Skip the shipping—ask your favorite store to stock us! Order easily via Fortune Fish & Gourmet!

Sign in

Gluten-Free

The Experiment

July 13, 2009 2 Comments

I'm not big into blogs, but I feel like the experiment that I've been conducting in my house over the last three years is worth sharing. My subjects are my two girls, now aged 6 and 4. Three years ago when I was struggling trying to balance motherhood with work and everything else that comes along with life, I stopped for a moment to think about where I was really headed.

Yes, I loved work. I was the morning reporter for CLTV in Chicago and had been a business reporter previously for Bloomberg News, WGN and other stations. But, it just all got to be too much, especially when my consultant husband began to travel every week up to 4 days at a time. Where I saw it crumble first was in the kitchen.

Dinners went south very quickly. Instead of steaming, fragrant bowls of Basmati rice and fresh lentils I began to resort to boxed mac and cheese and cornflakes. While there is nothing wrong with either, it's the amount that I was feeding my kids that was not okay. I was afraid to tell Sandeep, my husband, when he returned home on Fridays why my older daughter, Neha, suddenly seemed to prefer boxed pasta to home cooking.

Food is so important to me and my family. Both Sandeep and I were born in India though we were raised in the United States: he in Chicago, while I was raised outside of Philadelphia. Both of our mothers worked but still managed to not only get food on the table every night - managed to make that food Indian and freshly made. They had no choice - our traditional and conservative palates (and dads) demanded it.

So, for me to lose control of this element only meant to me that I'd failed my girls. I didn't want them growing up on a diet of frozen pizza and pasta with powdered cheese. I wanted them to have memories like I do of making homemade chutneys with my mother and eating piping hot rotis off the tava at dinnertime. Granted we also enjoyed our pizza and taco nights, but the focus was always on healthy, fresh food that happened to be Indian and that was eaten at a table all together just about every night.

For me, the answer was simple. I needed to quit work for a time to restructure my days and my thinking. I know this isn't the answer for everyone, but I hope that as I tell you what I've gone through and show you some of the shortcuts to making great, healthy Indian food right in your own kitchen - you'll be able to take the recipes and tips and immediately incorporate them into your cooking day.

I'll be sure to include regular commentary from my kids just to keep it real.

So, the question really is: how far can I go? And can I actually get my kids to try okra and eggplant? This remains to be seen...so read on!

2 Responses

a. e. swift

July 16, 2009

I love the premise of your blog and I can't wait to follow along. I respect your decison to stay home and cook for your girls. It's wonderful. And not always easy.