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.