Junk Food

Who doesn't love junk food? I'll admit, I enjoy it a little too much perhaps, so I'm always looking for ways to make it tasty and more healthy at home. I think both goals were accomplished with these hamburgers the other night!














Swiss Cheeseburgers with Sauteed Mushrooms

Sautee 1-2 onions (depending on size and personal taste) along with a couple of cloves of crushed garlic in some olive oil until tender. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add onions and garlic to ground beef, along with one egg, 2 tbsp flour, salt, pepper, and 1 tpsp Worcestershire sauce. Mix well together and form into patties. Cook on grill pan or grill (or skillet). Add swiss cheese towards end of cooking.

While grilling burgers, sautee sliced mushrooms of your choice in some olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on a whole grain Kaiser roll with baby spinach, sliced tomatoes and topped with mushrooms. On the side: oven fries, baby carrots and sliced cucumbers. Now everyone's happy! 

Mmmm . . . oven baked fries! 

Adventures in Baking

I've been doing some baking, but I realize that this is an area that needs to see vast improvement. It's fun though, and especially so now that I don't have to do my kneading by hand.  

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I really need to buy some loaf pans. This was two loaves of bread in a pyrex dish, somewhat crusty, but still good. We're all enjoying it. I'll post recipes when I've developed more confidence.

The cinnamon rolls could have baked a little longer, but were delicious!

Fairytale Lunch

Once upon a time, (I don't even remember when), I made simple quesadillas for lunch. Just two tortillas and some grated cheese, heated on a skillet until the cheese melts, and then cut into triangles. Somehow this really struck a chord with my children, who promptly mislabeled it as "pita" and "pitas" have been their lunch menu of choice ever since. Some days they might be talked into eating a bagel or a peanut butter sandwich, but for the two younger ones anyway, tortillas with cheese are IT. We may supplement with a yogurt, or some fruit or cut up veggies, but that's about the only variation. And they lived happily ever after . . . as did Mom as life is simple and the ingredients and clean up are minimal.

Macaroni and Cheese

Why is it, I wonder, that the two newspapers I have been reading recently have both prominently featured macaroni and cheese in the past week? Granted, there is a new book that was published in November 2005 by Marlena Spieler called Macaroni and Cheese (book promotion anyone?). The book received a mention in the NYT article, but not in the Bergen County Record . Hmm. Interesting also that these two newspapers are printed and distributed within like 25 miles of each other . . . just sayin’ (and no, I didn’t see the Record article until AFTER I had allowed my subscription to lapse).

All that to say, I chose to try the variation mentioned at chocolateandzucchini.com earlier this week instead. I was too lazy to drive 10 minutes to Whole Foods to look for Comte, so I used Gruyere (which they had at Kilroy’s Wonder Market on my way to preschool pickup). I omitted the baby spinach and nutmeg for the kids, and they absolutely loved it, as did I with the added extras!


Tips for cooking pasta (and why was I in my 30s before I learned these?)
1. Fill a large pot with water no more than 3/4 full.
2. Bring the water to a boil with the lid on the pan.
3. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the desired amount of pasta to the water, along with some salt.
4. Stir the pasta with a wooden spoon to keep it from sticking together.
5. Set the timer to the minimum amount of time written on the box.
6. Do NOT put the lid back on the pan.
7. Give the pasta a good stir every couple of minutes.
8. When the timer goes off, drain the pasta into a large colander in your empty sink. (Test the pasta if you're unsure about its doneness)
9. Shake the colander to get rid of most excess water, and return pasta to pan to continue as your recipe dictates or pour into a warm serving bowl.
10. Eat and enjoy - al dente!

Banana Muffins

Ideal for:
~ breakfasts
~ snacks
~ using up old bananas

Kids love them. They are easy to bake, and they freeze nicely. What more could you ask for?




2 bananas, mashed
1 large egg
3/4 cup sugar (or less)
1/2 cup canola oil

Mix all together until frothy. Add

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tps salt

Ladle into lined muffin tins and bake at 375 F for 25 minutes.

Simply Delicious!

The kids all asked for seconds tonight!

Extras for adults can include:
~salsa
~avocado
~peppers
~sour cream
~onions

Use your imagination and go wild! 

My taco dinner mantra: eat from the sides, not from the top, and hold it over your plate! Not that they always listen . . . 

Time Saving Tips

While tacos are not the most labor intensive of meals, a parent can always use a few shortcuts. I try to make about 2-3 times more taco meat than we need and then freeze the leftovers in single serving packs (enough for the five of us). I can simply thaw and then reheat the meat in a small saucepan.

I wash lettuce by filling the salad spinner with cold water (without the basket in it) and then soaking the lettuce for a few minutes to allow the excess dirt to swish off and sink to the bottom. I then drain the lettuce into the basket before spinning it. I place leftover lettuce in a resealable bag along with a paper towel (to absorb the moisture) in the fridge for easy salad preparation in days to come.

Impromtu Party

Saturday nights are usually reserved for fun food, often finger food. It's hard to drum up the energy to put in a lot of effort though when I'm home alone with the kids for ten days straight while T is away on a business trip to Tokyo. This past weekend, however, I resolved to keep the standards high. I made sure we had all the fixings for chicken fingers and oven fries, a favorite with the kids.

We had newspapers spread out all over the living room floor with the furniture pushed back against the walls, and all three of the kids were painting when the doorbell rang late Saturday afternoon. It was our neighbor and her three kids + one tag along dropping by to say hello and to play for a while. Friend and I chatted for a while, and when I realized that the clock was inching it's way toward 5:30 (past time to start dinner) I invited them to stay and join us. Fortunately, the only packages of chicken I had found were huge, so I had bought plenty. Friend called her sister who was waiting for them at home who then came over with her toddler to join us. Suddenly I was fixing dinner for 3 adults and 5 children when I had thought we would be lonely on our own!

I'm not good with delegating in the kitchen, but Friend crushed the Ritz Crackers in a ziplock bag while I quickly sliced the potatoes, drizzled them with olive oil and slid them into the oven preheated to 400 F.

Then, while Friend and Sister supervised the kids playing in the basement and also set the table, I grated some parmesan into the crushed crackers and added 1 tsp paprika. I cut the chicken breasts into "fingers," coated them with olive oil and then the cracker crumb mixture. These also went into the oven about 40 minutes after the potatoes. I took the potatoes out and gave them a flip and a stir, then all the chicken and the potatoes went back into the oven. We sliced some cucumbers, opened a package of baby carrots for the kids and tossed together a salad of baby spinach, crumbled blue cheese and sundried tomatoes in olive oil for us adults. A simple, successful meal.

The only snag was that I had filled the dishwasher earlier in the afternoon, but forgotten to turn it on, so I didn't have enough clean, child-friendly plastic dishes or utensils on hand. Sister remedied the situation by washing some by hand, but again, I wish I had remembered to turn it on when the dishwasher was basically full when I started to clean up after everyone had gone home and the kids were in bed.

Happy girls! (Friend contributed some pilaf which we also enjoyed) 

Change in format

I've been thinking that perhaps it would be more interesting (mostly to me I think) to write about what I cook and why instead of/in addition to merely posting recipes. I like to cook, I love to read, and that translates to a relatively newfound interest in reading about cooking and food. I haven't always had many cookbooks and magazines to look through, but now that we're living back in the US I find that I suddenly have easier access, and thereby I'm reading more as well as finding more sources. I've subscribed to Bon Apetite and Gourmet, and I am now receiving other (sometimes annoying and unwanted) cooking related things in the mail.

I realize that I'm late to the game, but I have also recently begun reading more food blogs. Don't really know why and how I didn't find them before, but I've noticed that once you start reading one, there will be easy links and references to others, and it has a snowball effect. Fun!

I've also noticed that it becomes easier and easier to separate the good from the bad and the mediocre. Pictures and fonts help set the tone.

I know I'm rambling, but I'd like to try writing about what I make for my family, including why and how I make them. We'll see how it goes. I want to cook interesting, tasty food, but I have to take a lot of things into consideration. First of all, the three children who have to eat what I make. Their palates are fairly mature for their ages (2,4,and 7) but not usually with interesting vegetables. The dinners I make also need to be healthy, and low in fat. My husband does not usually arrive home in time to eat with us, so I have to plan for easy reheating or actually cooking his portion separately when he is ready to eat, some 2-4 hours after us.

Chicken Pot Pie

Bake 2 chicken breasts at 400 F for 20 minutes. (Brush with olive oil if skinless) May season with salt, pepper and herbs if desired.

Cut 2-3 carrots into small cubes. Blanch and then add 1 bunch broccoli and bring to a boil.

Saute:
1 diced onion
1 chopped red or yellow pepper
1/4 cup butter

Add 1/3-1/2 cup flour
salt/pepper

Stir until it becomes a bubbly paste.
Slowly stir in 1 pint chicken or vegetable stock. Stir in cubed chicken and blanched vegetables, including water. Stir and add 1/3 cup half and half, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pour into casserole and top with cut biscuits.

Bake 20 minutes at 400 F.