Back-to-School Lunches, Sheet-Pan Dinners, and Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Hillary Dixler Canavan
About this episode
Catherine Smart and Hillary Dixler Canavan discuss practical meal ideas and the joy of cooking during the back-to-school season.
Back-to-School Lunches, Sheet-Pan Dinners, and Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Hillary Dixler Canavan Hillary Dixler Canavan returns to Not From Concentrate as the show’s first repeat guest! Nearly one year after her first appearance, Hillary joins Catherine for a timely conversation about feeding our families, and ourselves, during the back-to-school rush. They talk about letting go of picture-perfect lunchboxes, choosing foods children will reliably eat at school, and adding joy without adding much work. Hillary shares her genuinely life-changing trick for assembling and freezing sandwiches in advance, plus easy ways to bring protein and variety into packed lunches. The conversation also ventures into cooking with kids, why project-based kitchen activities may be more manageable than everyday “help,” and the value of teaching practical cooking skills when children are ready. Then Hillary previews Sheet Pan Month in her newsletter, What Are We Having? She and Catherine even develop a Green Goddess chicken, gnocchi, and broccoli dinner in real time. Finally, they discuss finding creativity through constraints, clearing physical clutter, and using audiobooks to make cooking feel…
People in this episode
Host: Catherine Smart
Guest: Hillary Dixler Canavan
Topics covered
- back-to-school lunches
- sheet-pan dinners
- cooking with kids
- meal prep
- finding joy in cooking
Keywords
- lunchboxes
- meal prep
- cooking with kids
- sheet pan meals
- easy dinners
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: What Are We Having?
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