A side of tantrum with your pasta???

We are into mile 18 of the school holiday marathon. We've done crafts, games, TV, movies, puzzles,bike riding, muffin baking and every other conceivable child-centric activity. We are coming down the homestretch, and my husband will be home for a few days, so he can think up clever activities for the girlies.

I made the world's easiest dinner tonight, pasta with tomato sauce and ground turkey. 2 pots, 1 with water to boil pasta. While the pasta cooks, heat the other pot with a little olive oil and set on high. Brown the ground turkey for 4-5 minutes or until cooked through.

Here's the "tricky" part, open a jar of tomato sauce, pour over ground turkey, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Continue cooking until pasta is ready. Voila! a true gourmand meal for discerning elementary palates!!

Emma pitched a fit because it wasn't (and I quote) "the sauce she wanted!!!!!" She pushed the sauce across the table which got her promptly sent to her room to cool down. She came down, I insisted like a always do that she eat 1 bite, which she did, then proceeded to eat 2 bowls of the sauce and not the pasta- go figure. I am always amazed at the (il) logic of kids...

Am putting the kids in bed by 6:30 p.m. tonight so I can get into bed early and veg out!!!

Lentil dal

It was a pretty gray Sunday, but nice because we were all happy to hang out in the house. I made another pot of split pea soup and I had bought some lentils from Kalustyan's a while ago that I wanted to cook.

I love Indian food, but don't make it too often, as I don't have a lot of the spices and quite frankly, am a little intimidated by it.

I made a basic Dal, (which is cooked lentils) by first rinsing 2 cups of lentils in water. In a shallow pan with a lid, I toasted 1/2 C. mustard seeds in a teaspoon of olive oil until they began to pop open, about 1 minute. When they began to pop (you can hear them), I removed the pan from the heat, drained the lentils, and added them to the pot. I covered them with about 2 inches of water and brought them to a boil. I added in a diced onion,2 cubes each of frozen garlic, ginger and cilantro, a teaspoon of turmeric and cumin, a large teaspoon of spicy curry paste, and a pinch of salt.

I cooked the lentils covered on low heat for about 30 minutes, then threw in 1 C. of golden raisins. Most recipes say to add in 1 C. diced tomatoes, but I didn't have any, so I didn't!

I added in a little more water (about 1 C.) and continued cooking the lentils until they became soft, another 20 minutes. I cooked some rice and we enjoyed a plate of dal, rice and split pea soup.

The girls ate the last little bit of honey hoisin chicken, rice, and split pea soup. My friend brought a wonderful loaf of pear nut quick bread, I'll see if I can get the recipe.

Saturday hang out

We had a quiet day today, the kids hung out, watched cartoons, we rode bikes outside because the weather was so mild and I took the girls and a friend to a matinee of Alvin and the Chipmunks. As I was sitting in the theatre I smiled because this is my life. We go to all of the kids movies, are excited about upcoming previews and look forward to watching the movie when it comes out on DVD. The movie was cute and I was happy to have spent a little "girl time" with the girls. Abby had a meltdown when we returned to the car and promptly fell fast asleep. The moment I put her in bed, she woke up and said she was hungry!

Thankfully, I had made the honey-ginger hoisin chicken last night. I reheated it, gave the girls some frozen peas and the rest of some leftover pasta with tomato sauce. One liked the chicken and ate 2 thighs, the other didn't. Story of my life!!!

I have some ground turkey and black beans for tomorrow and am contemplating what to do with them. Will let you know.

P.S. I got a phone call early this morning from WTNH show asking where I was, the new producer apparently sent the wrong confirmation date for me, so I will be taping the Last Minute Cocktail Party segment to air at a later date. Will let you know when it airs...

Honey ginger chicken

My girlfriend took me to an amazing tiny restaurant last night, it's called Valencia Luncheria, it's on 172 Main Street in Norwalk. This is my kind of food. We had black bean soup, an ear of corn with a lime cilantro butter, arepas, which are like corn cakes filled with an assortment of different yummy things, ours had beef. We had a chicken liver emapanada, which my friend was not thrilled about, but I like to try new things, and we had some roasted pork which was incredible. The food came with plantains, which are sweet cooked green bananas-wow!!

The place is tiny, but the food is so worth it! I made chicken thighs with a ginger honey hoisin sauce. It's very easy, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, preheated the oven to 400 and placed the chicken thighs in a shallow pan, like a glass brownie pan. I combined 1/2 C. hoisin, 2 tbs. soy sauce, 3 cubes frozen ginger and a good big squeeze of honey. I spread this all over the chicken and baked it for about 25 minutes.

While this was baking, my neighbor (same friend from last night) showed up with more incredible take out from NY today. It was roasted chicken, spanish rice, black beans (which my kids LOVED and ate 2 servings of) and more plantains.

I like that the girls are now accustomed to at least trying a small bite of things, because at first my older daughter insisted she didn't like the beans, and 1 minute later, asked for a large serving of them on her plate. This is why I always stress the importance of serving everything to your kids, you just never know what's going to be a hit with them.

We will eat the chicken tomorrow with some sticky rice and edamame.

Ring in the New Year- The easy way!!

I am doing Good Morning Weekend on WTNH, Channel 8 this Sunday, 12/30 at 7:50 a.m. The segment is all about how to throw together a last minute New Year's Eve party. I wanted to share my segment recipes and tips with you.

I have a favor to ask those of you who read this blog. I have an Ask Nicole! button on my website-www.timetoeat.info and not many people have emailed to ask me any cooking questions. If you could ask me a question via the button or ask a friend to do so, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Here are 8 super easy, beautiful and delicious ideas to host a fantastic New Year's (or anytime) bash with friends!

1-White bean bruschetta:
1 can drained white cannelini beans
1/2 C. petite diced tomatoes with Italian Herbs
1 tbs. olive oil
1 cube frozen garlic
1 cube frozen parsley
1 cube frozen basil
pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper
lemon zest for garnish

Pita crackers or multi-colored vegetable crisps

Directions:

Mash olive oil, salt, pepper and frozen herbs together with the back of a fork. Mix in tomatoes and beans and stir to combine. Zest a lemon over the mixture and serve in a bowl with pita crackers, bread or vegetable crisps.

Other foods for your last minute New Year's Eve bash:

2-Hummus- Serve in a beautiful bowl, drizzle the top with a little olive oil, a pinch of herbed salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

3-Green olives

4-Marconi almonds with rosemary and olive oil- available at Trader Joe's

5-Jalapeno chicken sausage skewers with mango chutney dipping sauce- available at Trader Joe's.
Slice sausage into 2" thick slices and brown in a pan for 3-4 minutes per side or until cooked through. Brush sausage with chutney before skewering and serve with chutney in a small bowl for dipping.

6-Tiny Mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil:
8 oz. container of Ciliegine- tiny fresh mozzarella balls
2-3 tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. petite diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
2 cubes frozen basil
2 cubs frozen garlic
pinch of kosher salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

Mash olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, and garlic cubes together with the back of a fork in a bowl. Add in tomatoes, red pepper flakes and drained mozzarella balls. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with fresh sliced bread.

7-Seafood salad in endive leaves.
Buy prepared seafood salad-( Fjord Fisheries has an amazing Marlin spread) and spoon into endive cups. Serve on a plate.

8-Gravlax on black bread with boursin and capers.
Buy prepared Gravlax (TJ's has it) some thinly sliced pumpernickel bread, or thinly sliced white bread. Spread a small amount of Boursin on bread, slice into 1/4's and add a small rose of gravlax to the top of each bread. Garnish with a caper and serve.

Split Pea Soup.

We made it through Christmas day, everyone had fun, the girls were ecstatic and we were happy and tired. We had quite a bit of leftover ham from last night's meal (as I knew we would) so I decided to make split pea soup. It is incredibly easy and I wanted to share the recipe. If you don't have leftover ham, you can use ham hocks which are amazingly flavorful and pretty easy to find. You can also use a thick slice of ham that is already cooked. You can find this in the meat section of the market.

Here is the easy, easy recipe for split pea soup.

2 tbs. olive oil
3 cubes frozen garlic
2 C. sliced leeks- split them in half lengthwise and submerge them in a bowl of cold water to get the sand out.
2 C. sliced carrot
2 C. sliced celery
2 C. cubed ham or 2 ham hocks
2 C. dried split peas
32 oz. chicken stock
1 tsp. old bay seasoning
1 tsp. greek or italian seasoning
1 tsp. ground black pepper

Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the garlic cubes and olive oil. When the oil begins to sizzle, stir the garlic and add the leeks. Saute for 3 minutes until the leeks begin to take on some color. Add in carrots, celery, ham and split peas, stir to combine and add in chicken stock and seasoning. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to medium low and cook for 45 minutes until peas have softened. You can cook it for much much longer, but be sure to keep the heat very low.

My younger daughter had a friend over to play today and they wanted to have a "soup" playdate, so I let the girls add in the vegetables and pinches of salt. We are heading downstairs now to eat the soup.

Yum!

Merry Christmas.

It's Christmas Eve, the stockings and cookies and reindeer food and milk and carrots have alllll been laid out for the big man's arrival tomorrow morning, the girls are really excited and I have to admit, it's fun to get caught up in their excitement. I am grateful for so many things on this Christmas eve, a healthy family, a roof over our heads, lovely friends. It's so easy to get caught up in the gift buying, I've enjoyed remembering the gratitude I feel for all of the gifts we already have.

We prepped most of our meal for tomorrow. I am baking a fresh ham, I made orange cranberry sauce, a sweet potato and Yukon gold gratin dauphinoise. It is decadent and delicious. We are also having roasted brussel sprouts, fennel and carrots with dried cranberries and roasted chestnuts.

I wanted to share my recipe for this decadent potato dish:

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and VERY thinly sliced, use a mandolin if possible
3 yukon gold potatoes, also peeled and thinly sliced.
4 C. heavy cream
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 pinch of grated nutmeg
2 C. grated Gruyere cheese
1 tbs. butter
Chives for garnish

This dish can be prepped a day in advance and baked the next day for your meal.

Warm heavy cream in a large wide pot. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add thinly sliced potatoes and cook in warm cream for 3-4 minutes. Grease a deep casserole pan with butter and pour 1/2 the potatoes and milk into pan. Sprinkle 1 C. of the grated Gruyere cheese, and layer the remaining potatoes and cream to the top. Sprinkle remaining cheese to the top of the casserole and bake uncovered at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until top becomes golden. Garnish with finely chopped chives and serve. It is rich and delicious.

May your day be filled with love and warmth. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

A movie streak

We had a fun day decorating Christmas cookies with a couple of our neighbors. They share Hanukkah with us, and we reciprocate with cookie decorating. I got really organized this year and bought a disposable tablecloth, a bunch of fun cookie sprinkles, etc... and made the cookies and frosting ahead of time so all we had to do was decorate.

I made some hot cider and cranked up the Christmas tunes on our IPod and we were all on our merry way. I have to admit that the cookies held the kids interest for about 18 minutes, but the adults decorated cookies for quite a while longer. I always forget how much fun it is to decorate cookies and we all really enjoyed ourselves. The best part was the clean up, I simply wrapped up the disposable tablecloth and threw the sticky sugary mess in the trash.

My husband took me to the movies (again) tonight and we saw I Am Legend. It was very scary and my hands were sore from squeezing his leg! We got take home tonight from Taipan. We shared the coconut curry soup and a ground chicken in lettuce leaves that is delicious.

We are going to NY tomorrow to take the kids to see the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and in the morning, I am having new press shots taken. They will be up on the website eventually, I am even contemplating writing another cookbook. If anyone has any requests for something they'd like to see in my new book, please let me know.

Am looking forward to tomorrow, it should be fun, fun, fun!

Joy of cookies!

Happy Holiday everyone!!!

I had my last day of work for the 2007 year, and what a year it was! Business was the best it's been, thanks to my fantastic clients, and catering brought my workload up to a frenzied pitch...

I treated myself to a good loooong massage this afternoon and a movie with a friend. We was Sweeney Todd which was excellent, but rather gruesome.

Anyhow, I came home and got to work preparing sugar cookies for our cookie decorating day tomorrow in preparation for the big man in red. We used the Joy of Cooking Sugar cookie recipe, it's super easy to make, but don't forget to let your butter come to room temp. for at least 1 day before you make these- do NOT skimp and try to microwave the butter, it throws the consistency of the cookie way off. Here's the recipe we used tonight. Roll the cookies out as thin as you can on a well floured work space and bake them until they are just cooked through, they shouldn't have any color to them.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Add and beat in the egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until evenly incorporated. Stir in flour until well blended and smooth.

Roll the dough out on floured parchment paper if using immediately, if not, roll into a ball and cover with saran wrap until ready to use.

WHEN READY TO BAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.

Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), gently peel away and replace 1 sheet of the wax paper. (This will make it easier to lift the cookies from the paper later.) Peel off and discard the second layer. Using 2- or 3-inch cutters, cut out cookies. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.


Bake for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, Then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

Separate but equal??

I wanted to share a great recipe that I made at work today with some left over cooked chicken. This is NOT a kid friendly meal, at least I know my kids are not quite ready for cilantro, but your may, so give it a try, you never know...

Anyhow, here it is. You can use any left over cooked chicken

2 C. cooked chicken
1/2 bunch cilantro- chopped
juice from 1 lime
1/2 diced red pepper
2 stalks diced celery
2 stalks diced scallion
1 C. dried cranberries
1 C. toasted slivered almonds
2 tsp. rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fish sauce (available at any Asian grocery store)
1 tsp. sesame oil
pinch of toasted sesame seeds

Process the chicken in a Cuisinart for 30 seconds or until chicken is finely chopped, but NOT pureed. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until everything has been combined. Can be eaten immediately or kept in the fridge until ready to eat. I am eating over a salad and with some crackers.

The kids are getting pasta and peas!

A 5:40 Feast!

I had dinner with a good friend tonight, and between the 2 of us, we had about 7 million kids! How to feed everyone? Make a little feast. I bought a few things from Trader Joe's today and rummaged around my fridge, here's what we came up with for dinner:
-a plate of raw sliced veggies

-salad with romaine, assorted veggies, orange infused dried cranberries, and a handful of roasted chestnuts

-steamed edamame and crab meat shumai (dumplings)- from Fuji Market in Greenwich- I think it's exit 4 or 5 off the 95. A fantastic little Japanese market where absolutely everything is written in Japanese and you have to look at the pictures and guess!

-skewered chipotle chicken- frozen from TJ's

-frozen jasmine rice from TJ's

-a bag of frozen veggies- peas, green beans and julienned carrots- from TJ's that I steamed and added a little butter and a pinch of salt

-steamed fresh asparagus

-a yummy little frozen pizza from TJ's with Gruyere, caramelized onion and proscuitto

-a little leftover chili from last night's dinner -see yesterday's post for recipe

-a bit of homemade guacamole-yummy

-cheese and spinach tortellini

Everyone found something that filled their tummies and it always makes me happy to share a meal with people I love.

Chili love

It was freeeezing here today! I had recently made chili and the girls loved it! They asked for it again so I wanted to share my easy and healthy recipe with you. Emma came home from school this afternoon and asked for a bowl for her snack, then proceeded to eat it 2 hours later for dinner with a matzoh cracker!!

Here's the recipe:
1 tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. diced onion, fresh or frozen
1 lb. 90% lean ground beef
1 can cannellini (white) beans rinsed
1 can kidney beans rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes -I found fire roasted ones today and they were yummy.
3 tbs. chili powder
1 tbs. cumin
a good pinch of 2 of kosher salt
optional- red hot sauce

Heat olive oil on medium high in a deep pot. When it begins to sizzle, add onions and saute for 3 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden brown. Add beef and break up in pot with a wooden spoon so you don't have big chunks. Saute for 5-6 minutes until beef is almost cooked through. Add 2 cans of beans and tomatoes, stir to combine. Add chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium, cover and cook for at least 25 minutes to let flavors combine.

You can add a handful of frozen roasted corn, you can serve the chili over rice or pasta, or just eat it in a bowl with a little shredded cheese and a handful of chopped scallions on top. It's perfect for cold winter afternoons.

Happy Birthday Helena.

We catered Helena Chistensen's birthday party last night. She is beautiful and it was a gorgeous party. Michael Stipe from R.E.M was there as was Josh Hartman. The food was beautiful and everything went smoothly. I got home in the weeeeee hours of the morning and am feeling rather dull today, but there is one more party tonight before the end of my season.

Festivities in Norwalk, (the caterer who I work for) continues to create beautiful events, keep it up!

www.festivitiesevents.com

Lazy mom meets golden arches

I picked up 2 tired and cranky children from school today. They didn't even want to visit Santa!!??

What brings smiles to most children's faces? Why it's the Golden Arches, yes, McDonalds. Tonight called for 2 Happy Meals. As if I had sprinkled magic pixie dust on the girls, the mere mention of Mickie D's and their little faces perked up.

They drove home with the anticipation of dinner with the tv on and footsies- why not!!

I ate some leftover steak, and a few frozen (not so good) latkes from Trader Joe's, don't buy them, they're pretty tasteless.

There is the threat of snow looming for tomorrow morning and it is very likely we will have a snow day.

I cleaned and pounded 220 chicken thighs today at work, it was hell!!! Along with preparing a few assorted vinaigrettes and sauces, I am ready for a H-O-T bath and early to bed.

I'm going to be a rebel tonight and not make the kids lunches.

Gingerbread trifle

Happy Holidays to everyone. I am teaching a holiday hors' d'oeuvres and desserts class tomorrow and wanted to share my recipe for a gingerbread trifle that is really, really easy.

Gingerbread Trifle

Gingerbread cake-prepared
12 oz. whipping cream
2 tbs. powdered sugar
½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 tbs. crystallized ginger
Sliced strawberries
Toffee Bits


Cube gingerbread and store in an airtight container. Whip cream with a hand mixer for 4 minutes in a cold metal bowl. As cream thickens, add powdered sugar and pumpkin pie spice and continue whipping until stiff peaks form. Can be prepared and stored in the refrigerator over a bowl of ice for 2 hours. Slice strawberries and toss in diced crystallized ginger. Let stand at least 1 hour to macerate. Can also be made 1 day in advance.

Layer in a trifle bowl gingerbread, strawberries, toffee bits and whipped cream in alternating layers. Top layer should be whipped cream and toffee bits. Serve cold.

We went to a friends house tonight and ate steak and roasted salmon. She prepared is very easily, a little olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary on top. She baked it in the oven (covered I think) for about 20 minutes on 375. We had couscous and green beans with it.

I'm working all day tomorrow and tomorrow night, so Kirk is on his own for dinner, my guess is he'll either make ramen soup for the girls with some fresh fruit or order Chinese!! :)

Roasting Chickens

Tonight's dinner is a weekly staple in our house. Roasted chicken, some type of veg and a starch. To me, it's a quintessential family meal, healthy and balanced.

I had 4 split chicken breasts with skin and bone. I placed them in a casserole pan, squeezed the juice from 1/2 a lemon, drizzled olive oil on the breasts, and sprinkled a little Adobo seasoning and pepper. Those went in the oven at 425 for about 35-40 minutes. No need to check on them, they always turn out with crispy skin and moist meat.

I bought a cauliflower and sliced them into 1/8ts, drizzled them with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper, and a little pinch of curry powder. Those also went into the oven about 20 minutes into cooking the chicken. If you don't love curry, you can certainly leave it out.

I bought some great Israeli couscous with quinoa a while ago from Trader Joes. It's delicious and easy to make. Boil 1 3/4 C. chicken stock (or water), and a drizzle of olive oil. When the liquid boils, add 1 1/4 C. of the couscous and bring to a boil. When the liquid boils, reduce the heat to med. low, cover and simmer for about 12 minutes or until all of the liquid is gone.

The kids always eat this meal and it makes good leftovers too.

Snow, snow, snow!

Our first day of snow! We were all excited and the girls spent a good portion of the morning with their neighborhood friends playing and laughing. I made French toast bites that have become a staple breakfast in our house. I thought I'd share this healthy and easy recipe for you.

sliced baguette pieces
1 C. egg whites (we use the egg whites that you can buy that have already been separated)
1/2 C. fat free milk
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbs. unsalted butter

Preheat a large nonstick pan or a griddle to medium high heat. Whisk egg whites, milk, sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. When the griddle is hot, spread the pat of butter to coat the surface. Dip each piece of baguette in the egg milk mixture and cook for 4-5 minutes per side. Turn once and cook until each side is golden.

I like to serve these with sliced banana or strawberries and a little maple syrup.

I like to give the girls a warm breakfast when it's so cold outside and this is fast, healthy and easy.

Give it a try!

Chinese for everyone

It's late and I've just finished catering the Burr Mansion Christmas Tree party with the catering company that I work for called Festivities. I'm pooped and didn't cook today. I ordered Chinese food for the girls and our babysitter. I did celebrate a special birthday yesterday with some dear friends and felt filled with gratitude for their friendship- it's so true there is no greater gift than friendship.

Anyhow, I wanted to quickly share a good vinaigrette recipe that I used today while having lunch with my friend and neighbor. It's a lime mint vinaigrette and very easy:

1/4 C lime juice
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
10 finely diced fresh mint leaves
handful of finely diced flat leaf Italian parsley
1/2-3/4 C. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
optional- shredded Parmesan cheese

Whisk lime juice and mustard together, add in mint, parsley, salt and pepper, and slowly whisk in olive oil. Season to taste and adjust olive oil. Dressing is very tangy and delicious and will keep in the fridge for a week, but trust me, it won't last that long. It's also good drizzled over shrimp, fish or chicken.

Ok, I'm off to collapse into bed. Have to prep for a 30 person cooking class/birthday party on Saturday.

Baked pasta primavera

My friend Sue loves to make this pasta and here is a version of hers.

Boil penne pasta. While the water and pasta boil, dice 1 zucchini, a 1/2 onion, a handful of mushrooms, and a small Japanese eggplant.

Saute the vegetables in 1 tbs. olive oil until they soften. Season with salt and pepper.

After pasta is cooked until al dente. Drain and preheat oven to 375. Combine 2 C. tomato sauce with 1 C. skim ricotta cheese. Add in sauteed vegetables and toss to combine with pasta. Bake, uncovered in an oven proof casserole dish for 20 minutes until sauce is bubbly.

I like to turn the oven to Broil for 3 minutes before removing from the oven to get the top of the baked pasta a little crispy. No one else likes the little crispy bits, but I love to pick them off the top!

Kitchen's closed today.

We had a nice relaxing Saturday today, didn't do much, but enjoyed every second of it. Emma wanted ravioli with sauce, and Abby had more of the lentil soup and a couple cucumbers. We went to a movie tonight, saw Into the Wild, it was good, but long, - our dinner was popcorn.

I bought some Asian grilled chicken breasts from Trader Joe's- haven't tried them before, will let you know if they're any good.

:)

Wastin' time wit Jib Jab!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

I've found a brand new way to waste precious hours in my day, it's called Jib Jab and my friend Jane showed it to me last night at Thanksgiving. We spent most of the evening laughing at the new "home videos"!

Today was a quiet day, ate leftover turkey dinner sandwiches and made lentil soup tonight with ox tails. The recipe is really easy:

Heat a soup pan on high, add a little olive oil and cubes of frozen garlic. Season the ox tails with salt and pepper. When the oil shimmers, add the ox tails and saute for a few minutes, until they begin to brown on all sides. While the ox tails brown, dice an onion, a few stalks of celery, and a handful of carrots. Add them to the pot, another pinch of salt and pepper, a dried bay leaf, and a pinch of dried oregano.

Add a 32 ox. box of chicken stock and 1 1/2-2 C. of dried lentils. Stir to combine, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Soup takes about 45 minutes to cook. Make sure the heat isn't too hot, you just want a nice low bubble. Remove bay leaf and season to taste before serving. It's delicious, healthy and really easy.

Enjoy Jib Jab!

pears and blueberries

I am looking forward to tomorrow, Kirk is on a trip, the girls have a (short) day at school and I get to bake in absolute silence. These days there is very little I get to do in silence. This might be why I love to meditate, it's absolutely silent. Anyhow, we are going to a friends house for Thanksgiving and I am going to make a pear and blueberry crumble. I love to make crumbles because there isn't an exact way to do it, it's very easy and always tastes delicious.

Here is a general recipe for my crumble.

5 ripe pears
2 C. frozen blueberries
1-2 tbs. cornstarch
1 stick of butter
1/2 C. granular sugar
1 C. brown sugar
2 C. oats
1 C. flour
1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 350. Thaw pie crust until it will roll out. Wash and dice pears, toss frozen blueberries with cornstarch and granular sugar until the berries are all coated. Combine pears and blueberries, add 1/4 stick diced cold butter to fruit.

In another bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and remaining butter. Using your hands, combine ingredients until they hold together.

Roll out pie crust into a deep pie plate. Add fruit to crust and cover fruit entirely with crumble topping. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. If the top is getting too dark, lower heat and loosely tent with foil. Tent just means to place a piece of foil on something, but not cover it so it steams.

The pie is delicious served warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It won't last long, as it's yummy for breakfast too!

Have a great Thanksgiving to anyone who's reading this!!

Let them eat Brussel Sprouts

Abby had a Thanksgiving party, well feast, at school today and I volunteered to bring in brussel sprouts. Although most consider them the bastard child of vegetables, they've been given a bad rap. Brussel sprouts are tasty and so easy to prepare, this is the recipe I always use.

2 C. brussel sprouts
2-3 slices pancetta or proscuitto
1 C. chestnuts (the kind that come cooked in a jar)
1 C. dried cranberries
1 tbs. olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 C. frizzled onions

Preheat oven to 425. Wash and slice brussel sprouts in 1/2. Slice proscuitto into thin slices and mix in with sprouts. Lay out on a cookie sheet, try not to overlap them. Drizzle a little olive oil atop sprouts and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast for 12-15 minutes, shaking the cookie sheet after about 7 minutes to rotate the sprouts.

When the sprouts and crisp on the outside, but a knife can be inserted into them, remove from heat. They shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to cook.

Toss sprouts with chestnuts, either kept whole or sliced in half, and stir in cranberries. Top with frizzled onions before serving.

We eat these year round, and although chestnuts aren't available year round, they are still delicious with the cranberries and proscuitto.

ENJOY!

Turkey chili

What a lousy day outside!!! What a perfect day for chili. I spent most of the day shuttling back and forth between the girls school-lunch duty, parent-teacher conferences. In the middle of the first conference, I get a txt message from Kirk saying, can't wait to hear the news! As if we're waiting to hear about early enrollment to Harvard!! I had to show the teacher, we both got a good laugh!

I bought a few art supplies for the girls, Model Magic, a package of new markers and landyard. They were sooooo happy!

Here's the recipe for turkey chili: It makes a lot!

Add a little olive oil to a large soup pot. When it shimmers, add a cup of frozen or fresh diced onion. I added frozen (they're great!) I also added about 1 C. of Miraupoix from Trader Joes. Basically, it's fresh diced celery, onion and carrot. It's the basis for most soups. I stirred that around for a minute or two, then added in a package of ground lean turkey meat. I stirred that around for about 5 minutes until it began to cook. I added in some chicken sausage that I removed from the casings. The easiest way to do that is to just run the sauasge between your fingers and squeeze the sausage out. Stir the sausage around and break it up with a wooden spoon. Let the meat mixture cook for about 5-7 more minutes. Add in 2 cans of rinsed beans, I used a can of red kidney and a can of pinto beans. I then added in about 1 tbs. of cumin, 1 tbs. of chili powder, a large pinch of kosher salt and pepper, and a few shakes of Adobo.

Next, I added in 2 large 32 oz. cans of diced tomatoes. Stir the whole mess around until it is combined, reduce the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Taste before serving, as it might need more salt. It won't be spicy, so you will want to add spice to your own bowl.

The chili is delicious and my kids love to eat the beans and ground turkey.

Ribs, lentil soup and squash???

Tonight I am doing a book signing at the Darien Library and my husband was left in charge of dinner, at 4:20 he realized he had not (suprise, suprise) planned anything. He did his fallback dinner, Chinese take out.

Last night I made lentil soup which I didn't plan on giving the girls, assuming they wouldn't even touch it. They both ended up hungrily eating 2 bowls of it! I was pretty suprised as lentil soup isn't the most appealing looking soup. Anyhow, here's a good basic lentil soup recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin

Place the olive oil into a large 6-quart Dutch oven and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth and cumin- stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Serve immediately.

I also made an amazing ravioli at work yesterday which I had to share.

Butternut squash and goat cheese ravioli:
Boil 1 peeled and sliced butternut squash in chicken stock until soft- about 20 minutes. Once a knife can be easily inserted into the squash, remove from heat, drain and mash with a masher or fork. Season with salt, pepper, a little bit of nutmeg and a handful of diced, sauteed shallots.

Wonton wrappers from the supermarket are the pasta for this dish. Lay out a bunch of wonton wrappers on a cutting board, and place a small (really small) amount of squash in the center of the wrapper, place an equally small amount of goat cheese atop the squash. Brush the edges of the wrapper with either water or a beaten egg. Lay another wrapper atop the other and make sure all sides are closed. Cook in boiling, salted water for 3-4 minutes and serve with melted butter and fresh sage leaves.

Sunday supper

Darkness at 4:45 p.m.-hmmmm..

I made a mishmash of things tonight for dinner. We had our friends for dinner tonight and their girls.

I made flounder that I quickly cooked in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. I removed the fish from the pan, added a little more olive oil, and sauteed a zucchini that I had diced and a whole sliced onion. I let those cook for a few minutes, then added in a cup of cherry tomatoes that I had cut in half. I sauteed those for another minute, added a pinch of salt and pepper, and a 1/4 C, of white wine. I served the veggies on the fish. It was good, but a little bland for my taste. I should have added a little red pepper flakes to the veggies.

i had bought some Lebanese couscous when we went to Kalustyans's in NY. I started with a little olive oil, and a cup of diced carrot, celery and onion. I found fresh diced veggies at Trader Joe's, what a time saver. After sauteeing the veggies for a couple of minutes, I added in 2 C, of couscous and 2 C. of chicken stock, brought it to a boil, reduced the heat to med. low and covered. I added in a little salt and pepper before serving. It was the largest couscous I have ever seen. Abby loved it

I also made some pasta with leftover chicken and red beans that the girls loved.

It was nice to spend Sunday evening with our friends and am looking forward to reading the NY Times after the girls go to bed!

Cooking for a crowd

Happy November 1st! I wanted to share a great gazpacho recipe that I made for a Halloween Party I did. I called it Bloody Mary Gazpacho shooters. It is non alcoholic and fun to serve in little tiny cups (I found great disposable plastic cups at a website called jbrince.com)

here it is:

4 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
4 cubes frozen garlic
1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
4 cups Spicy Bloody Mary mix
1/4 cup or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp. cumin
kosher salt and pepper to taste
croutons- for garnish

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss. In a blender or food processor, mix a few cups at a time until just slightly chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled.
Makes 4 servings.

I just made some Baja Fish Tacos for a journalist who came out to interview me for a story that's coming out in the Connecticut Post on 11/20.

Here's the recipe:

Baja Fish Tacos with lime coleslaw
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
flour
Seasoning salt- such as Lawry’s
1 pound tilapia, flounder, sole, or any thin white fish
Corn tortillas
2 limes
mango salsa
1 onion halved and sliced
2 tomatoes quartered
1 package shredded cabbage
2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper

For tacos:
Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. While the pan is heating, cut fish into 2 inch long strips. In a shallow plate, add seasoned flour mixture (3 parts flour to 1 part salt) -make seasoned flour and store in a jar to use in the future. Dredge fish pieces in flour mixture, and place fish in pan. Heat tortillas until just soft (a toaster oven works well). Cook fish for 2 minutes on each side, remove from pan, and squeeze lime juice and a pinch of salt on fish pieces. When all fish has cooked, cook onion and tomato in pan for 1 minute, or until just barely softened. Assemble tacos by placing fish, onion, tomatoes and salsa in tortillas.

For coleslaw:
Drizzle coleslaw with juice from a lime, rice wine vinegar, olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Serve fish tacos over coleslaw.

More pork please

I have rediscovered the joys of the pork tenderloin and made it for dinner again last night. This way was even easier than the last recipe. I simply drizzled a little olive oil on the tenderloins, sprinkled a little garlic salt, cracked pepper and a little Greek Seasoning.

Preheated the oven to 425, lined a cookie sheet with foil and roasted the tenderloins on the cookiesheet. I didn't even turn them this time. They took about 18 minutes and when they were cooked, I took them out of the oven , covered them in the foil they were cooked in and let them rest for a few minutes.

I boiled a few ears of corn, and made my families rice pilaf. I'm sure I've given the recipe, but here it is if I didn't.

1 tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. thin vermicelli noodles-broken, or chicken soup noodles
1 C. Uncle Ben's rice
2 C. chicken stock or water
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 C. frozen peas

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot. Add the noodles, and stir until they become golden, about 2 minutes (they will burn quickly, so keep a close eye on them).

Add in the rice, and stir just to coat the grains with the olive oil.

Add in the stock or water to the pot, cover with a lid, and turn the heat down to medium low. Rice is ready when all water has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and throw in the peas. Turn the heat off and recover the pot until ready to serve.

French onion soup for company

A journalist from the Westport Magazine is coming over tomorrow for an interview and lunch. The weather has begun to (finally!) cool and I thought soup and salad would be a nice meal.

French Onion soup is very easy and can (and should) be made a day before and reheated.

2 tbs. unsalted butter
3 onions
1 tbs. dried thyme
pinch of kosher salt and pepper
2 boxes beef broth
baguette
gruyere cheese

Melt butter in a large soup pot. While the butter melts, thinly slice the onions and add to the pot. Stir until combined and add thyme. Let cook for a few minutes. Add broth, salt and pepper and let boil for 10 minutes. Lower heat and cover for 30 minutes. Toast a few slices of french bread and grate the gruyere cheese.

About 5 minutes before serving, preheat oven to broil. Ladle soup into an oven proof soup bowl. Add 1 slice of toasted baguette and a sprinkling of shredded gruyere cheese. Broil for a few minutes until top of cheese is bubbly and melted.

I am going to serve this with some greens that we bought today at a farm where we pick our pumpkins every year. Since it has stayed so warm here there were lots of vegetables still available. I am going to make a salad with lettuce, orange peppers, cucumber, sliced apple, and toasted almond slivers.

I made an easy honey mustard vinaigrette by mixing equal parts of dijon mustard and honey ( about 2 tbs. each). Add in the juice from 1/2 lemon, a pinch of salt and pepper and olive oil (about 1/4 cup). Whisk together and taste.

The joys of pork tenderloin

I made a delicious and VERY easy pork tenderloin last night. I hadn't made a tenderloin in quite sometime and had forgotten how easy and delicious they are.

I set the oven to broil and put the rack in the top 1/3 of the oven. I lined a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and placed the 2 tenderloins on the cookie sheet.

I rubbed the tenderloins with some (maybe 2 tbs.) of dijon mustard, some garlic paste, and a little apricot jam ( it was only about 1 tbs. as that was all we had left). I sprinkled a little kosher salt and pepper on the tenderloins and popped them in the oven. They cooked for about 7 minutes, then I turned them once and let them finish cooking. I took the tenderloins out of the oven and wrapped them in the foil they cooked on to rest. This also helped them stay juicy and tender. Pork tenderloins have a tendency to dry out if left to cook for too long.

I made the dilled german potato salad that I did on TV a while ago, it has no mayo.

If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll add it to the blog.

Off to work tonight to do menu V from the 15 Minute Meals series.

Fooding in the city

We spent the weekend in NY and what fun it was. Sunday morning, we ate at a little cafe and took the kids down to Chinatown where they bought little Chinese dresses and we wandered in and out of various stores. I showed them all sorts of interesting new foods, dried fish stomachs, many types of dried herbs, dried shark fins too! I thought it was interesting, they thought the stores smelled, "funny".

I then took my younger (more adventurous) daughter to Kalustyans on 29th and Lexington. It's an amazing spice store filled with fantastic Middle Eastern foods. I bought some lentils for dal, Israeli and Lebanese couscous, some interesting Indian curry sauces, a Tunisian mixed spice, Yellow mustard seeds, apricot and mango candies and a few other assorted goodies.

We returned from the city and had an impromptu dinner with our friends from up the street.

I had made some roasted curried cauliflower which I reheated in a pan with a little oil and a tbs. of mustard seeds.

I made a dal from the lentils which was pretty easy.

Rinse the lentils in a bowl. Add enough water to cover the lentils and microwave for 3 minutes. Boil the lentils in a pot for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are soft. Drain from the water. In a pan, add a little vegetable oil, some mustard seeds and cumin powder. Stir until the mustard seeds begin to pop. You should also add Coriander seeds, but I didn't have any.

Add a thinly sliced onion and stir to coat the onion with the spices. Add the lentils and stir to combine. Add a can of diced tomatoes, salt and a tiny amount ( a pinch) of Garam Masala. Add the juice from 1/2 lime and serve. It was so delicious.

Oh yes, I bought some saffron rice which didn't really taste like saffron, but was a bright yellow. We ate the dal with the rice and the curried cauliflower. My friend made some Indian style cabbage was was delicious too.

P.S. Kalustyan's has a great website where you can order all of these things: http://www.kalustyans.com/

Momference

I just gave a 1 hour talk for the Momference on how to make Time to Eat! It was a global telesummit geared towards moms. I talked about how to stock your pantry, and gave some recipes from the book.

I also wanted to give you the chicken recipe that I made a couple of days ago as well as a roasted curried cauliflower.

Chicken with rosemary, pine nuts and golden raisins:

1 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs. olive oil
5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 tsp. chopped rosemary
1 C. toasted pinenuts
1 C. golden raisins
1 C. white wine
salt and pepper

Heat a large nonstick pan on medium high. Add olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add chicken and cook for 3 minutes per side. Add rosemary, pinenuts and raisins. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and add white wine. Cover and turn heat down to medium. Cook for 15 minutes or until most of the wine has evaporated.

Roasted curried cauliflower

1 head washed cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 500. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, toss all ingredients together and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 6 minutes and shake the pan to move the cauliflower around. Cook for an additional 6-8 minutes until cauliflower is golden brown. Serve warm or eat cold.

The chicken with the cauliflower side dish was excellent and quite good as a leftover as well.

Leftovers

Tonight was leftover pork chops and couscous. I had cooked peas and the girls had frozen peas and some cucumber.

I am looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner. I have an idea of how I'm going to make the dish, as I had it at a friends house. It's chicken with golden raisins, pine nuts and rosemary. I'm going to use white wine and some chicken stock to cook down the raisins.

I'll post the recipe tomorrow night.

frozen grapes

I just can't get enough of them! I have been eating them once a day for over a week. I think about them in the morning and hope they will be frozen by evening.

But seriously, my daughters think I'm nuts, yet they prefer frozen peas. Go figure!!

Ok, dinner tonight- we had 2 other little girls for dinner, and I was using up the leftovers from Saturday's party.

Here's what I reheated:
trio of roasted potatoes
eggplant rolotini (if you've never had this, it's basically breaded thin slices of eggplant, then sautee and chop spinach, make a ricotta filling with ricotta, smoked mozzarella, a couple eggs, a handful of Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and a little garlic. Place a tablespoon of spinach and a spoonful of the ricotta filling at the wide end of the breaded eggplant, roll, cover with tomato sauce and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes until warm and oozy. YUM

I made more of the Israeli couscous, quinoa mix that I found at Trader Joe's last week, and Panko crusted pork chops which the girls had 3rd's of!!!

It was a bit of a mish mash, but everyone found something they liked and everyone was happy.

Super salads

Did another weekend wedding. Here's a picture of me with 130 salads that we just plated. I made a nice lemon basil vinaigrette:

1/2 C. lemon juice
1 handful fresh basil or 4-6 cubes frozen basil
2 cloves garlic or 2 cubes frozen garlic
1/2 sliced red onion
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Add first 4 ingredients into a blender and when combined, slowly drizzle olive oil in until the dressing emulsifies. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

It was a beautiful sunny fall day here and we hung out, rode bikes to the beach and are planning to have leftovers from last night:
rice, green beans, carrots and coconut shrimp.

Will let you know how the kids like the "chicken"...

Roasted pulled pork

My daughter is presently sitting next to me eating black olives and watching Spongebob.

The week has been busy with work, but as promised, here is the pulled pork recipe. The exact measurements for the ingredients are not terribly important to this dish.

2 lb. boneless pork shoulder or butt
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 tbs. cumin
1/2 C. apricot jam
2 jalapenos sliced into rings (can also used canned)
2 sliced purple onions

flour or corn tortillas
1 lime cut into wedges
1 C. chopped cilantro for the tacos

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, being sure pork is mixed well with the ingredients. Wrap the pork with ALL of the seasonings, onions and jalapenos in Aluminum foil. Make sure the aluminum foil completely surrounds the pork. Put the aluminum enclosed food into a pie dish to catch any drippings that may drip out.

Bake for 4 hours. Let rest and pull pork apart with a fork. Serve over warm tortillas and add a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinking of cilantro.

Cooking up a storm

Taught my first class at Aitoro today to a fun group of women. It's always very reinforcing to know that I am actually bettering people's lives.

Came home and geared up for my weekly cooking that I have been doing for the family with the new baby. They loved last weeks offerings and I bought lots of fresh fruits and veggies to cut, hummus, crackers and tonight I'm going to make a lasagne with ground turkey meat and chicken sausage. It should be delicious and much healthier than a traditional lasagna.

I am also going to make a beef stew with red wine, potatoes, mushrooms, peas and onions. As well as a South American roasted pork with fresh jalapenos, apricot jam, purple onions, cilantro and lime.

Recipes to follow tomorrow.

I am, quite frankly, procrastinating at the moment and looking for anything else to do except go down to the kitchen to work.

We took the girls to Sakura tonight for sushi and had a nice time. The girls were thrilled to have umbrellas and monkeys in their drinks.

Ahhhh, I remember those days!

We're hungry N-O-W!!!

Tonight's meal was out of a fast food commercial.

Imagine if you will....

Mom overwhelmed with laundry, the broom has gone missing and the kids are pawing at her legs drawling, "mommmmm, I'mmmm realllllyyyy hungryyyyy...."

What's a mother to do?

Mom opens the freezer and fridge simultaneously, a bell goes off, "I know what I'll make." she says with a smile.

That was my night tonight. It was as close to "kid food" as we do. I made some homemade chicken tenders by dredging them in egg whites, seasoned flour and bread crumbs (would have used Panko, but was out).

Cooked them in a little canola oil for about 3 minutes per side.

While those cooked, I made a mixture of frozen 5 minute fries and fresh sweet potato fries that I bought peeled and sliced from trader joes. They got a drizzling of olive oil, Lawry's seasoning salt and pepper. The fries baked in the oven at 450 for about 10 minutes.

I quickly procured 2 little bowls of frozen peas (which oddly enough the girls love) and I nuked some in a bowl for me.

A little sliced watermelon and strawberries and everyone was happy for dinner.

Whew... I'm exhausted just writing about dinner tonight!

veggin' out

Saturday has turned out to be a rather rainy, lazy day. How fun!! We went for a walk at low tide where it promptly began to rain, we all ran and laughed. The girls had a bath to warm up and I made them hot chocolate. The day has slipped by and we have enjoyed it immensely. It felt like letting sand slip slowly through my hand.

We are going to a friends house for dinner tonight and I had some leftover apples, so I made an apple crisp. Super easy:

Peel as many apples as you have, core and cut into cubes. Put them in a bowl and season with cinnamon, brown sugar and a little apple pie spice if you have some. Add about 3 tablespoons of butter cut into small cubes. Put the apples into a deep sided pie plate.

In the same bowl, add equal amounts of flour and oats. Add in about 1/2 as much brown sugar and about 1 tsp. cinnamon. mi together with your hands and work in 3/4 of a stick of butter until the mixture is somewhat crumbly. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

I also have some chicken tenderloin pieces that I will make crispy panko crusted fingers from. Very easy too.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan on medium heat.

In a shallow plate combine 2 parts Panko with 1 part seasoned flour ( this is flour with either garlic salt, lawry's or my favorite Adobo) and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Combine and dredge chicken pieces in until coated. Cook for 2-3 minutes turning chicken once when color begins to come through on one side.

Today felt slow and lazy and I am looking forward to some cooler brisk days.

Co Op dinners

A friend of a friend recently moved in across the street from us. We have girls the same age and as luck would have it, tonight both hubbies were away for work. She kindly invited me to stay for dinner and I ran over to get the leftovers I had made at work today to add to the impromptu potluck.

I grilled shrimp that I had seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning, a tsp. of Adobo and a small pinch of ground red pepper. I squeezed the juice from a lemon and added a little olive oil to the bowl. I turned the grill to high and quickly cooked these delicious shrimp. They can be eaten either hot or cold and have a great kick to them.

I also made couscous by sauteing 1/2 a purple onion in a little olive oil and butter. I added 2 diced celery stalks and 1/2 diced carrot. I added 4 C. of chicken stock, and when that boiled, I added in 3 1/2 C. couscous. I turned the heat off, and covered the pot so the couscous could steam. I fluffed the couscous with a fork and added a little more olive oil and a handful of chopped parsley.

Tonight, I added a little shredded lettuce to the couscous and served the shrimp atop the dish. It was light and delicious.

My friend made amazing Indian lamb "meatballs" which she cooked in an aromatic Indian tomato sauce with cumin, garlic, ginger and garbanzo beans.


It is a gift to share a meal with others.

Food delivery job...

A woman up the street recently had a baby and contacted me about preparing and delivering food to her once a week for a little while. I thought back to what I would have liked when I returned home from the hospital and brought her all of those things.

Small servings of fruits, veggies, nuts, dried fruit, a little chocolate. Mini meatloaves, roasted chicken with carrots, black bean and steak burritos and of course freshly baked cookies. She was so happy to have all of this delivered and arranged in her fridge and freezer for the week.

I left thinking, "I would have loved this, other people must want a service like this."

If anyone is reading my blog, I would love some feedback about this idea. For anyone who has just had a baby, gotten out of the hospital, or just wants homemade meals and snacks delivered- wouldn't this be a great gift???

Please let me know what you think, either leave a message here, or in my email.

Thanks.

Nicole

Wednesday recap

I've been working a lot lately and last night Kirk offered to make dinner. This is very exciting and novel for me, as I am the primary cooker in the family. I had already bought green beans and potatoes, he baked them, steamed the beans, grilled us some hamburgers and even picked some fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden.

I came home and was treated to dinner, what fun!

I worked again today and we had a friend and her daughter for dinner. The girls learned about the joys of a melon baller and balled the heck out of a honeydew last night. I sliced some cucumber and low-and-behold, Emma loved dipping lettuce into balsamic vinagrette, which she called lettuce dip. Whatever works.

We ate the last of the taco meat, some pasta and the assorted fruits and veggies from the table.

I made some delicious crab for crab cakes that we will have tomorrow. The basic recipe is:
Sautee some finely diced onion, celery and fennel in olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and Old Bay Seasoning. Mix vegetables with lump crab meat, mayonaise ( I don't like a lot, just enough to hold the mixture together) and fresh parsley.

Make crab cakes, and dredge in Panko and seasoned flour (which is simply flour mixed with salt, pepper and Adobo or Lawry's Season Salt).

Heat canola or vegetable oil in a large nonstick pan. When the oil shimmers, add the crab cakes and brown on each side. Keep warm in a 200 degree oven on a cookie sheet while the others cook.

I am going to serve those with roasted brussel sprouts and more lettuce with "dip" tomorrow night.

evening meltdown!

Tonight was a scramble. The girls had school all day then I rushed them off to an extracurricular. They were hysterical on the car ride home-so tired!!! I made the fastest (semi-healthy) 5 minute meal I could think of.

Although most nights are filled with balanced meals, tonight wasn't optimal.

Here's our 5 minute meal.

1 Ramen soup
plate of sliced cucumber and carrots
leftover french fries, reheated in the toaster oven.

All ready in exactly 5 minutes!!

Thinking we will make Baja Fish taco's tomorrow night, or clean out the pantry, let's see how the day goes....

turkey and zucchini burgers

We made it through the first week of the school year. Today went significantly smoother. I had a productive day at work. I seared 11 filet mignons, made ratatouille, vinaigrettes, and assorted other prep foods for an event on Sunday. Am looking forward to the weekend.

Will be doing another TV segment tomorrow morning on WTNH, Channel 8. It's the cannoli cup segment. I have some ground turkey that I want to make turkey burgers from with roasted sweet potato fries. The recipe is below.

3/4 pound ground turkey

1 medium zucchini, grated 

½ C. grated carrot 

2 cubes frozen garlic

3/4 teaspoon Greek Seasoning 

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

1 large egg

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix together with a fork until well combined. Heat a large nonstick pan on medium high. Make 4 patties and cook for 8 minutes on each side, flipping burgers only once.

Roasted Sweet potato fries

2 sweet potatoes
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. Adobo or Lawry’s seasoning salt
black pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 450. Peel and slice potatoes into 1” thick coins. Toss potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lay potatoes in a single layer on the sheet. Cook potatoes about 9 minutes per side. Turn once and serve hot.

Wipe out....

The girls finished their second day of school today, they were happy but completely exhausted. Our little one asked how many more days she has left of school...

I made tacos tonight and while cooking the meat realized I was out of Taco seasoning. I seasoned the ground beef with cumin, Adobo Salt and a little pepper. While the beef cooked, I heated up some refried beans, diced a tomato and some lettuce and pulled out some salsa and shredded cheese from the fridge.

The girls also like red kidney beans and ate those rolled up with their tacos's.

I am wiped out as well and hoping to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

Off without a hitch

The girls woke up and were very excited for school. Below are some pictures of walking to the bus. They ate their "morning muffins" and off we went.

I had a quiet day alone....

Tonight will be leftovers of those panko crusted pork chops and a few bites of the roasted turkey breast I made a couple days ago. I bought some amazing corn from the market today and roasted a head of curried cauliflower. It's very easy and really delicious.

Preheat oven to 425.

Wash and cut cauliflower into large chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and curry powder. Roast on a foil or (preferably) Silpat lined cookied sheet for about 20 minutes being sure to shake the cookie sheet once or twice while it's roasting to make sure the cauliflower roasts evenly.

I ate some for lunch and will have the rest for dinner tonight.

A blink in time

The girls start school tomorrow... I know this is a blog about my evening meals, but I'd like to share a special moment we had tonight.

First let me tell you what we had for dinner. I came home from teaching a cooking class to a cute little girl and her mom, and while driving home noticed the summer light slowly beginning to change. The girls greeted me when I returned home and they both proclaimed they were STARVING!

While I normally never prepare 2 separate meals, Emma was desperate for fried egg whites and turkey bacon, and Abby wanted the crispy Panko crusted pork chops I had planned on making with apple sauce. (Recipe at the end of the blog.) I conceeded and made both dinners which got hungrily wolfed down.

After dinner, the girls asked me to paint their nails and read their bedtime book outside. I agreed on the terms that they do their evening routine (brush teeth, get jammies, pick out clothes for school). Somewhere in between all of the agreements, I forgot that I had promised that I'd make them "morning muffins". These are simply boxed pumpkin muffins with a few mini chocolate chips thrown in, but when you eat them, you need to say (in a very sing-songy voice, "morrrnnninnnng!" It always makes us smile when we eat them, and what better way to start the school year.

The girls sat on the counter and took turns pouring and stirring- we even found my heart shaped muffin tins. I felt so happy to have this as a memory and hope the girls will remember the late summer evening before the first day of school that we happily made Morning Muffins.

LIFE IS GOOD...

Panko crusted pork chops (serve with steamed broccoli and couscous)

1 C. panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 tsp. garlic salt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless thin cut pork loin chops

Preheat a large nonstick pan with ½ tablespoon olive oil. Make a paste with panko, garlic salt and a tablespoon of olive oil in a shallow plate. Rinse pork chops, and coat each chop with the panko paste. Add remainder of olive oil to a large nonstick pan. Sauté in pan on medium high for 2-3 minutes per side or until crispy.

end of summer meal

We have some dear friends who have a summer home across the street from us. We have 2 rituals amongst the many summer days we spend together- the night they arrive we eat pizza together, and the week they leave we eat dinner together. It feels communal and easy. They bring a few things and we do a few things.

Tonight, I roasted a Turkey Breast in a baja marinade I had sitting in the pantry. I threw in a few slices of purple onion, a splash of white wine and cooked it at 375 for about 1 1/2 hours. It did't need any basting and was tender and spicy. I also baked a couple of sweet potatoes and we had a salad.

We sat outside and enjoyed the last few warm hours of the day. The bees came and nibbled on our food, and we eventually moved indoors for a dessert of strawberries and dark chocolates. Tomorrow the girls have a meet & greet at school, and they are very excited.

I ventured to the market today and was greeted by all of the other mom's in our town! There is a palpable energy the few days before school starts, a gearing up, an excitement from not only the kids, but the parents too!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Hello to those of you who are still faithfully checking in wondering where the hell I've been... Well summer has once again slipped through my hands like the drips of a cold popsicle on a warm day. It's August and gasp, I haven't written in 2 months. My apologies.... This does NOT, however mean I have not been cooking. I've made quite a few great dishes this summer. Most recently, I did a TV show where I showed viewers how easy it was to make End of the Summer Gazpacho.

Here's the recipe:
End of Summer Gazpacho

4 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
4 cubes frozen garlic
1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
4 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup or balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tsp. cumin
kosher salt and pepper to taste
croutons


Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss. In a blender or food processor, mix a few cups at a time until just slightly chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil before serving. Serve chilled.
Makes 4 servings.

I also made some extremely easy bite sized cannoli's from these cute little pastry cups I found at Stop and Shop of all places. They've created a great line of store brand items which are fab... These little cups are so versatile, if you're really in a pinch, you can even use tuna salad and shove a little spoonful in a cup with a little garnish of parsley and a dash of cayenne pepper. These cups make everything look beautiful.

This recipe is to make Cannoli Cups:

Mini Cannoli Cups with dark chocolate shavings


1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 cup confectioners' sugar a.k.a. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 bar dark chocolate
1 package mini tartlet cups


Mix ricotta, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until well combined. Fill a Ziplock bag with mixture, cut a small hole at one end of the bag and squeeze mixture into cups. Using a vegetable peeler make shavings of chocolate. Garnish cups with chocolate shavings.

School is starting next week and I hope to be able to begin my daily dinnertime blogs again.

Try these 2 recipes, you can throw together an impromptu late summer dinner party with a few really cold beers.

Grilling greatness

I taught a new class tonight to a great group of friends. It was an all grilling dinner class. We did grilled asian eggplant, grilled white pizzas, grilled shrimp and chicken, hoisin and honey glazed NY strip steaks and grilled pineapple with brown sugar, coconut over pound cake. It was a fun class and the house had an amazing outdoor kitchen.

I have a TV show to do tomorow morning for Channel 8, WTNH, I will be making a French potato salad. To check out the show, you can visit www.wtnh.com and look under Good Morning Weekend Connecticut.

Remember, if anyone has any cooking related questions they'd like answered on the air, you can ask me via my website www.timetoeat.info and click on the Ask Nicole! link I will answer your question on the air.

Oh yes, the other exciting news is that I was just voted Best Cooking Class by the Best of the Gold Coast. More information to follow.

Hoisin honey glazed steak

It was H-O-T here today. I dragged myself out of a lovely air conditioned house to try this new recipe. I served the steak with boiled edamame and some fresh lo mien noodles that I added a little teriyaki sauce to.

Steak recipe: Preheat the grill to high.

In a deep sided dish add:

2 boneless NY strip steaks
about 1/4 C. hoisin sauce
about 2 tablespoons honey
about 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Let marinade for a couple of minutes.

Place the steak on a hot grill, turn down to medium and close the lid. Let cook for about 4 minutes, turn the steaks, cover and let cook for an additional 4 minutes. Remove from the grill and cover loosely with a piece of tented aluminum foil for a minute or two so the steak can rest.

The flavor is very rich and the kids loved it.

I have some pizza dough for tomorrow. It's supposed to be hotter tomorrow and I was contemplating Slurpee's for dinner!!!

Weekend review

Kirk and Abby enjoying the ballgame.

A stunning weekend again in New England. We spent it relaxing out doors. We ate ballpark food on Saturday as we watched the Bridgeport Bluefish, the girls (and Kirk!) had a great time and it was nice to see everyone happy.

Sunday I made the chicken enchiladas again- see previous entries for recipe. This time I served it with Salad, Spanish Rice and refried beans. Kirk missed the enchiladas the first time around and he's working all week, so I wanted to make sure he was able to try them.

dad's dinner

As I imagined, the weekly dad cooked dinners have waned. Truth be told, he's been away most weeknights, but he was home today. It was a no brainer tonight, we had some leftover ground beef and Abby had requested pasta. He made some burgers and pasta and we'll give the kids some garbanzo beans and fresh strawberries that we picked at a farm today.

I have to go to the market tomorrow as we have nothing in the fridge. It's supposed to be a great weekend so I'm thinking about grilling some fish and squid with veggies and making some grilled pizzas with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and basil.

Little nuggets of love

Now I understand why moms feed their kids chicken nuggets in front of the television. I have made my kids homemade chicken fingers which are quite easy to do, but I am heading to work tonight and wasn't in any mood to cook.

We had some leftover dino chicken nuggets in our second freezer in the basement from when my in-laws came out. I stumbled across them and decided, "what the hell?!" I nuked them for a couple of minutes, served the last of the angel hair pasta and some sliced raw veggies.

The girls thought I was a rock-star, they were practically dancing! I felt a little guilty about doing this, but my motto is, "everything in moderation." As a kid, I remember eating those frozen dinners with the little dessert and the Salisbury steak and thought it was such a treat!

I'm headed to Greenwich to do a class tonight and am, quite frankly, looking forward to getting out of the house for a couple of hours.

Keeping up...

As you can see, the blog is the first thing to get dumped at the end of the day. I have, in fact, been making dinner every night, but by the days end, I am usually too tired to report on our meal.

Last night I grilled a couple T-Bone steaks that I had marinated in some Soy Vay island Teriyaki sauce, it's a great all purpose sauce and makes everything taste great. I made some spaghetti with olive oil, butter, salt and Parmesan cheese which the girls LOVED, proclaiming, " this is the B-E-S-T pasta" they had ever had. We had a salad with dinner too, the girls eating the cucumber and carrots.

I made Chicken Enchiladas last night for tonight's meal. It is incredibly easy. If I had known it was that easy, I would have been making them sooner.

I sauteed a little olive oil in a pan, added in about 1/2 C. of frozen diced onions. I recently found these at the store and they've been working well. I added in about 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sprinkled them with Adobo seasoning and let them brown for about 4 minutes. I turned the chicken, added in about 1 cup of Trader Joe's Frozen Roasted Corn and a large can (about 2 Cups) of red enchilada sauce. I turned the heat down to medium low and let cook covered for 25-30 minutes.

The chicken is moist and breaks apart easily with a fork.

I took a casserole pan and added a little of the sauce to the bottom of the pan. I added in about 2 cups of 2% shredded cheddar cheese to the chicken mixture and stirred until the cheese was incorporated.

I used corn tortillas and added in a few spoonfuls of the chicken mixture. I folded them up and put them seam side down in the pan. I did this until the pan was full, then added a little more of the chicken mixture to the top of the casseroles. I also added in a few teaspoons of diced green chilies to the top of the mixture as well as a little more cheese.

I'm going to cook it uncovered in the oven at 400 for 18-20 minutes. If I'm motivated, I'll make some Spanish rice and beans to go with it, but the girls want to swim now and I might not be up for it.

In any event, we have fresh pineapple and more cucumber and carrots from last nights meal.