SubscribeMe & Grandma: Teaching my daughter to cook
Let’s put it this way, when I was growing up here in North Carolina, my mother didn’t cook quiche and I didn’t know what it was until I was in college. I usually only eat it now while out with friends. On a few occasions years ago I was bold enough to prepare a quiche dish at home.
I’ve never been much of a casserole-style cook. I haven’t had the patience for all the slicing and dicing nor the interest in learning how to meld various ingredients into flavorful concoctions. My cooking, as a result, has been rather simple – grill, sauté, steam or stir-fry. I want to encourage my daughter to be a more experimental and innovative cook so we’ll be spending plenty of time on mix-it-up dishes. The other day she made a quiche, or as she called it, an egg pie.
We don’t have any family recipes for quiche so we turned to the internet and found a recipe for cheesy sausage quiche. “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School” cookbook, which I’m using as a guide in my year-long effort to teach my daughter to cook, didn’t have any quiche recipes either but there are lots of instructions on how to cook eggs. My mother and several aunts are participating in this cooking adventure too.
I’m steadily becoming more of an assistant as my daughter is gaining confidence in the kitchen. I pulled out the measuring cups and spoons and showed her how to use them and talked about heart healthy eating. When we went shopping, we lightened up many of the ingredients — turkey Italian sausage instead of pork, skim milk cheddar cheese rather than the full-fat version and fat free half and half to replace evaporated milk.
My daughter sliced and diced, using the knife fearlessly. She mixed and measured - 3/4 pound sausage, 1/2 cup onion, 1/3 cup green pepper, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, etc. I strolled in and out of the kitchen and found myself wanting something to do. I made some lemonade. My daughter really only wanted me around when it was time to take the quiche out of the oven. She’s still afraid of getting burned.
The cheesy sausage quiche, served with a mixed greens salad, was tasty and low-fat. My daughter wants to make more quiches. None with spinach.
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I am a member of the Sandwich Generation, a Baby Boomer raising a teenage daughter and dealing with the needs of an aging mother. I am a veteran journalist, having worked for more than three decades as a reporter and editor. Mostly recently, I was an editor with the Metro section of The Washington Post.
