Happy New Year!
Just getting this out of the way now - if you can believe it, this month’s letter features proper capitalization?! New year, new us.
We hope your children made it back to school/daycare/wherever without any issue and you’re slowly getting back to a regular routine. If you’re in a climate that requires that your children wear snow pants to school, or if your kids have gotten sick already, we are sending you strength, thoughts and prayers. If your kids are already telling you that they “need a break from school" because “it’s so boring”, we see you taking a few deep breaths and responding in a kind and gentle voice instead of telling them to “shut the fuck up”, and we salute you.
There’s not too much to recap from last month because we’ve been on the road, eating way too many fries, doing your standard Christmastime things, making magic and memories and such, so we’ll keep it light - let’s take a look back at the year, and take some baby steps forward together!
2024 Year In Review
It was a big one! Most importantly, our gang got to hang out IRL so many more times than we usually do - both in Dublin and in Toronto - which was the absoluuuuuute best! Here are some highlights!
Food wise, there was pizza, chicken pot pie, scraps for dinner, rhubarb crumble bars, sheet pan BBQ, fish cakes, so many hot dogs, morning glory-ish muffins, cheesy pasta, a bunch of pocket snacks on instagram, a lot of quail eggs, and even a whole zine worth of other recipes that we cooked on repeat.
We are planning to print another collection of recipes this year, so stay tuned for that!
And yet! Here we still are, asking ourselves the same question day in and day out - what the fuuuuuuuuuck do we feed these kids?! Their appetites are changing, evolving, devolving, they’re getting tired of things, seeking control and autonomy over what they eat (how rude?), change is hard, tastes differ between kids, teeth are falling out and growing in yadda yadda. It’s all just…happening. All the time. We’re tired, but we are trying our best!
And on that note - we are asking a favour this month from our readers - hi readers!
VERY IMPORTANT POLL: WTF ARE YOU FEEDING YOUR KIDS?!
We’ll start with dinner. What are the dinners in your regular rotation, or that you made last year that were hits? Please leave a comment, or reply to us directly with a lil’ list of what you’re making on the reg.
Here are our lists:
*note - generally both of our kids aren’t into super mushy/squishy/super saucy textures (things like: mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, super fatty meats, sometimes eggs etc)
Ed’s fam avoids: Cucumbers
Katie’s fam avoids: Lactose, rice, barley, hazelnuts, very spicy or acidic foods.
We’re so curious to see your lists, and if there’s any overlap/what the gaps are and (bonus) the things you generally avoid. Please share with us! We will post results in our next newsletter.
New Food / Sick Day Food
Katie: I’m doing a new thing where I cook one new recipe a week.
Crispy Farro with Cabbage and Kielbasa via ’s book I Dream of Dinner.
Getting the kids to try this meal took a bit of bribery, but I’m really glad I tried it! A really simple and tasty recipe (though I wish there was a little more guidance on how to properly cook farro - it was a bit of a fussy grain!) I replaced her horseradish sour cream sauce with a dijon mustard/sour cream sauce and holy moly it was good and also cooked the farro with a little chicken bouillon for flavour.
One kid ate everything (because of the aforementioned bribery), one kid had small bites of everything but mostly just picked out the kielbasa because he is unbribeable.
The farro was a much tougher sell than the cabbage and sausage, but I will definitely try to serve again (with some strategic planning). The cabbage/kielbasa combo definitely has legs here! I have no idea what I did for my kids to freely eat cabbage but it’s a safe food and for that I am thankful.
Chicken Pesto Meatballs via Dan Pelosi/NYT
These were so good!!!! I have no notes. Everybody loved them. Make them immediately.
Ed: Over here in Dublin, we’re the family who managed to dodge all the Christmas bugs and then waltzed right into a New Year flu. There’s sore throats, fevers, sniffly noses, the lot. As I speak, I have yet to but struck down but I fear it won’t be long now**. Thankfully though this has meant I’ve been able to feed the family while they’re suffering with these damn seasonal illnesses. And we’ve got my wonderful colleague, Lilliput’s force with food, Marina to thank for recipe number one and Jess Elliott Dennison (yet again) to thank for recipe number two.
**narrator voice: Ed is now sick with the flu.
Chicken Stock Rice
This was as simple and nourishing as it sounds. Marina sent me home with a pot of chicken stock from the kitchen today in an effort to heal our toddler who is suffering with his first proper flu (it’s the absolute saddest). We know the kid loves rice and what’s more comforting than any food cooked in chicken stock.
Finely dice carrots (small enough that they’ll cook at the same time as the rice), mix them with rice and put it in the rice cooker with chicken stock and a good pinch of flakey salt. That is it. The one year old ate this up with a scrambled up egg on the side too. I embellished my own dish with some crispy garlic and kale, a fried egg and chilli crisp.
Side note, there was a small cup of chicken stock left over which I mixed with a drop of soy and knocked back in one mouthful. Heaven.
Tomato Butter Sugo via Tin Can Magic
This recipe is our absolute go-to. Everytime we’re looking for a simple and comforting dinner which soothes our soul, we cook this. It’s a simple tomato pasta sauce with a few small steps that really elevate the thing - we left out the chilli and sugar because of the kids and it didn’t seem to affect the dish all that much. Jess’s ‘Tin Can Magic’ book is something we lean on v often in the house, definitely worth a look.
We’ll be back next month with a recap and a new recipe for you all!
Until then - stay healthy, stay sane.
xoxo
KT & ED
Hi guys, I love reading the newsletter - keep up the good work ☺️ 🤩
Dinners on rotation in our house (me, my partner and toddler) are as follows;
Risotto (baked in the oven) - either with mushrooms or squash
Soup and toast- usually whatever is in the fridge but namely lentil and or vegetables
Meatballs -either lamb or beef in a tomatoey sauce with beans
Dal in some form!
Broccoli pesto pasta
Ragu with pasta
Fish chowder (often with white beans added)
Cheesy omelette and beans