If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.

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A favorite parent-to-parent warning goes something along the lines of: your kid may be a good eater now, but just you wait.

Having heard this dozens of times as my baby teethed on a pickle, I was aware that as she waded further into toddlerdom, her approved food list would shrink. But that doesn’t make it any less annoying now that it’s happening, especially since the bell curve seems to overlap with her going to bed later and doing more dinners together as a family.

Early on in our solid food journey as I tried to read everything I could about picky eating in hopes of avoiding it, I landed on a distinction that I’ve written about many times before.

There’s a difference between pickiness and rigidity, and often kids are really displaying the latter when they reject certain foods. Like, say, the potatoes that were cut in cubes instead of matchsticks.

It’s been a useful distinction as we enter this next phase of three-nager opinions. My daughter still eats many different foods, especially foods like these veggie pancakes and these lentil burgers, which are extremely familiar to her. It’s the capacity for newness that is shrinking, not necessarily her palate as a whole.

There’s an amazing organization in NYC called the Child Mind Institute that offers treatment for a host of early childhood hurdles. A friend of mine who has used their therapies and raved about it relayed something I found very interesting. The two parenting tools that they say are extremely effective for shifting behaviors? Time outs and star charts.

We are a heavy bribing family, something that has always left me feeling unsure if I’m doing this parenting thing right. So it was encouraging to hear of a lauded institution recommending star charts. I crafted one with my daughter and so far it’s been pretty effective at getting her to try a new food that she has previously resisted (sometimes dozens of times).

I got a tiny bite of shrimp and scallop out of it. In Spain, we conquered olives and jamon. And I have high hopes for using it as an added incentive the next time I prepare one of her favorite ingredients in an unfamiliar way.

To be clear: I still do not think she would eat these foods willingly without reward. But that first hurdle makes the next taste that much less daunting.

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I’d love to know if you’ve used star charts in your home (even if not on the food front) and how they’ve worked for you. At the moment our pre-selected prize is a very fluffy alpaca stuffed animal from Island Alpaca.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

THE GAME PLAN

Store-Bought Spotlight

(elements you can buy)

Polenta in a tube: As a recipe developer I should know what to call this item, but I have yet to figure it out. Instead of buying ground cornmeal in a bag, you’ll often find in the refrigerated section (sometimes) or near the pasta a pre-cooked polenta in a tube that only needs to be sliced to be edible. I am not brand-loyal but usually purchase what is GF and made in Italy. To make polenta fries or polenta cakes, this is the quick and easy polenta I start off with. Instructions for turning those sliced rounds into mini pizzas are below!

Sausage: My go-to chicken sausage is D’artagnon, which makes a Mediterranean variety and one with mushrooms that are both incredibly flavorful. I know these small brands are harder to find or you have to mail-order in bulk, so use whatever you love. You can also go with fresh links from the butcher counter. See my notes for this in the recipe guidance.

Protein Pasta: Since I’m gluten-free, Banza is my go-to protein pasta, but Grace recommended a few other brands in last week’s recipe. This one or this one.

Lentil Soup: I’ve been a fan of Amy’s for most of my life, and luckily my munch is catching on. For the record (and I’m sure you’re not surprised), Heyday brand also has a fantastic lentil stew with butternut squash. That one has turmeric and other spices – it’s lovely. Make sure whatever you buy has lots of built-in veg so that all you need is some bread on the side. Friday should always be a low lift at the end of the week!

P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every month. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $4 per month if you do the annual option before Labor Day - 40% off! A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!

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Meal Prep

(elements you can make in advance)

Shrimp and Corn Cakes: Last month’s free recipe thanks to Rachel Mansfield! These guys are fairly quick to whip up the night of, but I think any cake or fritter format is also perfect for making ahead of time. You can reheat them in the oven or with a quick pan re-fry. The avocado salsa should be made the night of.

Chicken & Rice Casserole with Broccoli: This dump and stir recipe can be made fully in advance and warmed up directly in the casserole in the oven. If you transfer it to Tupperware, just nuke it until done. It’s so versatile, you can’t mess it up. This is a true MM hallmark recipe that is on my personal meal plan every other week.

Quickies

(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)

Avocado Salsa: This element of our shrimp burgers comes together in a flash and will be most vibrant if made right before dinner is served.

Pea-Powered Pasta Salad: Another free recipe from this month thanks to Grace Elkus! Though it’s packed with herbs, this pasta also keeps well if you want to make it in advance. Leftovers are great for lunchboxes.

Sausage + Mini Polenta Pizzas + Roasted Asparagus: This one takes about 20 minutes, but you can easily meal prep it as well. Here’s what you do. Preheat the oven to 425F. Cut the polenta into rounds and arrange on one side of a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. On the other side arrange either whole (raw) sausages or sliced pre-cured sausages. Bake for 15 minutes until the bottom of the polenta is starting to crisp. Top with tomato sauce and mozz, return to the oven until melted. If using pre-cooked sausage, remove from the pan before returning to the oven. On a separate baking sheet, toss a bunch of asparagus with olive oil and salt. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes while the polenta is going. You can either serve the sausage on the side or add the slices to your pizza!

Munch Menu Version 22

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FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS

If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.

Golden Tofu Noodle Bowls: This recent NYT recipe is from my girl Hetty Lui McKinnon who NEVER misses (you should also subscribe to her Substack!). I love bowl formats for family dinner, especially letting kids choose how much of each ingredient gets added to their bowl. Tofu, noodles, crunchy veg is always a winning formula we are looking for more ways to play with!

Dairy-Free Clam Chowder: On the subject of new foods and star charts, clam chowder is high on my list of things I want my munch to try. Besides the clams, she loves and is familiar with each component. So that seems like a safe bet for her to perhaps add another seafood to her “will eat” list. Here’s hoping. My version is made without dairy and you can hardly tell at all. But feel free to use any recipe you like or sub in heavy cream!

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My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

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I would say that the summer months are dominated by my obsession with tennis, but the truth is, it has become a year-round addiction that is only partially influenced by having access to a court to play on myself.

As you may remember from this musing on my eternal hall pass / other husband, Rafa Nadal, tennis is the only sport my family followed growing up. During the pandemic, when all professional sports were slightly befuddled like the rest of us, I took my fandom up a notch. I went from the tennis equivalent of a high holiday Jew—who tunes in exclusively to the gram slams—to a devout follower.

I am married to someone who is on his phone 80 percent of the day, refreshing ESPN scores for various fantasy leagues when he isn’t working. Perhaps as my own way of coping with sitting next to that, or just within the dark void that was year one of COVID, I began following every tournament, reading every profile on the Athletic, checking WTA/ATP tour sites daily to see whose ranking was soaring or plummeting, collecting fun facts like who has eaten pasta before every tennis match for his entire life (Arnaldi) and who donates a share of their prize money to training service dogs (Pegula).

What I love most about tennis is that it is an ongoing telenovela with a deep call sheet. There are the interpersonal tensions, the geopolitical conflicts across the net, the cross-tour mixed doubles romances. As a deeply psychological sport, there are constant cycles of boom/bust. Especially on the women’s side, which hasn’t been dominated by a chosen few, you can win a grand slam or a gold medal one year and be out of the top 100 the next.

Which is all to say that like the pandemic days of yore, I am spending late summer dissociating from my responsibilities and looming back to school logistical nightmares by absorbing every moment of the US Open.

The mixed doubles was better than watching any of my comfort romantic comedies. (Dear reader, one day I will write a tennis romantic comedy).

If I wasn’t allergic to social media these days, I would be sharing a video about my favorite tennis player / actor doppelgangers, or who should play them in a movie. For fun, here’s a small taste of my favorites. Behold, a casting list for Tennis: the Movie.

The one not pictured that I’m obsessed with is this for Jannick Sinner. Sorry Jannick!

I, of course, have a food-related comment request at the bottom of this newsletter, but let it be known from here on out that you are ALWAYS welcome to drop some tennis commentary here on Munch Menus.

In no particular order, I will be cheering for the following to pick up the final grand slam of the year: Svitolina, Muchova, Eala, or Kostyuk, though I would never mind Naomi or Coco picking up more hardware. I have really missed Carlos this season, but if we are going for novelty: Shelton, Jodar (very into his rise), and always Big Foe.

Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…

I have a few resources that come in really handy this time of year: my summer breakfast planner (or this one as the weather turns) and my store bought pantry meal planner (an entire week of actually healthy dinners made entirely with pantry ingredients…vegetables included!). You’ll also be the first to receive my lunchbox planner, which is in the works for next month!

All these planners and more are available to paid subscribers, and to make the August scaries a little less frightful, I’m running a Labor Day sale through the weekend! Anyone who upgrades to an annual subscription gets 40% off (under $4 a month).

Get 40% off an annual subscription

Happy munching,

Phoebe

WHAT YOU MISSED

• Pea-Powered Pasta Salad

• How to Talk to Your Kids About Death

• Morning Glory Oatcakes

• Munch Menu V.21

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ME TIME

(Everything I’m watching and reading)

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (TV): We somehow missed this show when it came out, but experienced much pleasure binging it this summer. It’s one part dark comedy, one part thriller about a soccer mom going through a custody battle who witnesses the assault / kidnapping of the cam boy she’s been seeing to stave off her loneliness. I felt a real mom mind-meld kinship with this character even in some of her most ill-advised, psychotic impulses to get answers and revenge.

Thelma (Movie): Squibby Squibby June is the star of this octogenarian action adventure about a grandma who gets a scam phone call and then takes it upon herself to track down the criminals on an electric scooter. I realize as I’m writing this that this rec shares a lot of DNA with the show above, only this one offers an important lens about the indignities of aging, the importance of community, and the lengths one aging dame will go to to still feel useful and independent.

London Falling (Book): Much to my husband’s chagrin, this was my first Patrick Radden Keefe book, though I feel like I’ve read his other ones from the amount of time Charlie has spent recapping them for me. I am pleased to report that this one lives up to the hype in my bedroom and on the bestseller list. There’s been so much deserved gushing on the interwebs about this Russian nesting doll of a true crime story, which follows the mysterious death of a teenager in London. But I think what I was most impressed by was the extreme empathy and emotional depth that PRK put into his reporting and retelling of this story. Even the villains, of which there are many, have so much nuance to their motivations and history, and the family members we come to care most about were far from perfect.

Helpless (Book): I seem to be on a thriller bender this month, and this new novel from Jessica Knoll (whose Bright Young Women, I adored!) was a wonderful erotic palette cleanser to round out the bunch. Jessica writes complicated, thorny (very Scorpio-adjacent) women in a way that speaks directly to my fucked up soul. The ending may not be for everyone, but I found the book overall hot and satisfying.

Euphoria (Book): Since Heart the Lover was one of my favorite books last year, I thought I’d pick up another Lily King from the archives. Euphoria is very loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead, who along with two male collaborators, studied tribes in Papua New Guinea in the 1930’s and changed the course of anthropology. It being a novel, and a Lily King novel, the fictional version of her story involves an elegantly constructed love triangle. I didn’t take to this one as much as her contemporary books, probably because it lacked their lightness and humor, but if you love historical fiction, there is plenty to learn from this journey into the jungle. Also since I’m in the middle of my cover “process” I must say that I love this cover!

Next Up: Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson and Good People by Patmeena Sabit!

AUGUST ESSENTIALS

I’ve gotten more compliments on this light weight playset than any other item of clothing my kid owns! She lives in it during the summer time and has lasted us two seasons of beachy wear and tear. They are a little on the pricey side, but it’s a very small business and truly one of the more useful items in her wardrobe. The shorts are cut long so they really do last over the years. We just bought my daughter the purple octopus set in a size 6 so it can grow with her. Use code COCO10 for 10% off.

I know I’m not the only person pushing Planetbox this time of year, but they are just the best for school lunches. That said, I’ve always found the rover model a little overwhelming, and this summer we purchased this smaller lunchbox that only has two compartments. It’s a joy to pack and my munch loves her green gingham carrier.

This one probably finds you at the end of its season for usefulness, at least if you’re a city dweller like me, but we love this Kitty Swimvest and it was the MVP of August.

MONTHLY ASK

As I mentioned above, I’m hard at work on a lunchbox planner. Please help me help you by telling me: What are your biggest lunchbox packing pitfalls, pet peeves, and pain points that need solving?

If nothing comes to mind, please tell me your favorite tennis player.

Leave a comment

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There is hysteria in the zeitgeist. Vegetarianism and veganism are on the decline (at least in their strictest sense). And parents are turning toddlers into mini bodybuilders, making pizza crust with ground meat and sneaking protein powder into their muffins.

As the author of a cookbook named CARBIVORE, I have a nuanced take on the subject. My issue, by and large, with how the high protein trend has been interpreted is that it’s put so much emphasis on animal byproducts when the reality is that many many plants offer substantial upside.

Which is all to say that I was THRILLED when I saw Grace Elkus face this subject head on with her new cookbook Protein-Packed Vegetarian.

What I love most about the book is that it dispels the myth that you have to eat meat in order to hit your protein goals. Her recipes are not gimmicky. She simply uses powerhouse ingredients like beans, eggs, tofu, and cottage cheese to her advantage (and yours).

I chose this pea-powered pasta salad recipe to share with you because it ironically illustrates the formula that I laid out in my protein essay. All kids need to hit their daily (daily!!) protein goal is 1 cup of pasta + ¼ cup chickpeas + ¼ cup green peas.

This pasta salad gets you even further with edamame, feta and snap peas added to the mix. The benefit of so many peas is two-fold: if your kid doesn’t like one or more of the options, simply double down on one of the other pea varieties on the ingredient list.

The lemon-based dressing is bright and herby—perfect for a lunchbox or make-ahead school night dinner (I know many of you are already there…).

Read on for this fantastic pasta salad and if you’re looking for ways to focus on protein without adding more animals to the mix, Grace’s book is an incredible resource! Also, don’t sleep on my high protein mac and cheese right here on MM.

Happy munching,

Phoebe

Pea-Powered Pasta Salad

This is my lighter, fresher take on pasta salad, where the veggies outnumber the noodles. Edamame and green peas pack a surprising amount of protein (as in, start adding them to everything!), and using protein pasta helps too. I like the nutty flavor of chickpea-based Banza for this one, but if you prefer a more neutral taste, opt for Barilla Protein Plus.

SERVES 4
prep: 15 minutes
cook: 10 minutes
total: 25 minutes

PER SERVING:
Calories: 420
Protein: 22g
Carbs: 43g
Fat: 21g
Fiber: 12g

Kosher salt

4 ounces short protein pasta (I like small shells)

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small shallot, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry

4 ounces feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (1 cup)

4 ounces snap peas, sliced on the diagonal into 1/2-inch pieces (1 cup)

1/3 cup chopped fresh dill

1. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Pay close attention to the timer: add the edamame during the last 4 minutes of cooking and, if using frozen green peas, add them during the last 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cool water.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, oil, shallot, garlic, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of pepper. Add the chickpeas, feta, snap peas, and dill and toss to coat.

3. Add the drained pasta and veggies to the bowl along with 1 teaspoon salt. If using fresh green peas, add them now. Toss to coat. Taste and season with more salt as needed. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Pea-Powered Pasta Salad

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Reprinted with permission from Protein-Packed Vegetarian: Easy, Nourishing Recipes to Fuel Your Day: A High-Protein Cookbook. Copyright © 2026 by Grace Elkus. Photographs copyright © 2026 by Linda Pugliese. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

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My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

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Because, unlike sex, it is a discussion that requires parents to actually be vulnerable.

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When my parents’ beloved rabbit passed away unexpectedly in June, I was grateful that we would be out of the country for a month. It would give me time to get my ducks in a row—to buy the right books, build the right toolkit, gas myself up to tell my daughter that she would never see her favorite member of the family again.

Perhaps, more importantly, it would give me time to quiet my own (irrational? overblown?) sadness about losing this small creature.

What it really did though, was give me a runway to call in the big guns—a hive of experts to walk me through the conversation. In doing so, I learned a lot about how kids at different ages developmentally handle the concept of death, how to tailor my language accordingly for a toddler, and how to steer clear of some central pitfalls.

One of them being: avoiding my own vulnerability in the first place.

I’ve put together a beautiful patchwork of advice from twelve accomplished pediatric therapists and grief counselors. You never know when you’re going to be in a position to need these tips, and if you’ve dealt with these conversation already, you might already know that there is no bookend to it—kids deal with grief over time.

If you need more resources, I’ve included several books, articles, and pep talks. And best of all, you can scroll down to the end for the rolodex of practitioners that participated in this interview—all of which are an email away from becoming a hands on member of your grief team.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments about how your kids have dealt with the death of a pet or loved one.

Leave a comment

In the meantime, we will be mourning and missing our sweet bun, and visiting her every day in the garden, where she is buried under her favorite herbs.

Happy munching,

Phoebe

What are some of the most important things to keep in mind when talking to toddlers (or young kids) about death for the first time?

Young children benefit from simple, concrete, and honest language. Rather than saying someone "went to sleep" or "passed away," it's generally more helpful to say that their body stopped working and they cannot come back.

It's also important to reassure them that all feelings are welcome. Some children cry, while others return to playing within minutes. Both are healthy ways of processing.

--Jennifer Giuglianotti, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, Certified Somatic Therapist for Trauma, Founder & Clinical Director of Balanced Life Movement

It's okay to say "I don't know," because in all honesty we don't what happens to people after they die. You can help them to use their imagination but try not to confuse them. For example if they ask if the person is coming back be honest in your answer.

--Liz Ross, Ph.D.

Children don’t need perfect answers—they need safe adults. Follow the child’s lead, answer only what they’re asking, and expect the same questions to come up repeatedly as they process. It’s also okay for children to see adults cry. Grief isn’t something to hide—it’s something we can model moving through together.

--Lori Kay, LCSW

Your first conversation on this will not be your last, so it’s important not to assume or pressure yourself into thinking that you have to fit everything into one conversation. Parents often feel the most comfortable when they’ve done a little rehearsing or role playing before the actual conversation to make things more fluid and to try and anticipate some of the responses and/or questions that might come up.

--Dr. Stephanie A Lee, Licensed Psychologist

Keep explanations short, honest, and developmentally appropriate. An example might be, “Their body stopped working, so they can’t breathe, eat, or come back.” Children process grief differently than adults do. They often move in and out of it, ask difficult questions one minute and then wanting to play the next. I believe an important part of discussing death with kids is to reassure them that they are safe, cared for, and that all their feelings are okay.

--Jamie A. Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™, licensed child and family therapist, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™, educator, and author

Continue to talk about the deceased person or pet and periodically open up conversations about death, the loss, the person. Grief is a process, not one single conversation.

--Jill Leibowitz, Psy.D. Clinical psychologist and author of the Untold Stories of Itsy Bitsy children’s book series

When talking with a toddler or young child about death for the first time, it's important to choose a calm moment when you can be present and unhurried. It's also helpful to remember that young children often feel grief somatically. Crying or separation anxiety may increase and they can get frustrated more easily.

--Maria Georgopoulos, LMHC, FT, Founder, Roula's Kids: A Space for Grieving Families, Inc.

A young child will likely process much of their experience of death, dying and loss through play. For adults, play can feel vulnerable. Becoming comfortable with a child's play (the messiness of it, the emotionality that surfaces, the symbols that emerge) is important in building a place for a caregiver and child to connect, co-regulate, and create shared meaning.

The adult's job is to 'hold' the child, emotionally, with an inner sense of "I got this...I got us". Going slow and allowing for pauses or 'think time' is helpful for a young child, and often takes practice for us adults.

--Caity Stetner, LCSW, New York based Child Therapist & School Social Worker

Are there any pitfalls or things to avoid?

Telling children their loved one is “sleeping, at rest, gone away, etc.” The earlier kids become familiar with conversations about death, the easier they will be throughout life.

--Lauren Seeley, Death & Grief Doula for pets and humans

Avoid euphemisms as these can create unnecessary fears around sleep, separation, or getting lost. Also avoid telling children not to cry or trying to “fix” their grief. They don’t need us to take away their feelings—they need us to help them feel safe while having them.

--Jennifer Giuglianotti, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, Certified Somatic Therapist for Trauma, Founder & Clinical Director of Balanced Life Movement

I am constantly encouraging parents to not feel like they have to hide their own emotions. Seeing a trusted adult cry while also remaining emotionally available teaches children that grief is a normal part of love and that they can feel the same feelings without shame or guilt.

--Jamie A. Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™, licensed child and family therapist, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™, educator, and author

If possible, avoid having these conversations right before bedtime or at a time when your child won't have the opportunity for comfort and support afterward. Choose a time when you can stay with them, answer questions as they arise, and provide reassurance.

--Maria Georgopoulos, LMHC, FT, Founder, Roula’s Kids: A Space for Grieving Families, Inc.

Don't say: God wanted another angel so he took XXX. That can encourage child to injure themselves to go and be with the loved one.

--Jill S. Cohen, CT (Certified Thanatologist: Death Dying and Bereavement)

A calm, gentle tone is helpful. It’s okay for kids to see your emotions, but you don’t want them to feel they need to take care of your emotional needs. This conversation is about them. Most young kids will just go back to doing what they were doing. They may come back with questions.

--Ken D. Meeker, LCSW, adult psychotherapist specializing in serious illness, caregiving, aging, and loss

Sometimes in an effort to protect a child from pain and to manage our own discomfort with a taboo topic, we may find ourselves avoiding the words all together. This can look like assuring oneself: “[child] is ok and doesn't know what's going on", when children are actually quite perceptive and need an adult's sturdy guidance. When we allow ourselves to look inward, feel, and care for our own emotional worlds, we are able to cultivate the adult wisdom that children need from us.

--Caity Stetner, LCSW, New York based Child Therapist & School Social Worker

Any tips for older children who may have encountered the concept of death but not experienced it yet personally?

As children grow, their understanding of death becomes more sophisticated. Preschoolers often see death as temporary or reversible. School-aged children begin to understand that death is permanent and universal but may become more curious about the details or worry about who else might die.

--Jennifer Giuglianotti, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, Certified Somatic Therapist for Trauma, Founder & Clinical Director of Balanced Life Movement

Older children and adolescents are capable of more abstract thinking and may ask deeper questions about fairness, meaning, or spirituality. Adolescents who haven’t experienced a personal loss often have a mature understanding of what death means, but that doesn’t necessarily prepare them for the emotional impact when it happens. They may struggle with feelings they didn’t anticipate, compare their grief to others, or feel pressure to “be strong” for family members.

--Jamie A. Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™, licensed child and family therapist, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™, educator, and author

As children get older (6+), they may be more curious about the mechanics (e.g., what happens to a body after death). It’s developmentally appropriate for children at this age to begin cognitive distortions such as magical thinking, such as believing that they caused the death, or if they think about a parent dying, it’ll happen.

--Jill Hartrich, LCSW - Child Therapist, Parent Coach & Owner at Foundations Therapy

If they tell you that you don’t want to talk about it or slam the door in your face, this is completely normal. Be available to them but not pushy. Sometimes the car can be a less threatening place to have these conversations because you are not face to face.

--Liz Ross, Ph.D.

Rather than assuming what they need, I encourage parents to stay curious and ask open-ended questions like, “What have you been thinking about?” or “What worries you the most?” Older children and teens often benefit more from feeling heard than from receiving explanations.

--Lori Kay, LCSW

Older children might have more “medical” questions about the details of what happened. Regardless of age, if a child expresses worry that you will die, it’s helpful to let them know that hopefully you will die when you are old, and that by then, they will be grown ups who can take care of themselves (but don’t promise this!). And remind them there will always be people to take care of them while they’re young.

--Jill Leibowitz, Psy.D. Clinical psychologist and author of the Untold Stories of Itsy Bitsy children’s book series

As peer relationships and social comparisons begin to take center stage in a young person’s development, feeling ‘different’ can feel especially painful and uncomfortable or “cringe”. A young person whose interests are their entire world (ex. a baseball lover) may not talk about their most vulnerable feelings, but may let it out on the field. This may mean listening to their big feelings about losing a game with the seriousness that their grief is also at play, whether or not they feel ready or comfortable to make that connection.

--Caity Stetner, LCSW, New York based Child Therapist & School Social Worker

Books about death for all ages:

• The Invisible String (3-7) by Patrice Karst

• When Dinosaurs Die (4-6) by Laurie Krasny Brown

• The Invisible Leash (for losing a pet) by Patrice Karst

• The Goodbye Book by Todd Parr

• Lifetimes (for parents) by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

• Butterfly Kisses (5-7) by Bob Carlisle

• Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia

• Why Do Things Die? by Katie Daynes

• Sad Is Not Bad (a workbook for kids) by Michaelene Mundy

Other resources:

• Ten Tips for Talking to Children About Difficult Topics

• A Story About Death

• A 1 min video for parents with a simple message

• Sesame Street: Growing as we Grieve

• Death doula book list

• Dramatherapy and the bereaved child: Telling the truth to children during difficult times

• Roula’s Kids - a free support group

• Ten Tips for Talking to Children About Difficult Topics

Practitioner Rolodex

• Stephanie Omens, LCAT, LPC, LMHC, RDT-BCT, CCLS

• Jill S. Cohen, CT (Certified Thanatologist: Death Dying and Bereavement)

• Jill Leibowitz, Psy.D. Clinical psychologist and author of the Untold Stories of Itsy Bitsy children’s book series

• Liz Ross, Ph.D.

• Dr. Stephanie A Lee, Licensed Psychologist

• Ken D. Meeker, LCSW, adult psychotherapist specializing in serious illness, caregiving, aging, and loss

• Maria Georgopoulos, LMHC, FT Founder, Roula’s Kids: A Space for Grieving Families, Inc.

• Jill Hartrich, LCSW - Child Therapist, Parent Coach & Owner at Foundations Therapy

• Caity Stetner, LCSW, New York based Child Therapist & School Social Worker

• Lauren Seeley, Death & Grief Doula for pets and humans

• Lori Kay, LCSW

• Jennifer Giuglianotti, MS, LCAT, BC-DMT, Certified Somatic Therapist for Trauma, Founder & Clinical Director of Balanced Life Movement

• Jamie A. Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™, licensed child and family therapist, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™, educator, and author

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It’s a strategy I use to combat my toddler’s food fragility by making small tweaks to the things she already likes. The idea is to build her flexibility muscles by, say, cubing her sweet potatoes instead of cutting them into fries. Or say, subbing purple sweet potatoes for the usual orange.

For others, it might be a strategy to swap in an ingredient your toddler already likes in hopes that they will not reject the whole dish. Not a fan of mushrooms? Try peas, broccoli or tomatoes in these eggy muffins.

Whatever angle you’re coming from, cooking for kids requires the ultimate flexibility of the cook, since we know our diners rarely have it themselves.

If you’ve become reliant and accustomed to recipes that offer a whole array of options for tweaking, my friend Serena Wolf just wrote the cookbook for you.

Every recipe in You Do You has a section at the bottom with numerous substitution options to get your creative juices flowing and help you gain confidence customizing dishes based on both your (or your kid’s) palate and what’s in your pantry.

Into the idea of schnitzel but not a fan of pork or fennel? Make a chicken version and swap in that half container of arugula hanging out in your fridge. Love the White Bolognese but need to keep it gluten- and dairy-free? Use brown rice pasta, which releases a similar amount of starch, and a can of full-fat unsweetened coconut milk in place of the milk and cream. Go for it! YOU DO YOU.

I had the pleasure of gushing about this book before it hit shelves this week, so please allow me to quote myself:

“This cookbook is like having your super confident, funny best friend standing next to you at the stove, telling you not to freak out when you realize you bought the wrong cheese. In Serena Wolf’s world, you don’t need the perfect setup (or even a complete grocery list) to cook an ideal meal. You Do You gives any busy, harried cook the foolproof formulas they need to produce delicious, unfussy dinners and have more fun in the process. If there are Beef Bourguignon Meatballs with a side of Party Peas and Carrots on the menu, you’re pretty much guaranteed to enjoy yourself.”

Today Serena is generously sharing one of her brilliant breakfast recipes that checks a lot of Munch Menu boxes. These morning glory oatcakes have hidden(ish) vegetables. They are freezable for quick breakfasts. And they have a few raisins to boot.

My hi-fi pancakes have been a reader favorite over here, so please take this opportunity to shake up your usual morning recipe and try something new…while still doing YOU. Personally, I’d love to swap zucchini for the carrot in these cakes like I do in my baked oatmeal!

While you’re at it, make sure to pick up a copy of Serena’s incredible book You Do You!

Happy munching,

Phoebe

Morning Glory Oatcakes
(Makes 12 oatcakes/serves 3 to 6 depending on how you choose to top them)

These not-too-sweet oatcakes, packed with grated carrot, apple, raisins, and walnuts, are much heartier than traditional pancakes, with more of a nutritional punch. They’re perfect eaten as a short stack with a little butter and/or maple syrup, but I also highly recommend slathering them with nut butter, cream cheese, or any other toppings you can dream up for a handheld breakfast or snack. And since these oatcakes keep fantastically, leftovers are a beautiful thing. Store them in a paper towel–lined airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or place them on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet in the freezer for a few hours until frozen solid. Once frozen, transfer the oatcakes to a freezer bag or container and store in the freezer for up to 4 months. To reheat, pop the cakes in the toaster directly from the fridge or freezer or microwave in 15-second increments until warmed through.

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned (aka rolled) oats (not quick-cooking oats!)

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk of your choice

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey, plus extra for serving

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pinch ground nutmeg

Pinch Diamond Crystal kosher salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup grated carrot

3/4 cup peeled and grated Granny Smith apple

3 tablespoons golden raisins (optional)

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Butter or coconut oil for cooking the oatcakes

1. Add the oats, egg, milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder to a blender. Blend until smooth. Transfer the batter to a bowl and gently fold in the carrot, apple, raisins, and walnuts (if using). The batter will be quite thick and sticky.

2. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add a little butter or coconut oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add scant ¼-cup measures of batter to the skillet. (You can eyeball it if you like, but if you do use a measuring cup, grease it so that the batter will slide right out, or use a spoon or spatula to scrape it from the measuring cup into the pan.) If necessary, gently flatten the oatcakes and/or nudge them into a roughly circular shape with a spatula. Cook for about 3 minutes, until browned on the undersides. Carefully flip the oatcakes with a thin spatula and cook until the opposite sides are browned and the cakes are cooked through, another 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Transfer the oatcakes to a plate, add a little more butter or oil to the skillet, and repeat the cooking process with the remaining batter. (Depending on the size of your skillet, you’ll need to cook the oatcakes in 3 or 4 batches.)

4. Serve the oatcakes warm or at room temp with the toppings of your choice (see You Do You).

YOU DO YOU

• To make egg-free oatcakes, replace the egg with either ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce for extra apple flavor or 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil plus 1 tablespoon water.

• Regular raisins and pitted and finely chopped Medjool dates are excellent alternatives to golden raisins.

• Should you want to make a simple fruity oatcake, replace the carrot, apple, and raisins with 1 cup berries or diced fruit of your choice.

• A small amount of vegetable or canola oil can be used to grease the pan if necessary.

• A few favorite topping combinations:

  • Butter or nut butter + pure maple syrup

  • Cream cheese + apple butter

  • Butter + cinnamon sugar

  • Peanut butter syrup (equal parts peanut butter and maple syrup warmed and whisked together)

  • Mashed or sliced avocado + sliced turkey

  • Smoked turkey + cheddar + arugula sandwiched between two cakes, with a little Dijon for a sweet and savory sandwich

Morning Glory Oatcakes

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My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

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If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.

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We are clawing our way out of an ice cream free fall.

As my daughter doubled down on rigidity with the few things she could control in our new living environment in Spain, and we desperately wanted to avoid power struggles (it being vacation and all), the two-gelato-a-day diet became our norm.

In the midst of things going off the rails, I read this article on Melissa Wenner Moyer’s fantastic Substack about the pull of forbidden foods. It’s a fascinating argument against restriction, and part of an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with moms about what to keep in the house. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think hearing varying perspectives always leads back to: there isn’t a right one.

My philosophy has always been to set yourself up for success at home so you can find more flexibility out in the world. This means we don’t usually stock ice cream or other packaged snacks that I view as “sometimes” foods. However, when we are out of the house, all bets are off.

According to the research in Moyer’s article, therein lies the problem. It’s the sometimes foods that hold the most allure, that drive the most desire. And from my recent experience, I can say that setting yourself up for success at home is moot if there is a very good gelato shop ten feet from your apartment.

I’m not sure how I will change our habits back home, but I do know that now that we are stateside and mercifully a 10 minute drive from the nearest ice cream facility, that we will have the opportunity to refind our footing at meals.

This month’s menu contains a lot of crowd-pleasers: hot dogs, pizza, corn on the cob, proteins slathered in BBQ sauce, and salads made up of 50 percent bread.

I’m hoping that these meals bridge the gap between the bread-and-gelato diet we’ve been living and where I’m hoping we are headed—ideally, back to a place where pasta with tomato sauce won’t be rejected because the sauce it a little too orange, and where vegetables won’t be a constant battle.

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I’d love to know what your framework is for what foods you keep in the house, and any advice on how to bounce back after a vacation free for all!

Happy munching!

Phoebe

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

THE GAME PLAN

Store-Bought Spotlight

(elements you can buy)

Tahini: This is an unsung hero of the munch menu condiment arsenal. Not only is it the base for my sweet and salty everything sauce, it’s also a lightning fast creamy dressing and topping for this week’s fish packet. This brand is my favorite.

Stubb’s Original BBQ Sauce (also available sugar-free): It’s hard to find the right balance between a condiment that will encourage your kid to try a new food, and a sauce that is not loaded with sugar. This BBQ sauce strikes the right balance and usually entices my munch to eat just one bite of veg.

Frozen Chickpea Pizzas: Banza is the gold standard for all things chickpea-based carbs if you aren’t going to be making your own! It’s not my favorite GF crust but it gets the job done.

P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every week. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $1.50 per week if you do the annual option. A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!

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Meal Prep

(elements you can make in advance)

Quinoa: Any grain is always a good option for meal prep and can be used many ways throughout the week, including as a carby side to my no clean up fish packets.

BBQ Tofu + Sweet Potato Sheet Pan: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Slice a pound of tofu into planks, arrange in an even layer and brush with BBQ sauce. Arrange 2 pounds of sweet potatoes cut into thick wedges around the tofu and drizzle with oil and salt. Roast for 30 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Brush the tofu with more sauce if needed.

Cornmeal Eggplant Fries: Cut one small eggplant into matchsticks and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup of cornmeal and toss to coat. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until the fries are golden brown on the bottom. Flip and return for 5 minutes until crispy. You can reheat using the same method until crispy again.

Green Beans: Steamed or blanched green beans can be ready in under 10 minutes, but they also keep well when made ahead! Toss with salt and butter, maybe a delicate herb, and you’re good to go. You can also top with a vinaigrette!

Quickies

(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)

Chicken BLT Panzanella Salad: This month’s paid subscriber recipe is a complete meal on one sheet pan. If you don’t have 30 minutes to make this one, you can meal prep just the chicken and bacon, then reheat on the sheet pan with the cubed bread to shave off 15 minutes from your dinner prep.

Chickpea Crust Pizza: I included a store bought option, but if you have chickpea flour on hand, it takes only 10 minutes to make my munch approved from-scratch version!

Lemon-Tahini Fish Packets with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes: One of my go-to formulas for quick weeknight meals. The whole thing comes together in one packet in 10 minutes. You can vary the veggies if your munch doesn’t do zucchini. More ideas here.

Corn Ribs: My corn ribs with garlic aioli are a play on Mexican street corn. If they are too much effort, the quickie cheat is a simple corn on the cob with butter! They take the same amount of time to blanch as the hot dogs will to crisp in a pan.

Munch Menu Version 21

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FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS

If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.

Chicken Paella Casserole: We’re skipping the seafood in this baked paella, which is made with juicy chicken thighs. Ready in 45 minutes, it’s my twist on a classic Spanish paella made in the oven (without a specialty pan!). I haven’t sold my child on seafood yet (not even in Spain) so we will remain in inauthentic territory with this recipe to reminisce about our travels.

Tex Mex Kale Salad: My pal Julia Turshen created this lovely spin on a tex mex salad using kale (another food my child has yet to get on board with). For kale skeptics, the tomatoes, beans and cheese are a meal in and of themselves. You can toss and serve that part separately, or make them pick out the green stuff themselves.

Did you like this post? Please take 30 seconds and click the heart button at the bottom! It is an easy, free way to help more people find my work!

My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

Order here

The summer before my munch was born, Charlie and I spent 6 weeks living in Amsterdam. It made us long to live abroad on a more long-term basis, but the reality of both our social and work lives (along with the reality of having a young kid in school) has made that harder to put into action.

Instead, we wanted to try it for a month again. I wrote a little bit about the process of finding a camp abroad in this post, and thanks to my “phone a mom friend” conversation, we ended up signing up for a program called Boundless Life (if you’re curious, use code PINEMOFF for a discount on booking).

The concept feels a bit like a study abroad experience for families. Each location (and they have eight around the world) has a school/camp session for kids, a coworking hub for adults, and plenty of community programming to become better immersed in local culture and the cohort you’re sharing your time with.

When I was in my twenties, I backpacked around southern Spain, so I was particularly interested in their Andalusia location to have an adult re-do of my time eating cheap pan con tomate and sharing a room with twenty strangers on bunk beds.

Estapona, the town we ended up in, is right on the water, a 20-minute stretch of coastline from ultra posh Marbella. The old town is a matrix of white-washed cobblestone streets, which each have their own flowerpot color scheme. The port is one of the largest in the region and you’ll find fried fish (sometimes gluten-free!) and squid on every menu.

It is my daughter’s first summer of camp, and we knew dropping her into a new setting in a new country might be a rough transition. If the all-bread diet was any indication, it was a lot of change for her nervous system, but the beauty of having a full month meant that we got a few solid weeks of routine in, while also allowing us to have lower stress adventures on weekends.

One of the downsides of traveling with kids, and especially traveling with an only child, is that it puts so much pressure on parents as the entertainment. My favorite part about the program was living in a small town, running into other families constantly, having a network of sitters and kids her age for playdates. Basically, having the infrastructure of home with better tomatoes.

Plus, being there for the world cup was something I’ll never forget.

I’ll write more about the experience soon, and happy to discuss in the comments. In the meantime, here’s everything I consumed via the iPad VPN and the hardcover books that put our checked bag over the limit.

Happy munching,

Phoebe

WHAT YOU MISSED

• Shrimp & Corn Cakes with Avocado Salsa

• My favorite “beach reads” to devour this summer

• Munch Menu V.20

• Sheet Pan Chicken BLT Panzanella

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ME TIME

(Everything I’m watching and reading)

Lucky (TV): Whenever there’s a book I’ve read that’s been adapted into a miniseries, I’m always fascinated to see how the story evolved for TV. In the case of Lucky, which was a Reece’s book club pick last year and follows the daughter of a con artist on the run, so far the series has taken the premise and very little meat from the book. If you like Anya Taylor-Joy strutting and pouting, mixed with high velocity action sequences, it’s quite entertaining. The best part is Annette Bening’s character, who is straight out of a Nancy Meyers movie, if Nancy Meyers movies were about criminal sociopaths.

The Five Star Weekend (TV): Per the above, I was thrilled when they announced that this would be the latest Elin Hilderbrand book to be adapted. Like her previous (The Perfect Couple) it has a (five star!) stacked cast. It’s pretty loyal to the book with plenty of food and Nantucket preppy porn, and the few tweaks they made to streamline the story were very smart (as is the writing). We alternated this one with Lucky and it’s a Timothy Olyphant fest (the best kind of fest). Overall, I loved how the show offered a layered portrait of female friendship through midlife. My husband has even dubbed himself a Hollibabe.

Land (Book): I adored Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait, so I went into Maggie O’Farrell’s latest with high hopes. If you read my beach read round up, you will not be surprised that I consider both of her previous books beach reads (they flew for me!). Sadly, I found Land to be a bit more of a slog. It started to pick up at the 70 page mark. The language is objectively beautiful, but I wasn’t as pulled in by the plotting and characters. Still, it’s a stunning portrait of the Great Hunger in Ireland, a time I knew little about and there are mountains (copses, streams) of sentences to underline.

Cherry Baby (Book): To offset my literary (not-so beachy) beach reads, I’ve been listening to Rainbow Rowell’s latest. This is my first time dipping into her oeuvre and so far it’s like a warm hug, followed by extremely satisfying sex.

Next Up: Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer!

JULY ESSENTIALS

I bought these sunglasses in Spain and have gotten more compliments than any other pair I’ve ever owned. They are extremely affordable here, and still in a reasonable range in USD. Poke around the various styles (you can see mine above). I’m sure I will be paying US prices for another pair shortly when I lose these!

After doing this round up on travel essentials and this one on restaurant-friendly toys, I’ve been living off a “go bag” of toddler entertainment. Unfortunately, after many outings (restaurants, planes, trains and otherwise), the collection is starting to lose its attention diverting power! I finally broke down and bought this toy, which has been recommended to me before by several people, but always felt a little too spendy compared to the $10 plastic trash I have been purchasing off amazon. I love that it packs flat and has many iterations within one kit (also great for co-playing with fellow wee diners!).

My packing strategy for both myself and my munch has been sets. I love this one we bought last summer (and should fit for another 6 months, hopefully). I’ve been living in two Apiece Apart linen sets I bought on sale a few summers ago and am now eying this number. I love that they can come with me to the beach or out at night.

MONTHLY ASK

I’m brainstorming fall recipes to test when I’m home and would love to know what is missing from the MM archives. Snacks, breakfasts, lunch box freezer items, quick school night dinners—please voice your requests!

Leave a comment

It’s enough time to stay float—get the most important emails back, feed this Substack—but not enough to ever dig my way out of the ever-expanding to-do list. I’m also at the mercy of our rental kitchen, Spanish supermarkets, and a very low cooking libido.

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So while I have managed to get dinner on the table, they are not recipes that are worth adding to the MM cannon. Some might be considered the toddler equivalent of “girl dinner.” Here’s a little taste of the last two weeks:

Luckily, a few of my friends are picking up the slack this month and lending us some inspiration from their cookbooks.

First up, the lovely and talented Rachel Mansfield who is sharing a recipe from her new cookbook More, Please! that might actually get my child to start eating shrimp.

If you’ve ever stood in front of the fridge wondering what to make, if you’ve ever tried to satisfy both adventurous eaters and picky eaters at the same table, or if you simply want more delicious recipes in your rotation, this book is for you.

I’ll let Rachel take it from here!

Happy munching,

P

Hello new friends! I’m Rachel. The recipe creator behind rachLmansfield, mom of 3, co-CEO and founder of cadootz and cookbook author of More, Please! I’m here taking over Phoebe’s newsletter for the day and I am so excited to share an incredible dinner idea I know you are going to love.

I have been cyber friends with Phoebe ever since the early days of “food blogging” and it is such an honor for me to be here sharing an exclusive sneak peek recipe into my new cookbook, More, Please!

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that weeknight dinners in our house need to check a few boxes:

✔️ Easy enough for a busy weekday
✔️ Packed with protein
✔️ Full of flavor for the adults
✔️ Adaptable enough for the kids

As a mom of three, recipe creator, and someone who genuinely loves feeding people, I know the struggle of wanting to make one meal that everyone at the table can enjoy without turning dinner into a short-order kitchen.

These Shrimp & Corn Cakes with Avocado Salsa became one of those accidental family favorites.

Instead of serving shrimp the usual way, I chopped it up and folded it together with sweet corn, herbs, spices, and just enough binder to create these golden, crispy cakes. Topped with a bright avocado salsa, they somehow feel like something you’d order at your favorite neighborhood restaurant, yet they’re surprisingly simple to make at home.

The best part?

My kids, who would’ve questioned a plate of shrimp on its own, happily devoured these. They dipped them, picked at the avocado salsa, asked for seconds, and reminded me once again that sometimes changing the format of an ingredient makes all the difference.

That idea became one of the biggest themes throughout More, Please!

The cookbook isn’t about making complicated meals or hiding vegetables in everything. It’s about helping families enjoy food together with recipes that are flexible, approachable, and full of flavor.

That’s the heart behind More, Please! —recipes that work for real life, real families, and real picky eaters.

Today, I’m sharing these Shrimp & Corn Cakes with Avocado Salsa exclusively from the cookbook. I hope it becomes a favorite in your house too.

To get the recipe for free, keep scrolling down or order a copy of my new cookbook! I also hope to meet you IRL on tour!!

—Rachel

Shrimp & Corn Cakes with Avocado Salsa

Avocado Salsa:

3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

2 avocados, diced

1/2 small red onion, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 small shallot, minced

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)

Juice of 1 lime

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Shrimp & Corn Cakes:

12 ounces peeled, deveined fresh shrimp, tails removed, shrimp patted dry

1 cup frozen sweet corn, thawed

1/3 cup lightly packed fresh parsley leaves

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

Make the avocado salsa:

1. In a medium bowl, add the tomatoes, avocados, onion, parsley, shallot, jalapeño (if using), lime juice, salt, and garlic powder and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate while you make the shrimp cakes.

Make the shrimp or corn cakes:

1. In a food processor, add the shrimp and pulse just until roughly chopped. Add the corn, parsley, egg, Old Bay, and salt and pepper to taste and pulse again, just until the mixture is finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil.

3. Add a very small amount of the shrimp mixture to test your seasoning. Cook for 1 or minutes, until golden. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

4. Use 1⁄4 cup measure to scoop the shrimp mixture into the hot pan. Use the back of the measuring cup, or a spoon, to flatten the mixture into a 1⁄4-inch-thick cake.

5. Repeat with a few more shrimp cakes, as many as can comfortably fit in the skillet. Cook until golden and crisp on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a serving plate and repeat with the remaining shrimp mixture, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Remove the pan from the heat.

6. Top the shrimp cakes with the chilled avocado salsa and serve.

Rachel Mansfield's Shrimp & Corn Cakes With Avocado Salsa

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Where to find Rachel:

instagram: @rachlmansfield

tiktok: @rachlmansfield

youtube: @rachlmansfield

pinterest: @rachlmansfield

website: rachLmansfield.com

Did you like this post? Please take 30 seconds and click the heart button at the bottom! It is an easy, free way to help more people find my work.

My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

Order here

Though it’s not as derogatory as the term “chick lit” there is a consensus among a certain set of readers that a “beach read” automatically means commercial airport paperbacks. My friend Serena Wolf refers to this genre as “medium trashy,” a term I also embrace, defend and love year-round.

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I’d argue though that beach reads transcend genre and literary aspirations. There’s a common denominator among my favorites over the years. And that is simply a book that MOVES.

I recently finished The Correspondent (yes, I know, it’s about time). I loved it for many reasons, one of them being that it’s a good case study for how literary fiction can also be a popular beach read.

I read an interview with Virginia Evans where she was asked to explain why the book found this sweet spot. Her answer was that the epistolary form (the book is entirely made up of letters), gives readers a lot of white space on the page and plenty of opportunities to take a breath. It is a page turner not necessarily because of a propulsive plot, but because it feels so easy to read just one more letter, to turn two more pages.

Beach reads can have complex, thorny themes and intricate prose, but they also need to have that ease—the space to breathe.

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a beach read that terrifies or disturbs me. Sometimes I want to cry, which is how I found myself on a beach in Hawaii reading the 700 page sob-fest A Little Life (still a beach read IMO!).

More often I want something short and digestible that makes me laugh or swoon, even if the book doesn’t fall into the traditional romance genre. My friend Kacy calls these books “snacks.”

Lastly, I’d say that the same types of books that make a good beach read are also perfect year-round books for anyone suffering from “mom brain.” When my munch was wee I survived exclusively on Taylor Jenkins-Reid and Emily Henry audiobooks (read by the wonderful Julia Whelan) and satisfying thrillers (anything by Andrea Bartz, Jo Piazza, Flynn Berry), and anytime I’m in a reading rut and need to “get back into it,” I similarly reach for something on my beach read list.

Whether you have a hormonally broken brain, need a low lift escape, or want a book that feels literary but won’t require you to wade through a paragraph-long sentence, I’ve got 25+ recs depending on your mood. Many of these are books I’ve read in the last 5 years, some are all-time favorites.

I have plenty more where these came from, so if there’s a particular category below (maybe Drool??) you’d like more titles for, please let me know in the comments. I’d also love to hear your GOATS for each! Should we start a MM book club? Discuss.

Leave a comment

Happy reading!

Phoebe

SOB

Into the Blue: Everyone is talking about the decades-long situationship at the center of this book (I too stayed up crying through the end), but there are so many worlds within worlds here. For fellow theater girls, Emma so beautifully captures the trust and cosmic synchronicity that emerges when you perform live on stage with other humans. For the sci-fi nerds, she’s created an entire TV show and fandom for you to fall in love with. Obviously the love story is 10/10, but these other elements give the book so much rich texture! It’s a long book that you will fly through.

This Time Tomorrow: Friend of the stack Emma Straub’s “lightly speculative” book (as they call it in the biz) is my favorite of hers. A woman on her 40^th birthday finds herself in a time warp where she wakes up and is 16 again. As a 90’s girl from the Upper West Side, I got a huge dose of nostalgia from both the setting and the flavors of some of my favorite movies from that era (13 going on 30, Big, Groundhog Day). As fun as the premise is, the heart of the book is about how the main character grapples with her aging father, clings to their memories, and discovers him anew. Per this list: I sobbed.

The Great Believers: Jumping back and forth from the 1980’s to present day, this book is one of the most stunning portraits of the AIDs crisis as it descends on a group of friends. It has an ominous page-turning motor as the disease moves closer to each character and you read on to discover who (if any) survives. Rebecca Makkai also has a great substack on writing!

Heart the Lover: No one does literary romance and love triangles better than Lily King. Her latest is quick, smart, deeply absorbing, and left me sobbing in bed at the finish line.

The Names: The central plot conceit is such a simple and brilliant one. The novel follows a family’s contrasting fates based on the name chosen for their son. It reminded me of the movie Sliding Doors, but applied to more serious subject matter (domestic violence, generational trauma). It’s tragic, propulsive, and a tear-jerker.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: Yes, this is another decade-spanning love triangle situationship, this time in the niche world of video game programming. It was one of the most popular books of 2024 for a reason. It’s a stunning portrait of how we move through grief and I could not put it down.

SWOON

Tom Lake: I’ve (probably) read more Ann Patchett books than any other author, and this dreamy summer story set on a cherry farm in Michigan during the early pandemic, is one of my favorites. As she picks cherries with her daughters, Lara tells the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years earlier. Pitched as a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born—it’s also an underappreciated literary romance (especially for theater nerds).

Dolly All the Time: Annabel Monaghan’s latest is probably my newest read on this list, and it is such a delight, I might have enjoyed it even more than her iconic Nora Goes Off Script (an all-time favorite beach read). It’s the most similar in some ways to Nora—a single mother who falls for a rich, famous man—but doubles down on some additional romance tropes (beachside setting, fake dating, etc.).

Romantic Comedy: Curtis Sittenfeld’s pandemic romcom follows a writer for The Night Owls (an SNL dupe) who falls for a much more famous musical guest on the show. The banter is 10/10 and the book is so funny I’m convinced Curtis could easily moonlight as a sketch comedy writer.

Conversations with Friends: It feels a little like a cop out to put a Sally Rooney on this list, but I have read her debut several times and it is that good. If you love complicated sad girl romance, this is the lane for you.

Beach Read: I couldn’t in good conscience write a list of my favorite beach reads without including Emily Henry’s apt title (and my favorite from her oeuvre!).

LOL

Nothing to See Here: A strange, zany satire about a woman who begins caring for her old friend’s step twins who burst into flames when they get agitated. This book is so funny and ultimately a touching portrait about the power of found family and belonging.

Really Good, Actually: Monica Heisey’s debut novel is the definitive millennial divorce book. The protagonist is utterly original and hilarious in the way she voices despair, hope and rebirth, while allowing you to see yourself (and every past breakup) in her experience.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A young woman’s efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature. This one is polarizing, but those who love it (like me) are rabid in their devotion.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles: Rufi Thorpe’s brilliant book about a teenage mom who builds an Only Fans career to solve her financial woes. It’s a coming of age novel about the gnarly days of early motherhood, how women are “allowed” to use their bodies, creativity in the digital age, and yes, professional wrestling!

How Did You Get This Number: Sloane Croasley is one of the funniest essayists around, and I have amazing summer memories of reading this one about her travel misadventures while backpacking around Europe. You will laugh at the sharp observations, minor suffering and drudgery along the way.

DROOL

Comfort Me with Apples: In one of her best food memoirs, Ruth Reichl chronicles her transformation from chef to restaurant critic, a process that led her through restaurants from Bangkok to Paris to Los Angeles and brought lessons in life, love, and food. It is a comfort in every sense!

Blood, Bones & Butter: Gabrielle Hamilton’s prose tends to be poetic and layered, but her debut memoir transports you through the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality. It is a perfect book to take with you on your travels, or to escape into from your backyard.

Home Cooking: Laurie Colwin’s lean, charming food memoir takes me right back to the humble small apartment cooking of my twenties. She regales us with tales of meals gone both magnificently well and disastrously wrong. Hilarious, personal, and full of literary food porn.

Sweetbitter: Stephanie Danler might have invented the coming-of-age food novel. Sweetbitter follows a twenty-something NYC transplant who lands a job working front of house at a celebrated downtown restaurant. What follows is her education: in champagne and cocaine, love and lust, dive bars and fine dining rooms, as she learns to navigate the chaotic, enchanting, punishing life she has chosen.

Sandwich: I’ve been a longtime fan of Catherine Newman’s Substack Crone Sandwich, and a few months ago finally tore through her much-acclaimed novel about a mother on vacation with her family in Cape Cod, confronting the emotional stew that is empty-nesting and longing for the babies that grew up in front of her and the ones she never got to meet. It’s a rather quiet (yet hilarious) study of family dynamics. Even though I am a generation behind, I felt so many pangs of recognition. It’s a fantastic easy beach read about domestic love, menopause, grief and, of course, sandwiches.

TURN THE PAGE FASTER

The Guest: With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex spends a week as an uninvited guest on Long Island, drifting like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes, leaving destruction in her wake. I would put Emma Cline’s other novel The Girls on this list too!

Bright Young Women: For true crime fans who want to see a story finally centered on a serial killer’s female victims, this historical portrayal of several women in Ted Bundy’s path was impossible to put down. I’m dying to read Jessica Knoll’s latest Helpless, which is sure to be one of my favorite beach reads this summer.

God of the Woods: A mystery set at an Adirondacks summer camp that deftly toggles between narrators and is an exploration of class, privilege, and the lengths one family will go to to protect their own. Pitched as a gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances—I couldn’t put it down!

Three Women: Based on eight years of immersive research, Lisa Taddeo introduces us to three unforgettable women whose experiences are so familiar and piercing, you won’t be able to stop thinking of them. It reads like a novel with tight pacing and is made even more devastating every time you remember that their stories are not fiction. Lily Diamond wrote some incredible essays on this one in her Substack book club Lilith Lit.

Disappearing Earth: Julia Phillips’ gorgeous debut follows the lives of several women in the tightly knit community of Kamchatka in northeastern Russia after one of their own disappears. It’s one of my favorite literary thrillers, with simmering social and ethnic tensions, in a place where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

My Dark Vanessa: This book destroyed me in the best possible way. Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher in the era of “me too,” I stayed up until 3 am to finish this novel and am still thinking about it.

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If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.

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We’ve been in a bit of a scheduling predicament since setting up shop in Spain. Which is that even if your child no longer naps, siesta for all ages is real.

The best part of the day begins at 7pm.

As the heat becomes borderline tolerable, the town comes alive. Shops reopen. The beaches are at their most gorgeous and fun.

The last thing I want to be doing is making dinner.

Spanish families seem to operate with completely different sleep needs. An early dinner with children begins around 8:30pm. The playground is PACKED at 10pm. How these munches are able to wake up and function and be dropped off at camp by 9am is a riddle I have yet to solve.

Our solution so far has been alternating early nights eating at home with late nights out as a family. I either make a sheet pan meal during the afternoon that will keep on the stovetop until we run home and frantically wash off the sand, wolf down our food, and get the munch into bed in under 40 minutes.

Or I make a quickie.

This month’s meal plan (my 20th!!) is dedicated to the latter strategy, though some elements can be made in advance. It’s a nod to a less responsible, less scheduled, more carefree season of life when you can cut a tomato in half, rub it on some crusty bread, and call it dinner.

If you’re joining me on this path, might I also suggest spying my storebought pantry meal planner? It is truly the lowest lift menu I could come up with while still feeding my child a vegetable.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

p.s. Now that we are well beyond our one year anniversary, you’ll get some added seasonal inspo with a little nod to the menus that hit your inbox last year. As a reminder, all the menus are always free to subscribers! Please forward this on to anyone in your life who might need a helping hand feeding the small tyrants at their dinner table.

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THIS TIME LAST YEAR

THE GAME PLAN

Store-Bought Spotlight

(elements you can buy)

Frozen Broccoli: This pizza broccoli side is always at your fingertips if you keep pasta sauce in your cupboards and broccoli in your freezer.

Brazi Bites: These little Brazilian cheese bread balls are the perfect size for a slider! If you wanted to skip the fries you could even use them as your carby side. They taste best fresh from the oven and are a great quickie to have in your freezer.

Canned Hearts of Palm: If you’re looking for a new veggie to incorporate might I suggest hearts of palm? If your kid likes briny veg, they should love these. However, in this week’s preparation you’ll hardly know they are a vegetable.

Sweet Potato Fries: Fridays are usually a treat meal in our house. The treat for me being not having to make much from scratch. So while you could make your own as a quickie, I like having this option in the freezer.

P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every week. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $1.50 per week if you do the annual option. A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!

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Meal Prep

(elements you can make in advance)

White or Brown Rice: Brown always takes longer, so it’s a good option for meal prep. If subbing white, that’s a night of quickie! However, fried rice always tastes best with rice that is a few days old.

Caprese Pasta Salad (can also be a quickie): Toss 12 ounces cooked pasta with 8 ounces halved cherry tomatoes, 8 ounces chopped mozzarella, 1 handful torn basil, salt, olive oil and a splash of balsamic. For a more formal recipe, I have this gluten-free Italian pasta salad on my site.

Bacon-Wrapped Hearts of Palm: A 2-ingredient recipe from my archives that I learned in Brazil. They only take 20 minutes in the oven, so could be a quickie too. Wrapping a new vegetable in bacon is a great way to break the ice in this house.

Burger Sliders: If you have time to make these marinated burgers in advance, they are truly amazing. If not, the quickie version is simply to take a pound of ground beef, form into small slider patties and season generously with salt and pepper on the outside. Sear in a skillet (easier for small patties) or on the grill. The brazi bites above are the perfect slider size, but you could get traditional buns or serve them “naked” with the romaine.

Quickies

(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)

Corn Fried Rice: If the rice is already made, this recipe takes 15 minutes!

Shiitake “Chips”: Thinly slice shiitakes (as thin as possible). Place a small cast iron skillet over a medium-high flame and coat with olive oil. Pan fry the mushrooms until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Remove to a plate and season with salt. You’ll want 2 mushrooms per munch. Alternatively, you can make shitake “bacon” with this recipe.

Pizza Broccoli: If you don’t want to turn on your oven, you can use the broiler. If so, just defrost the broccoli in the microwave before putting in the pan. Otherwise preheat to 425°F. Place the package of frozen broccoli in an oven proof casserole dish or skillet. Drizzle with tomato sauce, then sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. If you have breadcrumbs, you can add (though be careful if using the broiler). Bake from frozen for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the broc is tender.

Mango Salmon Tacos: Follow this recipe for mango salmon, heat some corn or flour tortillas, and boom. A little aioli or spicy mayo would also be delicious on top as a condiment.

Avocado-Cucumber Salad: 1 pound cucumbers, diced + 2 avocados, diced. Throw in a bowl with the juice of 1 lime and season with salt to taste.

Tomato Toast: We are in Spain right now where this is always on the menu. Toast your choice of bread (baguette works well). Take a clove of garlic and rub it on the crusty cut side. Slice a tomato in half and rub on top so that the pulp catches on the coarse bread. Season generously with salt. Alternatively, you can pulse a tomato in the food processor with salt and top it like bruschetta but that’s not how the Spanish do it.

Crunchy Romaine Boats: This is not a recipe. It is just a suggestion to take the small crunchy bits from the center of the romaine and serve it on the side of your burgers. Your munch can make a lettuce wrap if they like or just dip the spears in their condiments like crudités.

Munch Menu Version 20

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FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS

If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.

Lemon-Herb Whole Fish with Cherry Tomatoes: My child loves a simple white fish and is not freaked out by seeing the whole thing on a pan – in fact, she thinks it’s cool! A side of Greek lemony potatoes would be fab with this one or some grilled zucchini.

Halloumi and Sweet Potato Tacos: Halloumi is a very kid-friendly vegetarian main course. It’s essentially as close to meat as cheese gets and tastes like fried food when pan-seared.

Did you like this post? Please take 30 seconds and click the heart button at the bottom! It is an easy, free way to help more people find my work!

My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

Order here

On the one hand, her meals turned out to be entirely free by way of the bread basket. On the other hand, she didn’t poop for two days. So there’s that.

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Even before this trip and my child’s slow metamorphosis into a dinner roll, I have been thinking about component meals that involve something that each family member can get behind.

This baked chicken panzanella salad was one of my favorite recipes in my last cookbook, CARBIVORE. And it’s been on my mind as a perfect Munch Menu recipe.

The bread itself gets cubed or torn and then baked in the oven on a sheet pan brimming with chicken and bacon fat.

For those who eat vegetables, the bread then gets tossed with marinated tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and arugula—plus the chopped chicken thighs and bacon. For those who don’t, you can always divvy up the meal into quadrants or celebrate the bread as its own main course.

No matter which way you serve it, dinner will be ready with minimal effort on one pan in 30-ish minutes. A bonus, for those of us cooking in temporary kitchens, is that you don’t need many spices or condiments—just balsamic vinegar and oil.

Our new casita for the summer, like many rentals, only has a few skillets and pots, so we plan on making this meal on repeat with cured Spanish ham. Last night was our first time breaking in the induction range and I made one of my favorite tapas (which I somehow haven’t found on a restaurant menu yet!): stewed chickpeas and spinach.

Back in the comfort of home, even a new borrowed home, munch broke her bread-only hunger strike and ate a handful of cherry tomatoes and cucumber. She even deigned to try a chickpea. Progress!

Last summer I wrote a silly toddler vacation travel diary, and may do so again if there is demand for more ratings from a tiny critic. Please tell me in the comments! Also, I’d love to hear any fellow dinnertime war stories from your adventures.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to getting back into a better cooking rhythm and slowly weaning off our two-ice cream a day vacation diet.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

Bonus for Paid Subscribers

The full recipe is below for paid subscribers, including an easy-to-save/print PDF and notes on:

• Make ahead tips

• “Same same but different” modifications to make many variations

Paid subscribers also get full access to my recipe archive, bonus content, and special interviews. Want all of these notes and the full recipe?

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Sheet Pan Chicken BLT Panzanella with Vinegared Tomatoes
Makes 4 servings

The best panzanella I ever ate involved bread that was baked together with chicken. The croutons were both crisp and soaked in drippings—kind of like a summer salad interpretation of stuffing. When I tried to recreate it, I thought, why not add some bacon grease to the pan for good measure? And that’s how this BLT-style panzanella that can be, more or less, made start to finish on one sheet pan came to pass. I love entertaining at lunchtime with this salad since each element—the chicken, bacon, and bread—can be baked ahead, then tossed together with the marinated tomatoes when you’re ready to serve. Although I usually can’t say no to a good schmear of mayo on a BLT, the acid from the vinegared tomatoes works even better as a dressing in this dish.

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I had a different recap of my month planned for today, but then my sister, the heart and soul of our family, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday.

My sister, mind you, is a rabbit. So it’s a particular brand of grief that we are experiencing—one reserved for pets that we know will not grow old with us, but whose companionship and love is hard to live without all the same.

So let me take moment to eulogize the very special #ElderBun that was Dorothy Alfalfa Fluffernut (of the Rhode Island Fluffernuts).

Back in 2020, when PetFinder.com almost buckled under the weight of search demand, like many other lonely, stir-crazy individuals, my mother was hunting for a rabbit.

She grew up with rabbits, which meant that I grew up with rabbits. And over the years, she developed a great many opinions about rabbits. So while she wanted a rabbit, she wouldn’t accept just any rabbit.

Dwarfs were out, as were ghastly lops. She didn’t like them too small, but also declared in a fit of frustration: “the last thing I want is a 9-pound rabbit!”

After months of online toiling, a listing for “Diablo” crossed her desk. He checked all the boxes and was located not too far from Martha’s Vineyard—in Wyoming, Rhode Island. My mom put on her N95 mask and traveled to the mainland.

When her Uber pulled up to the shelter, the rabbit she was introduced to was not the rabbit in the PetFinder photo. Diablo was a (gasp) 9-pound rabbit. Diablo was also a she.

My mom returned with the rabbit anyway and allowed me to bestow upon her a new name—Dorothy Alfalfa Fluffernut—and thus began the tide change of this rabbit’s rags to riches story.

We don’t know how old she was at the time, but we do know that Dorothy had been kept in a small cage for almost her entire life. She was terrified of being picked up, had never eaten a fresh vegetable, and was arthritic from being so sedentary.

My mom quickly got her on a steady diet of salad and hay, and began a very elaborate cardio and calisthenics routine that involved running laps up and down the hallway as my parents yelled “dip dip” three octaves above normal vocal range.

Dorothy lost a few pounds and became a bun transformed.

As my friend put it: this old girl lived like the Queen of Sheba and ruled the family as such. No matter what time of night she got home, my mother would ensure that Dorothy got her daily 1 hour massage in front of the TV, where she would enjoy a rare Brussels sprout, sugar snap pea, or other novelty item.

She redecorated the house with fervor, systematically eating antique rugs and chewing through every cord she came across that hadn’t been placed in clear PVC tubing for protection.

Her greens were double washed from the farmer’s market and if they had been wilting in the fridge for a few days, she would refuse them. She was well aware of her standing in the household and like a true queen knew how to dole out and withhold affection to bend you to her will.

Every night before the light was turned off, she would be told that she was “the most beautiful bun in the world.” So absolute was this part of the routine, it was written into the three pages of pet sitter instructions.

As I learned from the buns of my childhood, not every rabbit is a fan of children. Skittish animals don’t tend to love humans that are pushy, unpredictable and lack any voice modulation abilities.

And yet, Dorothy was always the best aunt—so tolerant of my munch. She was my daughter’s favorite facet of my parents house and she gave her so many treats, Dorothy would actually get sick of them and hide.

Like a good neurotic horse girl, I’ve spoken to many pet psychics over the years. There are certain animals that are just too smart, wise and dynamic to be from this earthly plain, and though I never talked to a “professional” about Dorothy, everyone who had the pleasure of feeding her a sprig of parsley would agree that she was operating on a higher frequency than most buns (and not just because she was not a dwarf lop!).

Anyway, it feels irrational to be so sad over a rodent, and still, we are devastated. I was back on Martha’s Vineyard for a quick 48 hours last week to drop off some stuff we didn’t want to lug to Spain, and I’m grateful that I got to have one last visit with her before things took a turn a few days later.

I’m also grateful to have another month before I have to explain to my daughter why bun bun is no longer around. If anyone has any advice on how to talk to toddlers about death, please weigh in in the comments.

In the meantime, let’s light a candle, eat a carrot, and pour out some triple filtered water for Dorothy.

Happy munching,

Phoebe

WHAT YOU MISSED

• Fresh (or Frozen) Sweet Corn Fried Rice

• How my income has changed over 10 years as a food writer

• Munch Menu V.19

• Curried Turkey Meatballs

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ME TIME

(Everything I’m watching and reading)

Disclosure Day (Movie): On Father’s Day, we treated ourselves to an adult afternoon at the movies, and the new Spielberg alien encounter did not disappoint! The plot didn’t entirely make sense, but there’s enough brilliant filmmaking and inflections of humor to distract from the loose ends. Also, Josh O’Connor’s press tour has taken over my algorithm and I think I might be in love with him? Rodent hot has never been my type, but things evolve!

Rafa (TV): Speaking of men I’m in love with…there’s a new docuseries on Netflix about the clay court GOAT, who also happens to be my husband. I know that may surprise some of you, especially since I was not interviewed in the film, but we have been in a secret (one sided) relationship since I was in college. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my love, but the documentary had some interesting color on how he became the champion he is, and questions whether the (emotionally abusive) training he received from a young age would fly in today’s climate that recognizes the importance of mental health in sports. Was it worth it? Watch and decide.

Sandwich (Book): I’ve been a longtime fan of Catherine Newman’s Substack Crone Sandwich, and a few months ago finally tore through her much-acclaimed novel about a mother on vacation with her family in Cape Cod, confronting the emotional stew that is empty-nesting and longing for the babies that grew up in front of her and the ones she never got to meet. It’s a rather quiet (yet hilarious) study of family dynamics. Even though I am a generation behind, I felt so many pangs of recognition. It’s a fantastic easy beach read about domestic love, menopause, grief and, of course, sandwiches.

Dolly All the Time (Book): I am a new-ish convert to the romance genre. One of the books I was told to start with was Annabel Monaghan’s Nora Goes Off Script. I’ve since read and loved everything Annabel has written. Her books are always tender, wise and funny. I’m so thrilled that her latest Dolly is having a moment. It’s the most similar in some ways to Nora—a single mother who falls for a rich, famous man—but doubles down on some additional romance tropes (beachside setting, fake dating, etc.). It’s delightful!

I’m currently reading Julia Turshen’s Down to Earth, which is an utterly charming queer romance set on a farm in upstate NY. Here is my stack for Spain, and some others that I’m excited to dive into on Kindle include: Jessica Knoll’s Helpless and Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum (side note: I love this cover so much, I used it on my inspo board for WIFE!).

You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Listen): I have been listening to the new Olivia Rodrigo on REPEAT. My favorite tracks are Purple, Maggots for Brains, The Cure, and What’s Wrong with Me, which is a duet with megaband The Cure’s frontman. I love the way her music blends 80’s and 90’s nostalgia with the silky pop vocals of today.

Separately, I also loved this piece on Substack about Parenting with OCD.

JUNE ESSENTIALS

A few things I purchased for our Spain trip for myself and munch.

This sunscreen that goes on super smooth and does not smell bad.

These SPF pants from Patagonia to go with the many pullovers she already has in this material. We’re a pale bunch over here and not even 100 degree F Spain temperatures will get us to put on a tank top!

This embroidered skirt (and top!) to mix and match. Airy, light weight, a touch bohemian and perfect for travel.

You will often hear people say they’ve found the perfect T-shirt, but really, this is the one. At my age, I love a slightly boxy cropped cut that is still long enough to cover my stomach, and sleeves that cover the majority of my upper arms. I will possibly be buying this one in every color.

MONTHLY ASK

Per the first part of this email, I would love any tips on how you talk to toddlers about death. We will need all the pro tips before we descend on bun bun’s room, where bun bun no longer resides.

Leave a comment

Like most normal Americans, our daughter immediately glommed on to ketchup, and we have been wielding its immense power as best we can ever since.

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Mayo is so popular it is just known as “sauce.” My munch has been seen at restaurants eating it with a spoon like yogurt (I’m so sorry…we are doing our best).

However, when it comes to a flavor profile that an entire dish can rely on, the sleeper hit has always been miso.

It’s salty, slightly funky and makes a rich, creamy sauce when added to liquid. Some favorites that I’ve referenced in past munch menu family dinners are this tofu broccoli situation and this buttery corn and miso succotash. And then it’s always a great quick topping for fish, like this miso cod that pops up every now and then on menus as a quickie.

Recently, I had some leftover rice, but not nearly enough to become a fried rice for the whole family. I opened the freezer and low and behold, there was also a full bag of frozen corn. My daughter doesn’t need persuading (in the form of “sauce,” or otherwise) to eat rice, but if she did, sweet flecks of corn would be a good incentive. And since nothing in this world of toddler feeding is ever a sure thing, I decided to add a little miso for good measure.

The resulting dish is sweet, crunchy, salty, limey and herby (thanks to some torn basil at the end), and would be even more decadent with fresh corn once it’s in season (any damn day now, But who’s counting?). That said, definitely bookmark this one as a year round dish that is mostly covered by your pantry.

The base recipe doesn’t have any egg in it, but I’ve given several ideas below for how to add more protein to this fried rice, including whipping up a little omelet in the center of the skillet.

In other news, we leave for Spain a week from TODAY! If anyone has recs for Madrid with a small person, or favorite eats / hidden gems in the south, we will be in Estapona for all of July!! I will probably do a little munch food diary like I did last year in Austria just to entertain myself (and hopefully you as well).

Happy munching!

Phoebe

Bonus for Paid Subscribers

The full recipe is below for paid subscribers, including an easy-to-save/print PDF and notes on:

• Tips on frozen versus fresh corn

• Nutrient boosters

• How to make this a high protein fried rice

• “Same same but different” modifications to make many variations

Paid subscribers also get full access to my recipe archive, bonus content, and special interviews. Want all of these notes and the full recipe?

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Fresh (or Frozen) Sweet Corn Fried Rice with Miso
Makes 4 (adult) servings

Fresh lime juice and miso add so much flavor to this fried rice, which is also punched up with equal parts sweet corn kernels. Like all fried rice recipes, this works best with leftover or day old rice, so it’s perfect for MM meal prep. Serve it with a cabbage slaw or a simple green salad for the adults and some sriracha on the side for some heat.

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It was a reaction, in part, to questions I was getting at the time about whether someone could actually make it as a blogger, which was in many ways, a generational follow-up to a piece Amanda Hesser wrote back in 2012 with her advice to aspiring food writers. The takeaway from both: you better be willing to take on a lot of odd jobs to make it work.

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Flash forward to 2026, and here we all are gathered on Substack, where the question has morphed into: can anyone just starting out on this platform scale enough to make real money?

Now that I’ve been writing Munch Menus for over a year, I feel prepared to weigh in on the reality of starting a Substack when the landscape is already oversaturated (similar to how blogging was in 2016), in an economy where people are struggling to pay for groceries and may not have the extra $7/month to support a writer they benefit from and admire.

But I think it’s also interesting to take a look back and see how my “mix of business” or assortment of odd jobs has changed in the last 10 years as a blogger, food writer, author of multiple books and now, this newsletter.

I’ve paywalled the majority of this post since it contains real numbers, and because, as you will learn, it is really hard to make enough money to justify the time I spend creating useful content here.

For some background, I’ve been a freelance writer and content creator since the dino-era of blogging back in 2008.

When I took the leap and quit my day job in 2009, I did so in classic 22-year-old fashion: quickly and recklessly. With plenty of guts and optimism, and zero game plan for how I was going to cobble together an income.

After only nine months of blogging, I had a cookbook deal that gave me a (very) small cash infusion. But more importantly, it gave me the confidence that I could find a way to get more. And I did so by taking on pretty much any food-related job that involved buttercream and not my naked body.

Making ends meet involved some unconventional and certainly unglamorous sacrifices. There was a 6-month period when I actually sublet my bedroom every weekend to help cover my rent. (A story for another time). But all in all, I’ve been making it work now for 18+ years as a full-time self-employed Jill of many trades.

My menu of freelance hustle has included: private cheffing, teaching cooking classes, freelance recipe development and testing, cookbook writing, freelance writing, photography, sponsored content on social, food styling and photography, retreats, online courses, and talent fees for on-air or event appearances.

Let’s start with what was going on in the digital universe 10 years ago in 2016, since it holds many parallels to what’s happening now in 2026.

Most traditional bloggers, like myself, were still making a living from their websites. My blog income was divided evenly between advertising and sponsored recipe content. Affiliate links weren’t much of a thing yet!

At the time, social media was still a tool for driving traffic to your main website and not a money maker in and of itself.

One of the biggest ways my income has shifted over the course of 10 years reflects how brands stopped paying for blog content and started doubling down on Instagram. We are now seeing the pendulum swing back, but instead of traditional blogs, Substack is where brands want to be seen.

What I wrote in 2016:

A series of algorithm changes from the biggest traffic drivers—I’m looking at you Google and Pinterest—crippled my traffic. I was down 40 percent in April, a nosedive that I’m just beginning to claw my way out of.

These changes are even more worrisome for people who rely only on their blog to pay the bills.

To offset the uncertainty of blogging, in 2016, I taught cooking classes in people’s homes. I taught a food blogging course at a now defunct culinary school in NYC. I developed dozens of recipes for Food & Wine’s website. I was on-camera talent for a series on AOL’s site. I did a private cheffing one-off job for a celebrity client that required cooking over 5 pounds of meat for one day’s worth of meals. His name rhymes with Shayne Pohnson.

And then I got my first advance payment for my (second) book The Wellness Project, which I spent the previous year writing.

My mix of business 2016 versus 2026

What’s changed in 10 years of writing recipes on the internet

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If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.

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My munch loves asparagus season, despite not loving anything about eating asparagus.

It’s one of my favorite vegetables to let her prep. The snapping is easy to teach, even if her execution usually means I have to sift through a pile of rogue-sized stalks like pickup sticks searching for the woody ends.

Despite participation in the trimming, I usually can’t get her to eat more than a bite or two of asparagus. I get it. The texture is crunchy, but there’s no sweetness like you get from snap peas, carrots, even cucumbers.

Plus, it’s hard to explain about the pee smell. Add it to the 500 questions a week I field that I have no adequate response for.

This month we are trying a new technique, forgoing the power of the crunch-off, for a crispy fossilized cheesy asparagus stalk. If that doesn’t work, perhaps the next step is to coat them in potato chip shards like we are doing fish this week!

In other news, I got to accompany my dad to the Tony’s on Sunday. There’s a lot to report (Rose Bryne’s dress! Carrie Coon’s skin! Julianne Hough’s side boob / repeated nip slips! Also…PINK! ) that I will save for this month’s morsels. In the meantime, here’s a little red carpet photo. I’m wearing a corset my mom has had in her closet for 20+ years, because despite a month of shopping and best efforts, I couldn’t find anything else nearly as fabulous to buy.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

THE GAME PLAN

Store-Bought Spotlight

(elements you can buy)

Heyday Coconut Chickpeas: All Hey Day products have ingredient lists I can get behind. You’ll see plenty of their products in future store-bought spotlights. These chickpeas are mild, slightly sweet and super well-balanced. The sauce is such a winner with my munch, I’m always mixing other ingredients I want her to eat into these. PRO TIP: freeze extra portions in this tray and store in a bag in the freezer labelled “Legumes” for future munch menus.

Kite Hill Spinach Tortellini: Though not GF, I find that the kite hill brands of stuffed pastas are very veg-forward and I like that they use nut cheeses.

Teriyaki Tofu: Premarinated organic tofu is one of my munch menu secret weapons for adding protein. You simply slice or dice – no cooking necessary! In this case, I throw it into a quick fried rice. You can crumble or cube, however you like it.

P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every week. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $1.50 per week if you do the annual option. A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!

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Meal Prep

(elements you can make in advance)

Curried Turkey Meatballs: This week’s new recipe! These freeze very well, but also keep for the week in the fridge. If you don’t want to serve with the chickpeas and cauli, you can use them as a base for pretty much any grain bowl.

Curried Cauliflower: This 3-ingredient side was a paid subscriber recipe from last year, but essentially is cauli florets roasted with yogurt, curry powder and a little lemon juice. Alternatively, you can do plain roasted cauli (and/or carrots!). The meatballs taste great with more yogurt on the side and mint for garnish.

Fingerling Fries: Quarter the wee potatoes length-wise, toss with olive oil and salt, and roast for 25 minutes at 425F or until crispy, tossing them once. If making in advance, recrisp for 5 minutes at this temp.

Brown Rice: Brown always takes longer, so it’s a good option for meal prep. If subbing white, that’s a night of quickie!

Sweet & Salty Everything Sauce: This is the second most popular MM recipe of all time, probably because I use it so often in my menus. If you don’t want to make this from scratch, try a store-bought peanut sauce. But since it’s tahini-based, leftovers of this one can be sent in for school lunch!

Quickies

(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)

Potato Chip Crusted Fish with Snap Peas: My girl Hillary has this easy recipe if you need something to follow. But the idea is fillet of medium-thickness fish (salmon, halibut, etc.), slather it with a condiment (mayo, mustard, etc.), pat it with crushed chips, bake it on a sheet pan with snap peas for 10 minutes at 425F.

Parmesan Asparagus: Toss one to two bunches of asparagus (trimmed) with olive oil and salt. Top with 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan and roast at 400F for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and crispy.

Steamed Broccoli: You can make this straight from frozen or fresh. Just add to a pan with a splash of water, bring to a simmer, salt well, and pop a top on for 3 minutes. Finish with some lemon juice and/or butter.

Rotisserie Chicken Quesadillas: Shred up the dregs of a rotisserie chicken, toss with 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar. Divide between 6 to 8 corn tortillas. Pan-fry until the cheese is melted. Top with guac or a simple mashed avocado with lime and salt. You can also add a sauteed bell pepper to the chicken, if you want to sneak a veg in.

Munch Menu Version 19

110KB ∙ PDF file

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FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS

If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.

Cold Sesame Noodle Salad: This quick noodle and cucumber dish uses a tweaked version of my sweet & salty everything sauce. If you’re a paid subscriber, sub this one for a sweeter sesame. Otherwise, just omit the gochugaru for less heat.

Turmeric Black Pepper Chicken with Asparagus: This NYT recipe was a banger loved by all in my house. I limited the black pepper and used white rice flour to make it GF. In the theme of today’s post, I’ll note that we got two bites of asparagus out of it.

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My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

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Generally, I don’t stress about this. You can read more about my beef (har har) with the toddler protein industrial complex here. But as we share more family meals, and as I, an aging female, am trying to balance my carb consumption, it is often just annoying.

I developed this recipe for curried turkey meatballs a few years ago for my recipe site, and somewhere along the way, it got abandoned on the cutting room floor. When I was thinking about a meatball that might have more broad munch appeal, they came to mind.

The curry powder is mild and flavorful, the yogurt adds a rich heft, and the grated carrots have a subtle sweetness (even more so if you’re using coconut yogurt). The one thing the original meatballs did not have was raisins. And it was the one thing I thought could make them a game changer.

Curried chicken salad tends to be rather kid-friendly thanks to the raisins mixed in and these are essentially the meatball equivalent. If it sounds weird, trust that this is not actually something I came up with out of thin air. You can take up your questions with the Sicilians (though they would be very offended by the other mix-in’s on my ingredient list).

While I am not a fan of force-feeding kids protein, I am definitely a fan of using any form of sugar (sparingly) to get my kid to try a new food (especially if it’s protein). My manifesto on the subject of sugar here.

To make these gluten-free, I use oats pulsed in a food processor. You can easily swap in breadcrumbs or your carb of choice (I have even more ideas in the nutrient booster section of the recipe).

The grated carrot can be swapped for zucchini. If you think shredded veg is strange, please refer to the Munch Menu favorite Chicken Soup Meatballs which packs in celery too.

I like serving these balls as a rice bowl with roasted cauliflower and/or carrots, fresh lime juice and plain yogurt. You can also add them as a protein to these pumpkin lime chickpeas. For a shortcut, these canned coconut curry chickpeas would taste great with them. I’ll be adding more serving ideas to this month’s menu for free subscribers!

Happy munching!

Phoebe

Bonus for Paid Subscribers

The full recipe is below for paid subscribers, including an easy-to-save/print PDF and notes on:

• Tips on pre-making the meatballs and freezing for later

• Nutrient boosters menu

• “Same same but different” modifications to make many variations

Paid subscribers also get full access to my recipe archive, bonus content, and special interviews. Want all of these notes and the full recipe?

Subscribe now

Curried Turkey Meatballs
Makes about 2 dozen meatballs (4 adult servings)

These meatballs take their inspiration from curried chicken salad. Instead of mayo, they have plain yogurt mixed in, along with shredded carrot and chopped raisins. If you’ve never had a raisin in your meatball before, you are missing out! They are a staple in sweet and savory Sicilian meatballs, and more importantly an incentive to get your munch to try a bite.

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I handed in my book edits a few days before Mother’s Day and found myself absolutely decimated with fatigue. We’ve been on a tight turn-around and it’s made me feel like I’m back in college pulling all-nighters in the science library.

The next day, we went to visit my friend’s farm in the Catskills and spend Mother’s Day together. The guys planned a horseback trail ride for us, which was lovely. But mostly we just wanted to be left alone to do everyday things without interruption. Which is how I found myself sweating in a field digging a ditch on my “day off.”

My friend Julia was explaining all her projects on the property that were in process, but that she never had time to actually make any progress on. My chores look a little different in the city, but I could relate to the way ordinary grunt work that used to feel productive and fulfilling now fills me with anxiety since I always have to squeeze them into packed weekends or juggle them at the same time as childcare.

Every spring, I look forward to repotting my plants, upgrading some into bigger pots, splitting larger growth into two babies, and giving them all a healthy pruning. I have 30 plants at this point, so what has historically been an all-day joyful affair has now become a back-breaking marathon during naptime…which I procrastinate until it’s almost summer.

Which is all to say that digging up the ground with a shovel, sweating in the sun and chatting leisurely with a friend was the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day.

The following weekend, we did our annual tradition of going to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. As cheesy as it is, I love the tradition of taking an annual photo in the same place. It really captures the growth over the years. I look at last year’s MD photo and wonder how my munch could have been so small and had so little hair just 12 months ago.

I experience that same freight train of time passing every time we come back up to Martha’s Vineyard, where we just spent the long weekend, and look at the pencil marks on the doorframe. One inch, so many memories later.

I hope you all had an amazing day and an amazing month, doing whatever it is that makes you feel relaxed and rooted.

Happy munching,

Phoebe

WHAT YOU MISSED 

• Phone a (mom) friend: dropped the ball on summer camp? There’s still Europe!

• Berry-Banana Oatmeal Bars

• Munch Menu V.18

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Munch Menus is a reader-supported publication. To support my work and help me put food on the table for my munchkin, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

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ME TIME

(Everything I’m watching and reading)

Euphoria (TV): I have two categories of TV. Things I watch with my husband, and things I watch on my own. Euphoria has always been the latter and it’s been my guilty pleasure recently. I had such low expectations for how they would resuscitate this season after four years of stops and starts, but it has been an absolute feast. The costumes, the production design, the Breaking Bad high-stakes friction. Still one of the most entertaining and stressful shows on television! Watch it for the wedding episode alone.

Widow’s Bay (TV): I read on another Substack that this new show is essentially Stranger Things for adults. A few episodes in, I’d say that’s accurate down to the 80’s retro font in the poster. The show is about a small New England island that is trying to transcend its creepy, cursed history to become a tourist destination like Bar Harbor or Martha’s Vineyard. As a resident of MV, I’ve always been enthralled by whaling town ghost stories and mysticism. This show is hilarious at times, and genuinely scary in the spirit of Hitchcock and Kubrick.

So Old, So Young (Book): As an only child, I am always a sucker for a book about “found family” that skips the usual cliches and wades into the muck of friendship. This novel, which is billed as a millennial Big Chill meets Four Weddings and Funeral, follows a group of college friends over the course of 20+ years. It’s a breezy read that weaves multiple narrators, their simmering resentments and unrequited loves, and offers a realistic, moving portrait of how friends cling to each other through life’s shifts—jobs, moves, children and tragedies.

Famesick (Book): Please picture me doing my best Stefon when I say, this book has everything. Come for the impeccable writing, biting humor, and celebrity gossip, stay for the diabolical portrait of how Hollywood chews up bright young female creatives and what happens when your body can’t keep up with what the industry requires of it. As someone who has written a chronic illness memoir, and read a lot of chronic illness memoirs, I can say this is among the best.

Noah Kahan: The Great Divide (Listen): When I listened to the first track of Noah Kahan’s new album, I immediately started crying. Yes, I may have been about to menstruate. But it’s also got that same beautiful melancholy feeling as Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, which I used to sob while listening to in my twenties. Anyway, if you’re going through it, or want to be reminded of a time you were going through it, or just want to listen to Noah going through it, I highly recommend.

MUNCHKIN ESSENTIALS

A few accessories that have made my munchkin’s month!

This seal water bottle, a gift we brought home from duty free in the Buenos Aires airport but is in fact a Canadian company and something you can mail order easily (and more affordably) from the US. We were really torn between the unicorn, cow and octopus—they are all SO fun!!

We also got this carry case which she calls her fanny pack. She uses the seal less as a water bottle and more as an imaginary friend / baby she can carry around with her. It is cuter and more sustainable than a stuffed animal, so I’m here for it!

We are doubling down on these Patagonia sun shirts now that she’s spending so much time outside. We have a few different versions, but prefer the hoodies.

Last summer, we bought these tick stickers and this summer, I’m considering sending her most worn wardrobe items for treatment via the Insect Shield website.

MONTHLY ASK

How does your schedule change with summer childcare challenges? Would love to know how other mothers are juggling.

Leave a comment

As travelers, we often skew quantity over quality, favoring road trips with a different stop every night over spending more time in one place.

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Our experience in Amsterdam made us rethink this. We loved getting a deeper experience of the city and learning the everyday fabric of a place, getting to live in a more residential neighborhood, and coming away from our travels not just with a camera roll of pictures, but also a regular butcher, a favorite flower shop, and a group of new ex-pat friends.

It’s also a style of travel that is much easier with kids than picking up constantly and being on the go. Last summer, we did a week in Copenhagen and a week in Austria. This summer, we are taking it one step further and putting down roots for a month in the south of Spain.

With the plan to be away for a long stretch, we knew we would have to find a childcare situation that would allow us to work remotely and keep up with our daily responsibilities. Enter: Maddy Novich and her fabulous newsletter, which spotlights summer camps for kids across Europe.

I’ve been following Maddy’s newsletter since last summer and dreaming about all the possibilities. She’s done all the research so you don’t have to (age groups, dual-language, cost, daytime hours, etc.). Its opened my eyes to all the fabulous options—mountain climbing camp in the French Alps, surf camp in Norway, theater camp in Florence, forest school in Paris.

And though it might sound intimidating to embark on a new type of summer plan, perhaps the best part about planning a European summer camp experience is that you do not have to do so MONTHS AND MONTHS in advance!

In fact, most of the camps we were looking into still have plenty of room right now and are about a fourth of the cost of what we are going to be paying for my daughter’s camp in New York City in June and the one she’s doing in Martha’s Vineyard in August.

Last month when we were still trying to decide where we wanted to be, we did a one-on-one consult with Maddy. We told her our top 5 destinations and our kid’s age, she pulled 20+ options for camps that fit our criteria. It was such a fabulous helping hand.

If you’re European camp curious or a last minute planner like myself, I’ve got Maddy here as our “phone a mom friend” expert of the month to tell us how she designs her family adventures, the Hall of Fame camps she recommends, and how to pack for a summer of nomading with kids.

Happy munching!

PL: Your newsletter is the de facto resource for finding camps abroad. How did you start venturing abroad as a family, and what is your approach to a typical summer now?

MN: My husband and I have always loved to travel and we didn’t stop after we had kids. We just took them with us. But we needed to change how we traveled with kids - we realized quickly that we needed to slow down and find help - which is what inspired us to research summer camps abroad. We first enrolled our now 12 year old when he was 4 in a Lego camp in Amsterdam and he loved it. What started as a 2 week trip evolved into 4 weeks into what it is today 9-11 weeks, multiple countries and various camps. We typically start with where we want to go and where there is access to summer camps and plan our trips around that.

As a New Yorker, I have experienced first hand how cut-throat and expensive it is to find summer childcare options. Can you tell us a little bit about what makes the European approach to camp different?

European summer camps tend to be more affordable than NYC camps, they also aren’t usually as full or competitive. It makes it easier to enroll in them. I also love that it gives me and my husband time together while we travel while knowing the kids are safe and having a great time.

What are a few things that someone should scan for when trying to find a good camp abroad that we might not think to look for locally?

I look for the following: what language does the staff speak and can my kids communicate with them, how long has the camp been running, how do they communicate with parents (usually via Whatsapp which is different than US camps), where are they located relative to where we are staying, and what they offer. I usually like to read reviews, check their IG accounts, and reach out to ask questions.

I’m sure it differs by country, but what is generally the lead time needed to start planning a European summer that includes camp for kids?

We plan 10 months to a year in advance but that’s because we arrange home swaps for our housing. I think 6 months is also totally reasonable. There really is no wrong answer as many Euro camps have spots through the summer.

Tell us about one of the family Hall of Fame camps you’ve sent your kids to and why you loved it.

There are SO many but for my older kids, I really loved Terragon nature camp in The Netherlands. I describe it like Lord of the Flies - the kids get really dirty, a little bloody but they absolutely LOVE it. No screens, just nature, risky play, and each other.

For my little one, I absolutely LOVE Wow Family Center in Amsterdam. The staff, facilities, care, and experience is just top notch. They really had a different schedule each day of art, outdoor play, sensory play, plus the staff was lovely. My daughter is still asking to go back.

What is in store for you this summer?

We will be abroad for 11 weeks. It’s our longest trip to date. We will be in Barcelona, attending Little Makers Camp, for one week. Valencia, attending Ole Summer camps, for 2 weeks. Then we are dropping our big kids off at sleepaway camp in Switzerland for 2 weeks. It’s called Village Camps. We will stay nearby in Lyon and Annecy with our youngest. After we pick the big kids up from sleepaway, we fly from Geneva to Syros, where we are spending 3.5 weeks with Boundless Life, an all-inclusive option (house, summer camp, co-working space). We end the summer with 1 week in Athens (no camps, just hanging) and fly home in September.

Any packing advice for getting through a summer trip that has a few different locations and climates?

Yes! Use the Sudoku method of packing for everyone - select 9 versatile items that all go together for the primary wardrobe plus swim, pjs, and undergarments. Wear one long sleeved/warmer outfit on the plane and don’t be afraid to buy locally what you need. Generally, in the summer it is easy to pack light because the climate is somewhat consistent but last summer we stopped in Scotland and it was freezing. I just popped into some local thrift stores and picked up some warmer items as we needed them.

Any more advice for anyone looking to try something different with their families this summer abroad?

Start in a place that is low friction: an easy or direct flight, somewhere where you can get by easily in your native language, and that has lots of camp options. I usually recommend Amsterdam, Berlin, or Vienna for first timers.

Where can people find you and all the resources you provide?

Instagram @cargobikemomma, My newsletter sign up here.

Did you like this post? Please take 30 seconds and click the heart button at the bottom! It is an easy, free way to help more people find my work.

My latest cookbook is your culinary and dietary road map to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences (complete with 130 anti-inflammatory gluten free recipes…that are also family friendly!). Ina Garten says “I love this book!”—listen to the queen and order your copy!

Order here

As someone who has been writing on the internet in some capacity for 15 years, I love geeking out over analytics, so it’s a true testament to how crazed I’ve been with novel edits that I haven’t gone crazy yet on the Substack dashboard. All in due time for June.

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In the meantime, the most basic of takeaways is that these zucchini bread oatmeal bars are your favorite recipe to date.

They are part of a breakfast formula that I riff on again and again in my morning rotation. You’ll find a carrot cake version in my winter breakfast planner, and a green version (that’s free) on my recipe blog. But I realized that there is a whole category of people NOT trying to hide vegetables in their morning meals and/or whose kids will ferret them out and reject the breakfast in its entirety as a result.

Dear reader, I fear as of recently I am falling in the latter bucket.

Today, we celebrate the most basic, most beloved, most simple incarnation of these oatmeal bars with crowd-favorite (freezer-friendly) assorted berries and a few mashed-up bananas as the main sweetener.

Besides the fruit, essentially all you need: oats, eggs, nut butter, and milk. Everything else is optional.

Here’s the thing though: even if you are not trying to hide vegetables in your child’s meals, there are still plenty of ways to add “nutrient boosters” they won’t notice. And I’ve given you five optional plants to incorporate if checking certain health boxes is part of your morning prerogative.

Since this recipe is celebrating one year of Munch Menus, I’ll reiterate that my health philosophy over here is not to celebrate or demonize particular ingredients. (You can read my take on protein here, and my approach to sugar here).

Instead, my goal is always to get my kid to eat as many different ingredients as possible. This is as a means of practicing flexibility, but when it comes to diversifying plants, that also has a big halo effect on gut health.

Generally, I try not to be a sneak about these things, so there’s no need not to be transparent with these oatmeal bars. In fact, my toddler helped me make these very bars a few weekends ago. But it does give you a vehicle where you can pack in a crazy number of different plants into one meal – up to TEN (!!) if you include all the nutrient boosters, which are all pantry items.

In practice, this is easier than it sounds. I have jars of different nuts and seeds in my pantry, and when I’m making this oatmeal, I grab a slew of them off the shelf and eyeball a dash of this and that (usually pouring into my kids’ measuring cup, so she can add them to the bowl herself).

Another fun shortcut to plant diversity is this Nuttzo butter that I’ve highlighted before in a storebought spotlight. It has 7 types of nuts and seeds built in (no peanut), so even if you didn’t add any of the optional nutrient boosters in the recipe below, just by having Nuttzo in your arsenal, you’d be hitting that 10 plant goal in this bar.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has joined me on Substack as a paid subscriber. It filled me with extreme relief and gratitude to see most of the “founding” annual subscribers from last April renew their subscriptions. I have many more bonuses and personal touch bases in store this summer for my paid people. Please consider joining us and supporting my work! If for no other reason than this oatmeal bar recipe.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

Bonus for Paid Subscribers

The full recipe is below for paid subscribers, including an easy-to-save/print PDF and notes on:

• Tips on pre-making the oatmeal bars and freezing for later

• Nutrient boosters menu

• “Same same but different” modifications to make many variations, including alt sugar options and nut-free

Paid subscribers also get full access to my recipe archive, bonus content, and special interviews. Want all of these notes and the full recipe?

Subscribe now

Berry-Banana Oatmeal Bars
Makes 12 bars

Read more

If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.

Subscribe now

By now, you’re probably used to me going on about how my menu approach is more about practicing flexibility than force-feeding kids a particular nutrition ethos.

It’s right up top in the fine print: the goal of this newsletter is to help busy parents avoid feeding their kids pasta five times a week.

However, if you do end up feeding your kids pasta five times a week, there’s nothing wrong with that. We can still find small victories in that formula. The flexibility muscle can be honed. And it can be as simple as switching up the pasta shape.

For the last month, I’ve been on an insane deadline for my novel edits and have had very little time in the kitchen, which has meant relying more on quick fixes and lazy dinners (pasta or a rotisserie chicken or takeout).

Recently, I decided to shake things up by introducing my munch to bow-tie pasta. It’s one of the more whimsical shapes, and like tiny little alphabet noodles, was surely invented for children.

And yet, she was having none of it. Not even after we pivoted and rebranded the plate as butterfly pasta.

Since then, I’ve been trying to do a better job of changing the noodle shape every time we have a pasta night to see if there are any new winners besides spaghetti and “finger pasta” (penne).

As an adult with a gluten allergy, it can be hard even for me to branch out. I shared my favorite GF brands here, but the shapes are more limited. So I was thrilled to see that Jovial started making mafalda corta, which looks like lasagna noodles cut into tiny rectangles. Their curly edges were an immediate hit, and we’ve since dubbed it ribbon pasta in our house.

You’ll find it on the menu this month, in case you need some new inspiration. If you can’t find it, feel free to swap in finger or butterfly pasta—whatever is new and exciting and marketable.

Other small victories include slaw, specifically napa cabbage, which was sampled as part of our ongoing dinnertime “crunch off” competition. I still can’t get her to eat salad, but slaw seems to be a loophole on account of the sound effects. I hope it’s a win for you too.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

THE GAME PLAN

Store-Bought Spotlight

(elements you can buy)

Chicken Sausage: My small batch go-to is D’artagnon, which makes a Mediterranean variety and one with mushrooms that are both incredibly flavorful. The apple is slightly sweeter and a munch fave.

Apricot Baked Beans: Most baked beans have tons of added sugar, and while these are definitely on the sweet side, all Heyday products have ingredient lists I can get behind. You’ve seen these guys make a few Munch Menu appearances—they are a crowd pleaser! Buy whatever brand is convenient for you since that is the point of a canned option.

Gluten-Free Mafalda: This seems to be the new “it” pasta shape and I’m thrilled that it’s made its way into the GF aisle. In addition to the more widely available Jovial, I have to give a big shout out to Giadzy, Giada De Laurentiis’ brand, which makes some of the BEST GF pasta out there. They don’t have Mafalda but their Taccole Corte is similar (both look like mini lasagna noodles).

Gotham Greens Pesto: This is by far my favorite store-bought pesto brand, usually found in the refrigerated section. I prefer the flavor of their vegan version, which doesn’t have cheese. PRO TIP: freeze cubes of remaining pesto in silicone ice cube trays and start a freezer baggie labeled “pasta sauces.”

Frozen Pork & Cheese Tamales: You can find this line of frozen tamales in the freezer aisle of Whole Foods, and like frozen burritos, they are a great option to have on hand for a quick lunch or dinner. If you can’t find tamales, a frozen burrito would be an easy swap. If you want to make them from scratch, they are also a good make-ahead option! I sadly don’t have a recipe to give my stamp of approval, but will add it to the wishlist.

P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every week. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $1.50 per week if you do the annual option. A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!

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Meal Prep

(elements you can make in advance)

Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes: Cut two large sweet potatoes (1 pound each) in half lengthwise. Brush the fleshy side of the potatoes with oil and season with salt, then bake cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 425 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. If making ahead, store the potatoes until ready to use. Then use a fork to fluff the center of the potatoes, top with butter, cheddar cheese, and/or scallions, and return to the oven to heat through. You can also serve the potatoes with crumbled sausage, crispy bacon, sour cream or Greek yogurt.

Cornmeal Zucchini Fries: Cut two small zucchini into matchsticks and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add ¼ cup of cornmeal and toss to coat. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until the fries are golden brown on the bottom. Flip and return for 5 minutes until crispy. If making ahead, you’ll want to recrisp at the same temp for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Quickies

(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)

Coconut-Lime Fish Packets: Last month’s paid subscriber recipe, which also includes two other variations: one with ginger, soy and green beans, another with zucchini, cherry tomatoes and tahini. All three fish meals only take 10 minutes to bake off the night of, and if you want to save even more time, you can prep the veggies the night before or morning of dinner.

White Rice: Follow the package, babe! This is perfect for soaking up that coconut sauce.

Crunchy Slaw: This slaw is easy to throw together the night of, but can also be made for the week ahead. It just won’t be as crunchy a few days later. Slice one small head of napa cabbage (1 pound) and toss with ¼ cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. If you like a creamy slaw, add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (it will be very light). You can also add any chopped scallions, mint, cilantro or a combination!

Genovese Pesto Pasta: Cook 12 ounces of cooked GF Mafalda. In the last 3 minutes, add 1 pound of green beans (cut into 1-inch pieces). Drain both and toss with 4 ounces (half a cup) of pesto and a pint of halved cherry tomatoes. Garnish with chopped walnuts. You can also add halved bocconcini (or cubed fresh mozzarella) if your kiddos love cheese.

Munch Menu Version 18

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FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS

If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.

Swordfish with Lemony Potatoes: “Shingling” the potatoes takes a little time, but they are a fun way to change it up for kids who like roasted potatoes in the shape of chips. The star of the show for the adults is the caper sauce—don’t skip it even if your small people won’t deign to taste a green condiment! Salmon or halibut can be swapped for swordfish, so shake it up.

Quick Asparagus Frittata: There is no quicker dinner than a simple frittata and a green salad. With asparagus starting to pop off at the farmer’s market, this is one way to wrap it in a familiar vehicle for your munch. If they reject it, leftovers make a great lunch for YOU.

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