Tag Archives: kid-friendly recipe

Who Can Resist Candy Pork?

The most appropriately named Candy Pork.

The most appropriately named Candy Pork.

 

If there were two things that my Dad loved, it was candy and it was pork.

After all, when you are of Chinese ancestry, pork is practically in your DNA.

And when you live most of your life in San Francisco, where boxes of See’s Candies are apt to be offered up as gifts for most any occasion, you can’t help but develop a fondness for all things sweet.

That’s why if my Dad were still alive this Father’s Day, I would cook up a batch of “Candy Pork” for him. Because it’s like the best of both of his favorites combined into one.

The recipe is from San Francisco food writer extraordinaire Jessica Battilana’s new cookbook, “Repertoire: All the Recipes You Need” (Little, Brown and Company), of which I received a review copy.

Repertoire

After collaborating with chefs on a half dozen cookbooks, this is her first cookbook filled with her own recipes. After she and her wife had two kids, Battilana’s life became so time-pressed that her style of cooking had to change. The result is this cookbook of 75 recipes, most of them completely do-able on a harried weeknight, and others not that much more involved for weekends or special occasions.

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A Sandwich for All Ages

You don't have to be a kid to love this sandwich.

You don’t have to be a kid to love this sandwich.

School’s only just started, but if you find yourself already tearing your hair out over new ways to jazz up the brown-bag lunch, this book is for you.

“Best Lunch Box Ever: Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love” (Chronicle), of which I received a review copy,  features 75 simple and sensible recipes that kids won’t be tempted to trade away for something else. The book is by Katie Sullivan Morford, a Bay Area food writer and registered dietician who also happens to be the sister of famed Chef Mark Sullivan of the Bacchus Management Group of restaurants that includes Spruce in San Francisco, Cafe des Amis in San Francisco, the Village Pub in Woodside, Mayfield Bakery and Cafe in Palo Alto, and the Pizza Antica locales. As the mother of three daughters, she knows all too well the challenges of getting kids to eat well.

Best Lunch Box Book Large-781576

The book is filled with tips for easy ways to make lunch even more nutritious and appealing. For instance, instead of packing a tub of strawberry yogurt with a granola bar, make a Greek yogurt parfait instead with sliced berries, honey and granola. The latter has more protein, less sugar and nothing artificial. Instead of a regular cheese quesadilla made with a flour tortilla, use a whole-wheat one instead and fill it with black beans and sweet potato for more fiber, protein and potassium, and far less saturated fat.

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