Cook Together, Eat Together

By The University Press of Kentucky

Bring the family together with this collection of budget-friendly, hearty and healthy meals, plus tips for preparation & leftovers and conversation starters.

In today’s fast-paced world, many people find themselves waiting in line at fast food restaurants more often than gathering around the dinner table with loved ones. Cooking and eating together can help families grow closer, but it can be challenging for parents to put a meal on the table when time is limited and money is tight.

Cook Together, Eat Together is designed to help families enjoy more home-cooked, healthy meals. Featuring easy recipes for breakfast dishes, soups, vegetables, salads, and one-pot meals, the book lays out a strategy to enable families to spend more quality time together while also preparing foods that are affordable and delicious. In addition, the authors provide a toolkit for lifestyle changes, including budgeting tips, nutrition guides, breakdowns explaining how to evaluate food labels, and even a quick guide to shopping smart at the farmers’ market. Each recipe comes with useful information?from preparation tricks that help reduce mess, to ideas for how to use leftovers, all the way to icebreakers for starting fun conversations around the table.

The no-nonsense, nutritious recipes in this cookbook are designed to get the whole family in the kitchen, enjoying comforting foods, and making memories. Cook Together, Eat Together serves up tasty, budget-friendly dishes that home cooks and their kids can prepare with less stress.

“Replete with full color photographic examples of mouth-watering finished dishes, Cook Together, Eat Together is thoroughly ‘user friendly’ in organization and presentation?making it a memorably ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, family and community library cookbook collections.” —Midwest Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9780813180373

Book preview

Cook Together Eat Together

Cooperative Extension Service | Agriculture and Natural Resources | Family and Consumer Sciences | 4-H Youth Development | Community and Economic Development

Copyright © 2021 by The University Press of Kentucky

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

www.kentuckypress.com

Acknowledgments

This material was funded by USDA’s SNAP. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Authors:

Rebecca Freeman, Social Marketing Project Manager

Jackie Walters, MBA, RDN, Extension Specialist

Janet Mullins, PhD, RDN, Extension Specialist

Jean Najor, MS, Cooperative Extension Service Nutrition Education Program

Anita Courtney, MS, Consultant for Social Marketing

Design and Layout:

Kevin Brumfield, Graphic Designer

Photographs:

Pablo Alcala, Photojournalist

Copy Editing and Proofreading:

Vickie Mitchell, Editor

This publication may be reproduced in portions or its entirety for educational or nonprofit purposes with permission of the copyright holder. Permitted users shall give credit to the author(s) and include this copyright notice.

Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

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Additional Credits

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Basics for Healthy Eating on a Budget

Shopping

Shop Smarts at Grocery Stores

Shop Smart at Farmers’ Market

Breakfast

Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal

Sunrise Granola

Frittata

Spinach Rice Egg Bowl

Breakfast Burrito

Grab and Go Breakfast

Soup

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Creamy Broccoli Soup

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Making Soup: Your Way

Salads

Crunchy Apple and Cabbage Salad

Southern Cornbread Salad

Fresh Taco Salad

Making Salad Dressings: Your Way

Vegetables

Crispy Oven Zucchini Fries

Roasted Vegetables

Quick Pickles

Making Vegetables: Your Way

One-Pot Meals

Harvest Chili

Creamy Broccoli Alfredo

Southwestern Chicken and Rice

Making One Pot Meals: Your Way

Slow Cooker Meals

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken

Slow Cooker Soup Beans

Making Slow Cooker Meals: Your Way

Snacks

Stovetop Popcorn

Apple Crisp

Muffins

Grab and Go Snacks

Appendix

Kentucky Proud Produce Availability

Youth Friendly Kitchen Tasks

Guide to Portion Sizes

Measurements and Substitutions

Knife Skills

Herbs and Spices: Your Way

Basic Home Cooking Skills

Roasting a Chicken

8 Basic Ways to Prepare Eggs

Recipe Index

Cook Together, Eat Together

Never Underestimate the Power of a Good Meal

If you want to bring your family together, the kitchen is a good place to start. Cooking and eating together is a great way to build family closeness. But when budgets are tight, it is a challenge to put a meal on the table. We hope this book makes that process easier and more enjoyable.

To create this book, we listened to people who are experts on this topic, mothers across Kentucky who are SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) eligible and who know how to stretch a dollar to feed their families.

Though it is a challenge to cook when funds are limited, having good basic cooking skills makes it easier. Kentucky moms told us about friends who can throw down in the kitchen and who can make something from nothing. They said their kids became more independent and confident when they helped out in the kitchen. Families also found it was fun to cook together, as a team, and that cooking teaches many skills—from organization to math.

Kentucky mothers said that learning to cook well boosted their confidence and reduced their stress. And, when the cooking was done, families found they looked forward to sitting down to a home-cooked meal together.

The topics we have covered and the types of recipes we chose were based on things that real people told us would be helpful. Comments from the mothers we talked with are in quotation marks throughout the book so you can share in their humor and learn from their wisdom.

Basics for Healthy Eating on a Budget

Best Buys. Dried beans, eggs, cabbage, bananas, cornmeal and oatmeal are among the most nutritious foods for the money. Learn to make delicious foods with these basics.

Eat Smaller Portions. Eat less, spend less, weigh less. Serve smaller portions at dinner and you may have enough for lunch the next day. Big muffins can be split in half. One half cup is a serving size for rice, noodles and cereals; but many people eat a cup or two. A serving of meat is 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. One way to eat less is to serve food on smaller plates—it