Yummy Black beans and rice!

I topped myself tonight for black beans and rice. It's a meal that the kids like and we do too.

I made an Adobo Spanish rice according to the package- nothing fancy...

I heated a little olive oil (about 2 tsp) in a pan with a lid. When the oil began to shimmer, I added in 3 cubes of frozen garlic and about 1 C. of diced onion. I sauteed the onion for 3 minutes until they began to brown a little. I added a good couple shakes of Adobo seasoning, a couple pinches of ground pepper and a bay leaf. I found chicken sausage at the market yesterday and added in 4 links to the pan. I let those brown for about 5 minutes and added in 2 cans of black beans. I stirred the beans around until everything was incorporated, then I added in a can of petite diced tomatoes with jalapenos.

I turned the heat to medium low, covered the pan and let everything cook for about 35 minutes. I added in a handful of roughly chopped cilantro and the juice from 1/2 a lime.

While the beans were cooking, I boiled some corn and made a little compound butter with butter, cayenne pepper, chopped cilantro and lime which I smeared on the corn.

The kids ate the rice and surprisingly the beans. I wasn't sure they would eat it with the tomatoes and cilantro, but they did just fine. They would not however eat the sausage...

a long day...

I am pooped! Tuesday's are our long day with after school activities. I went to the market today and planned on making spanish rice and beans, but was just plain lazy today.

My neighbor and I decided to share a pizza with the kids. I heated up some of the soup from yesterday and threw together a salad for us. We finished off the meal with some dark chocolate nonpareils.

I am ready for bed!!!

Turkey meatballs 2 ways

Another cooooold night here. I had some leftover ground turkey and had a little time to make meatballs. These are very healthy and versatile. I put the turkey in a bowl and added 1/4 C. of egg whites, about 1/4 C. breadcrumbs, 2 cubes frozen garlic, 3 cubes frozen parsley, a good pinch of salt and pepper. I mushed it all together with my hands and proceeded to roll small (about the circumference of a quarter, maybe a little bigger) meatballs.

While I rolled the meatballs, I heated a little olive oil (about 2 tbs) in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. As soon as the oil was hot, I added a bunch of the meatballs to the pan and browned on all sides. Add enough so that they don't touch and are not squished together. Let them get good and brown on the outside- DON'T rush this part. It takes about 15 minutes. Shake the pan around every so often so they roll around and brown on all sides.

When they are browned, remove them from the pan- they will NOT be cooked through.

I make a yummy soup with these, and it's so simple.

Add 2 boxes of chicken stock to a pot and let come to a boil. Peel and finely chop 3 carrots and 3 stalks of celery. Add to the soup. Add in a bunch of the meatballs and let it come to a quiet boil for at least 30 minutes.

In another smaller pot, boil water and once boiling, add in 1 C. of tiny star shaped pasta ( I believe it is called Pastina), or ditalini if you can't find the other. Cook until al dente and add to soup. Don't add the cooked pasta in too early as it will get a little mushy.

The other thing you can do with the meatballs of course is cook them in some tomato sauce and eat them with pasta. They are so flavorful and so much healthier than beef.

Garlicky swiss chard and mustard seed carrots

I worked this weekend and we had an early dinner with our dear friends up the street. It's something that I really enjoy doing. A meal always feels special to me when it is shared with people I love.

We did our usual, bring what ever is in the fridge and we'll make something out of it. I brought some rainbow Swiss chard, some shrimp, and a bag of shredded carrots. I made some garlickly Swiss chard which is both delicious and very easy.

Heat a large nonstick pan on high, add either frozen garlic cubes or garlic paste- a good amount (4 cubes or a tbs.) Wash and chop the chard. When the oil begins to sizzle, add the chard to the pan and saute for 6 minutes or until the stem pieces have become soft and the leaves have cooked down. Add a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Serve.

My friend turned me on to mustard seeds and I decided to saute the shredded carrots in some olive oil and mustard seeds. Basically, heat a little oil in a large nonstick pan and add in a couple tbs. of mustard seeds, when they start to pop, add in the shredded carrots and saute for about 8 minutes or until the carrots have become soft. Add a pinch of salt and sugar and serve. I think this might be one of my new favorite side dishes.

My kids wouldn't touch the carrots, but her kids ate it- go figure!!!

Friday night fish sticks (again!)

Well my kids officially like fish, even if it is dredged in Panko, it's a starting point!

I made homemade fish sticks again and they loved it again. I decided to broil a few pieces of tilapia for myself.

Here's how I made it.

Preheat oven to broil. Move rack to top 1/3 of oven. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place 4 pieces of tilapia on foil. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add a pinch of kosher salt, pepper and a little sprinkle of Greek Seasoning.

Broil in the oven for 7 minutes until cooked through and squeeze a bit of lemon juice on fish before serving.

I ate the fish with some Thai coconut lime rice that I bought at TJ's the other day. It's cooked rice that is shelf stable- I had to try it! I nuked it for 2 minutes and it was very tasty. I have to admit that I was surprised, I didn't have high hopes for this rice, but it was really good.

The girls have fallen in love with Nutella, it's their new favorite treat! We'll be ready for Paris in no time! LOL

I'm bringing Abby on WTNH tomorrow morning to help me make 15 Minute Soup. You can watch the video on wtnh.com and click on Good Morning Weekend CT.

Oven baked spare ribs- papa style

I went for a haircut today and left Kirk to make dinner. Well, didn't leave him entirely alone, I left him exact directions to make oven baked spareribs, jasmine rice and edamame. The meal was delicious and the kids were very happy.

Here's the recipe:

8 pork spareribs
1/2 C. hoisin sauce
1/4 C. honey
2 tsp. soy sauce

Preheat oven to 450. While oven preheats add all ingredients into a casserole (deep sided) pan. Stir around to combine and bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes. Ribs will be juicy and tender and the flavor is sweet and tangy.

I made the girls little Nutella tartlets tonight for dessert. I spread a little Nutella into these tiny tartlet cups that I ordered from Niftyfoods.com They have lots of different shapes and pretty much anything you add to these little cups makes them look fancy. I've even been known to spread a little pb and a slice of banana for the girls for a special dessert.

I will be doing a cooking segment this Saturday for WTNH, channel 8 in CT at 7:50 a.m., it's a 15 minute soup. Would love to hear from you if you have any cooking questions on my website www.timetoeat.info click Ask Nicole.

:)

Homemade fish sticks

The kids are flopped on the couch watching cartoons, and I am heading off to make fish sticks for dinner.

I had an interesting meeting today with a woman who is spearheading school lunch reform. She made a documentary called
2 Angry Moms which shows the state of what our kids are consuming at school, it is truly frightening. We are hoping to collaborate cooking classes for moms to support healthier kids meals at home and at school. Check out the website, it's a worthy cause.

Here is the recipe for quick fish sticks:

2 pieces of Tilapia
¼ C. Canola or vegetable oil
1/2 C. egg white or 1 egg
½ C. Seasoned flour ( 3 parts flour to 1 part Lawry’s seasoning salt)
½ C. Panko bread crumbs
1 tsp. Garlic salt

Heat canola oil in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat. Rinse and slice tilapia into 1” long strips. In a bowl whisk egg. In a plate, combine panko, seasoned flour, and garlic salt. Dip fish into egg, then panko mixture and cook for 1 ½- 2 minutes per side.

Quick Tip- Serve with steamed broccoli, peas or green beans for a super fast, super healthy meal.

Tacos and wafer cakes

We had a really nice family meal tonight. It was so good because there was no whining or complaining, but smiles and lots of talking.

I share a carpool with a friend and it was her turn to drive today. While they were at gymnastics, I made soft tacos with lean ground beef.

I also made more of the broiled boneless, skinless chicken thighs which we enjoyed the other night.
For those of you who missed the recipe, I rinsed boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I turned the oven to broil and lined a cookie sheet with foil. I placed the chicken on the sheet and drizzled a little olive oil over them. I them sprinkled some Adobo seasoning and a little garlic salt and pepper to the thighs. I moved the oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and broiled the chicken thighs for about 18 minutes. They were tender and very flavorful.

We grated some cheddar cheese, thinly sliced some lettuce and reheated the leftover Spanish rice from the other night. I also warmed up some flour tortillas in the oven that I wrapped in foil so that they would stay soft.

I had chicken tacos and the girls loved their beef tacos. Generally I use 90% lean ground sirloin when I make tacos, as any leaner and they would dry out. Because you add a little water to the taco seasoning, it helps keep the beef moist.

The girls made a whipped cream and chocolate wafer cake yesterday at their MLK camp. We ate this for dessert and it was surprisingly good. From what I gathered, they layered whipped cream with chocolate wafer cookies into little disposable loaf pans, and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

I gave the girls the option of fish sticks or shrimp for tomorrow night, they both chose fish sticks, so I will share my quick homemade fish stick recipe with you for tomorrow.

French Onion Soup

It's Martin Luther King Day and the girls have just returned from a cool day at the Westport Historical Society full of arts, crafts and cooking. They came home with some kind of a cake with chocolate wafers and whipped cream.

I am making French Onion Soup, one of my favorites because not only is it delicious, but there are minimal number of ingredients- what better could anyone ask for?

Begin by heating a large soup pot on high. Add a tablespoon of butter and about 2 tbs. of olive oil. While that heats, thinly slice 3 onions and 2 leeks. I just found a package of 2 prepped leeks at Trader Joe's today. You still need to slice and wash them, as they hold a lot of sand in them. The easiest way I've found to wash leeks is to slice them in half lengthwise, then thinly slice them into 1/2 moons. Add them to a bowl of water and submerge them for a minute. Here's the important part**- Don't drain the water, but remove the leeks by hand leaving the water and sand in the bowl.

Add the sliced onions and leeks to the pot and stir around so they incorporate with the olive oil and butter. Cook for 5-7 minutes until they begin to soften. Add a large pinch of salt, pepper and dried thyme. Stir occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Next, add in 2 or 3 32oz. boxes of beef broth. You can adjust the quantity of soup you want by varying the liquid. Cover and let boil for 45 minutes.

Before serving the soup, ladle into oven proof bowls, add a toasted baguette slice and a pinch of the grated Gruyere cheese. Place the bowls of soup on a cookie sheet and broil for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

You can slice the baguette and toast it a day ahead of time. The Gruyere cheese can also be pre-grated a day or 2 before using.

Mexican chicken thighs

I have been in a bit of a food rut for the past 3 days, we have been picking at this and that, and the kids have really been pesky about their meals. I made homemade chicken tenders the other day, we ate pasta one day and I think they ate ramen soup another day.

Today was a new day and I bought some boneless, skinless, chicken thighs. They are healthy and very fast. I made a box of the knorr Spanish rice, and made the chicken.

It was very easy and the kids liked it.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 500. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place the chicken thighs on the sheet. Sprinkle the chicken with Adobo seasoning, a little garlic salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Because the thighs are skinless and boneless, they have about 20 more calories than a chicken breast, but a ton more flavor and they almost never dry out.

Bake the chicken for about 17 minutes. They don't even need to be turned. After about 15 minutes, turn the oven to broil and cook for another 1-2 minutes. We served this with some salad and the kids ate it up! I was planning to serve it with black beans, but we were out.

I am going to make French Onion soup tomorrow night for dinner with sauteed green beans.

Also, I am going to do WTNH on Saturday- if anyone has any cooking questions, please feel free to email me on my website www.timetoeat.info and click on the Ask Nicole button on the homepage.

Ciao!

Chili on the ritz!

Ok, so it's a reach. I reheated the chili to have for dinner tonight and the kids put up a fuss, it must be something in the air. Abby ate all of the beans out of hers and a little meat, and Emma ate a couple bites, then got herself some grapefruit sections, shredded cheese and turkey pepperoni slices. Again, not a bad choice. The 2 times she hasn't liked dinner, she has made pretty good, healthy alternative choices.

Abby pulled out a sleeve of Ritz crackers and proceeded to make little "chili sandwiches" as she aptly named them. This got almost all of the chili eaten and she was quite proud of her new recipe.

Emma is having a friend over for dinner tomorrow night, so I will make hamburgers and baked fries with sliced veggies. No recipes to add for tomorrow. I'll look for another recipe to post.

Hoping to get out of this food rut with the kids.

(Almost) 15 Minute Chili

Here is a new photo that is going to the website www.timetoeat,info

The "big" snow never happened last night and we were lucky if we got an inch!

I happily sent 2 unhappy kids off to school today and had a lovely day.

I made chili tonight in what seemed like record time.

Heated a high sided pan with a lid on high heat. Added a tbs. of olive oil and 1 thinly sliced onion. Sauteed for 3 minutes, added a handful of pre-sliced mushrooms and cooked an additional 2 minutes. While those were cooking I opened- BUT DID NOT ADD- 2 cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed them, and 2 cans of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs.

I added to the pan about 1 lb, of 90% lean ground beef and broke it up with a wooden spoon until there were no big chunks. I cooked the beef for about 6 minutes or until there was no visible pink. Then I added in the rinsed beans and diced tomatoes with their juice.

I added in a 1/2 packet of leftover taco seasoning, a pinch of salt and a good shake of cumin. I let all of this come for a boil, then reduced the heat to medium low, covered and let cook for another 20 minutes.

The girls ate their dinner without incidence tonight, and I had the leftover hoisin beef stir fry from last night.

I am working on the new series of cooking classes set to begin in Mid- March. There will be a new food and wine series which should be a great one!

If you are not on my email list, please email me via the website or leave me a note here and I will send you an email when the schedule is finalized.

Hoisin glazed steak stir fry

The threat of snow is before us, and everyone was at the market today!

I bought some steak for stir fry, (which is just thinly sliced steak), sliced mushrooms, onion, and some ingredients for chili and salad. I also bought some oxtails to make soup.

I will quickly tell you the oxtail soup, which I normally love, turned out flavorless and dull- so I threw it out!

I made a stir fry by adding a little oil to a hot pan. I sliced a 1/2 an onion thinly and added that to the pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. I added in the sliced mushrooms and a handful of julienned bamboo shoots ( I had a can laying around the pantry) which I cooked for another minute. Before removing those from the pan, I added a little soy sauce.

I removed the veggies from the pan, and added in the sliced steak and 2-3 tbs. of hoisin sauce. I cooked the steak for about 3 minutes. The steak cooks really quickly and once it was cooked through, I added it to the plate of stir fry.

The kids HATED it!!! I made them each try a bite, which they did with scrunched up faces and noises too.

Emma said she was making her own dinner. I said fine, what was she planning to make? She made thinly sliced toast, washed a peach and had a little peanut butter.

I guess the upshot from tonight is that my kids were crafty about coming up with their own plan for dinner.

Vietnamese food in NYC

Went into New York today and it was R-A-I-N-Y!!

I was in Soho and stumbled upon one of my most favorite types of food in the whole world- Vietnamese/Thai food. It's called BUN, and it's on 143 Grand Street. I went for a late lunch and had a delicious spring roll with shrimp, carrots, fresh mint and basil, and a peanut sauce.

It was so yummy that I got a bun to take home. Bun is the name for a noodle dish they serve with a variety of different toppings. It starts with thin cellophane noodles with shredded lettuce, carrot, scallions and fresh basil and mint leaves. The toppings I got were grilled shrimp, pork and lamb meatballs. It is served with a sweet and vinegary dressing that you pour on when you're ready to eat.

I brought this home on the train and took the girls to Elvira's, our local deli. One got cheese pizza, the other got a hamburger patty and fries.

By the way, they each tried a bite of the fish, and Emma even asked for another bite, which totally surprised me! The philosophy really does work of having your kids try little bites of everything.

A while ago they ordered the Betty Crocker Cake decorator which they had been seeing commercials for on TV. I told them they could use their allowance to order it, and they did. It arrived today and they were so excited! There is nothing like using your own money to buy something and the anticipation of waiting for its arrival!

Broiled cod with fennel and corn

I have high hopes for tonight's dinner. I KNOW my husband and I will like the meal, but I'm not sure about the kids. For those of you who know my philosophy about dinner, ONE MEAL & ONE TABLE, everyone can find some part of it they will eat.

This is what you'll need for the fish:
6 oz. of a firm fleshed white fish (cod, scrod or haddock are all good)
2 tbs. olive oil
pinch of kosher salt and pepper
1 lemon for zesting
2 tbs. butter
1/4 C. white wine or chicken stock

Preheat oven to broil. Move rack to top 1/3 of oven. while the oven heats, line a cookie sheet with foil and rub a little olive oil on the foil.

Place the cod on the foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, add a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper and the zest from a lemon. Broil in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until cod begins to look flaky and is no longer iridescent.

To make a quick beurre blanc sauce, melt butter in a small sauce pan, when it has melted add in wine or chicken stock and let boil for 2-3 minutes or until it has reduced by half.


What you'll need for the roasted fennel and corn:
1 head of fennel
2 C. frozen roasted corn kernels (regular frozen corn kernels are fine too)
2 tbs. olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper

** I will tell you that I was never a big fan of fennel. I love black licorice, just not in my meal. I had roasted fennel in a vegetable burrito a while ago and fell in love with it's sweet and mild flavor.

This mixture can be made earlier in the day.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or a Silpat mat if you have one.

Remove the green part of the fennel, and trim the bottom of the white bulb. Quarter the fennel then thinly slice. Add the sliced fennel to a bowl with the frozen corn. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper to bowl and stir to combine.

Lay the mixture on the cookie sheet so it does not overlap. Roast for 10 minutes, stir the mixture around, then roast for another 8 or so minutes until it's nicely browned. Remove, and place in a bowl until ready to use.

Before serving, add roasted vegetable mixture to top of fish and ladle sauce over fish and vegetables.

We are going to serve this with couscous. Although there is a good chance the kids might only eat couscous for dinner, they will at least try the fish and veg!

Smoked Gouda, prosciutto and zucchini pizza

I bought pizza dough at the market today, some smoked Gouda cheese, and a couple of zucchini.

I let the dough rise tonight and made 1/4 of the pizza with plain cheese, 1/4 of the pizza with turkey pepperoni- if you've never had these, they are amazing and my kids love them.

The other 1/2 of the pizza, I spread a little tomato sauce, added 3 slices of prosciutto, grated some smoked Gouda cheese, which was added next, and grated a zucchini which I added to the top of the sauce. I sprinkled a little black pepper on the grated zucchini and baked in a preheated 500 degree oven for 12 minutes.

I usually just spray the back of a cookie sheet with Pam and spread the dough out on the back. The pizza slides off easily and it's easy to clean.

I had a little left over grated zucchini which I sauteed in a little olive oil and frozen garlic cubes. It was delicious as a veg. side dish.

We also had steamed green beans which everyone ate happily!

Spanish rice and beans

I went for a long walk with a friend today and enjoyed the unseasonable weather in CT.

Dinner tonight was easy, I rummaged around my pantry for a can of black beans, a box of Spanish rice and I reheated the leftover chicken from last night.

The beans I doctored by sauteing 1/2 an onion in a little olive oil in a pan on medium high heat. Cook for 4 minutes, add in 2 cubes of frozen garlic and stir around until it melts. Add in the beans, and add a couple shakes of Adobo seasoning and a pinch of black pepper. Cook on medium low heat until ready to eat. Before serving, squeeze the juice from 1/2 lime and add a couple fresh cilantro leaves if you have them. The kids loved the beans- WITHOUT the cilantro and mixed them in with their rice. In fact, my little one even asked for beans and rice for lunch tomorrow.

We revisited adding more vegetables into our vocabulary and I will be making a pizza with shredded zucchini, garlic and olive oil with smoked gouda tomorrow. Exact recipe to follow after I come up with one!!!

Fuss-free roasted chicken

Wheeee, the kids are back at school today, it was over 50 degrees here and roasted chicken is on the menu.

The roasted chicken is a staple dinner in our house, the girls love it and we do too. I baked some potatoes and threw some carrots and celery into the roasting pan.

Here's how to roast a chicken:

Preheat oven to 425.

Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons into a bowl, add about 1/4 C. olive oil, and a couple pats of butter. Add either a) Lawry's season salt, b) adobo sazon or c) Old Bay seasoning to the bowl. Add a pinch of pepper and stir to combine. It's ok if the butter is clumpy.

Rinse the chicken and pull out the "bag of goodies" from the cavity. Rinse and place around the roasting pan. Place the chicken in the pan, and with your index and middle finger, separate the breast skin from the meat. If you are gentle, it won't break. Spoon 3/4 of the lemon, olive oil mixture in the pocket between the meat and skin. Put the chunks of butter there too. It keeps the breast meat very tender and flavorful and makes a great crispy skin.

Spoon the remaining mixture to the top of the chicken and add about 1/2 C. of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast for 50-55 minutes, or until the juices run clear when poked with a knife.

I sometimes turn the stove off when the chicken is cooked and leave the chicken to stay warm in the oven until we're ready to eat.

Everyone was happy tonight and we have 2 whole chicken breasts for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

Roasted curried cauliflower

Abby brought home a GIANT trophy from her chess tourney today, well- all of the kindergartners brought home giant trophies. She had fun and is quite proud of herself. Needless to say, we were all pretty tired from the excitement of the day.

We hung around the house and I made some curried roasted cauliflower and some "shake n bake" style thinly sliced pork chops.

I combined:
1/2 C. panko
1 C. Italian bread crumbs
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 tsp. garlic salt
pinch of black pepper

I dipped the chops in milk, then rolled them in the breading. I baked them in the oven at 450 on a foil lined cookie sheet for about 18 minutes. They were tasty, but not as crunchy as the "shake". I think if I were to add some cornmeal that would have crisped them up a bit. Try it and let me know.

Here is a delicious recipe for roasted curried cauliflower. I tend to go pretty light on the curry so my kids will eat it.

Preheat oven to 450. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Cut cauliflower into quarters then quarter again. Arrange cauliflower on cookie sheet so they don't overlap.

Drizzle a little olive oil on the cauliflower, you can go light, it's just so the curry has something to adhere to.

Sprinkle about a teaspoon of curry over all of the cauliflower. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 18-20 minutes, The cauliflower browns beautifully and tastes great!

I have a chicken I am going to roast tomorrow night with carrots, shallots and celery.

Indian food!

It's Saturday night, and we've just returned from our friends house. Their parents were visiting, they are Indian and when we are invited for dinner, it is something we NEVER refuse.

Tonight's dinner was Basmati rice, a potato dish that is mashed cooked potato with an assortment of spices, a sauteed okra with mustard seed that is my favorite, Pouri- which are hand rolled flat breads that are fried until they puff up, and a sauce that is turmeric colored and had pearl onions and a bunch of amazing spices.

It was all so incredible, and I love to watch her cook, it's the way my grandmother taught me, use your senses, visual, smell, touch. She just knows how much of a certain spice to add.

We came home later than usual tonight, and we have to wake up early as Abby has her first chess tournament tomorrow morning, we are all so excited for her.

Sorry I can't give you any recipes from tonight's meal, I don't even know all of the spices she was using.

I bought cauliflower and thin pork chops for tomorrow night's dinner. Recipe to follow.

Shake 'n' Bake

While wandering the aisles of the supermarket the other day, I came across a box of shake 'n' bake. It looked promising, (like breadcrumbs and panko right?) so I bought it.

I baked 2 potatoes tonight, made a large salad and crispy chicken tenders. These were so easy, and suprisingly healthy too.

Here's the recipe:

8-10 chicken tenderloins- these are the boneless, skinless, little chicken breast pieces that are available in the meat/poultry section of the market

1 C. egg whites- we use the egg beaters type

2 packets of Shake 'n' Bake

Preheat oven to 400 and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Rinse chicken and dip in egg whites. Add shake 'n' bake to a ziplock bag. Drop in egg dipped chicken tenders and shake. Lay chicken on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

You don't need to turn the chicken pieces and they come out really crispy. The cool thing is that you don't need to use any oil to cook the chicken.

I'm going to try to emulate the ingredients and see how it turns out: It's going to look something like this-
1 cup Panko
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Adobo seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Everyone loved dinner tonight!

Lentil soup for cold days

The girls last day of Christmas vacation was yesterday and it was too cold to venture out, so we hung around the house, and did some cooking.

We made the turkey chili (see old blog entries for recipe) which they love and I made lentil soup which I did a shortcut version of in Abby's classroom last month.

Here is the real version.

2 tbs. olive oil
3 cubes frozen garlic
1 onion, diced
1 C. sliced carrot
2-3 stalks of sliced celery
1 1/2 C. canned diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
2 C. rinsed lentils
1 tsp. adobo seasoning (or any seasoned salt)
good pinch of black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 C. chicken stock

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add garlic cubes and onion and saute for 3-4 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Add carrot and celery and stir to combine. Add diced tomatoes and lentils.

*Most dried beans, peas, etc... need to be rinsed before you use them, sometimes there are little "bits" that will float to the surface, simply remove them with a spoon, drain the water and add the lentils to the soup.

Add in adobo seasoning, pepper, bay leaves and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook on low for 45 minutes until lentils are softened.

We leave this soup on very low and let it cook all day. It was delicious and I can't wait to have it for lunch.

Happy 2008

Well, we've made it to the beginning of yet another new year. I always feel like September is the beginning of the new year for me, new backpacks, lunchboxes, outfits, etc.. January feels like the end of a very long race, which begins with the start of the school year, rounds the corner with Halloween, followed by an all out sprint from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

I welcome the quiet of January and am hoping for a little snow. We had a great day today, went to 2 New Year's day open house parties. There was wonderful food at both of them. The first had a spread with lentil soup, turkey chili, veggies, fruit salad, and an enormous platter of cookies. Everyone always seems so much more relaxed at these parties because the stress of the holidays is over and people can just relax and enjoy themselves.

The other party had a warm fireplace and I was surrounded by dear friends as well. I need to go to the market tomorrow and am planning on making some panko crusted chicken tenderloins with a tangy lemon sauce, a baked potato and a veg, maybe green beans if they look good.

I also want to make a red snapper dish that I made a while ago with a coconut rice and kidney beans. The other thing I'd like to make this week is black beans and rice, or a black bean soup.

Tomorrow is the girls last day before they return to school-yippee!!

I wish everyone a calm and peaceful new year.