker 2: I think it's very specific person a person. I think
Speaker 2: that if you can somehow I'll wrap it into less
Speaker 2: reward and being like should we go get an ice
Speaker 2: cream tonight or should we have donut Friday?
Speaker 1: Yeah, like a tradition, like a routine versus like because
Speaker 1: you got this, you get this.
Speaker 2: But I'm personally a bigger fan of that. We don't
Speaker 2: really do any reward based food, but I do understand
Speaker 2: the idea of it, and like why we do it
Speaker 2: because it's something all the time, and it's sweet and
Speaker 2: it feels good, and it builds so much excitement in
Speaker 2: kids that it's somehow like between like a janky gift
Speaker 2: a piece of plastic and an ice cream. People tend
Speaker 2: to just be like, oh, the ice cream is easier.
Speaker 2: I wanted to I don't think it's that we try
Speaker 2: not to do it. It's more we unconsciously really don't do.
Speaker 3: It, which is probably good in the better in the
Speaker 3: long run.
Speaker 2: With everything with your kids, you like wishing we could
Speaker 2: rewind it and be like, oh, why didn't we just
Speaker 2: start this habit earlier.
Speaker 1: On when you can now like people listening to us,
Speaker 1: like I'm trying to get inspired, like I'm sitting here, like, fuck,
Speaker 1: I have a five year old.
Speaker 3: It's too late. It's too late, Ruin. No body is
Speaker 3: just built on goldfish in a prayer.
Speaker 2: No. But I mean that's why I've always loved like
Speaker 2: cooking with kids, because I think that more than anything,
Speaker 2: it goes back to the point of like it's showing
Speaker 2: up on their plate once they understand like how what
Speaker 2: it takes to make something, and that it's all kids
Speaker 2: want is to spend time with their parents. Period the
Speaker 2: end yes, period, they act out because they're like, look
Speaker 2: at me, I want to tench yes, I just want
Speaker 2: attention because you're on your phone, you're working, Please be
Speaker 2: with me. Making time to cook with your kids as
Speaker 2: often as possible, letting them participate in dinner. Here, can
Speaker 2: you sprinkle the vinagrette on the sala? Can you sprinkle
Speaker 2: some salt on something? The tiniest job makes kids at
Speaker 2: a dinner table, then be like when someone goes, oh
Speaker 2: this is delicious, be like, yeah, Timmy helped with that,
Speaker 2: and then Timmy feels awesome. So now Timmy's like I
Speaker 2: should eat it because I made it. And just build
Speaker 2: them up, make them feel powerful without in those little.
Speaker 1: Jobs great call. I remember even my son like he's
Speaker 1: terrible at it. But I'm like, do you want to
Speaker 1: help the fact that he's like, yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: help set the table? That's crazy and it's with crap
Speaker 1: like it's with horrible, like my table setting. Don't put
Speaker 1: in your head that anything looks remotely cute.
Speaker 2: Oh no no, but even table settings like I see
Speaker 2: it could be paper napkins and paper plates. Who cares
Speaker 2: like it? Let them get creative because that's a funny
Speaker 2: one because even on Thanksgiving, my kids get like really
Speaker 2: into it, and my mother would always be like, they
Speaker 2: need to use the nice china, they need to use
Speaker 2: the nice napkins. I'm like, I could care less. Let
Speaker 2: them make it look like Disney in there, yes, because
Speaker 2: they take so much pride and that's tradition to a kid.
Speaker 1: What is your advice for the moms like me who
Speaker 1: are not good at cooking and don't enjoy it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I like baking with my son, and I am good
Speaker 1: at copying your lunchboxes, which I want to get to
Speaker 1: because I think it's remarkable. But like, I literally can't
Speaker 1: make the dinners you're making.
Speaker 3: I make.
Speaker 1: I can make a scrambled egg, a frozen waffle, a
Speaker 1: pasta in a water with a can of sauce, like
Speaker 1: I can't. I just am lost, Like I'm lost.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna get your kids, your spouse or whatever.
Speaker 2: Everyone needs to make a list of their ten favorite
Speaker 2: foods and you're gonna keep those on hand at all times.
Speaker 2: It could be tortillas, cheese, and cucumbers, and so you're
Speaker 2: gonna make Caesa das. I am actually quite as simple
Speaker 2: cook like Welicious is all built on like simple, easy recipes,
Speaker 2: and I hate doing dishes, so it has to be
Speaker 2: like as few dishes as possible and think about just
Speaker 2: like this most simple, two three, four ingredient foods that
Speaker 2: you can possibly make up. That's why the DIY situation
Speaker 2: just like having things a few things cut up because
Speaker 2: kids like you don't have to cook for them, you'd
Speaker 2: be shocked, like my kids are, Like, give them a thing,
Speaker 2: a hummus and some vegetables and they will cruise through it.
Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be like this extraordinary meal every night.
Speaker 2: There's no problem with buying a rotisserie chicken.
Speaker 1: We do spaghetti once a week, non negotiable with the
Speaker 1: side of broccoli, Like that's it unctual. And also I
Speaker 1: have to say the only thing I do do, which
Speaker 1: I is a tip for anyone listening who's also not
Speaker 1: a cook. When my kids get home from school, they're
Speaker 1: like the most hungry four o'clock and I try to
Speaker 1: put out dinner around five thirty, but sometimes it's more
Speaker 1: pushing six and I put out a huge platter that
Speaker 1: I've already cut up at the beginning of the week
Speaker 1: of the cut up peppers, cucumbers, carrots, some snap peas,
Speaker 1: and a shitload of organic ranch dressing. My kids freaking
Speaker 1: love ranch and I don't care. And they just shovel
Speaker 1: in like a ton of vegetables that way, and so
Speaker 1: that by the time I get to dinner, if they
Speaker 1: carbo load here and they're just having the spaghetti in
Speaker 1: the wheels and maybe I don't know what we're doing
Speaker 1: for protein, but whatever, I feel like at least I
Speaker 1: did something.
Speaker 2: Okay, No, But by the way, that's the hottest tip
Speaker 2: known to man. Feed those like little rat is thing
Speaker 2: when they're starving, give them the vegetables, give them the
Speaker 2: foods that because they're so hungry, they're much more apt
Speaker 2: to eat it then than at dinner time with all
Speaker 2: the pressure on them.
Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah, that's when my daughter started trying like raw
Speaker 1: green beans. Like she finally was like yes, thank you God.
Speaker 1: And then the next day it was over. By the way,
Speaker 1: people listening, it's like, nope, we're back to eating green beans.
Speaker 3: That was a miracle. I don't know what happened. But
Speaker 3: then try it again, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, no, grow them be like I saw you eat
Speaker 2: green beans. Should we grow some green beans? Should we
Speaker 2: grow some basil. We have like a garden tower that
Speaker 2: we grow stuff and I'll pick herbs off. That's cool.
Speaker 2: And I'm a passion fruit nerd, so we have like
Speaker 2: literally hundreds of passion fruit dropping for mercy. But whatever,
Speaker 2: wherever you live, lemon's grapefruit. That stuff can go wild.
Speaker 2: It's a little bit easier. But go to the farmer's
Speaker 2: market because like the farmers, they cannot wait for that
Speaker 2: little two year old adorableness to walk up and be like,
Speaker 2: be interested, and they'll hand it to them. That's our thing,
Speaker 2: like we instead of church, we go to the farmer's
Speaker 2: market on Sundays.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's your thing.
Speaker 2: My kids work at the farmer's market. Now. They both
Speaker 2: have jobs. Yeah, they've been. My son's been working there
Speaker 2: for two years and my daughter a year. They work, Yeah,
Speaker 2: every Sunday. It's real fun. Do they do?
Speaker 3: What are their jobs?
Speaker 2: They sell sweet potatoes and scallions and gar Like my
Speaker 2: son wanted a car and so he's I was like,
Speaker 2: you got to work for it. I got to work
Speaker 2: for it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it. Do you do dessert every day? Every night? Never?
Speaker 3: What's your dessert deal in the house?
Speaker 2: Okay, so this is actually much more personal than psychology psychiatry.
Speaker 2: My mother, like dessert was super taboo in my house.
Speaker 2: Sugar was very taboo, so I think it made me
Speaker 2: a bit of a hoarder as like I was like
Speaker 2: donuts and like ice cream, like I would do anything
Speaker 2: to get it. So I was very conscious in raising
Speaker 2: my children that I was not going to do that.
Speaker 2: I would say every night, we have dessert. But dessert
Speaker 2: they may be like I want an orange, I want
Speaker 2: we make a lot of ice cream, so it's it's
Speaker 2: almost like a smoothie with less milk, so just pur it.
Speaker 2: It's like tastes like ice cream, but it's like really
Speaker 2: just period fruit and some you can. I we add
Speaker 2: frozen cauliflower. But I think dessert is like you made
Speaker 2: it through the day. I don't know something sweet.
Speaker 3: I'm with you, I don't understand.
Speaker 1: Like I'm so impressed by my friends who are like, oh,
Speaker 1: like dessert isn't a thing in our house, Like we
Speaker 1: just finished dinner and we're done, and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's so amazing, Like I can't do that, Like I'm sure, shit,
Speaker 1: don't expect my children to do that. Like I also
Speaker 1: like to have my little cookie or my little dark chocolate.
Speaker 3: I'm like that.
Speaker 1: And again that isn't a trigger for me. It might
Speaker 1: be for some of the people listening. Do you what's
Speaker 1: the vocabulary you use in your household around this is healthy?
Speaker 3: This is not healthy? What do you say?
Speaker 2: I think we do a lot of what is your
Speaker 2: body feeling? And does that kind of feel good in
Speaker 2: your body? I think Jem's grown My littlest has grown
Speaker 2: up definitely hearing that the most your body needs. I
Speaker 2: didn't make this up as science. Like flour sugar, it's
Speaker 2: gonna make you tired, You're gonna crash. So I've always
Speaker 2: tried to get away from bread first thing in the morning.
Speaker 2: It is the hardest thing in the American breakfast, Like
Speaker 2: American breakfast is just like a bagel, a waffle. It's
Speaker 2: really it's a part. That's why I wrote the Smoothie Project,
Speaker 2: because having a smoothie is really what you should do,
Speaker 2: because it's just true vegetable and protein. And so you're like,
Speaker 2: you're sending your kids to school, they're already tired most likely,
Speaker 2: and you're on a focus for eight hours. You'll be fine.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, they're totally they get there dead to the world.
Speaker 3: Wow, I never even thought about that. What a great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my kids are definitely like frozen waffle bagel cereal, Jesus,
Speaker 1: if you.
Speaker 2: Can prep smoothies the night before, like in a bag,
Speaker 2: I mean in a bag and so you just dump
Speaker 2: it into the blender, like frozen fruits and vegetables whatever.
Speaker 2: We have a smoothie station so like literally it's like, well,
Speaker 2: it takes me two seconds. Jemma's my seven year old,
Speaker 2: she's grown up on it, so it's like her thing.
Speaker 2: She loves it. And my older kids definitely my daughter
Speaker 2: and my son.
Speaker 1: Many days, God, I gotta get back out. We went
Speaker 1: through a smoothie phase and then I like forgot about it.
Speaker 1: But what's interesting a smoothie station. See when you put
Speaker 1: the blender away, which ours is away. It's a sort
Speaker 1: of a bad idea because you a forget about it,
Speaker 1: but be you like never want to take it out
Speaker 1: and clean it and all this shit. But you're right,
Speaker 1: it should really just be. It should live out there.
Speaker 2: Okay, So envision your kitchen. What small kitchen appliances.
Speaker 1: Sit out teapot which I use all day, okay, the
Speaker 1: like air fryer, toaster every day best, well, a coffee maker,
Speaker 1: but none of us drink coffee.
Speaker 3: It's more friarity.
Speaker 2: But that's very important.
Speaker 1: A lot of the utensils and stuff that we don't use. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I should put a freaking blender out there and I
Speaker 1: might use it all the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know glender like one of those little magic
Speaker 2: bullets or something. You just think about all the foods
Speaker 2: you can get, like we literally like a blueberry cheese smoothie,
Speaker 2: so chias heats, frozen blueberries, call a flower or spinach.
Speaker 2: You don't taste it and it's call far is more
Speaker 2: protein cup for cup than any other vegetable.
Speaker 3: This is great.
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to do this for breakfast because
Speaker 1: we are in the worst thing going on right now.
Speaker 3: Bad. If you want to hear something embarrassing my children
Speaker 3: and I have to stop. It's my fault.
Speaker 1: My children went through like a big boycott breakfast problem right.
Speaker 2: Like eating like breakfast no interesting.
Speaker 3: Also because my kids are big milk they like milk,
Speaker 3: got it?
Speaker 1: No fair fair so, but like when they're having a
Speaker 1: little bit of milk with breakfast, which when does that stop?
Speaker 3: I got to talk to the pediatrician he's five, What
Speaker 3: the fuck am I doing?
Speaker 2: Tea.
Speaker 3: It's the teeth.
Speaker 2: It's the teeth that's the reason not to talk to
Speaker 2: the dentister versus the pediatrician. The dentist will be.
Speaker 3: Like, get the milk out because it's all sugar.
Speaker 2: Because it's all sugar. But do this, okay, I'll trade
Speaker 2: you here. Ask them, would they what color milk they'd like?
Speaker 2: Or my daughters love chocolate peanut butter smoothie and all
Speaker 2: that is cocoa powder, which has no sugar, So figure
Speaker 2: because then you can keep their milk but you can
Speaker 2: get some more like nutrition in there.
Speaker 1: Wow, guys, this is all huge. I'm so impressed when
Speaker 1: I take my son to school and people have these
Speaker 1: thermoses filled with like incredible tortolini's with shit, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: excuse me, what it's turkey sandwich or peanut butter and
Speaker 1: jelly sandwich. I don't know what we're doing here. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they might be cut into a shade, but like, thank god,
Speaker 1: my kid loves a sandwich, loves it, and how weird
Speaker 1: it's so boring.
Speaker 2: I love a sandwich. That's why I would eat peanut
Speaker 2: butter and jelly every day of my life.
Speaker 1: He goes back and forth, peanut butter and jelly or
Speaker 1: a turkey sandwich, and he loves it, and it's always gone,
Speaker 1: it's never in there.
Speaker 2: What's on the turkey sand much?
Speaker 3: It's so easy, it's seated. Dave's Killer bread.
Speaker 1: He likes I sometimes. I do vegan as sometimes and
Speaker 1: he likes straight up Helman's.
Speaker 2: Mayonnaise, A man after my own heart.
Speaker 1: And then he likes jelly turkey, and he loves romaine.
Speaker 1: But it has to be a Caesar salad. He loves
Speaker 1: the Caesar.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, there's so many rules kids.
Speaker 3: Have, so many kids are but Natas like, why.
Speaker 2: So many rules? Okay? I like him.
Speaker 1: I would do his, but the bread would have to
Speaker 1: be toasted, and there'd have to be a ton of romaine.
Speaker 1: There'd also have to be mayo and mustard, maybe a
Speaker 1: little bit of avocado and then tomato.
Speaker 3: Oh delicious.
Speaker 2: My yeah. My middle daughter, she's a thermist. She's a
Speaker 2: hot thermist kid.
Speaker 3: What's in the thermos?
Speaker 2: It's always different. Her big one is gioza, And I'm
Speaker 2: just gonna tell you, I absolutely do go to Trader
Speaker 2: Joe's and buy those gioza and put them in my
Speaker 2: air fryer in the morning.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, they're delicious.
Speaker 1: Okay, two things, any advice or parents who are packing
Speaker 1: lunches for their first time kindergartener, which I'm about to do.
Speaker 3: And also let's do start there.
Speaker 2: Let's just remember that there's now more kids at lunch.
Speaker 2: There's so much sensory stuff. All they want to do
Speaker 2: is go play. Food is the last thing they're thinking about.
Speaker 2: That is for the majority of kids, not all not
Speaker 2: a full roll. Make it very easy for them. I
Speaker 2: would always think about how are you going to get
Speaker 2: the most nutrients in every single bite? So like raw fruits,
Speaker 2: raw vegetables. I mean, the reason I like sushi sandwiches,
Speaker 2: which is where you roll at the bread and you
Speaker 2: fill it and roll it and cut them into little
Speaker 2: wheels is it's much easy exact them. Bastard gets it
Speaker 2: in cheese stick like whatever it is. Don't overwhelm them,
Speaker 2: don't make it hard for them. Don't make anything where
Speaker 2: they have to like peel stuff off, like make it easy.
Speaker 2: Do a bento box so immediately you see all of
Speaker 2: your choices, because you'd be shocked that sometimes kids will
Speaker 2: end up eating the cucumber for the cookie. Because I
Speaker 2: don't know. Their bodies are different than ours.
Speaker 3: We thirsty. They're thirsty, and they just wanted something else exactly.
Speaker 3: I used to be so upset my kid.
Speaker 1: I always put a little if it's like a Justin's
Speaker 1: peanut butter cup or something, and my nursery school teachers
Speaker 1: are like, he always eats that first, and I'm like yeah,
Speaker 1: and then he eats his lunch.
Speaker 3: I don't care. I'm like what again. I think it's
Speaker 3: for some people.
Speaker 1: I hear moms in my life like you cannot have
Speaker 1: that until you have something else, or a lot of
Speaker 1: the language between like you're not getting up until you
Speaker 1: have one more bite. And we went down that path
Speaker 1: for a couple of weeks and it felt really icky
Speaker 1: to me, and it felt just not how we parent.
Speaker 1: But again, again, this is such a personal thing for people,
Speaker 1: like I think this is I think food and being.
Speaker 3: A parent is so hard. There's so much of your
Speaker 3: own stuff, there's so much about how you were raised.
Speaker 2: Food fights, it's the worst. You have to just remember that.
Speaker 2: Like the goal of meal time, especially when your kids
Speaker 2: are little and all the time, is to be together,
Speaker 2: to spend time together. If you are offering good food,
Speaker 2: they will eat the good food. It's just a matter
Speaker 2: of what the foods are. And just make it simple
Speaker 2: cheese stick and some crackers and a handful of strawberries. Fine,
Speaker 2: that's fine, you don't have to make spend two hours
Speaker 2: making enchiladas that no one's gonna eat. Also, let them
Speaker 2: go to the grocery. Let them go to the farmer's
Speaker 2: market and pick one new food. Like my seven year
Speaker 2: old surprises me at every turn because she'll be like, oh,
Speaker 2: I want these beach mushrooms. She's like obsessed with beach mushrooms.
Speaker 2: And so I put beach mushrooms in pasta. Now I
Speaker 2: air fry them. She was the one who discovered that.
Speaker 2: I never would have thought that she would be brave
Speaker 2: enough for like willing to try that. So I think
Speaker 2: that letting kids have some power over the discovery. Let's
Speaker 2: go find a food at the grocery. What is it?
Speaker 2: Do you want to learn about it? How is it grown?
Speaker 2: Where is it grown? Just let kids discover.
Speaker 1: There's just so much respect for the kid themselves, Like
Speaker 1: whether they're diy ing their own food, or they're helping
Speaker 1: you pack their lunches the night before, or they're going
Speaker 1: to the grocery or they're going to the farmer's market,
Speaker 1: like are there helping you actually grow it in the backyard.
Speaker 1: This is all massive. Any advice for parents who are
Speaker 1: starting first foods with their little ones, did you just
Speaker 1: purate all of it yourself.
Speaker 2: With ken yam? My oldest I did curate everything and
Speaker 2: they cut things in little pieces, and then by child
Speaker 2: number two I did a half and half because I
Speaker 2: was exhausted and had to make dinner. And by the
Speaker 2: third kid, I was like, good luck on that, Like
Speaker 2: you're gonna eat. You're gonna eat what we're eating. So
Speaker 2: there is no wrong way. They all turned out to
Speaker 2: be great eaters. I think that it's just what works
Speaker 2: for you. But I do think get in the early eaters,
Speaker 2: like under twelve months and especially under ten months. It's
Speaker 2: exposure as much as anything, either breast milk or formula.
Speaker 2: And then let's start with avocado and try it for
Speaker 2: a few days. Don't give up. That is the one thing.
Speaker 2: Just because broccoli was spit out day one, keep trying.
Speaker 2: Put some toasted sesame seeds on it, put a little
Speaker 2: brags on it, let them eat it in funny ways
Speaker 2: with them. It's all foreign to them at this point,
Speaker 2: So just making it something fun, funny, silly, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: You have a book coming out. I'm so pumped, and
Speaker 1: at the time of this probably releases this recording. It
Speaker 1: will be out so you can get every single place
Speaker 1: books are sold. It's called Meal Prep Magic, Time saving
Speaker 1: Tricks for stress free Eating. If this book shit wasn't
Speaker 1: written for me, I don't even know. Tell me about
Speaker 1: this book and how it came to be.
Speaker 2: Meal Prep Magic came to be really during the pandem
Speaker 2: because what had happened to me was I was like
Speaker 2: trapped at home, not going to the grocery, and only
Speaker 2: because my husband had bought two hundred and twenty cans
Speaker 2: of beans.
Speaker 3: He just was like, oh the box knocking up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Of course, of course was like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: What am I gonna do with all this? But I
Speaker 2: wrote the book by much more of a category than breakfast, lunch, dinner, Like,
Speaker 2: you've got a lot of beans, what are you going
Speaker 2: to do? The biggest idea is that we have so
Speaker 2: much stuff clutter in our kitchen. Let's get it out.
Speaker 2: Let's pare it down so that your kitchen is organized,
Speaker 2: so you know where things are, so it moves more efficiently.
Speaker 2: And then meal prepping just being able to meal prep,
Speaker 2: and that really goes to the DIY part. If you
Speaker 2: can spend two hours one day a week prepping different
Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables, make a batch of rice, make some pasta,
Speaker 2: make some roast chicken, mix and match different meals through
Speaker 2: the week. I'm telling you, it makes life so much easier.
Speaker 3: Meal prep magic everybody.
Speaker 1: That's really what it's all about and what we all need,
Speaker 1: because if we just took a couple hours earlier in
Speaker 1: the week, it would save all that time later in
Speaker 1: the week. What is the favorite lunch meal of each
Speaker 1: of your children that you make from the new cookbook?
Speaker 2: And why ooh, that's actually interesting. One. My son is
Speaker 2: obsessed with this blender banana chocolate chip bread. So you
Speaker 2: just dump everything in a blender. It's so easy and
Speaker 2: it's all gluten free too. Put all the ingredients, so
Speaker 2: oats and bananas and like all the ingredients and then
Speaker 2: you just put into a loaf pan and it's just
Speaker 2: it's so delicious. My littlest one loves the crispy salmon
Speaker 2: burgers because she loves salmon. That's like her biggest one.
Speaker 2: And then what is Kloe like the most? Chloe is
Speaker 2: like my eater that she's like everything. I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it. She's just like anything I put in
Speaker 2: front of her she loves. I'll say the overnight Bell
Speaker 2: waffles are pretty amazing, creamy chia pudding, four ways. Oh,
Speaker 2: and freezer stash breakfast burritos. You make them, you wrap
Speaker 2: them in foil, you unwrap it, throw it in the
Speaker 2: air fryer. So that's what I end up doing. I
Speaker 2: take them in the freezer and you can put them
Speaker 2: right in the air fryer or the oven or the toaster,
Speaker 2: or you can put them in a refrigerator and do
Speaker 2: the same thing the next day. But they're all wrapped up.
Speaker 2: They're all like exactly ready about. You can write your
Speaker 2: kid's name. If someone likes cheese, someone likes salsa, and
Speaker 2: they're ready to go, and they're like, especially my daughter
Speaker 2: loves a savory breakfast. That's a good one too.
Speaker 3: On the good so delicious.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Is there anything you'd like to teach your own children
Speaker 1: that you wished you had or were taught growing up
Speaker 1: in regards to food.
Speaker 2: I think my grandmother was the one who was just
Speaker 2: like every all fruits and vegetables were beautiful and they
Speaker 2: were like a gift to our bodies. I think that
Speaker 2: for me, I want my kids to have the connection
Speaker 2: of what goes in here, what goes in your mouth
Speaker 2: is good for your body, but it's also good for
Speaker 2: your brain. So not thinking of food as a band aid.
Speaker 2: And I had a happy day, I'm gonna eat. I
Speaker 2: had a sad day. I'm gonna eat instead just being like,
Speaker 2: what's like, that's the way that I eat. What's good
Speaker 2: for me is going to help my body run like
Speaker 2: an engine, and like I need my engine to like
Speaker 2: really move. So how do I feed it?
Speaker 3: I love it? I love it. Are your kids having
Speaker 3: any birthdays coming up?
Speaker 2: We just went through a bunch of birthdays. My middle
Speaker 2: daughter her birthdays in a week from today.
Speaker 1: Wow, what would you What advice do you like to
Speaker 1: give your kids as they get closer to their next
Speaker 1: birthday or let's say your daughter.
Speaker 2: I just want my kids to be kind, Just be
Speaker 2: kind people. Just be good, good to the earth, good
Speaker 2: to your friends, good to yourself. That's the one thing
Speaker 2: I think we all forget. Be good to yourself.
Speaker 3: Oof, that's a great one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I forget that all the time, and we always
Speaker 1: ask people in closing finish the sentence, parenthood is the.
Speaker 2: Hardest thing you'll ever do. I want to be like,
Speaker 2: it's joyful. It's the hardest thing.
Speaker 3: You can say it here.
Speaker 2: It's the hardest thing you'll ever do. And the more
Speaker 2: kids you have, there's you're always catching someone.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I can't imagine having three. I literally
Speaker 3: cannot imagine it the greatest.
Speaker 1: Everybody who's listening, tell us where we can find you
Speaker 1: and the name of your book again.
Speaker 2: At Welicious on all social media, and you can get
Speaker 2: Neil prep Magic absolutely every bookstore and on Amazon.
Speaker 3: It's delicious, Welicious. It's so helpful, inspiring, important, Catherine. I.
Speaker 3: I'm so impressed by.
Speaker 1: This whole thing you built, sweet Like it's really amazing.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 3: I want to hear from you. Let's chat questions, comments, concerns.
Speaker 3: Let me know.
Speaker 1: You can always find me at Katiescrib at Shondaland dot com.
Speaker 1: Katie's Crib is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.