Do You Do All Your Own Stunts?

As a stay-at-home dad with years of professional cooking experience, my number one priority is to prepare and provide good food. Followed by child safety, an enriched and stimulating environment, a clean house, etc.

And I'm not totally sure if I've always been like this, or if it's just my work history, but I feel an obligation to make everything from scratch. And trust me, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, I often wish I wasn't this way.

So when we had our second kid a little over a year ago, and especially once my wife went back to work, I was very strongly encouraged to take it easy when it came to preparing our meals.

Now, it's not like I was making 10-course tasting menus every night, but making dinner with one, basically self-sufficient three-year-old running around was easy. And I could get away with making things that were a bit more involved.

I don't know why, but I honestly thought that adding a completely helpless, tiny, baby human to the equation would have little impact on my ability to maintain the high-level cuisine that my two clients (a.k.a. wife and daughter) had come to expect.

Spoiler alert: if you add a completely helpless, tiny, baby human to any equation things get a lot harder.

So after several very difficult weeks in the kitchen, I accepted my defeat. I bought my first-ever bottle of Caesar dressing (a much better recipe coming soon 😉), and the Trader Joe's freezer aisle became a refuge.

While I felt strange and inexplicably guilty on the days I was "phoning it in", it was a needed and welcome reprieve. And I must admit, that Joe has a few bangers up his sleeves.

Luckily, child number one is now four and a half and can essentially raise child number two, which means I'm back in business. And I gotta say, my newest client (a.k.a. son) has been VERY impressed with the food.

One thing that I refuse to buy at the store is Teriyaki sauce. It's always too sweet, too thick, and contains too many unnecessary ingredients. Plus, it's one of the easiest sauces to make yourself.

Here's my Teriyaki recipe, which only requires 5 ingredients (6 if you're a little fancy) and is definitely more traditional than what you'll find in most American grocery stores.

And you should probably make this Japanese White Sauce to go with it. It's not at all traditional or even Japanese for that matter. But it is delicious and they make a good team.