Peter Shankman is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and corporate keynote speaker, as well as a two-time Ironman triathlete and skydiver.
He’s also a Jewish single dad, who has become an amateur chef in his spare time, because he absolutely loves cooking with his 12-year-old daughter.
“I used to think [cooking] was just about creating food that I enjoyed, and then I had a kid and I realized the bar is actually not so much food you enjoy, but food they’ll enjoy,” Shankman, who was born, raised and lives in New York, told the Journal. “To create a meal that she actually likes and that we sit and eat together after having cooked together is a lot of fun; for me there are few things in the world as good as that.”
Shankman said his interest in cooking happened both after becoming a parent and also after really understanding his ADHD.
“When you’re ADHD it’s much easier to order takeout and to have food delivered,” he said. “You want to set good habits for your kids … so you learn that maybe ordering in every night is not the best way to do things.”
Shankman took a couple of cooking classes and a knife skills class, and that really changed the game.
“When you’re a parent with ADHD, it’s like being an 8-year-old but with means,” he said. “My New York Times bestseller is called “Faster Than Normal,” and it’s the whole concept of ADHD is a gift, not a curse.”
He said that having ADHD gives him a more experimental mindset when it comes to cooking. He’ll be at the store, spot an ingredient and start thinking about different things he can make with it.
“You get to create these ideas [for meals], and if they work great, if they don’t, life goes on,” he said. “But either way, it’s a lot of fun.”
One of his craziest concoctions is something they created, called Daddy’s heart attack sandwich.
“We pressed tater tots into the waffle iron to make these slices of bread, made out of tater tots, and then we put tons of cheese, fake pepperoni, fake bacon and tomato sauce, and more cheese and more tater tots,” he said. “It probably had 84,000 calories, whatever, and could kill you by looking at it, but … we enjoyed that.”
They do enjoy waffling things. Their dog is named Waffle, by the way.
“You can make wrap sandwiches, and you can actually waffle them and they become a little crispy and they have little holes in them,” he said.
You can also put scrambled eggs and cheese into the wraps, waffle them and drizzle some maple syrup over it.
When asked how his Jewishness influenced his love of food, Shankman attributes that to his grandmother, who was famous for making several things, including chopped liver, which he loves. Other Jewish favorite foods include brisket, the little sugary fruit slices you get at Passover and latkes.
“She passed away at 98 years old, and one of the [many] things I learned from her … was that you don’t need to change the world to make something amazing … to improve something,” he said.
Her cream cheese was one of those things.
“Grandma would take the carton of cream cheese and she would mix a little skim milk into it, making it softer and more spreadable,” he said. That little adjustment was all it took to make it “the best.”
To make little adjustments to your cooking life, Shankman shared his top tips for single-dad cooking.
- Meal prep. “Spend three hours on a Sunday meal prepping [with your kids], put it into containers and freeze it.”
- Take the kids shopping with you. “Let her or him see what they want to buy, within reason obviously, but there is a sense of ownership. I found when Jessa chooses what stuff she wants, she’s more likely to eat it.”
- Try the two for one rule. “[I tell Jessa], if you try two new things, you get to eat one of your favorite things. And some of the things she’s tried have actually become her favorites.”
- One day a week should be a cheat or comfort food day. “Without question, one day a week we’re ordering pizza or ordering burgers or something like that. You got to live a little.”
- The right appliances are key. “Get yourself a damn good crockpot and a damn good air fryer.”
One of Shankman’s favorite easy meals is chicken and noodles in the crockpot. That recipe is below.
“I throw a bunch of frozen chicken breasts, a bunch of chicken stock, a bunch of vegetables – chop ’em up – and tons of different spices … into a crockpot for eight hours,” he said. “The last 45 minutes of the crockpot I dump in a bag of egg noodles, and it becomes this phenomenal casserole.
“The kid loves it, I love it, it’s incredibly healthy … It’s good stuff.”
Cooking is a great family activity, but it’s more than that. It’s something to look forward to.
“During a regular day, like a random Wednesday, we have school, we have homework, I have work,” he said. “Knowing that when she gets home, we’re going to try a new recipe, we’re going to make something new and fun, that’s exciting.
“That is something to look forward to and helps get through the day.”
Learn more about Peter Shankman at Shankman.com, follow @PeterShankman and his adventures on Instagram, Threads and LinkedIn. And reach out peter@shankman.com.
For the full conversation, listen to the podcast:
Easy Crockpot Chicken and Noodles
Ingredients
3 large chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs total, fresh or frozen)
1 (32 oz) box chicken broth (4 cups)
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced (about 1 cup)
2 stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
8 oz bag egg noodles
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts (frozen or fresh) into the crockpot.
- Add carrots, celery, chicken broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried thyme.
- Cook on LOW setting for 8 hours.
- After 7 hours, shred the chicken breasts using two forks.
- Add the egg noodles, mixing well to ensure they are submerged in broth.
- Cook for an additional hour, then serve hot.
Enjoy!
Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.
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