Build Confident Kids Through Family Cooking and Creative Recipes

On this episode of The Real Family Eats, Reesa sits down with Lace, founder of Tech and Taste, to talk all things family cooking, resilience, and empowering kids in the kitchen. Get ready for practical advice, honest stories, and a killer air fryer burger recipe.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Lace’s "Lacey’s Banging Air Fryer Burgers" are the easy, flavorful answer to bland homemade burgers
• Lace’s journey from the UK to Colombia, overcoming unexpected setbacks and parenting challenges abroad
• The importance of getting kids involved in the kitchen early to build confidence and life skills
• Tips for picky eaters and strategies to make family meals less stressful for everyone
• The story behind Tech and Taste and The Flavor Room and how food, business, and community come together

Don’t miss out on the recipes, real talk, and inspiration for your family mealtimes!

Connect: 

https://www.facebook.com/iamlaceflowers

https://www.instagram.com/techandtastes

https://www.techandtastes.com/

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Air Fryer Burgers with Hand-Cut Seasoned Chips and Crunchy Slaw

Ingredients

For the Burger Patties:

500g mince beef (makes 2 adult burgers and 1 baby burger - adjust for your family's needs)

2 cloves garlic, diced or crushed

1 small white onion, diced

1 Tbsp ghee for frying

Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

For the Hand-Cut Chips:

1 large potato or 2 medium potatoes

Garlic powder

Smoked paprika

Sea salt

Black pepper

Oil (just a smidge)

For the Burger Station:

Brioche buns (1 per burger)

Red onion, cut into rings

Shredded iceberg lettuce or rocket

Ripe avocado for mashing

Beef tomato, sliced

Cheese slices (smoked German cheese recommended)

Chipotle sauce (or ketchup for kids)

For the Crunchy Slaw:

2 medium carrots, grated

White cabbage, shredded

White onion, sliced

Mayonnaise

Black pepper

Find the full recipe at: https://www.embracerenewaltherapy.com/real-family-eats/v/parenting-tip-for-confident-kids

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Host: Reesa Morala, MA, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Reesa is a parenting specialist with a niche in supporting couples. Find Reesa hosting couples and parenting workshops nationwide!

Make sure to like, follow, and subscribe!

For the video version of this episode find us at: https://www.embracerenewaltherapy.com/

If you are a parent ready to share your real-life parenting struggle and dish up a recipe with Reesa, apply here:
https://www.embracerenewaltherapy.com/real-family-eats-guest

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or need personalized support, please seek help from a licensed mental health professional. If you are in immediate danger or experiencing a crisis, contact emergency services or a crisis hotline in your area.

Suicide and Crisis Line: Text or Call 988

Go to your local hospital or call 911

Transcript

0:28

Hey everyone. Thanks for joining me. My name is Reesa and I'm your host. We are talking to real families about real stories. Here on the Real family eats where we've got food for thought and thoughtful food. So let's eat Welcome back everyone. I am so excited that you're here to join us. And I'm excited about today's guest. We've got lots of stories and lots of yummy food for you. We have Lace that is joining us and we thank you so much for being willing to be a guest on this show. I'm so thrilled to have you. So thank you for joining us today on The Real Family Eats. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here because I just love how you do it. The cooking is, like, phenomenal. Never seen anyone do it like this. So when I saw this, I was like, oh, I have to be part of this. So I'm I'm lazy. I am a mom of three children, all home educated. I currently live in South America, in Columbia, where I was born and raised in the UK, and my heritage is half Jamaican. I helped entrepreneurs fuel their internal machine with food education while optimizing their external systems with sustainable business systems. And I'm the founder of Track and Trace. I'm also co-founder of Something Brand New, which I'm super excited about, called The Flavor Room. And the Flavor Room is for entrepreneurs who don't fit the mold. We focus on elevating leaders of color and diverse entrepreneurs who are often overlooked, tokenized, and tokenized in traditional business spaces. So that's a bit about me. And, yeah. That's wonderful. Yes. And you alluded to it. Food. So I'm so excited to try your recipe today. So without further ado, can you tell us what recipe am I making today that you're sharing with all of our wonderful listeners? And why did you choose this one? Okay, well, today we are cooking my abandoned and firebug is actually cooler than the latest banging and firebug is. And I chose it because these burgers are wicked. They taste good. It's that juicy. And they're really easy to make. And, you know, I think a lot of us get burgers and we get them out of the box and we slam them into the oven. What? These really sad looking at you like no taste of nothing. And it's just it's a bit sad. And yeah, we like that. But difficult to make a really good burger at home. And so I'm that's why I try to do it because I want to introduce you to a very nice juicy burger patty with, handkerchiefs. Oh yeah. And touch it and some wholesale because coleslaw just makes everything a bit more spicy. I love it and honestly, I love a good burger. In fact my oldest one too. That was my craving. That was my pregnancy craving. I could smell a burger a mile away. So we are excited for this. Can you tell us a maybe an overview of this? That's what we're going to be doing. And I'll get making and mixing over here while we chat. Absolutely. So the way I start my burgers is we start by finally dicing some white onion and some garlic, and then we're going to. So take that off hopefully in some deep if you have oil I will forgive you. If you have butter, that's even better. Real butter please. Not margarine. And we're going to take that and put it to the side okay. Cool that down. That is going into the burgers. That's going to provide a really, really yummy depth of flavor. So just until that just caramelizing, okay. Then we're going to start to see is not the burger patties. I will put those aside and then we'll prepare the sides before we cook. And then that way everything comes together really nicely. So you're going to start with the onion and garlic. Okay. Perfect. I can do that. So well I am making all the yummy food on my ends. I know you've got stories and stories to be able to share, and so I'd love for you to, you know, jump right in and tell us, cause you you mentioned something that you were very proud of and kind of being able to launch your children off and kind of the development that you've seen in them, and that it wasn't an easy journey getting there. So start as I was, wasn't. I'll go slow back to the beginning. When my eldest, who's going to be 17 next month, I can't believe I almost have an adult. You know, when she was in year two. I'm not sure what great that works out to be in America, but she was like about six. I decided to do something at the corner to her house and okay, it was not wow. I was like, okay, it's not anymore. Not for any reason. She wasn't terribly bullied or anything. She was just food, you know? Yeah. So, what in the room? And I thought, you know, well, this this isn't this isn't the one. I'm not doing this. So I took her out of school and decided we were going to start our home education journey. Okay. I, I wow. And so as you pulled her out of, school, I mean, I'm so curious. What was that like? What were some of the challenges that you experienced? How did you navigate them? It was terrifying to begin with because it's like, I'm going against the grain. It's quite common that people do it in the UK, but not super common. So it's very scary that first crisis of, you know, since in the letters, the school and the registering and all that and then you're like, oh, what do I do? Do I create school at home? Do I follow curriculum? Do I do it online school? I don't want to do none of that. But we did so because I was like, I don't know, do you know what I'm supposed to be doing? I just want it to be better than what it was. So, you know, we did. We kind of followed her interests. So we went to, we went on different trips to different places that, you know, followed those interests. And over time it became, you know, she didn't want to do stuff in the way, like, you know, sit down and do the work. She's very practical. So she took us off the guitar to herself, workshops, sort of some video editing. And at some point, I think for me it was a condition that I had to go through. I've been to school and, you know, you think, oh, it's going to be done a certain way or they're not going to learn anything. And then you've got the challenges from family who, like your kids, are going to be gone by now. Oh my goodness, now you're ruining their lives. How could you. And so that that's challenging to me because some people will fold and put their kids right back in school, but not me. Yeah. It was like the more you try, the less it's going to happen. Like, the more I'm going to push this because that's not my personality. So as we keep deconditioning of really taking a step back and trust in that, your children will learn what they need to learn when they want to learn it, and that learning is all around us. It's impossible not to learn. No matter what you do in. Yeah, and like you said, that's gonna be such a difficult, even for yourself that unlearning that it needs to be a specific way and that that's the only way to do it. And there are many ways to do the same thing. Yeah. And to not even have that support of people, you know, in your corner. It sounds like, you know, they were almost kind of fighting you while you were trying to also, you know, battle that internal, right? You know, oh, can we do this differently? Is there room for flexibility? Room for individuality? It sounds like as well. Yeah. Oh yeah. She she's super individual let me tell you. So later down the line when we got to 2022 my relationship had broken down. I knew I had to leave. And that's when schooling, as it were, homeschooling, got really interesting because we weren't now just at home and living our friends and moving around the country. In the UK, we were now about to board a flight to Mexico on a one way ticket, and we didn't know anybody and we didn't speak any Spanish. So that sounds so scary. It was terrifying, but I was following intuition. I was called to do it, so I didn't question it as I learned very long ago that intuition. You can't you can't get it wrong. Anywhere you can get it wrong is by ignoring it. So I was like, okay, I surrender to this, we're going to go. We'll figure it out. I didn't have a plan other than myself for my kids for this one. Apple three, and I'm going to be happier than we had been in the last seven years. We were figuring out what I thought is right. Yeah. So I was like, my culture shock. I've never been to Mexico before, done a lot of traveling, so the children were well versed in other cultures and going to different places. But we've never been to Latin America or even that side of the world. The furthest I've been in New York, I've been there. Okay. So it's like, you know, the first time you you were out, we were right. Mexico. It was cool. You see some really interesting things. We saw a little, little beach town called Walker Little Marlin, right on the river. Okay. About three minutes walk from the beach. It was just. Wow. Divine. Yeah, but also often. And, you know, the things you don't necessarily experience, like in the UK or the States, but like what? Disappearing electric light now, those sorts of things. But it was fun. We adapted. I mean, there's not a whole lot of choice but to adapt, right, in those situations, you ever adapt or you go back going back, that's an option. Yeah. That's so true. Okay. So you're in this new environment. You're having to adapt to new culture, new life. I mean what's coming up next. How was that for you as a, as a parent even in trying to navigate your own maybe discomforts as well as maybe your children's discomforts as well? It was we just kind of just rode it like my eldest learned Spanish really quickly, so she was able to sort of get around and talk to people and whatever we needed to do really easily where, yeah, I think it's more difficult for adults. We're a bit slower. Google translate saved our lives on many occasions, but we just went with it and we're like, hey, it's an adventure. It is what it is. Whatever happens, we know we're going to be okay and we'll figure it out. And Mexicans are really friendly and we have no problems at all. We moved around Mexico for a year, okay, walked in Guatemala. I just walked over the border. Wow. Really? Yeah. Walked over the border. Got a bus. When? All around. From the border right down to Guatemala City. We stayed there for ten days. Just, you know, checking out. And we got the bus back. The weather in Guatemala is crazy. It's really nice. One minute and then it's raining the next minute, and then there's a landslide on your bus is not going anywhere for, like, the next couple of hours. Happened to us twice. I couldn't my youngest was months, so we landed in Mexico. So, you know, we've got, like, a baby with us. Yeah. It was. It was fun. And then we got to the point. We're like, okay, we're going to leave Mexico. And this is one of those parenting nightmares that you just never want to happen. Okay? We booked our flights to Costa Rica. We went to the airport. Mexico is so big and confusing. You really want to give yourself, like, an extra day just to find your way around it? We don't do that. Just when we're like, yeah, we'll be fine. And then there was an argument about baggage, I think, I can't remember. No, we got to Mexico at the airport and the flight that took us from TV both way, the way we were staying was like, so we got to Mexico City, like. And then we were running around trying to find where we needed to be to get the flight to Costa Rica, and we missed it. Oh, wow. This is a problem. Yeah. Wait. Hotel. We booked a flight. Now we've already given up our apartment, and we've got everything Costa Rica ready, so I our flights, and now I'm running low on money. So I need me money here from my little online business that I've launched and which is nothing to do. What do you say? We booked a flight, went to the airport the next morning, and then there was an argument about bags. I know for a fact I booked, hold luggage because I had suitcases. It wouldn't make sense for me not to. And the way we wanted to on I hadn't and was trying to charge me like an extra $200 or whatever it was. And I was like, listen, I don't have any more money to be spending on things I've already spent on. And this argument went back and forth and then paying my fine when I looked at my phone. And it is the Airbnb host in Costa Rica telling me, I want to charge you for your massive accommodation, it's going to cost you an extra $2,000. Oh, oh my goodness. So I was like, okay. And then at that point the flight had already gone because men and women are all human. So we missed the second flight. I don't have anywhere to stay even if I go on it. So that's kind of like divine timing, if there was any. However, now I'm in an airport with my children, I would have to say no money. Yes. And so, I mean, again, the only thing that's coming to my mind is just how scary that could have been. And for, for for many folks, I imagine that could have been the make it or break it. You either, like you said, go back or figure it out. Okay. And this is the this is what I was faced with because it's like, okay, I can call my mom and say it's all gone tits up. Yeah, I was home. That wasn't an option for me. I didn't come all of this way. I'm going through all the things I did. I made that decision to take that leap of free myself from what I was facing, to turn around and go back because I missed the flight. That wasn't an option. So why did it went once KFC? Because what else do you do when you're homeless and living in Mexico airport with Mexico City airport with your kids. But go and have something to eat. So I was like, we're going to see, we're going to have something to eat. Like the kids were really cool. Like there was no panic because mom was panicking. Mom was like, we're going to figure this out because we are having the other options. So that's how my phone reached out to my Facebook community, who have been following my journey from since before I left, knowing that this was happening and they be okay everywhere, virtually and I talked to a friend of mine and she went out in the post. I said, is there anybody in Mexico City who can rescue my son? I can't, I'm within about ten minutes, there was a lady in my inbox and I live in Mexico City. I've been following your journey. I know you and I knew her and she was like, I'm sending you enable. You can come and stay with me for as long as you need. Needed to. Wow. Gosh, the generosity of others. That's a beautiful it was beautiful. So I mean, I the kids went inside the two bedroom apartment in a huge tower block in Mexico City, and we stayed there for about two weeks, and we cooked because me and my, my eldest son cooks. So we did the cooking at my home. And the lady and the lady son cooked with my eldest as well, so that they were, you know, swapping, swapping cooking stories and techniques and all that. That was really nice. And then, things kind of worked. We actually moved from Mexico City to San Cristobal, which is on the border to what's, what's mono, which is why we ended up walking in and. Okay. And it was all fine. So that was like one of the big things that we go over, okay, where home is, we have nowhere to go. What are we going to do? It worked out everything as we believed it would work out. Yeah I did, yeah. Was that difficult to to reach out to the community to, to ask for that help? I know that that's something that I've heard from parents is there's this. Many, many fear. I don't know if here's the right word, but hesitation to reach out for for concern, you know, what is it going to say about them? There's almost this. Well, if I reach out and I say I need help and am I feeling is that indicative of me as a parent, as a person? Yeah. At that time, no, it wasn't hard because I didn't have any other options. It wasn't something I could sort of, an arm out. I was like, hey, stuff happens. And I know that a lot of the people that will follow me are also one. So there's also people that have done, you know, home education at home and around the world doing it. And they would have had maybe similar sort of, you know, problems missing, right, stuff going wrong. So that was fine. But, you know, answer to your question. There was a time when I found it extremely difficult to reach out for help. Again, I didn't have any option. So by the time we, you know, finished in Mexico, we spent six weeks in Dominican Republic. And then we came to Colombia on on a call, which is where I am now. I was just like, I just need to go there. And I went and I went to Santa Marta, which is on the Caribbean coast. You house. And once we moved into this house, I became really, really sick. I was sick the entire time I left my house for two months. I was in pain, I couldn't eat, I couldn't walk without literally passing out. Yeah. Even the fan on my skin was causing me pain. I was so ill I couldn't work, so I couldn't even have the laptop touching me. I lost a lot of my clients. I was doing bad this time, like they literally just walked away. They really went just like, screw you. One of them even started threatening me with police and stuff, and I'm I'm not sure how that's going to work when I'm here and you're in a different country, but the stress of one and the refund for something she paid for, which I said, you know, I'll still do the what I need sometimes to be well, my I'm dying and I know I didn't die, but I knew it was dying and I was being seen by doctors. And they will come around and put in IVs in my arm. Given me all of these drugs and nothing was working. So I eventually asked for a second opinion. And this lovely daughter came out and she was like, you need to be resourceful now. Like you, I think I took my, hemoglobin levels like 2.4, like really, really low. Wow. So I went off to the hospital and long story short, I ended up having lifesaving surgery because I was internally bleeding. I bought my my Colombian health insurance or anything, and I'm like, I don't know, like, I just actually use at this point. So what's been happening is my eldest daughter has come with us to the hospital. She's given all of my medical information over to the medics in perfect Spanish, so they know exactly all about me. She knows all that stuff anyway, because I believe that it's important for your children to know these important things for when stuff like this happens for it. So she's done all of that. She's flown home. She looked after the smallest one. She's been doing the shopping. She's got my bank collection. She's holding it all down because I taught her how to do that. All my kids have been in the kitchen since they were two, so they they all know you all know how to, you know, navigate your shopping list. They all know how to go and buy the things. So she's got that. She knows how to do the cost of the house conferences. Sister, I'm in hospital for ten days of having a surgery, a blood transfusions, and then they present me with the bill. 22 million Colombian medicines, which is about 4,000 pounds. So I make about $6. Oh. I have no clients. I haven't been able to work since, you know, to look after the kids and make sure they're all right. And I can't leave the hospital because I'm being held by security guards with guns until I pay the bill. This is an example of retail. Yeah, because I'm not asking for a roof over my head or a little bit of support. This time I'm asking for four grand or something that was offered us. Yeah, I'm. Which from the Facebook people. I got that money. But that was a of wow, how so? There was a couple questions that came up for me as you were telling, this is how do you navigate? Because it seems like for you, resilience is the word that was coming up for me. And so I'm so curious, like, how did you develop that? Has that always been there? Is there something that you learn? And then the second question, because it sounds like you were also trying to pass that resiliency down to your children. I hear you saying that, you know, it was important to you to make sure that, you know, by age of two that they were in the kitchen and they knew and had maybe some skills, some life skills to be able to persevere. And so I'm so curious, like the, the start of that for you. Where did that come from? And I think I've always been resilient. I haven't had the easiest start in life. It wasn't like awful, but it wasn't easy. You know, that was like childhood abuse, but not from my parents or anything like that. One of my that really came, like, my mom is awesome and not from my family, from the step that's from me. And I had lots of really dysfunctional relationships, as a teen. And I think that reflects on my, you know, my stepdad, he was a drunk. And then you end up attracting those sorts of people into your life. And, you know, this was the cycle kind of continues because it's almost like you're detracting in your personal brand even though you're not, you know, doing that on a conscious level. That's your subconscious. So it's not it's not my fault. It's not your fault. If you're listening to me and thinking, hey, I can ask for any of this stuff. No you didn't, but on a subconscious, on the subconscious level, that's what we bring in. So I've learned a lot of resilience throughout the years. I have to be super resilient throughout my marriage because that was incredibly hard. So I think that's where it's come from. It's kind of just instilled in me to be very resilient because of my life experiences up until now. And as, why do my children have such resilience? Like, how did that come to be passed on in such a way? Why in the kitchen specifically is, it's a really funny story actually started in the baking. Okay. So tell me more. All started with white beans when I was at university the first time when I was 18, I rocked up with pots, pans and and Jamaican spices. Okay, everyone else, what's up with my scores and my laptops and stuff that I my family couldn't afford? So I was thinking, oh well, maybe, I got worse off than everybody else. But what happened is one day I went into the communal kitchen and I saw my flatmate Chris, and he was holding this tin of baked beans, and he was, like, profusely sweating, hyperventilating and having a proper meltdown. I was like, yeah, you're right. And he was like, I don't know what to do with these. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, well, there's my cooking instructions on the tin, and I don't know what to do, so to be able to eat them. And I thought, oh God, this can't be right. And so I coached him for heating up the baked beans, okay. And that's when I decided my children will be like this is kind of what happened, because I thought, that's just I couldn't understand how an 18 year old could be in this position, what I couldn't feed them. So something so basic. I thought I couldn't necessarily cook, but I grew up around lots of cooks. I grew up around great food. So I just went off into the world and started recreating Way Home. And when I got stuck, I think my grandma, I think my mom was like, hey, I'm trying to make your chicken wings. Tell me what you did. Tell me what you put on them. I'm like, yeah. And then the priest who hasn't got a clue about what to do but food, he could. He called him, but he didn't know how long to heat them off for. And he was, like, cooking them on the stove. Like they might jump up and bite them at any moment. I decided my kids kind of will be like this. This isn't this ain't going to be much. And, that's that's how I saw it. So when I ended up having kids only two years later, my eldest was born. As soon as she turned two, I was like, you're out in the kitchen. You ain't going to be in Greece. It's not happening. And that's that's how it started. And we cooked every day, just little things. And I just be in the kitchen to do whatever's appropriate. And we just winged it. And almost 17 years later, she'd just been invited to cook in the middle of the kitchen. Really? Oh my goodness. That's that's such an honor and such a it sounds like a testament to some of that hard work. Yes, absolutely. Very, very, very proud. Yeah. Just amazing. Absolutely amazing. And, there was also work experience that happened in a cafe in Mexico as well, where, menus were being planned, produce was being sourced and bought, and then these were being made into meals for the, the people that came to the cafe and people, because my oldest was there and really I was like, the food is amazing. We're coming back to that. So yeah, that's how it started with a white bean. And I think he ended up creating some of the most resilient children I know. Just very, very thankful for them and able to navigate situations where your mom's practically dying in a foreign country. And you can hold it all together. And even the smallest one wasn't fazed. That was my goal. And and crying and carrying on it was just, okay, I'm just gonna be looked after by somebody else and wow, do you see? Are there other examples are other ways that you have seen just that, that idea that I want to get you in the kitchen, I want to empower you with skills, life skills, to be able to go into the world and be successful and be thriving. Have you seen other very core memories that come up for you, where you saw that in action and saw kind of the the payoff, if you will? From my own personal experience, I know not that I can think of because I wasn't taught to cook myself and I have these things. But I got to see if. So, I can't think of any of my personal experience where children being in the kitchen has really paid off. I can see when children not being in the kitchen have caused problems and but the other way around. No, but it is what I do when I have my people in my membership. Men and women, they are all invited to be the natural general entrepreneurs. And I'm like, hey, bring your kids. It's a big thing for me. Bring them. So we all jump on a zoom like we all know. Yeah, everyone be good. And I'm just telling the kids what they can be with parents, what they can get their kids to, and we all do it together. But when I've seen something in action, not necessarily because they're so small, well, I have seen children who come and do this, who end up eating stuff that they parents that they would never in a million years. But when they come and cook with me, they really. Why is that, do you think. Because I know I had I worked with enough parents that that's, you know, a common theme like, oh, my children are so picky, I can't get them to eat anything. And there's almost this. I don't know what to do when they feel lost, which makes sense. And so I'm so curious, you know, how how have you found that? What are maybe some, some tips or tricks that you've learned along the way? I think my biggest one is obviously I think it all starts when you're pregnant. Even before that, you need to be in a really diverse, vital stage because that is going to be the child's first taste of food. They get everything that you know that goes in after the umbilical cord. So if there's lots of flavors and spices and all the things going in there, I think that sets them up for a good start. Obviously you might be like, okay, well, I'm the children here now that's not going to help me at this time if your kids already. And again, it's the same for breastfeeding. Eat a white diet or food and then you'll be close enough to the milk that if your kids are already here and they're already and they're young, get them in the kitchen. Now make sure that you're modeling, eating lots of different foods. This, you know, solids, all the different types of meats and proteins and all the things so they can see that you're eating it. That already is conditioning them to know that this is normal and these things that we eat, even if they don't like it to be in it, then get them kids in the kitchen as many as possible, 18 months or two years, I think is the best time to start because kids are naturally curious on me. It was like, yeah. But then parents like oh so you're in the way you make them I think. No no no no no no no. This is the perfect time to take that curiosity and turn it into something that's going to be amazing when they grow up, because you get home when they grow up. Because I'm not so curious anymore and they're just bored all the time. Then they go all these actually, you know, whatever. But if you catch them young, you can really mold curiosity into something that becomes a passion and something that becomes normal. You want to normalize cooking and cleaning and doing things because they don't have to go out and do it one day. I make them. So that does not mean you have to have your two year old cooking a Christmas turkey. No, but you give them a little tart and then as they grow up, you continue to, you know, increase the things that they do. For those of you who've got teenagers and you're like, you know, my kids hate everything, blah, blah, blah, it is a little bit more difficult with teenagers now. And oh yeah, they're a bit more in my ways. But again, my attitude is, do you want to eat dinner? Yes. You better come in the kitchen. I'll cook them. You know, it doesn't matter. There is a process. Yeah. Process like free to get from place and you will be involved. Otherwise I don't know. See me and children can. You can get them to choose. What do they want to eat. What do they like to eat? What do they want to experiment with? Take the things that you know that come in boxes, pizzas, fish fingers, chicken livers, burgers, all those things make them a home. Home. And then you start to try stuff and pick stuff. And then I'm going to eat the ingredients even before you finish cooking it. That is a problem in my house. So we're going to have dinner. You want to eat all the ingredients? And tricks. That's why I learned. And that'll everything. And I love, like you said, that you're also building in, this idea of you get to choose. So. Okay, maybe we need a veggie. Let's what veggie sounds most enjoyable. So which I think is such a great idea for children because so many times, especially as they're developmentally, you know, trying to figure out their place in the world, trying to find their voice. I think it makes a lot of sense. And in fact, there's an excitement there to getting to choose what what we're eating. Yeah. And we can still draw some limits. I saying we need vegetables. You know, the vegetables are important for your body. And here's the reasons why they are we. It doesn't have to be the same vegetable every time. Or we can get creative with maybe how we cook it or how, you know, what we include it with. Is, am my hearing that correctly? Well, I take them to the shop, take them to the market, get them to pick things up and smell them and choose what they want to buy. Yeah, that's what it's all about. That's what I do. My kids give them the shopping list, your vegetables, your own dairy. You want me? And then go choose the best possible looking sweetcorn and the sexiest chicken breast. Thank you to. I know we'll go pick it up. It really gets to be fun. And, yeah, it's a bit messy, but most things can be cleaned up. Next, you just read about what's going on and what's expected and be cool with a little bit of mess. Children are actually far more capable in the kitchen than I think most people give them credit for. My four year old just had an egg the other day, one hand and no shell. She just went like a pro. She never cracked an egg and I was like, I am really impressed. So. But yeah, you just just let them get involved. And yes, I know some parents are like, yeah, well, I cook my family of six, six different meals every night. We don't get them like that. We are not cooking six different meals to please everyone. That just doesn't happen in my house. This is the food. You can choose what you want to eat off right? But you ain't getting a separate meal. That is not how I want my. I don't need that. And if you're old enough, you got things I don't want to eat. What? Mommy? And so, you know, whatever. Get in the kitchen and cook yourself some food. You old enough to be able to do that? If you want. Well, you want. This is the food you get in the guide you through how to cook and teach you how to make what you want to eat. Otherwise this is the food. You kind of come to me and also separate dish because I'm not doing it today, next week or not ever. Yeah, that's and it sounds like if I'm hearing you correctly, part of the reason for that is it's also drawing a boundary to protect your own peace, and not like you should be able to, bend over backwards to offer, you know, five different meals for just dinner because I imagine I'm just imagining having to do that for every single meal. That sounds exhausting. I mean, he's, you know, we've come for the rest of the conference resourceful work and do all the things. Do. We do not have time to make five different meals. We want to make 25 different meals at night. We should. We have to. Yeah, you can, you can barely. Enough. This is an easy thing to not be a problem. And there's usually something on the plate that everyone's going to eat. And if you give everyone choices about, like you said, the vegetable that is that you can pretty much come up with a meal that everyone will eat. If you have them kids in the kitchen cooking stuff with Be, they will begin to naturally explore stuff. They will happily go to the market and pick up whatever. Because this looks pretty. This is vibrant. I like the color yellow. Okay, let's see what the color yellow tastes like. Rice. It really does get to be that simple and you end up with you end up sending really capable children out into the world, don't you? Yeah. Confident, you know, that they're going to go out and they're going to be okay. And I think it's hard to see that right in the moment to see that long game. Because I feel like parenthood is a long game. You don't you don't always get the the instant gratification or that the parent the your children come home. I can't I don't think I could even count if at all. You know, the children coming home and saying like, wow, I'm so thankful that you made us learn how to cook baked beans, you know, because it allowed me to do all these things. Like, I don't know that we get that kind of feedback in real time from them. And so it does. It makes it, I think, really difficult to just have confidence and to to stick to your instincts and to to lead with that and, and kind of trust that it will work out. And it does. It absolutely does. And it's fun. Kids love kitchens. I love doing stuff that's dangerous, like learning to chop things, putting things in the pan while it's sizzling, turning on the gas like it's the perfect way to draw people in. And then you just have conversations, doesn't necessarily have to be about the food. You just end up talking to each other. Food and cooking is just so connective, and it just is a perfect environment for children and it will pay off. Just trust it will pay off. Because when when you're tired is busy doing your work and you know you need to start dinner and you can send your four year old or hot and the old, old into the kitchen and say, hey, can you just go and start preparing those carrots? Can you just go and get the thing out on the counter? Can you go make the salad? Do you think that you could the the chicken because that won't make it in the, in the flour and the egg in the bread. I just put them on the side that's helping you, that's helping you to joy and peace, to give yourself some more support in the house. And it's giving them something to go on you that they know how to do. They like to do, and they've got no problem doing it when I'm busy. I know like a few months ago I needed to start dinner my full year. My mom put me through kitchen and cook and I'm like, I just need to finish this post in. And I said, you know what? Why don't you go and peel the carrots? No, I didn't send my four year old into the kitchen with a knife. She's a peeler. So. So she got the carrots out. She went to the kitchen and she starts peeling the carrots. I know that she's okay to do that, but she knows what she's doing. She's done it enough. And then when I got to the kitchen, she's already done that for me. Yes. Well, thank. The teamwork. And like you said they did it naturally. I mean this is the whole reason for the show and how it's developed is like you said it's the food brings people together and just conversations and connection. And I think that's so important because I can't tell you the number of parents that I feel, especially as they grow up and become teenagers, that they feel disconnected from their children and they just want to to talk to them. And so I think, like you said, if we're building in that culture that we come in the kitchen and yeah, we're doing food, but we're also having a conversation and it's just flowing that it's a great opportunity to actually get that connection that I think so many of us parents are just so, so fearful is going to go away. Yeah. And it's nobody's on the top. But at that time you might be looking for a recipe, but you ain't doing nothing else. Exactly. You have a way to fit quality time in when you feel like you don't have any time where it's not happening every single day, you're going to eat, why not get your kids in the kitchen with you, at least for one of those meals? And then at that point, every single day, without fail doesn't mean to have to be there from beginning to end. Let them come and go. As I see. Well, once you've got them doing that, concentrating on that, but then not disappear into that, but they want to do more, they're going to want to learn more and you've got that time with them. That is your time. And you can fit in every single day. And it's effortless because you're going to eat anyway. So just keep them in. Yeah. And I imagine the confidence afterwards when they've completed the meal and then they get to taste how delicious and that they, you know, were a part of that. Have you experienced that is that the case for you? I have, so we will finish making a meal and then she wants, she might even want to plate it. And this is something you can get. You can see that you've got all the things ready and it's like, okay, so what would you like to eat? Okay, I'm going to have some falafels. My daughter. Yeah. So we make falafels together. We're going to have three falafels only put on the plate. We going to eat. Yeah okay I'm going to have some of them sweet pickles. I'm going to have some lettuce and I'm going to have a bit of beetroot. And she goes and she sits down and she's like yeah, I'm looking forward to try this and something like that. Oh man, this is so good. We have the best cookies and she's just called us cookies. And we have no, no, no we're cookies. That's fine. We'll keep that. What are you doing? They are keen to go and eat the food, and they feel good about it. You know, when my partner comes in, she's like, yeah, we might have some more. She takes someone, just puts it in his mouth. So because she's proud of where they taste my food. Yeah I love that. And I think it is such like you said, a natural way that we can build in some of these lifelong skills of confidence, of being proud of your work and making space to be proud of your own work. Well, also, like you said, trying new things, getting creative. I think so many times, unfortunately, just our society in general, we kind of squash some of the creativity, in children and go, no, no, no, you know, pay attention. You need to this is what you're actually supposed to be doing. And like you said in the kitchen, we can just get so creative. And sometimes they might put together, a mixture that you would have never thought of, that maybe in your mind you think, oh, that doesn't sound good. But then they try it and it actually works. And I feel like that's probably how we've gotten so many different varieties of meals. And, you know, five, ten different ways that you could make a burger. I'm just trying trying it out. Really? Yes. And the kitchen is the perfect place to teach so many skills. And this is something I really learn. You know, being a home educator. Well, Sarah, is that there is maths in the kitchen. There is English or whatever language that you speak in the kitchen because you are reading recipes. You are writing lists, you are measuring things. I'm not being measurable when it comes to making you a measure. You know, you learn to trust your intuition. That's a huge one. That is that's not something is there, anyway. But when you're cooking, it's very intuitive. You know what to add. You know when to stop. And you you really get to lean into that. You get to learn chemistry and science. Melting things, things, thawing things and all the rest of it, mixing things together. And then you've got the creativity, you've got the art, whether it's, you know, part of how you craft things, a plate and things you learn butchery. There's so many different skills you learn simply by being in the kitchen. You learn housekeeping. So it's not just about the cooking. Like you wash out. Yeah, you learn all that. So there is there is so much to learn just by being in the kitchen. Never really know until you start to really think about it or start to really like, look a bit deeper. It's not just cooking. There's a whole in cooking dinner. Yeah, that's such a great point. So now is this and some of your experiences, what led you into the business that you felt today, or was there something else that was maybe the catalyst for the current journey and path that you're on professionally? And what led me into this business? Oh my gosh. So what led me into this is actually my passion to cook. Yeah, because I'm doing it anyway. All the stuff that I'm talking with you about now, I've been doing it behind the scenes. I've been living it every single day and embodying it for over 18 years now, and I never did anything with it other than this is what I do with my kids. Yeah. And that's that's the way is. And I was doing, like I said before, the, the technical stuff. And I was like, oh, this is as I'm good at this, I really want to break into this. And everyone looks at me like always mad. No, no, you cannot possibly do very technical stuff and cooking. And I was like, okay, watch me. So so that's what led to this. And Tech and Taste was born because, well, yes. And we optimize the internal systems that fuel the entrepreneurial brain, the machine that does the work. And no one sharpener can have one without the other and tell me that everything is good because it's not, you know. Yeah. It's just interesting ticking over and to take away all that overwhelm and all that stress, and you can't come all the ideas and do all the things and all this stuff and go out and do what you do best. If you were eating garbage. Yeah. You're looking at the two things that. So that's what brought me to tech and taste. And then the flavor room is only three weeks old. Oh, wow. Yeah. Reading you and my role in the Flavor Room as co-founder this time this, I'll tell you a bit of a backstory, my friend I've been friends with for a long time. Brilliant entrepreneur Sutton McRaney. She is a leadership coach, and she came to me three weeks ago and said, hey, I've got this idea marinating in my brain for the last three years. Anyone who's going to want to do this with me, when I read it, I was like, me? You know, I need to look myself. I'm. I'm here. So, that's how I got started. Within 24 hours of that conversation, we had the whole concept, we had the sales page, and we sold out all founding members thoughts to this room 24. Wow. Yeah. And it's just grown from there. Today we're actually celebrating having our first collaborative partnership that's just been agreed this morning. So but my, role in the Flavor Room is the master connector because I love talking to people and connecting people and referring people and reading it. And the nurture and the support, that's kind of my role. And I do the backend systems because that's what I was doing, and I was what, in the room as well. So I will be supporting entrepreneurs to up their cooking game, get back into the cooking game. And when we go out to start working with younger people to make sure that they have those skills in the final ready. So yeah, that's how that it all ties together quite beautifully. That is so beautiful. So okay, one last piece of advice I'm going to ask from you for for parents that are listening, who maybe they didn't get exposed to all of those wonderful, lovely, versatile palette flavors. And so they're maybe a little bit scared themselves to go out and to try something new. Is there anything that you, have told me clients that you've worked with or anything that you would tell parents, like, how can they go into that space as well, being open and being willing to try these new things when that's maybe not something that was ever modeled for them either. Pinterest. Just because I could see it obviously as like the stuff on there. But I love pictures of food and I believe we eat with our eyes. So if you go into Pinterest and or you can start with whatever you like, if there's a particular ingredient you like. I eat chicken just writing, you know, dinners with chicken breast, dinners with chicken, chicken dinners and start looking. And when you see something that makes you go, oh my gosh, I need that in my belly, give me the recipe book by the staff, cook it. Yeah. And if you don't have stuff, that's fine. Get creative, but don't buy the stuff I'm cooking. And once you cooked it once, you can then start to, you know, I didn't really like that. Or I would have preferred it a bit spicy. Spicy, whatever that was. You can start to adapt it, but just be free and look at stuff. All those different restaurants from all around the world, which is what I love to do. So we have all different restaurants here in Bogota, and we just I take my partner to different restaurants. Yeah, he's he's never left the country. And until me, he doesn't have much experience with food. It's all just Colombian food. Local food. Which is fine. But I was like, I'm I for some new stuff. And I introduced them to food from all over the world. Just what I love to cook. And he also loves to eat it now. And he's like, oh my gosh, I've never tried this stuff. It's amazing. And so in every special occasion, we go to a restaurant from somewhere else so he can try a different cuisine and I get to just eat because that's what I love to be. So that's another option if that's open to you as a parent to your kids. Otherwise, Pinterest get you kids on there as well in the community and start picking things that just make your belly button and then go cook them. That's the best way to start trying. Feel inspired to, you know, to make the thing first instead of going, oh, go, go and try Chinese food. Now find something that makes you go, yeah, that looks really good. I want to try it. I love that idea. So hot tip folks. Go ahead, go into Pinterest, find something, as you mentioned, that makes you go, oh, I want that looks. Let's give it a try. Okay. So final question for you. I always like to ask my guests if you had access to a Delorean. Back to the future. I'm a big fan of the future fan, and you could go back in time and offer yourself something not to change the past, but maybe offer yourself some words. Offer yourself even just a hug. What time would you go back to and what would you offer you? Place? Wow, I, I think wow, oh my gosh, there's so many things coming to my brain all at once. I'm like, wow, which one would you pick? I think I would probably go back to 16 year old me. And give myself a huge hug and say it is okay to say no, you don't have to do this behavior. Yeah. Anyone ever. And that would have changed the trajectory of my life. However, I'm grateful for every single experience I've been through, no matter how painful it is, because I would not be sitting here talking to you about any of this stuff if it hadn't have happened. And I'm so freaking happy about where I am now, where things are going. I wouldn't change a damn thing. Yeah. And gosh. Oh, that's. So I'm just like you said that that we can't say no and then it's okay to say no. I think it's such a powerful, it's two letters, but it's so powerful when we can find that and we can trust that instincts going back to you and then see you in the day trusting yourself, to be able to kind of say no. And so that's so beautiful. And I so appreciate you sharing that and sharing your story with us today and this recipe that I'm excited to put in the airfryer as soon as we get done here. Oh, so before I let you go, I love pouring into people. I think we don't, as a society do enough of cheerleading of other folks. So this is our shameless plug section, and I want you to just plug away all of the wonderful things that you're doing. How can people connect with you? What's coming up for you? And tell us about the business side and things that you have to offer today. Okay. Well, you can find me on Facebook. I think my my flashes. I am nice followers. So that's where you can find me Facebook at slash. Fine police violence. You can find me on Instagram, Instagram slash contests. And you can also find me on LinkedIn. But my link to the will be dry because I'm only just started. But again, it's LinkedIn slash tech and taste. And you can also start looking at the flavor room. We have socials. But again, at this present moment, at the time of recording, they aren't empty. But you can find us on Tick Tock, The Flavor Room and, Instagram the Flavor room and you can come and visit the Flavor Room website. So I've just finished designing the landing page. We got the flavor.biz, and that's where you can find a bit more going on there right now in terms of business, as I said, I help entrepreneurs fuel the machine. The it's an internal system to recruit education and the external systems by optimizing your business systems. I have the taste membership, which is just about to be completely overhauled. But that's where you can come and cook with me. Bring yourself. If you have children, bring them to, we just cook together twice a month. You have all of the meal plans and all those things in there as well. So all the good stuff there is my thinking involved. You take the meal plans, you take the shopping, you go to the shop, you come home, you open the recipe, you cook bam. And there's all the replays in there as well. So if you're not sure what you're doing, you can watch me doing it all life. And so that's open at the moment. And there's not really much else happening at the minute because lots of stuff shifted. So the best thing to do is just come and connect with me on the socials and, just follow me because there's so much exciting news coming, especially towards the end of the year with the flavor room we are creating a report. It's a white paper. It's going to be super exciting. And it's it's talking about diversity. And people of color within the online space. And that entrepreneurship is very, very, very disruptive. So if you're into things that make people go, oh, that's polarizing, you want to keep your eyes on this. So wonderful, I love that. And as, as always, we will put all of those links in the show notes. If you want to connect, with leads, you can go down and drop down there and get all of that information that she's on, so you don't have to quick scribble it down. It will be there for you to read as well. So thank you so much for being willing to chat with me today. I so appreciated our conversation. And I appreciate your time. So thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you for inviting me. It's been an absolute pleasure. I cannot wait to see that burger. And I want a full report on what it tasted like. But yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I'm very grateful. Yes. Thank you so much. And thank you everyone for tuning in. We will see you next time. If you or anyone that you know is struggling with any of the topics that we discussed in today's episode, make sure to check out our show notes for support and resources. If you can't get help. Thanks again for joining us on today's episode of The Real Family Eat. If you're a parent ready to share your real life parenting story, make sure to reach out to us and our website found in the show notes. And that goes for today's recipe social media's support and resources. All of that can be found in our show notes, so make sure to check them out and make sure to follow, like, share, subscribe, and stay up to date on all things the real family eats. I hope you'll join us next time for more food for thought and thoughtful food. Enjoy your eats!