Build Confident Kids Through Family Cooking and Creative Recipes
In this inspiring episode of The Real Family Eats, host Reesa Morala, LMFT, welcomes Lace, a vibrant mom of three, entrepreneur, and founder of Tech and Taste. Together they dive into Lace’s extraordinary journey of home education, globe-trotting with her children, and building resilience through life’s unexpected twists. Lace opens up about building confidence in her kids and the power of community support.
Finding Hot Parenting Tips in the Most Unlikely Places
Hosted by: Reesa Morala, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.
Do you ever wonder how to raise resilient, confident kids who embrace challenges, try new foods, and are empowered both in and out of the kitchen? If so, this episode of "The Real Family Eats" is the resource you’ve been looking for!
Join Reesa and her inspiring guest, Lace, as they dive into a conversation that's not just about food but about courage, family, and building life skills that extend far beyond the dinner table. If you're a parent, home educator, or someone looking to fuel purposeful connection in your family through food, or you're curious about unschooling, worldschooling, or raising globally minded children, this episode is for you.
This conversation is a flavorful blend of food education, resilience, home education journeys, and practical parenting wisdom—delivered with warmth, humor, and authenticity. Lace, a mom of three, entrepreneur, and founder of Tech and Taste and co-founder of The Flavor Room, brings her powerful story to the table. From homeschooling in the UK, to boldly raising her children as worldschooling nomads in Latin America, Lace shares both hard-won lessons and actionable tips for parents.
This episode addresses critical keywords and questions parents are searching for, like:
How do you raise resilient children?
How can you empower kids in the kitchen?
What’s the value of kids cooking?
How can food be used to teach life skills?
How do you handle criticism for alternative parenting choices?
How do you create connection with kids (especially teens)?
Tips for making picky eaters try new foods.
Let’s unpack the highlights!
Resilient Parenting through Radical Home Education
The episode opens with Reesa introducing Lace and her diverse background—a British-born Jamaican mom raising her children in Colombia. Lace lays the groundwork for her parenting philosophy, sharing her radical decision to withdraw her then six-year-old daughter from the UK school system to embark on a home education adventure.
Their home education story is rooted in “following the child’s interests.” Instead of sticking to a rigid curriculum, Lace encourages exploration, trips, and hands-on learning—helping her daughter self-teach skills like guitar, video editing, and Photoshop.
This approach, however, is not without challenges. Lace candidly discusses the fear, the process of deregistration, and the doubters—family members who insisted her children would “be dumb” and accused her of “ruining their lives.” But Lace stuck to her convictions, navigating not only a radical educational approach but also family breakdown, major international moves, and adapting to life in new countries.
Food as a Vehicle for Connection, Confidence, and Learning
One of the central themes of the episode is how powerful the kitchen can be as a classroom and connector. Lace shares her famous “Lacey’s Banging Air Fryer Burgers” recipe and lays out how she brings her children of all ages into meal prep, starting them as young as two years old. Her story about a university flatmate’s inability to heat a can of baked beans propelled her to ensure her own kids could always feed themselves.
The kitchen is more than just a place to make meals; for Lace, it’s a place to teach and model:
Confidence and creativity (“Let kids choose and help with ingredients.”)
Math, English, and science (measuring, reading recipes, understanding chemistry)
Resilience (“If you want to eat, get in the kitchen and participate!”)
Life skills (cooking, cleaning, shopping on a budget)
Practical advice abounds: Get kids involved early and often, make trying new foods fun, and use family meal prep as a way to naturally connect, foster conversation, and build teamwork, including with teens.
Raising Resilient Kids Through Life’s Big Moves
The episode doesn’t shy away from real, raw moments. Lace recounts moving her three children, inspired by intuition, on a one-way ticket to Mexico. The family then traveled through Guatemala, bounced back from travel misadventures, and finally landed in Colombia.
Resilience, Lace reveals, isn’t theoretical - it’s forged in moments when, for example, she was stuck in an airport with nowhere to stay and little money. Instead of panicking, she models problem-solving (and some well-timed comfort food at KFC), reaching out to her community for help - a crucial lesson for both parents and children. Later, when she’s hospitalized without insurance, it’s her children’s self-reliance (especially her eldest’s Spanish and house management skills) that sees the family through hardship.
Her practical invitation for parents: Let go of perfection, empower children to take meaningful roles, embrace the mess, and trust that you’re building skills and self-efficacy for life.
Empowerment Through Choice, Not Perfection
A key takeaway from Lace’s approach is offering kids structured choices, especially around food. She urges parents not to become “short-order cooks” for picky eaters. Instead, everyone chooses which veggie to prepare or how to plate their dinner, but there’s one meal for the family … unless a teen wants to cook for themselves.
This approach balances boundaries with empowerment, protecting parental peace while nurturing a sense of agency, especially important for growing kids and adolescents.
Making Picky Eaters Try New Foods: Tips from Lace
Many parents struggle to get children to try new foods. Lace suggests:
Involve children early in the kitchen (as young as 2)
Model adventurous eating
Take kids to markets to touch, smell, and choose produce
Let curiosity, rather than pressure, drive food exploration
Don’t serve as a short-order cook, but do offer opportunities for participation and choice
And if you’re a parent who didn’t grow up with diverse food, Lace recommends starting with Pinterest for meal inspiration or trying new restaurants to gently expand the family’s palates.
Key Takeaways
1. Food is Connection: Cooking together isn’t just about eating. It’s a daily opportunity for connection, life skills, and conversation, keeping you close to your children even as they grow.
2. Resilience Is Modeled: When children see you navigate big changes, adversity, and mistakes with calm and problem-solving, they absorb those skills for life.
3. Empower Kids Early: Start including kids in meal prep as soon as they show interest. Give them real tasks and trust them, and their confidence will grow.
4. Boundaries Protect Peace: Serving one meal (with choices) helps everyone feel heard but keeps stress low. Teens can cook for themselves if they want alternatives.
5. Community Matters: Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. Modeling this for your children is a gift.
Ready to Cook your Way to Building Confident Kids?
Try out “Lacey’s Banging Air Fryer Burgers,” bring your kids into the kitchen, and watch resilience rise! If you loved this episode, subscribe to "The Real Family Eats" for more transformative family conversations and recipes.
A complete burger meal that brings the restaurant experience home! Juicy burgers, perfectly seasoned chips, and fresh crunchy slaw all made using your air fryer for maximum flavor and minimal fuss.
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
Preparation:
Add ghee to a frying pan and sauté the diced onion and garlic until golden. Take off heat and set aside to cool.
Make the slaw: Shred the cabbage, slice the white onion, and grate the carrots into a lidded bowl. Add mayo and black pepper, mixing well until the slaw is creamy but not saturated. Put the lid on and refrigerate.
Making the Burger Patties
Add mince meat to a bowl and break it up with your hands.
Add the cooled onion and garlic mixture and mix well with hands, being careful not to over-mix.
Split the mix in half and take off a third of each batch to make the baby burger.
Roll each portion into a ball, then flatten with your hands while rounding the sides to keep a good burger shape. Ensure burgers are about 3-4cm thick.
Repeat to make all patties and set aside.
Preparing the Chips
Turn on air fryer and heat on medium.
Cut the potatoes (with skin on) into chips by cutting in half, half again, and then into finger-width chips.
Add chips to a bowl and season with garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of oil. Mix well.
Cooking (One Burger at a Time)
Add one patty to the air fryer basket, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper.
Add a handful of chips around the patty, keeping good space and not overcrowding.
Cook for 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash salad items and prep the burger station: shred lettuce, slice tomato, cut red onion rings, and get cheese ready.
After 4 minutes, check the air fryer, flip the patty, season with salt and black pepper, and shake the chips. Cook for another 4 minutes.
Final Assembly
Check the patty by poking with a knife - if it runs red, cook more; if juices run clear, it's cooked.
Once juices are clear, add the sliced brioche bun to the air fryer to toast for just 10-15 seconds.
Mash the avocado while bun is toasting.
Assembly: Place bottom bun on plate, add the patty, top with cheese, tomato, lettuce, and red onion. Spread avocado and chipotle sauce on the inside of the top bun, then crown the burger. Insert a skewer or small knife to hold it together.
Add chips and slaw to the plate and serve immediately.
IMPORTANT: Repeat this process for each burger, cooking them one at a time. DO NOT add all patties and chips to the air fryer at once - this results in poorly cooked chips and undercooked, squashed burgers.
Connect with Lace and Her Work
Looking for more? Lace runs Tech and Taste, hosts family cooking sessions, and co-leads The Flavor Room, a community supporting entrepreneurs of color and diverse leaders who don’t fit the traditional mold. Find her on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Don't miss her free and paid family cooking classes, meal plans, and her upcoming powerful work with The Flavor Room.
Whether you’re hoping to get your children off the couch and into the kitchen or are searching for parenting inspiration to raise resilient, adventurous kids, this episode is packed with stories, tips, and encouragement. Hit play, and get ready to reclaim your kitchen as the heart and school of your home.
If you are a parent ready to share your real-life parenting struggle and dish up a recipe with Reesa, apply here!
