Family Food Diaries:Kitchen Chemistry with UNH Professor Joanne Curran-Celentano

This week in the Family Food Diaries, University of New Hampshire Professor Joanne Curran-Celantano shares her formula for finding moderation, menu planning, slowing down and the importance of intuition.  She also shares a recipe made for generations by the women in her family for Minestrone Soup.

It's tough to find balance each day as we all rush to get the kids off to school, clean up the house, manage all our other responsibilities, and find a few minutes to slow down.  Maybe instead of trying to squeeze more out of each day we should aim to feel content with doing less - without beating ourselves up for not checking everything off the "to do" list. I love this quote by Lily Thomlin, "For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."  Sounds like good medicine to me. 

Kitchen Chemistry with UNH Professor Joanne Curran-Celentano: Cooking Things Up and Slowing Things Down

Joanne Curran-Celentano is Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of New Hampshire, where she teaches and also explores why diets rich in fruits and vegetables decrease the risk of chronic disease. She is married and has two daughters: Jeannemarie, 33, who lives in Portland, Oregon, and Jess, 30, who lives in Atlanta.

To a food scientist like Joanne, cooking a meal is more than just compiling ingredients; it's "high-order chemistry." Whether you are cooking, baking, roasting, or making an emulsion, chemical reactions are taking place for even the most basic of ingredients. This is what she teaches her students in her food-sciences class as, for example, they compare the dispersion characteristics of milk versus yogurt. 

But after rearing and feeding two girls, Joanne's advice to mothers has less to do with food and more to do with living in the now. She advises mothers to "slow down a little and appreciate what's happening now because it goes by so fast."

"Moms feel if they're not busy, busy, busy, they're not working hard enough." Luckily, Joanne realized early on that she didn't want to do that.

"I didn't want to be so busy that I couldn't have a conversation without multitasking. Sometimes, you're on the phone doing five different things and someone just told you something-and you're not fully engaged in the conversation. Kids know when you're not fully engaged. Sometimes, you can't be, but sometimes, you need to be," Joanne advises. "If you move with intention, you might not reach the accomplishments of Hillary Clinton-or even the president of the United States-but you will get where you're going."

To see the full article (including the power of plants!) and Joanne's family recipe for Minestrone soup, click here.