Hello Everyone and welcome to the sixth edition of The Nap Times! If you are receiving this and do not want a monthly newsletter from me, simply unsubscribe at the bottom. I totally get wanting to simplify and declutter your inbox and will not take it personally. Also, some of the links in this newsletter are affiliate links.

 

This newsletter is extra special to me, because we are going to be interviewing MY MOM! I asked her if I could glean some of her wisdom for a special “Berta in the Kitchen" themed newsletter. My mom taught me how to cook, freeze all the things, plan for a dinner party, and not take any of it too seriously. I hope you enjoy this little segment as much as I enjoyed getting to interview my amazing momma. 

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Without further ado…let's interview Berta:

 

Is there anything you want the people of NTK to know about you and how you came to learn how to cook? Do you remember how old you were? Anything from how you grew up or experiences that shaped who you are?

Honestly, I am a pretty normal wife and mother. While my mom cooked for us growing up, I wouldn't say I knew how to cook. I could bake but didn’t know how to cook. I started cooking in college but not seriously till after Pop and I got married. 

 

I remember in college we would have these potluck dinners and I would cook my go to chicken recipe. So many would bring something store bought to the meal, but I loved bringing something homemade.

 

What was your go-to recipe when you and Pop were newly married?

Hollowell Honey Chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and peas out of a can! Luckily, Pop is the easiest person to cook for. He endured a lot of bad meals!

 

How did cooking change once you had kids?

Oh gosh, well, I was 23 when I got married and had Will at 25, so I was still learning to cook. Anna came 19 months later followed by you and Albert. Those 6 years really feel like a blur. All I know is that there were a lot of hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. And Albert (the youngest of the 4 kids) never ate a vegetable or a fruit.

 

I do know that everyone seemed to like parmesan chicken. This is a great meal to feed a crowd as well because you can easily double it. 

 

What is your go to easy recipe for feeding a crowd?

I love to make Ina Garten's Summer Garden Pasta recipe, but beef it up with extra veggies like sauteed onion, zucchini, or spinach. The beauty of this is that you can have everything ready to go before your guests come and all you have to do is boil the pasta. Add bread and a nice salad and dinner is done.

 

(At this time I reminded mom about her brown rice casserole, which is a staple at most all family potlucks. She said it's actually a Freeman recipe (meaning my dad's side of the family) and I am going to share it below!

 

She also loves making crab cakes in bulk to have in the freezer; it's super easy to grab a few out and pan fry them and feels like a nice step up from chicken. 

 

What is the meal you make when you are burnt out on cooking and want something easy?

I get the veggie fried rice from Trader Joe's and add extra veggies to it. Your father adds a fried egg to his.

 

Tuna salad plate: I get tuna packed in olive oil and make tuna salad made with capers, mayo, S&P and dijon on a plate with cut up veggies, crackers, etc. or toast.

 

Impossible burgers or any other ready made meatless burger. (Mom and I both agree that the Dave's Killer Bread Buns are amazing!) Serve this with Trader Joe's sweet potato fries.

 

Who is your favorite person to get recipes from/cookbooks you read?

Most of my go-to’s are still the foods mom cooked. (She and my grandmother actually put together a family cookbook around 5 years ago and it is AMAZING).

 

Ina Garten cookbooks

 

I get a ton of inspiration from Food Network Shows (Kate again; I can tell you Food Network or Hallmark are on 99% of the time when you go to Berta's house)

 

What are your top 3 kitchen tools?

  1. My Wusthof Santoku 5” knife
  2. My 12” all clad stainless steel skillet
  3. My 3 quart saucepan

What would you say is the most underrated thing to have in your kitchen? 

My tiny spatulas! I have about 7 of them and use them for everything. Getting the last bit out of a jar, spreading anything. So many uses. 

 

Parchment paper sheets: you can buy 1000 sheets at the chef's store and the size is perfect. I bake on them and freeze food in between them. 

 

What is your favorite kitchen tip?

  1. When it comes to actual cooking, just try it! The worst that happens is its bad. It's just food.
  2. Save everything no matter how small. That's how to learn to repurpose leftovers.
  3. When it comes to leftovers from dinner, I go ahead and make my plate for the next day and cover it with plastic wrap. That way, I don't have to pull all the different tupperwares out to make my lunch the next day; it is already made for me!
  4. I use a food processor to grate a ton of cheese at once and freeze it in any size freezer ziplock you want. It tastes so much better than store bought grated cheese!

Many of you do not know this, but mom is also where I learned to freeze all the foods! She is the freezer queen. Where did you learn this?

My mom taught me a lot of it! And lots of trial and error. Sour cream was a fail. Freezes fine in a recipe! Not by itself. 

 

If you could offer one piece of advice to young moms feeling tired and overwhelmed, what would it be?

You know… I'm 61 years old and the entire phase of having kids and taking care of them feels like a blur. It goes by in a blink! All I can say is: Enjoy your kids. Don't stress things that don't matter (and what matters to you might be different than what matters to me). Your house doesn't need to be pristine, nor do your meals. Also, the level of health has gotten very intense. I eat healthy, but this was not something I deeply stressed about when the kids were young. We had prepackaged everything to make packing lunches easier: mini oreos and teddy grahams and fruit gummies and dunkaroos. The children's friends loved my pantry. I aimed to cook dinner most nights, but didn't stress about everything the kids ate.

 

Do you have any cooking philosophies or quotes that have shaped how you feed yourself or your family?

Hmmm, I don't have a quote but as for philosophy: cooking and feeding people is how I show I love and care for them. I consider it my joy and my ministry. 

And there you have it! Thank you so much to my mom for taking the time to think through and answer those questions. That was so fun for me and I learned some things I didn't know. I hope it was helpful and encouraging to you all.

Now, onto my CURRENT FAVORITES:

*I am going to use this section to only share things I read/watched I would suggest to another person. I definitely read/listened to/watched some duds! 

READ:

I am currently reading yet another Elin Hilderbrand (This one is called Beautiful Day) 😬What can I say? I love her writing style and they are so easy to read before bed. I finished her book The Blue Bistro and loved how she wrote about working in a restaurant. My main goal this summer is to keep with the habit of reading, and Elin is making that so easy for me. I adore her. 

 

I finished Homebody by Joanna Gaines and I LOVED it. I had thought that it was simply a coffee table book, but it's so much more than that. I love hearing how she thinks through a space and how she decides what to value. I found myself dreaming and taking notes. I also think she is very freeing in how she writes about decorating your home. Yes, all the photos are absolutely gorgeous and can feel about out of reach, but the message she writes is very much in line with what I believe: love your space, and make it work and function for YOU. Create a home you want to be in but also that your children and spouse love and feel at home in. 

 

My friend Jacey publishes a wonderful newsletter called In a Word and I enjoy reading it every month. She always links to the most interesting articles! I especially loved this one she shared called The Shopping Cure which then lead me down a rabbit hole of reading No One Told Me Being Middle Class Meant Wearing My Retainer Forever. Both were super thought provoking and worth reading.

 

LISTENED TO:

Essentialism by Greg McKeown 

I started this on audiobook and really enjoyed the beginning. I lost my hold but am back on the waitlist to keep reading it. It has given me a lot to think about in terms of all the extra things I do that are not essential. Three questions he asks at the beginning I keep thinking about: What do I feel inspired by? What do I feel particularly talented at? What meets a significant need in the world?

 

The Tech Wise Family by Andy Crouch

Whew, this one was really good. It was an easy listen and gave me so much to think about. I am not putting everything has says into practice, but a few things really stuck out. I am going to let the August newsletter have a whole feature on my take aways from this book. Stay tuned!

 

I took a month off of The Bible Recap but am now back to listening. I think I needed a mental break from all the info (and the Old Testament), but I soon found myself reading my Bible and wishing I better understood the context. So, back the the Bible Recap I go. It is by far the best Bible in a Year plan I have ever done. I listen to the Bible passages each morning using the YouVersion app that has the reading plan already on it and then listen the the episode of The Bible recap which comes to my Podcast app every morning. It is completely free, by the way. Such an amazing resource!

 

WATCHED:

OK, don't completely write me off for this, but Nate and I watched Star Trek on a whim one night and I LOVED IT. So much so that we ordered the next one the following night. It was so enjoyable to watch something with a solid storyline. I have never seen the show so I have nothing to compare it to, but I thought the movies were great. 

Freeman's Brown Rice Casserole

*click the title above for a printable version

 

You will need:

¾ stick of butter

1 ½ cups rice*

2 cans French Onion Soup (10.5 oz. each)
 

*Mom prefers white rice; using brown rice greatly increases the cooking time and never comes out quite right

 

To make:

  1. Melt the butter in a 13x9 casserole dish in the oven at 350º
  2. Stir in the uncooked rice and add the 2 cans of soup and mix together.
  3. Cover dish with foil and bake at 350º for 1 hour.

NOTES:

 

When you go to uncover it after cooking, all of the onions will have floated to the top. Simply stir to reincorporate before serving. 

 

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled; just adjust your casserole dish size. The cooking time will be longer (approx. 20 minutes longer if doubling; 30 minutes longer if tripling) but you can't hurt it by cooking too long. 

 

You can assemble this earlier in the day (aka do steps 1&2) and then bake before ready to eat.

 

That's all I have for you this month. Thanks for reading!

               Warmly, 

                Kate

 
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