PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 145: A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES WITH RASHIDA
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 145: A PEEK BEHIND THE SCENES WITH RASHIDA
At last, I have been able to kidnap Rashida to come and talk with me on the podcast! Rashida Simpson is my granddaughter, and the latest recipe creator of the new Trim Healthy Cookbook, Trim Healthy Future! You'll find out the secrets of Rashida's creativity with food and the unfolding of her life.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello! Here I am today, with another guest. This beautiful young lady I have been waiting to do a podcast with since the time I started doing podcasts! I can't believe, Rashida, that it's been all this time. This is podcast 145, and here you are at last! Oh goodness me!
She's just always been too busy doing what she's meant to do—having babies, and of course, doing other things we'll tell you about. Anyway, some of you will know, some of you won't, Rashida, my granddaughter, is Evangeline's daughter. Rashida and her husband, Jack, have three precious children so far. Ezzie, Emory, and now there's this little gorgeous boy, Roland.
He's just a little fat, chunky, gorgeous little boy and he's right here sitting with us, so I'm not sure whether he'll say hello. We might hear him. He's eight months now. (So anyway, he's OK there, Ellie (my Above Rubies helper) I think, except for Sargy. Yes, that's right. Just talking about my little poodle here. He likes to be here where I am, but I think he might not be too good with Roland and him together)!
Anyway, so not only has Rashida been busy mothering, but Rashida is just, well, I think she was born to cook. Some of you may already have Rashida's cookbook, which is the fourth Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook. I'm sure most of you are all familiar with Trim Healthy Mama. You most probably have all the books. Rashida's is the fourth one. Actually you do need them all because everyone has particular recipes that you'll just love.
I wonder who has got the first one, Trim Healthy Mama? That was what it was called. No More Fads! And that was the first book the girls, Serene and Pearl, put out. They wrote about their way of eating the most delectable foods and yet keeping wonderfully slim.
And then they did Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, the second one. Then they did Trim Healthy Mama Table, and everyone was just so great. And then a fourth, the latest one. And they called it Trim Healthy Future.
Rashida's on the front cover of this one. She did the majority of the recipes, all her own creations. She also did all the photography for the meals in the book. She did all of this while she was pregnant with little Roland and had her other two little girls all around her.
Evangeline the grandmother, who's called Pippi, now don't you like that for a name? Evangeline could never be called Grandma or Nana. I'm called Nana, but it's all just too boring to her. She had to think of a different name. So she came up with Pippi, after Pippi Longstocking, because Pippi, of course, had lots of adventures. (Baby crying in background . . . Oh, here's little darling Roland).
Anyway, Pippi Longstocking, she had lots of adventures, and Evangeline has adventures every single day. In fact, at the moment, she's writing a little book for her grandchildren about Pippi's adventures. So how did I get onto Pippi?
Yes, well Pippi calls Rashida's little girls, whom she adores, she calls them, I think she calls them the “Wild Tornadoes,” doesn't she? Yes, because they are not little girls who just sit on purpose, reading books. They just take on the world! But Rashida is so amazing with them. Now if you have, oh Rashida, I'm going to let you talk in a minute, but I'm just talking all about you!
So, oh goodness, I could spend this whole podcast just talking about Rashida. We all live on the Hilltop, and of course, Rashida's been taken away because now she's married. Well, she doesn't live too far away. But all her life she just lived on the Hilltop. Her home was only a couple of minutes from ours, so every day I would see her at some stage. So we certainly got to know Rashida.
Now there's something special about Rashida. And if you have the new cookbook, Trim Healthy Future, which you can get by going to TrimHealthyMama.com, or you can get it off Amazon. Make sure you get it. You'll love every recipe.
You'll love reading the introduction by Serene and Pearl because it tells you all about Rashida. They tell how she started to cook when she was so young. I think Serene mentions about this amazing meal she cooked for her grandfather. That was my father. She actually talks about it from memory, and she didn't get it quite right.
But you see, I'm actually, although my daughters write these books (they've written all these amazing books, which I know you love). They're coming out soon with a book that's going to change the world, called I'm That Girl. But although they are prolific writers, I'm really the scribe in the family who keeps records of everything.
Way back when you were only seven years old, Rashida, my father came to stay. He would come from New Zealand once a year. Then from about five years of old (and this was when she was seven), it was her biggest thing in life to cook a meal specially for her grandfather.
Well, of course, the whole family, their family, and Colin and I, and great granddad, would come for this meal. And it was always the highlight of my father's life to enjoy this meal by Rashida. He was so proud that his little great-granddaughter, only seven years old, could cook this amazing meal!
So now I'm going to tell you the truth, because I was so amazed. I simply couldn't believe it. I went home after that meal and I wrote down the whole meal. I've kept it all these years. Did you know that? So I'm the scribe, and it's all being recorded accurately, so this is the accurate version.
OK, so she was seven years old, and she prepared this feast all by her little selfie. This is what she cooked. OK?
Roast turkey with couscous stuffing, including sun-dried tomatoes, cashews, pine nuts, figs, and raisins. Oh, goodness me, I'd like to try some of that again today, Rashida! Wow!
Marinated grape leaves, stuffed with lebani, placed in a bowl with figs, dates, and black and green olives (we were all into Middle Eastern food back in those days).
Mashed potatoes and gravy (And little Roland is looking up at me, and he can hardly believe it)! (Laughter.)
Salad, with homemade dressings (Almondaise and Green Greek dressing.
And tamarind-date chutney.
Oh yes, she made dessert too, a ginger steamed pudding, and raw nut balls. Wow!
Can you even imagine doing that dinner yourself?? Well, Rashida was seven years old. Yes, she did it all! I came home and wrote it down.
I wonder if you even know what a steamed pudding is? Well that's very New Zealand. We even have steamed pudding basins where you make this pudding. It's made of flour and other things. This particular one is ginger-flavored with ginger powder. Then you put it in this steamed pudding bowl, which has a lid. Then you put it in a big pot with water. The water cooks around it and it steams the pudding.
When our children were growing up in New Zealand, I would make a steamed pudding nearly every week at least! In fact, back in those days, we always had dessert with every evening meal. I wouldn't even think of doing that now! Goodness me, I'd be as huge as an elephant if I kept doing that! But that was tradition back then.
That's what we used to do. Although every Thanksgiving, and every Christmas, I still make a steamed pudding. But for our Christmas pudding, which in the English way, they call it a “plum duff,” I actually cook it in a big sort of calico material. I put everything in, the flour, and the raisins, and the nuts. It all goes in and I tie it up this calico. I tie it up and put it in the pot of boiling water. It boils for two or three hours. It's all steamed. It's very traditionally English, but we love that.
So Rashida has always loved to cook. She cooked for her family from a young age. She did all the cooking. Evangeline just vacated the kitchen. Wow, isn't that exciting? Of course, when Rashida left to get married, oh help! Goodness me! Tiveria, well, she had to take her place, but it was a while, I think. Messed up for a while.
Anyway, but Rashida, oh, this book is amazing! Oh, you're just going to love her book! You'll love her recipes! Well look, I can just keep talking about Rashida, but Rashida, you've got to talk! Oh, goodness me! Tell me about your love for food and cooking.
Rashida: Mmm. Well yeah, as Nana says, I've always been passionate about cooking. I started off making mud pies and mud cakes in the woods because that's where we roamed. My mom, I do write about it in the book, but my mom saw that I had a passion and love for it. I'd always go watch my aunts, and watch my mom, and Nana cook. So it's always been a part . . .
Nancy: Yes, I think it's really, not everybody has the same . . . well, you've got genes that have passed down. My father, he was a great cook and he loved to cook. I love to cook, and of course, we all love to eat! So if you love to eat, you've got to cook!
Oh, it is so sad that many people, they cook today, but they, well, half the time they don't cook. There’re so many young mums who have grown up and they haven't really learned to cook. Really, I think it’s because they've had such boring meals.
If you really love food, and love taste, you love to cook, because you love making tastes. I think most probably that's what you love, Rashida. It's really, to me, it's not just that I'm cooking food for the sake of cooking. I want to create a lovely taste. Don't you?
Rashida: Uh huh.
Nancy: That's the thing. You're trying to create something that tastes so palatable. And that's exciting, because we all love taste, don't we?
Rashida: Yeah.
WE ARE FOOD PROVIDERS
Nancy: And if something's so delectable to eat, well, you just love cooking! Oh, I wrote something down here. I wonder if I printed it off. Oh yes. Proverbs 31:15. It says: “She rises also while it is still night, and gives food to her household.”
You know, we read that over and we hardly take notice of it. But I was reading it again this morning, and I love to notice every word when I'm reading the Bible. Do you like to look at every word? Oh, it gets so exciting! When you see the words, every word is powerful. Every word is given by divine inspiration. Every word means something and it's powerful.
It says that she, notice, she, she, yes, we're still allowed to say “she,” and I will be saying “she,” even if they change it! She, that is the mother of the home, she's the one who gives food to her household. It's her responsibility. It's part of what she does. What does she do? Gives food, provides food.
Yes, dear mothers, part of our mothering is providing food for our husband, for our family, and for many, many others. We are food providers. The Passion Translation, (Rollo cooing), “Yes, you like that, Rollo! We call him “Rollo.”
Meadow has Raymond, and they're similar ages. He's called “Ray-Ray.” So we've got to remember which is Ray-Ray, and which is Rollo! (Laughter)
The Passion Translation says, “She arises, and sets food on the table for her hungry ones in her house, and for others.” Yes, (Rollo laughing) I wrote here, “She is the one who sees beyond the work of cooking food to the great things that will happen as the family, and others, come to the table around her food that she cooks.”
Yes, therefore, Rashida, she just kept on making all these wonderful recipes. This is the thing about Rashida. I'm still talking about you, Rashida! (Laughter) Oh, goodness me...
Rashida: I might have a big head by the time you're done!
Nancy: Yes! Well, when Rashida, I remember when she had, well, her first baby, Ezzie, and second baby, Emory. I think this was when Emory was born. Now she had two little babies close together. They were only how much apart?
Rashida: Sixteen months.
Nancy: Sixteen months apart, yes. Rashida was tandem nursing. She nursed both of them because Ezzie wasn't prepared to give up at that time, was she?
Rashida: No.
Nancy: So everywhere Rashida went, these were two babies hanging on her! One was a toddler hanging on her, and one was a little baby. But Rashida just hardly noticed. How long did you tandem nurse, Rashida?
Rashida: Well, until Ezzie was like three. So Emory was almost two. So, two years.
Nancy: Yes, wonderful! Did you know, ladies, that you can tandem nurse? You can nurse two babies. So if the baby you have is not ready to wean because every baby weans at a different time. They each have their different inner needs. Some will wean earlier. Others want to linger on, they just have that greater, greater need.
I've known of moms, too, where the older tandem nurser actually kept on nursing longer than the younger one! Just because they're different personalities. So tell us, how did you find . . .
Rashida: I do have to say I did stop nursing while I was pregnant, because it was too painful. Then I started again.
Nancy: Oh, yes, and you . . . you had enough milk, of course, because you were nursing. And she was just ready to go.
Rashida: Mm huh. She still knew exactly how. I would nurse her maybe once when I was first pregnant, like a few times a day. I couldn't just cut cold turkey when she was a baby. She was still six months old. But then, like towards the end, she didn't really nurse that much. And then she just started again.
Nancy: Yes, and got into it full time!
Rashida: Yeah, and it helped me so much because I had so much milk. That was a blessing actually.
Nancy: Yes, that's right. Now with little Roland, you've been just nursing him alone. The girls, you were nursing them together. Did you find any difference? It wasn't any more overwhelming, actually?
Rashida: No, actually, I had to pump so much, because my body was so used to making milk, I think? I had to pump so much this time, and I got mastitis really badly.
Nancy: You really needed another baby to nurse!
Rashida: Yeah, I just pumped like all the time and I got super sick. I had to have IV's and stuff and go on antibiotics and stuff because it was recurring mastitis. I guess my body likes making a lot of milk!
Nancy: So tandem nursing was perfect for you!
Rashida: Yeah.
Nancy: Yes, yes. So I remember going around to Rashida after Emory was born, taking gifts and bringing something, some food to her. But you simply can't win with Rashida! Because even though I took food for her, we arrived—and there's a glorious meal waiting for us!
She just had a baby, and she's tandem nursing, and it's not just something plopped on the table! It's a beautiful meal, and not just a meal. There's a lovely dessert too. And then maybe some special little treats made! Oh, you just can't get over it!
In fact, Pearl was telling me that when they were doing the book, you were doing it right through being pregnant with Roland, weren't you? And then afterwards, after he was born.
Rashida: Yeah, I tried to get everything done when I was pregnant. But, of course, literally I finished two days before he was born. Then, of course, afterwards we did the book cover too, and there were always things, days of editing and stuff. But yeah, mostly when I was pregnant, I was still working really hard with him.
Nancy: Well, Pearlie was sharing with me how one day, it was just after Roland was born. Rashida came round to her place and she had the two little wild tornadoes, and it was so gorgeous. Two little blond gorgeous darlings, and Roland. Pearl said, “Oh, it was just impossible!”
They had all this editing to do, to make sure that each picture was with the right recipe, and so on. She said they just couldn't get a thing done because Rashida's nursing the baby and these little children playing around. Pearl couldn't think. Oh, goodness me! So she said, “Look, Rashida, go home. Just rest a bit, and I'll come over to your place, and it'll be much easier.”
So Pearl goes over a little bit later to Rashida's place, and instead of Rashida just resting for a little bit, she's right there, and she prepared this beautiful lunch for Pearlie, made this glorious lunch, and some special little new recipe. She just can't help herself!
Pearl said, they actually worked on that all morning, till late at night that night. But she couldn't get over it, how in the midst of all the pressure, and she was feeling the pressure, that Rashida was still calm. Children around her, but still getting a special lunch for Pearlie. Because we can't ever go over to Rashida's without a beautiful meal just ready on the table, and always just something, oh! So delectably delicious! Goodness me!
Now, OK, ladies, you're most probably feeling, “Oh, help! That's not me. I can't be like that. I just hate to cook, and I don't even know how to cook!”
Well, sadly, I think a lot of young mums don't know how to cook, or haven't even grown up to like to cook, because it wasn't a passion with their mothers. And maybe they just ate boring food, and maybe it was just cooked, and you came and got it. It wasn't a great emphasis put on gathering around food and the table which is very much part of God's heart.
But, dear ladies, because that wasn't . . . Maybe you didn't have that blessing of growing up in a family where people loved to cook, and they loved to eat and to eat together. And you never quite got into it.
Don't keep passing that on down the generations. You can start to become a lover of cooking and preparing food yourself, because everything is attitude. It is not how good you are, it's your attitude and what you want to do about it. Anyone can become a good cook if you have a passion to bless others. Really, you know, everything in life is about blessing others, don't you think, Rashida?
Rashida: Yeah.
Nancy: It is! If you're doing it just because, well, “I like to do this,” it's not the same as doing it because . . . Why does a wife cook for her husband? Because she loves him, and she wants to bless him. Why do we prepare food for our children? Because we love them, and we want to cook healthy food because we want to see them growing healthy and strong.
We just couldn't bear to put all this junk food in them like so many mothers. They don't seem to care what their children eat! I can't even understand it! When you absolutely love your children and care about them, you want to give them the best! Because you love them, you want to do something that blesses them.
When you love your husband, you just want to make the most delectable food for him. And so out of that love and passion, you'll begin to create more creatively! Don't you think?
Rashida: Yeah, definitely. I think too, starting off small, not giving yourself . . . Like right now, I don't make all those fancy things my Nana was talking about every single night.
Nancy: No! Not that feast, like that feast you made for your grandfather, that was like a once-a-year-thing for her grandfather. You don't do that every day!
Rashida: Yes, definitely! My recipe book, I tried to do simple. But healthy and fast, but also fun. You know what I'm saying?
Nancy: Yes, this book is filled with simple recipes.
Rashida: Yeah, so if you're just learning to cook, or if you're just starting off, it's not like you give yourself this big, long list of things to make. Go small and give yourself some grace.
Nancy: Yes, that's true. You'll find these recipes are easy. They're simple, they're easy. Rashida has created them all in the midst of three little babies, two toddlers and a little one. You know, doing lots of other things as well.
Rashida: Oh yeah. Can I say something? Yeah, if it was up to me, I would make bigger dinners every night if I had the time. But I don't, so some things just have to be fast. They can still be healthy and fast. You know what I'm saying? They don't have to be this gourmet whole meal that takes hours and hours. You can cook at home, and still be very efficient and fast in the kitchen.
Nancy: Yes, and you still make . . .
Rashida: And it doesn't taste like cardboard!
IT’S OUR PURPOSE
Nancy: No, that's right. And also, when I'll come over to you for a meal, and I'll say, “Oh, you're so busy with babies, Rashida! You don't have to cook anything!” And I go, and there's still this glorious meal! I know that you haven't actually spent hours, but somehow you, because of your creativity, you just made it wonderful! And I think it's how we think about things.
The thing that I would like to encourage you with, is whether you think that it's your gift, or it's not, it's still your purpose as a mother. You cannot be a wife or a mother without embracing the anointing to prepare food. And remember that Scripture in Proverbs 31 that describes the woman? It says she provides; she gives food to her household.
It's part of what we do. And everything we do, we should do wholeheartedly, to the best of our ability. So embrace it, lovely mothers! Even if we have to embrace motherhood, we can mother, because we adore our children. But there is a greater realm of not only loving our children but loving and embracing motherhood. That just makes all the difference.
EMBRACE THE ANOINTING
It's the same with cooking. We cook because we have to cook and they're all hungry. If we don't cook, well, help! There's bedlam because everybody's screaming for food! So we have to do it! We can do it out of having to, or we can embrace the anointing. Embrace the anointing.
And to know, “OK, Father, You've given me this responsibility. I'm responsible to minister. Yes, ‘minister’ is the word. To serve, and minister, and impart blessing and love to my husband through my food, and to each one of my children. So I'm going to embrace it, and I'm going to delight to do it! And, Lord, just give me creative ideas. Show me how. Just bring new ideas to me.”
And you will find that it will begin to happen, little by little. So don't despair if you think you're not really a cook. You do it because you have to. No! Oh goodness, no, don't let's do anything in our home just because we have to! What a boring way to live!
We don't live in fullness that way. We live the full life when we embrace our role. This role of preparing food is a glorious role. Yes, it's not just mundane. It's not just boring. It's not just, “Oh, I have to do this.” It can be glorious! And fun! And amazing! And, of course, at the end, you get to eat this good food! (Laughter.) This good stuff! I love to eat food. In fact, I love eating Rashida's food!
Rashida: I love your food too! Nana is an amazing cook. I do have her Brussels sprouts in my book. They're so good. They're my favorite.
Nancy: Oh, yes, and I noticed something else. You have “Creamy Dreamy Limas.” Did you know, Pearl got that from me?
Rashida: Oh really? That's easy. It's one of the first twelve recipes.
Nancy: Oh, was it hers? Oh, she's naughty, because it was really mine. But that's all right. We're all one together. I mean, goodness, me. (Laughter) And we all just love each other's cooking. In fact, the other night we had, oh, what did we have? We're always having a celebration.
Oh, yes, it was Auntie Pearl's 50th birthday celebration. So we all bring a wonderful dish. The table, as usual, is laden with glorious food. But I'm just searching down the table, looking for Rashida's dish. And I could tell it was yours. I knew it was yours, so that was my first choice, and it was so nice. (Laughter)
Rashida: I do have to say, sometimes I mess up. And I do. If you guys are just starting off cooking, or whatever, you're always going to have mistakes. I've ruined things countless times. Like making one dish, sometimes in the teens, how many times I've ruined it before I've perfected it.
So it's not “if you mess up, and the food tastes bad.” You can always try again. It's not like it's the end of the world. I've had that happen so many times.
Nancy: And Jack has been quite good to eat your failures too, hasn't he?
Rashida: Some of them I wouldn't even give to him! (Laughter)
Nancy: You do have to go out on a limb, don't you, to try, and if it doesn't work, well, who cares? You try something else. But yes, go out on a limb, ladies, and just try different things. It's not just the basic foods of meat and vegetables, but it's your spices, and your herbs.
You know, I grew up in New Zealand, where the food, well, maybe it's changed. Other nations have come in. Back when I grew up, we were pretty well New Zealanders. It was very bland food. Of course, we loved it.
Our basic food was roast lamb. I love roast lamb to this day. It's still my favorite. Every special occasion, we cook roast lamb. But it was roast lamb, roast potatoes, roast kumara (which is our New Zealand sweet potato), and we'd roast parsnips around the meat. Then maybe we'd have some frozen peas and a salad. Pretty basic. That was a good old New Zealand meal. We loved it.
But it was a bland flavor. Salt and pepper were about all we used. But then, as we began to travel in different countries and experience the food of the world, we found that oooh, other countries, they have hot food! And they have it hotter than we've ever known! And they have these spices, and this spice, and all the different ways. So you begin to expand and try all these different things. So I've always loved doing that. You've grown up with that too.
Rashida: Yeah, actually this was funny. I just thought of this now. My dad, growing up, my dad was always saying “I never used black pepper ‘til I was out of the house, really.” My dad always said that black pepper was for people that don't know how to cook because they just salt and pepper things.
So I didn't even use black pepper ‘til I got out of the house. Now I love putting black pepper in my recipes, but it was funny that you say that. I do think that's probably another reason people don't like to cook. They don't like . . . it’s just bland.
Nancy: It's too bland! There is nothing to endear you about bland food except filling up your hungry tummy! But when food is spicy, and got these glorious flavors, oooh, you're not just eating because you're hungry. You're eating because of your taste buds. And that's what I love about food.
Rashida: Yeah, you can actually create instead of just cook!
Nancy: We now, our whole family, has just . . . we’ve just branched out. Colin and I, we don't ever go out very much. I think, “Goodness, I can cook better at home!” I just love my homemade food.
But if we go out for a special occasion, we always choose Indian, because it's curry, and it's very hot, and I just love that. I have to confess I haven't mastered real, genuine, glorious Indian cooking, so I keep that for my special when I go out.
The other night my son and daughter-in-law came for supper. Steve and Simone. He said, Mum, don't cook tonight. I'll bring out Thai. So he brought out some very hot Thai food. That was so lovely too.
But anyway, time has gone, but we're going to do another session. Can you wait?
Rashida: Yes!
Nancy: OK, let's pray. Lord, we just thank You that we can talk about food. And Lord, this is so biblical, and so spiritual, and so everything. Because, Lord, You created food, and You talk about it so much in the Word of God. Lord, we just pray that You'll help us to think about food like You think about it. I ask that You to bless every lady listening today. In Jesus' Name, amen.
Transcribed by Darlene Norris.