Dinner Diaries: Homemade but Not (Always) Healthy  

Job: High school food and nutrition teacher

Lives: London

Family: Husband and six kids aged 8-20

My cooking philosophy
I know a little too much about food and health, because I teach the subject. I don’t know if that actually means we eat healthier, or just that I know what I’m serving.

I bake our own challos and rolls, I make homemade pie crusts, falafel from scratch, and I make my own puff pastry on the occasion I use it (Ladies, it’s easy, it takes like ten minutes and it rolls better than the commercial one. I teach my ninth-grade students how to make it, and they can’t believe how easy it is — and how much margarine it has.)

We don’t use a lot of processed food; all of my kids’ snacks are homemade besides pretzels and crackers, but they do include a lot of cake and cookies. I’m quick in the kitchen; on the three days a week that I walk into the house from work at 4:10 p.m., I make supper in 50 minutes.

Best supper hack

I always cook double of the protein and freeze it for the next week. Nobody notices it’s not fresh. Besides chicken wings, of course.

Something I serve for my family’s health

I don’t think we eat that healthily. But we drink healthy: water, and only water, during the week. Soda and fruit juices are opened for Shabbos.