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.