“And baby makes four...”

Play with the cheeses in this recipe – try aged cheddar, goat cheese or Emmenthaler. For adult tastes, consider adding prosciutto and peas.

Cooking Buzz is a column produced in partnership with the Junior League of Houston, a women’s charitable and educational organization founded in 1925.

Everyone told me that going from one child to two children would turn my house upside down. They said I would have less time but more on my plate. So when our daughter was born in 2013, I was expecting changes. However, one challenge I was not expecting was how difficult it would be to cook a nightly meal.

With my son, our first born, I made his baby food from scratch and would often make his favorite, Parmesan Risotto, from The Junior League of Houston’s cookbook Peace Meals, but with the addition of my youngest, time seemed to escape. I often faced the reality that I would not have a meal ready by dinnertime.

This was one change that did not sit well with me – a home-cooked, nutritious meal, where the family sat down together, was something I had grown up with and wanted to pass on to my children. As a big fan of making plans, I decided to tackle this new challenge as follows:

• Find recipes that would work for our whole family, including the baby as she started to eat solid foods;

• Include my oldest in cooking, with the added bonus of a little “Mommy and Me” one-on-one time;

• Look for make-ahead recipes that would help me better manage my time; and

• Depend on the Junior League Pantry for the nights where cooking was just not going to happen. 

I am pleased to report that I found some go-to recipes that fit my time constraints while satisfying the palettes of my children and my foodie husband. Two favorites that work for both adults and babies are the Fragrant Carrot Soup from Peace Meals, and the Whipped Carrots and Parsnips from Stop and Smell the Rosemary.

The soup was a hit the first time I served it, and it has since become a fall and winter staple. To make the soup more appealing to my children, I tone down the spices, but the soup still retains its aromatic nature. The fact that my children are eating a bowl full of vegetables is a bonus.

For the Whipped Carrots and Parsnips, I double the recipe and serve one portion for dinner, along with the Herb Roasted Chicken from Stop and Smell the Rosemary, and then freeze the leftover Whipped Carrots and Parsnips in baby-food containers for my daughter.

One of my family’s favorite recipes is a great make-ahead option: Spinach and Mushroom Enchiladas with Cilantro Cream Sauce from Peace Meals. My son asks for it often, and it helps my efforts to follow “Meatless Mondays.” Another make-ahead meal that satisfies the kid in all of us is the “Out of the Box” Macaroni and Cheese from Peace Meals. This creamy, crave-worthy dish is perfect for when nothing but cheese and noodles will do.

Cooking has become a new favorite activity with my son. While at times messy, it is a lot of fun and has led to our morning go-to: the Sunshine Smoothie from Peace Meals. Whether we follow the recipe exactly or add fruit on hand, this simple recipe gives us a delicious and nutritious start to the day.

Of course, everything I have said comes with this disclaimer: Some days a beautiful, made-from-scratch meal does not happen. On those days, instead of turning to a drive-thru, I turn to my freezer, which is stocked from the Junior League’s Pantry. The Pantry, in the Junior League Building at 1811 Briar Oaks Lane, is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. You can swing by for bakery items, frozen casseroles and boxed lunches. (The kitchen also makes party trays with four days of notice.) When I’m in a pinch, our favorites are the Spaghetti and Meatballs and the Chicken and Spinach Crepes.

I am happy to say that on most nights you will find my family eating a meal together, talking about the day and, often, laughing at my son’s knock-knock joke that never seems to end.

To buy a cookbook, see jlh.org or call 713-871-6608.