Cumin and lime scented shrimp

I am doing a party on Saturday and spent most of today prepping. I made a yummy marinade for shrimp that I wanted to share with you, they are a little spicy, but ohhhh so good.

Juice from 4 limes
2 tbs. garlic salt
4 cubes frozen garlic
1 tbs. cumin
1 tbs. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 lb. uncooked, peeled and cleaned shrimp
1 tbs. butter

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Add shrimp and stir to combine. Heat a large nonstick pan on high and add butter. When butter has melted and is bubbly, add shrimp (not marinade) and cook 45 seconds per side. Eat immediately! We tried a few tonight and they were amazing. I can't wait to make them for my friends.

Baked apples with maple syrup and dried cranberries

It has been a very busy week here and sad to say, we have been eating out more often this week. We went to the diner one night, the kids had eggs and bacon, and last night we ordered in Chinese food, a delicious soup with chicken, soba noodles and veggies.

I had the kids try bok choi, one didn't like it (surprise, surprise...) and the other one loved it and asked for more. After Saturday, things will slow down a little. Thankfully, we have some frozen turkey chili (I made a while ago ) that we will eat tonight.

I wanted to share a baked apple recipe that I taught today in a soup's class.

1 ½ cups pomegranate juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. candied ginger, chopped
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
4 medium Honey Crisp apples, cored
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine first 6 ingredients. Stir well; set aside.
Peel top half of each apple; place in a shallow roasting pan. Fill centers of apples evenly with cranberries and pecans. Pour cranberry-maple mixture over apples. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes or until tender, basting apples twice with syrup from pan. To serve, drizzle with remaining syrup.

Homemade apple sauce

We have a bowl of apples sitting on our counter from our apple picking venture a couple weeks ago. They look too old to eat, but too good to throw out.

I made apple sauce (and bread) this morning and it was the easiest and fastest thing ever.

There are exactly 3 ingredients.

apples ( I peeled and cored about 8)
about 1/2 C. of water
about 1/4 C. of sugar

Throw everything in a pot, cover and let boil until the apples are soft. Using a hand held blender, puree until smooth. I am going to try using agave the next time I made this and see how it turn out. If you try it, let me know.

Transfer to a bowl and cool in the refrigerator. We ate it for dessert tonight and my littlest requested it for breakfast.

The bread I made was the no-knead one I did last year (the recipe is somewhere in the blog) with black pepper and Parmesan. It is easy, but NOT fast. It takes almost 2 days. It was delicious and we enjoyed it fresh from the oven this morning for breakfast.

Dinner was pounded boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I dredged in panko, a little Greek Seasoning and a dash of garlic salt. Brown them in a large nonstick pan with a little bit of oil (I used Safflower).

You don't need to cook them all the way through because they will get transferred to the oven at 350 for about 15 more minutes. I boiled a little pasta and peas with Parmesan cheese.

It is 7 p.m., lunches are made, clothes are put away, and the kids are blessedly asleep. I am going to crawl into bed early and get a good nights sleep.

Try the apple sauce, it is delicious.

healthy homemade french fries

Our old neighbors came over tonight for dinner and I made hamburgers, french fries, broccoli, asparagus and cucumbers.

I wanted to share a fantastic and healthy way to make french fries that you won't feel bad about eating!

Peel 4-5 potatoes, cut in half lengthwise. Using the Vidalia Chop Wizard (see earlier blog), cut each potato half using the large chopper. Place on a silpat lined cookie sheet (you can also use aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray).

Preheat the oven to 450. Drizzle olive oil and Lawry's seasoning salt on the potatoes and toss gently with your hands to coat the potatoes. Bake for 15-18 minutes and turn using a spatula. Bake for an additional 15 minutes until crisp.

The potatoes were crisp but NOT greasy and so delicious, we all enjoyed a great dinner together.

Tomorrow we are going to see the elephants at the circus!

Fresh Thai Spring Rolls

I taught a Food and Wine Thai cooking class today at Peacock and wanted to share a recipe for those yummy fresh spring rolls that the Thai restaurants charge $10-$12 each for.

The dipping sauce is the best and really makes these irresistible! Give them a try.

Fresh Spring Rolls
For the Rolls:

16 (8-1/2 inch) round rice paper wrappers
16 cooked shrimp, cut in half lengthwise
1 peeled and julienned English cucumber
2 cups carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
32 fresh mint leaves
32 sprigs fresh cilantro


For the rolls: Fill a large bowl with hot water. Place a clean kitchen towel next to the bowl. Submerge 1 rice paper wrapper in the water and soak it until softened, about 1 minute. Carefully remove the rice paper from the water and lay it flat on the towel. In the center of the sheet, layer 2 pieces of shrimp, 1 Tbs. cucumber, and 2 Tbs. of grated carrots. Place 2 mint leaves and 2 cilantro sprigs over the mixture and fold the bottom of the wrapper over the filling. Fold both sides inward over the filling, then roll up in egg roll fashion. Place seam side down on a plate and repeat the process with the remaining rice papers and filling ingredients. Once all the wrappers have been assembled, cut each spring roll in half on the bias so that you have 32 pieces. Place the spring rolls on a platter and serve with the dipping sauce at room temperature.

Note: Spring Rolls can be assembled up to 1 hour in advance. Keep refrigerated, covered with damp paper towels and wrapped in plastic wrap.

Spring Roll Dipping Sauce:

½ C. coconut palm sugar or 1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
2 cubes frozen ginger
2 cubes frozen garlic
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon grated carrots
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro


In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, vinegar, lime zest and juice, soy sauce, salt, fish sauce, ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Strain sauce into a clean, non-reactive bowl, and add the crushed red pepper flakes. Allow the sauce to cool completely before adding the carrots and cilantro. Serve in a decorative bowl alongside the spring rolls.

Cauliflower soup with truffle oil and chives

I have been wanting to do this for a while, but the weather has been too warm, we had a soup party. I made 4 pots of soup and invited some neighbors over to drop in for a visit and have a bowl (or 2) of soup. Soups are so great for this type of party because they can just sit on the stove and simmer.

I also had a little platter of cheese, crackers and sliced apples as well as a loaf of zucchini bread.

I made black bean soup, which I've written about before, french onion soup (ditto), a creamy corn chowder, and a soup that I had years ago and never forgot, pureed cauliflower soup with truffle oil and chives. I made my own version of it which is quite healthy.

The recipe is so easy and everyone said it was their favorite.

Buy 1 head of cauliflower, rinse and cut into smallish pieces.

Saute 1 finely chopped onion in a little olive oil in a large stock pot for 4-5 minutes or until onion is slightly golden. Add 8 cups of chicken stock (2 boxes) to the pot. Add cauliflower, and let boil until soft (about 12-15 minutes, or until a knife can be inserted easily).

Using either a hand blender or a mixer, puree the soup until smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper. I used the Chardonay Smoked Fleur De Sel from Whole Foods that is amazing and a generous amount of pepper. Add in about 3-4 Tablespoons of truffle oil, it is very expensive, but so worth the price as the flavor is dramatic and intense.

The trick to this soup is to let it cook for a couple hours on medium low so the flavors develop.

I made the soup up to this point 1 day in advance. Today I put the pot back on the stove on low heat and added in about 1/2 C of finely dived chives.

Continue cooking on low heat until ready to serve. Garnish with a small drizzle of the truffle oil before serving and a small pinch of fresh chives.

This recipe makes a large pot of soup, but it so delicious and HEALTHY you won't feel bad about having 2 or 3 bowls.

Have a soup party, it's a fun way to enjoy your friends.

Pulled pork quesadillas

I bought some cooked pulled pork at Trader Joe's yesterday and thought they might be yummy on quesadillas. I am going warm the pulled pork, chop some lettuce and warm some tortillas.

We have some beautiful fresh strawberries and pineapple for a fruit salad and some leftover edamame from last night.

Easy dinner, will let you know if the kiddies liked it.

Ballpark chicken baby!

A journalist came to the house tonight at dinnertime and I decided to make ballpark chicken, edamame and couscous.

Our oven is (still) broken so I had to make it stove top. I added olive oil and a few garlic cubes to a large nonstick pan with a lid. Next add boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Add a little garlic salt and cracked pepper. Add about 1/4 C. of ketchup and yellow mustard to the pan. Brown chicken thighs on both sides, then add about 1/2 C. chicken stock. Cover and reduce heat to medium.

Add in about 1 C. of frozen sliced peppers (I bought some from Trader Joe's). Continue cooking until the sauce has cooked down and thickened up. About 15 minutes.

While the chicken cooks, boil water for edamame and make couscous in a 3rd pan ( I didn't like using 3 pans, but could find no other way..)

Everyone ate and was happy.

I bought some cooked pulled pork from TJ's that I am going to make black bean quesadilla's with tomorrow night, will tell you how they turn out.

Chef Nicole on WGCH radio on Tuesday

I will be a guest on Doryn's Dish radio show on WGCH 1440 a.m. on Tuesday, October 14th from 9-10 a.m.

I'd love to have some call in's with any cooking questions. The number is (203)869-1490. You can also listen live on their website http://www.wgch.com.

I made lentil soup again today and have to tell you about a great gadget I've begun to use. I don't usually fall for any new kitchen gadget that claims to make life easier, but my girlfriend has one of these and I just had to try it.

I was suspicious because it was available at CVS, it's called the Vidalia Chop WIzard. Basically it chops things into small and really small pieces. It's so easy to use and I have been chopping EVERYTHING!!

I made 3 apple pies, and chopped the apples, I made my whole mis en place (all the veggies for the soup) in about 5 minutes, everything was equally chopped, and it was sooooo easy.

The soup was fantastic, and we had my neighbor over. Even the kids ate the soup again.

The other nice thing about this chopped is that it's small and doesn't have a lot of extra parts that I always lose.

The next time you're in CVS pick one up, they're great!

Turkey meatballs (the easy way) and pasta

I am sleepy already, and it's only 10:50 in the morning. For dinner, I am going to my pantry and freezer.

Whole Foods makes fantastic turkey meatballs that are frozen. I cook them frozen in a jar of sauce and boil some pasta.

That's it, dinner in a snap.

I'll slice some cucumber and apples for dinner and we'll call it a night!

Chicken with mushrooms and peas over pasta

The cool weather really gets me into cooking at home more. However, our oven is in the process of dying. It started beeping at 12:37 a.m. last night and my husband finally went downstairs to unplug it at 1 a.m.!

The stove top is still working so I made dinner using that.

Here is an easy (almost) 15 minute meal:

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each piece sliced into 4 pieces
1/4 C. flour
pinch of pepper and a pinch of celery salt
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. light sour cream
1 C. chicken stock
1 C. sliced mushrooms
1 C. frozen peas
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 box bowtie (farfalle) pasta

Heat butter and oil in a large nonstick pan. Sprinkle flour, pepper and celery salt over chicken and add to pan when the butter has melted and is bubbling. Brown chicken on all sides (about 3 minutes per side).

Add mushrooms, chicken stock, paprika and sour cream. Stir until combined, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer.

While the chicken cooks, boil pasta in a separate pot. Let chicken cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 18 minutes. Before serving, add frozen peas. Serve chicken over pasta.

Healthy Cheddar Broccoli muffins

I made lentil soup this afternoon for dinner tonight and came across a good looking recipe today at Whole Foods. I tweaked it a little and made a batch downstairs. They smell yummy and I wanted to share it with you.

2/3 C. skim milk
4 egg whites
1/4 C. oil
1 1/2 C. chopped frozen broccoli
1/4 C. chopped scallion
1/4 C. toasted pine nuts
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 C. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Heat oven to 400. Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Combine milk, eggs and oil. Add broccoli, scallion and pine nuts. Stir in almost all of the cheese, leaving a little bit for topping the muffins (1-2 Tbs.)

Add flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and pepper. Fill muffin tins evenly, sprinkle remaining cheese to top of each muffin.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tops are browned and muffins spring back when lightly pressed.

Enough plugging, how about a recipe??!!

I made a great "fried rice" last night that I forgot to share with you. I bought frozen brown rice from Whole Foods, it's amazing. I love the frozen rice from Trader Joe's but it comes premeasured, and the brown rice from Whole Foods allows you to use what you want.

Ok, here's the basic recipe. By the way, I bought one of those Vidalia onion slicer/dicers at CVS a while ago (it was an impulse buy!) however I must admit that it works very well in dicing things into teensy tiny pieces!

Heat 1 tsp. of peanut oil in a nonstick pan. When it's hot, add 1/2 C. diced onion, saute until browned. Add in 1 diced zucchini (use the gadget for dicing these) and saute for another minute. Add in 1 C. frozen brown rice, stir to incorporate and let brown for a minute or two. Add a little diced red pepper and add in 1 Tbs. hosin sauce. serve.

If I had any cashews, I would have crushed up a few and added them in, but I didn't. I cut up a chicken drumstick that we had roasted and threw the meat into the rice.

The kids picked out the red peppers, but ate the rice.

P.S. Here is the article about our school lunch reform that came out in today's Westport News.

Westport Moms Come Together for School Lunch Reform

By Jenna Gaillard
Article Launched: 10/01/2008 10:14:40 AM EDT

A group of Westport mothers angry about the types of foods being served in their children's school cafeterias have joined forces to call for a change.
The group, Parents for Change, want other Westport moms to unite and look at the food their children are eating in school and try to figure out how they can transform these foods into better healthy food choices.

"We just want better choices for our kids," said Nicole Straight, founder of Parents for Change.

Not too long ago Straight sent an e-mail to a few of her Westport friends who have children, want ing to know if they were interested in creating healthier food choices for children and asking them to send the e-mail to others. The e-mail, in a short period of time, has picked up speed and so far Straight has heard back from several people, many of whom she doesn't even know, asking what they can do to help.

Straight is a mother of two daughters and decided to call for a change because she feels that it's her "moral obligation." Straight said schools don't have to make drastic changes, such as serving tofu, just healthy options. She believes school cafeterias should get rid of chicken nuggets and switch to, for example, chicken drumsticks.

"As a parent my hope is

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to offer kids some healthy examples; significantly healthy alternatives," Straight said.
Straight teaches cooking classes called "Time to Eat" three times a week from her Westport home. The cooking classes focus on preparing healthy and delicious meals in 15 minutes.

According to Straight, when she creates recipes for her classes, she always takes into consideration whether her family will eat the meals.

Using her daughters as "guinea pigs" Straight said she has a lot of experience choosing menus kids will like and that's where she thinks she can help.

Straight believes that school cafeterias should do a little "tweaking" to the types of foods they serve to students. For example, instead of serving beef tacos, they could serve turkey or chicken tacos with non-fried tortilla shells; or for grilled cheese sandwiches use wheat bread and skim cheese.

"That's how kids get a better palette -- trying new things," Straight said.

According to a press release from Parents for Change, children aren't getting enough nutrients from the food served in schools, which is affecting their behavior, ability to concentrate and their brainpower. The press release also states that children eating chicken nuggets and pizza for lunch aren't getting the "right kind of nutrition for proper growth."

Parents for Change isn't the only one trying to reform school lunches. Mothers Amy Kalafa of Weston, and Susan Rubin of Chappaqua, N.Y., teamed up to film the documentary Two Angry Moms.

According to the documentary's Web site, www.angrymoms.org, Kalafa decided to make the documentary when she saw headlines about a national child health crisis.

Two Angry Moms examines what parents need to know about better food choices in school cafeterias and how to get these food choices offered to students.

Straight believes that everyone should see Two Angry Moms and that's why Parents for Change is sponsoring a special screening of the documentary at the Westport Public Library.

"It's very eye-opening," Straight said. "I think the movie is such a model for showing how to reform school lunches. It changes the way I thought about how it could be done."

Straight said one important feature in the documentary was that it showed "the reality of dealing with school boards and the resistance to change."

Straight knows that transforming school lunches won't happen overnight but she remains optimistic.

"I think Westport has come a long way and in the right direction," said Straight.

For the screening of the documentary, Straight said the group has invited the PTA and First Selectman Gordon Joseloff.

"I have a vision we can be a beacon to do school lunch reform and other towns can see how happy everyone is once it's re formed," Straight said.

Two Angry Moms will be shown Tuesday, Oct. 28, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., in the McManus Room at the Westport Public Library and is free to the public.

For more information about Two Angry Moms visit www. angrymoms.org or contact Straight at 221-8306.