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Food People, Parent Picks: we ask our favorite chefs, food writers, and industry insiders who we interview in our Order Up! Series to share the products, books, and bites they can’t live without.
This week we talked with Laura Fuentes, the founder of MOMables, about fifteen years of packing school lunches, the pureed-carrot disaster that ended veggie-hiding in her house, and why getting a real meal on the table is more about execution than inspiration. You can read Laura’s Order Up! interview right here.
Now for the rapid-fire round. From the three things always in her fridge to her one non-negotiable trick for fluffy pancakes (she’d know, she’s flipped ~six million), Laura shares the staples, shortcuts, and lunchbox logic that keep her family fed on a busy week.
Three pantry or fridge staples you always have on hand?
Milk, eggs, and flour. It’s the base for almost everything I make, pancakes included.
One kitchen tool you use all the time?
A thin spatula, the kind that’s just right for flipping eggs and pancakes.
Your current go-to weeknight dinner on repeat?
Taco Tuesday. On repeat it’s steak tacos: sear, sear, done. I have a whole cookbook of tacos, and no one ever gets bored of them.
One store-bought shortcut?
Pancake mix!
You’ve built recipes around rotisserie chicken. What’s your favorite 15-minute move?
One rotisserie chicken should be enough for two family meals, because it’s always rotisserie chicken plus one more thing.
Rotisserie chicken pasta, chicken salad, chicken wraps, chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice, black bean and chicken quesadillas. Pick whatever you have on hand and you’ve got a meal.
Your one non-negotiable tip for the fluffiest pancakes?
Aluminum-free baking powder. It’s the biggest tip in almost every pancake recipe on my site [Get her fluffy pancake recipe here!]. If you want really fluffy pancakes you need extra baking powder, about two teaspoons more depending on the batch, and the aluminum kind comes through tasting a little metallic or salty.
One more thing: don’t use baking powder that’s been open more than six months. It loses its strength.
Kids come home with half-eaten lunches. Is there one thing that makes a packed lunch actually get eaten?
It’s less about one item and more about packing the right amount, plus a little variety, in the same lunch. That matters most for younger kids.
Food usually comes home uneaten for one of two reasons: it was too much of one thing, or they got busy chatting and ran out of time. A few different small things keeps them from feeling overwhelmed and makes it more fun to eat.
A favorite cookbook?
My Taco Tuesday cookbook. It’s 52 recipes that make Tuesday the best eats of the week, and taco night is almost always a winner.
A kitchen splurge appliance that’s actually worth it?
A fully automatic espresso machine. Mine is mid-range, but fully automatic, because I don’t want to tamp anything. I just want it simple and really good so I’m not running out to a coffee shop. Put the money in the machine.
The family dinner everyone eats without a single argument or eye roll?
My blackened chicken pasta. Every time.
