Over the past 17 years of motherhood I’ve prepared approximately 12,500 meals, so it’s no wonder I burn out on cooking. But at the moment, meal-planning feels downright fun. Instead of digging into my recipe box, I’m trying recipes from all over the world. I call it “Theme Week,” and while at first my family mocked my enthusiasm, now they are on board. Well, except for my son. Teenagers; gotta love ‘em.
Here’s how it works. Pick a country or cuisine and then find brand-new recipes that fit your theme. You can discover new recipes anywhere; your bookshelf, the internet, your local library or even social media.
Our first theme was “Mediterranean Cuisine.” I didn’t tell my family what I was doing at first, I just served them dinner as usual. But halfway through the week, when my kids dug their forks into a delicious pasta dish that included sardines, it dawned on them that something was different.
“What. Is. This?” my daughter asked, spearing a suspicious-looking fish-chunk with her fork.
“It’s a sardine,” I said, somehow managing not to cackle wickedly.
“A WHAT?” my son asked, instantly coming to his sister’s defense.
I took a sip of water and cooly set down my glass. “It’s pasta with sardines. We’re eating Mediterranean cuisine this week.”
“I think it’s delicious,” said my husband, who always backs me up at the dinner table. Seriously, I could serve fried bear poop and he’d ask for second helpings.
Pasta with sardines might not have been a hit with the kids, but they loved the air-fried artichoke hearts I made a couple days later for an afternoon snack. I drained a can of artichoke hearts, sprayed them with olive oil, shook them in a bag of Parmesan cheese, and then cooked them in the air fryer at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. It never would have occurred to me to try that if it hadn’t been for my international culinary experiment.
After Mediterranean week came French week, and then came Italian. It’s unclear how different the Mediterranean recipes were from the Italian, but let’s not overanalyze.
Polynesian week was fun too. Sprouts was having a sale on tropical fruit. Instead of buying my typical stock of apples and oranges, we indulged in mangos, pineapples and papaya instead. I made popcorn coconut shrimp in the air fryer. That involved thawing peeled, tail-off shrimp, and shaking them in a bag with breadcrumbs, Old Bay seasoning and unsweetened coconut flakes. After spraying them with olive oil, I cooked them in the air fryer at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.
This past week has been my favorite. We began spring break with a trip to IKEA where I cruised the freezer section for smoked salmon and chocolate Daim cake. That’s right, it’s Scandinavian week. I wish you could have seen my kid’s expressions when I served them pickled herring.
Jennifer Bardsley publishes books under her own name and the pseudonym Louise Cypress. Find her online on Instagram @jenniferbardsleyauthor, on Twitter @jennbardsley or on Facebook as Jennifer Bardsley Author. Email her at teachingmybabytoread@gmail.com.
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