Me and My Tips: Jennifer Perillo

Jennifer Perillo lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters, one of whom is in elementary school and the other a precocious toddler.

Jennifer is a recipe developer and regular contributor to Working Mother and Relish, and also runs her own cooking and recipe-focused blog called In Jennie’s Kitchen.  In 1999 Jennifer founded Time to Eat, a catering company specializing in ready-to-eat homemade meals for busy professionals and on-site lucnhes and cocktail parties. During this time she was featured in The New York Daily News, Time Out New York, and CNNfn.

She’s worked with Tom Colicchio when he was the top chef at Gramercy Tavern and most recently collaborated with the Events Director for Alain Ducasse at his namesake restaurant in the Essex House until it closed in 2007.

Nowadays, you’ll find her juggling spatulas and sippy cups in her Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn test kitchen.  Her original recipes and articles have been featured in Working Mother magazine where she is the consulting food editor, as well as Parenting, Parents.com, Relish, Kiwi Magazine, Saveur.com and Cuisinart.com.

JENNIFER’S TIPS:

Double Dip: My daughters love to dip their veggies so I decided to put all the leftover broccoli stalks to good use one day. I roasted them with a few cloves of garlic then gave them a quick spin in the food processor with some Greek yogurt and parmesan cheese. They loved dipping carrots in it, so it was a double serving of veggies and double win for mom!

Sweeten your Salads: My girls love all types of fruit – fresh or dried – and nuts, so these are regular ingredients in our dinnertime salads. The added crunch and sweetness get them one step closer to trying the leafy greens co-mingling in their salad bowls.

Say Peas: Like most kids, mine love macaroni and cheese. Unlike most recipes, my homemade version includes mixing in a generous handful of cooked fresh peas. It’s an easy way to get a serving of veggies in their tummies and it’s a super simple one-bowl-meal.