If you’re a parent and you live in Brooklyn—or anywhere else, really—then you simply must read A Child Grows in Brooklyn. It’s a wonderful blog full of information about parenting in Brooklyn, parenting in the city, and parenting in general. I’ve been a fan for years; impressively, Karen had her first child around the same time as I had Harry, and instead of finding herself stressed to the point where she had to stop blogging (like, um, me), this amazing woman actually decided to start a blog—and kept going after she had a second child nine months ago. When I resumed writing here earlier this year, Karen and I exchanged a few fan letters; before I knew it, she’d invited me to join her panel of experts. (Other experts on the site include parenting coach Alice Kaltman, doula Megan Davidson, pediatrician Hugh Gilgoff, and the educators at Eensies.)
So what am I an expert in? Food, of course, but more specifically cooking for and feeding your family—and yourself—well, healthfully, and deliciously. My first post on A Child Grows is an adaptation of one you may have already read here—The New Mom’s Pantry; future posts will be mostly new material, but from time to time you’ll see something that may look familiar.
Here’s your chance to help me out—and help yourself, too: What would you like to hear about in my posts on A Child Grows? What food/cooking issues do you face with your family? Leave me a comment below and I’ll get to work.
What I'm interested in is how to make really delicious food — like the black and white cookies you just posted about — but make them in a way that is healthy enough that you can give them to your kids.
Our eating habits have changed so much since having children and learning about nutrition. For one thing, we bake almost exclusively with whole grain flours. We also try to avoid refined sugar. This can work great with something like carrot cake (especially if you cheat and put powdered sugar, cream cheese, and coconut in the frosting) but it sometimes–often?–doesn't work. So, I'd love to see ways to MODIFY recipes to make them at least a little healthier.
I make killer pancakes that I sometimes sneak broccoli into. No one notices (I cook it and then blend it and only put in a little) and they always disappear. I know that must sound horrible to a foodie but it actually works amazingly well. In any case, that's the kind of thing I'd love to read about.
Funny you should ask for that, Jennifer–just yesterday Harry and I baked some brownies with my favorite, most decadently fudgy recipe. We swapped in whole wheat pastry flour & ground flaxseed to up the healthy factor, and they tasted faaaabulous. But they still have a whole stick of butter in them, so I'm going to tweak further on that front before I write them up. Stay tuned!