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!