Week 10: Cooking at home

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Ever wish a chef would come to your house and cook you dinner? Well that wish came true for the Reneau family in week ten of the Extreme Family Makeover.

"It was really cool," Chloe Reneau said. "Normally a chef doesn't just ring the doorbell and say, 'Hi. I'm here to make you dinner.'"

Oyster Bar North Executive Chef Mike Newsome showed the family how to make one of his recipes, and how to turn the leftovers into another meal the next night.

"He's a good cook. He knows what he's doing and it was a really good meal," Mark Reneau said.

Mark found it fun to watch Chef Mike in action.

"It was cool to see some of the behind the scenes stuff that a chef would do in a restaurant," he said. "I was inspiring to watch. He used a lot of fresh vegetables and fresh tomatoes, and I have tomatoes coming in in my garden, so it was inspiring."

While it was fun learn a new recipe and learn from the chef, there was also a lesson from Behavior Coach Ann Reidenbach.

"Try to move more toward having fun with meal preparation," Reidenbach said. "It still means having some sense of a plan and asking for help to execute that plan so you're not the only one who has the responsibility."

Planning ahead for meals can take part of the stress of cooking at home away. Reidenbach added that it's important to get the whole family involved and not put the burden on one person.

"In America it's almost assumed that you take on that role," Amie Reneau said. "But when I'm working I don't have more time than anyone else."

Another way to make meals at home easier is to plan for the leftovers too.

"You might do four or five extra chicken breasts on the grill while you've got the coals hot and then turn that grilled chicken into another entree the next night for dinner," Reidenbach said.

Chef Mike's main dish was a stuffed spinach breast on wild rice. He then used some "leftover" stuffed chicken to make a tomato pasta dish for the next night.

"You should utilize leftovers from the night before. If you have time to cook something, cook a little more," Chef Mike said. "You can cut down on time too by doing some prep the night before if you can."

There are also ways to make recipes healthier.

"Whenever a recipe calls for butter, olive oil makes a good alternative," Chef Mike said. "If it asks for fried, go to baking or steaming or poaching."

Riley Reneau has always liked to help cook, and after seeing Chef Mike is even more inspired.

"I think it'd be fun to say I helped make this, especially if it turns out really good," Riley said.

Chloe isn't interesting in cooking very much, but does enjoy helping plan meals.

"It's a lot easier to know what we're going to have instead of just going in and asking Mom what we're having and it's something I don't like and I still have to eat it," Chloe said.

Amie learned that meals at home aren't as difficult as she thought they'd be.

"I always think there's a lot of steps and a lot of preparation and it's easier to open a can and use that, but it really wasn't that hard. I thought, 'I think I can do that!' Just don't tell Mark," Amie laughed.

The Oyster Bar also gave the family a brunch voucher for the week's support gift.

To have Oyster Bar cater an event contact Lori Lowe at lori_ob2@comcast.net or (260) 490-6755.