The Full Plate Blog

Have a full plate? Need a full plate? Come visit my new site! The Full Plate Blog

Full Plate is up and running...

The new blog site is not very witty yet. It's definitely still a work in progress. But, now's as good a time as any to flip over to the new blog: Full Plate. From here on out, I will be posting to Full Plate...including the announcement of the winning voter, so please go ahead and bookmark the new page if you want to keep up on the recipes and ideas for staying healthy, happy and grounded as a mom. I didn't get around to writing down all the voters' names and having my kids pull one lucky voter out of the hat since the sun was shining just enough for us to go outside and play. Promise to get to that by the weekend!

See you over at Full Plate.

And the winner is.....

And the winner is….. Full Plate! Thank you to Cobie, from New Canaan, who came up with this clever multi-tasking name. Not only did she brainstorm the name, but she’s got a fabulous tag line to go along with it that I’ll unveil with the new site. I am very excited to run with her idea. Stay tuned for a pic of her winning what will be nothing short of a Publisher’s Clearinghouse-style house call…only more exciting because it will involve food.

I’ve got to get busy switching things around, but I’ll make it as seamless as I can for all of you. Not sure when I’ll find the “free time” to do this, so we’ll stay mom-a-licious until the babysitting fairy falls from the sky and grants me a couple hours a day without a kid on my lap as I type.

For those curious about the breakdown of the votes, here’s how things panned out:
Full Plate – 27 votes
Grateful Platefull – 17 votes
Fairfield County Momalicious – 7 votes
Momalicious Fairfield County – 7 votes
Mom-a-licious Fairfield County – 7 votes
Fairfield County Mom-a-licious – 4 votes
GastroMom – 0 votes

And, I did not forget about the drawing for a prize for all of you who voted. Since it’s looking like a rainy afternoon, writing all the names down and drawing a lucky winner is going to be our afternoon project around here!

Thank you again, Cobie, for your creative and spot on new business name!

What's in a name?

I've got a favorite but I'd love to hear what you think of the final choices for a new business and blog name. Please click here to pick your favorite. Votes being tallied until midnight, June 30.

The winning namer and a randomly chosen voter will both be given an in-home cooking lesson!

Drum Roll Please...The Finalists!

Thank you to all of my friends (and friends of friends, and friends of those friends, and those friends' friends...) who suggested names for this blog and my accompanying cooking lesson business. I am excited to share the finalists with you, and have you pick your favorite. You may click here to see the list of possible blog/business names and cast your vote.

Votes will be tallied until midnight, June 30th (that's Tuesday). On Wednesday (or Thursday if Wednesday ends up being completely nutty) I will announce the new name for the blog and the two winners: the generous and creative person who came up with the winning name, and the the winning voter (chosen by random drawing).

The fine print for the contest is the same as the original post.

Stuffed Zucchini/Squash (aka "Zucchini Rockets")

Simple veggie side for summer dinners. I made the mistake of cutting it up before serving it to my kids last night and roasted, chopped zucchini isn’t nearly as appealing to little ones as a “zucchini rocket”. Today I’ll put a room temp “rocket” on their plate and let them eat it with their hands.

"Zucchini Rockets" (aka Stuffed Zucchini/Squash)

Zucchini and/or squash, washed and cut into 2-4” hunks
Melon baller or metal measuring spoon (to hollow out the squash/zucchini hunk)
1 jar Trader Joe’s Tomato Bruschetta
Shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the zucchini or squash into 2 to 4 inch hunks. (They can be different heights.) Then, using a melon baller or metal measuring spoon (the idea is to have a sharp, small diameter) scoop out most of the inside of the squash/zucchini, leaving a base of about 1” in the bottom. Place them in a baking dish, hollow hole up. You’ll stuff the hole in a minute.

Roughly chop the squash or zucchini you just scooped out into smaller pieces, and toss in a mixing bowl with a handful of shredded parmesan and 1 jar of TJ’s prepared bruschetta. (At our TJ’s the bruschetta is found in the pasta aisle next to the olives.) Now you simply re-stuff the zucchini/squash chunks with this mixture (you’ll have extra filling which you can bake in a separate dish and use in omelets, frittatas, etc.).

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the zucchini/squash is tender, but not mushy. Serve warm or room temp.

Anticipating Farm Camp

I am not sure who is more excited for Farm Camp? Me, my lucky child who gets to go, or my little one who is going to be exploring the phenomenal acreage with me each day that his brother is mucking around with the pigs, learning about composting, building a fence for the sheep, and harvesting garlic?

Quinoa Salad(s)

I’ve been averaging one Quinoa Salad a week this summer. Usually it’s first made for dinner, alongside grilled fish or chicken. And usually I make made way too much, so I have plenty for lunch in the days that follow, or I can leave my dinner host with an ample supply to enjoy later on. Each time I make it the ingredients are a little different, depending upon what I have in my fridge and pantry, but every time the results are equally delish. It doesn’t photograph well with my little rinky dink camera, so you’ll have to just take my word for it.

One Quinoa Salad That Was a Hit
1 package of quinoa (prepared according to the pkg, though I use vegetable broth instead of water)
Baby Heirloom Tomatoes (pretty colors), quartered
Artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
Kalamata olives, roughly chopped
Feta cheese, crumbled
Toasted Pine Nuts
Vinaigrette (see below)
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add enough vinaigrette to your desired taste. For this one, I emphasized the lemon in the vinaigrette so I also dressed it with some lemon zest curly q’s.

Another Quinoa Salad That Was a Hit
1 package of quinoa (prepared according to the pkg, though I use vegetable broth instead of water)
Bell peppers, roasted and chopped
Zucchini, roasted and chopped
Squash, roasted and chopped
Cherry tomatoes, chopped
Fresh basil, chiffonade (chop without bruising the leaves)
Feta cheese, crumbled
Pistachios
Vinaigrette (see below)
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add enough vinaigrette to your desired taste. For this one, I had tons of basil and pistachios, so I saved some of each to sprinkle over the top before serving.

Basic Vinaigrette
fresh basil
olive oil
lemon juice
garlic
splash of red wine vinegar
kosher salt
pepper
Toss all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding more olive oil or acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to suit your taste and texture. If you want to thin it even more but are happy with the level of zing you’ve got going, you can add a bit of vegetable broth instead of citrus or vinegar.

This is a great make-ahead dish for the Waveny Concerts or other outings when you want a sophisticated side that will travel well. It’s hearty enough to please a vegetarian guest, and is a wonderful accompaniment to grilled veggies, fish or meats. (Hint: skewers travel well, and can easily be eaten in your lap.) You can play with the ingredients to create your own signature Quinoa Salad.

Our garden

Today we planted our garden. Not the garden I imagined…but it’ll do. In fact, it’s probably just right for us this year. Some fresh herbs—basil, mint, rosemary...a tomato plant (we’ll see how that goes?)... and some lettuce and chard.

I had these grand plans of clearing out some of the randomly planted beds on the patio, starting seeds in the basement, and harvesting our bounty. But, I don’t have a green thumb, nor did I deal this spring. So instead I signed up for a CSA April-October and then last weekend I purchased some small organic plants at the New Canaan Farmer’s Market and today my sister-and-I transplanted them into pots I had stored in the garage.

Maybe next summer I’ll tackle a real garden. Or maybe not. We’ll see.

Pesto Pasta (aka "Green Pasta")

Wow, once I downloaded all of the photos from the past couple of weeks, I realize I have a bounty of great, simple meals ideas to share with you. As I mentioned in the June 6, 2009 entry on homemade pesto, it freezes well. I had divvied into tubs and frozen it for nights when we’ve had a busy day of activity but I still want to put a healthy dinner on the table. The one pictured above was made with:

Homemade Pesto (thawed)
Whole Wheat pasta (cooked according to package)
Roasted Asparagus and Zucchini (which I will roast and then store to be used in omelets, frittatas, or things like this pasta dish throughout the week)
Fresh Parmesan

Presto! A healthy dinner on the table in mere minutes. And, it was equally as good the next couple of days served room temp for lunch.

Still working on my summer groove...

Apologies to my friends who have checked in for a quick, easy, family-friendly meal idea and have found updates on this blog few and far between the past couple weeks. With school getting out, family coming into town for visits...and camp not ramping up until next week, I've found my free time in short supply. (Nevermind that I seem to emit some sort of subliminal message that says "come to mommy! insist on jumping in my lap! pound on my keyboard! in fact, just run off with my 'j' key for fun why don't you?" whenever I retreat to my office...)

I trust that none of you has been starving, and hope to be back in the groove of regular meal idea updates next week. Oh, and announcing the winner of the re-naming contest too! In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend celebrating the dads in your life!

Homemade Pesto

My CSA bag I picked up at our local farmer’s market had a big, bright bunch of fresh basil within that was beckoning to either become a Caprese Salad or pesto. The tomatoes we got this week aren’t quite ripe enough to eat, so I opted for the latter. (That, and the fact that on Day 3 of this Blueprint Cleanse I cannot eat...only drink, and I'm not talking wine my friends.) So anyway, I made pesto. The benefit: pesto can be easily made, then frozen. When you’re looking for a simple supper, you can then thaw it and either toss the pesto with pasta, or drizzle it over grilled chicken, fish or veggies.

I used a blender because my Cuisinart has been broken for I don’t know how long. I prefer using a Cuisinart b/c you have more control over the consistency, using the pulse button. But a blender is what I have these days, so here goes:

Homemade Almond Pistachio Pesto

Almonds (I used dry roasted, unsalted slivers from TJ’s because that's what I had in my pantry)
Pistachios (I ran out of almonds, so moved on to pistachios…shelled, dry roasted, unsalted)
Basil
Garlic
Olive Oil
Lemon Zest or Lemon Juice (for a little zing)
Kosher Salt
Vegetable Broth (if necessary, to thin the pesto)

Pop your fresh basil leaves into a Cuisinart or blender, along with ¼ cup of olive oil, a dash of kosher salt, a couple peeled cloves of garlic, the nuts and a squeeze of lemon or some lemon zest if desired. Pulse until all ingredients are chopped and blended.

Pesto is not a precise science…you can continue to add ingredients (more olive oil, another clove of garlic, a bit more salt, a little more lemon zest...) as need be until you reach the desired consistency and taste.

As I mentioned, I ran out of almonds so I tossed in pistachios too. Pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts, but I didn’t have any on hand. The beauty of a pesto is that you can play with the ingredients, flavors and consistency. Pesto can go from creamy consistency (as mine is because of the blender) to chunkier. The longer you blend it, the creamer it will be.

Pesto will last a couple of days in the fridge, but several weeks in the freezer.

Banana Boats

Today was my big one’s last full day of K…Monday will be filled with celebration and good-byes. It’s a soggy, gray day here and he keeps announcing that he'd like to stay in K forever, so I brightened the afternoon with a quick homemade treat.

Banana Boats

Banana
Chocolate Chips
Optional: ice cream + sprinkles

Place peeled bananas on a cookie sheet, and cut a thin divvet down the length of the banana (“it looks like a canoe!”). Fill the gap with chocolate chips, replace the banana top as best you can (to prevent the chocolate chipes from burning under the broiler...it doesn't need to look pretty) and broil on low heat until the chocolate chips are melted and the banana is slightly warmed. Serve with ice cream if you’d like!

Hi, My Name Is______________

Interestingly, the majority of you do not like change. Either that, or you just really really like the name Mom-a-licious for this blog. For those of you waiting until 11:59pm June 9 to submit your re-naming ideas, I thought you might be inspired by the names submitted so far. Remember, the survey will be open until June 10, and the prize is a 2-hour in-home cooking lesson (see May 28 posting for the "fine print"):

Animal, Vegetable, Mommytable
Barefoot Mommy
Busy Mom, Healthy Parent, Happy Household
Culinary Instruction by Eila
Daily Feast
Eating with Eila
Eats, Peas, Shoots
Eilalicious
Everyday Eila
Family Foodie
Feast
Food for Thought
Green Apple
Health-a-licious
Healthy body, Happy outlook, Great Mom by Eila
I'll be at Eila's
Jackolicious
Jacolicious
Life-a-licious
Mom and Chef
Mom Is The Cook!
Mom-a-licious by Eila
Mom-a-Living
MomCooks
Mom-entous Fun
Mommy Gourmet
Mom-specialicious
Mouth-Watering-Mama
Second Helpings
Spoony Spicy Relish
Tasty Tales of Inspiration
Terribly Tasty Two's
The "Take-out" Takeover Guide
The Tasty Palate
The Upside of a Busy Kitchen
Tickled Taste Buds
Wagon
What's for dinner, kids?
Yummy Mummy

Cleansing Mommy

Having felt sluggish and rather irritable for a while now, I decided it was time to cut back on the coffee and treats I consume throughout the day. I don’t have the will power to just cut it out of my life, so I decided to do one of those juice cleanses. My hope was that it was cleanse my sugar cravings, turn coffee back into a coffee house treat like it used to be for me, and that it would clear my head a bit. Here I am ½ a day into a 3-day cleanse and I am dying.

As a wife and mom, I prepared everyone else for my 3-day check-out of eating solid foods. I made suppers and lunches for my husband that he can easily heat up, and made sure I had plenty of yummy, healthy foods on hand for the kids. I knew I wouldn’t really be in the mood to grocery shop. But past that, I thought how hard could this really be?

Well, I like to eat. And most of the time I am a relatively healthy eater. But today as I was conscious of my eating for the first time, I found myself just heading to the fridge for a slice of cheese, or absent mindedly picking up a stray glob of peanut butter leftover from the ants on a log I’d made the kids for lunch. Ouch. No licking fingers? No popping their crusts into my mouth? This is much much harder than I thought….

If I have the willpower later on today, I will post the recipe for Chicken Marbella and the sides I made with it for my Wednesday Supper Exchange I do with my friends. It was pretty simple, and really good—and I am not just saying that since it was my last solid meal!

To be "Mom-a-licious" or not?

I am mom-a-licious. I am not mom-a-licious every day, but I’d say I rank up there 4-5 days a week. That name makes me smile, not because I am snarky but because it reminds me that I am a mom, first and foremost these days, but I also need to stay humorous, healthy, grounded, happy and svelte. The name encapsulates that goal and is light-hearted. That said the website and business surrounding healthy motherhood is already claimed by Domenica Catelli.

When I originally started this blog, the goal was to share recipes and some neat finds/ideas with my local friends and cooking lesson clients. The blog address was free, so I snatched it up and started writing away! But in the little over two months I have been writing this blog, it has logged over 4,000 visitors and it’s clear based upon the emails you all have sent me that my audience is much broader than Fairfield County, and broader than my immediate friends.

With preschool on the horizon, I am muddling through what I want this blog to evolve into. My primary job will always be my children, and I am thankful that I have the luxury to keep it that way—at least for now! But requests for cooking lessons keep coming in, and I have a head full of ideas of things that can help make being a mom more healthy, fun and inspiring for all of us. The problem is, if I am going to grow this business I think I need to back-up and re-name it. While I love mom-a-licious, Domenica claimed it first, and it’s her name. I need to come up with a name that captures the spirit of my blog, but that I can call my own.

Hopefully my technological skills are up to snuff for this part... If you’d like to help re-name the business or give me feedback on this blog, simply click on the following survey. It should just take a couple of minutes and your feedback will be so helpful.

Here’s the fun part: If I choose your name for the blog and accompanying cooking lessons, the prize is a 2-hour cooking lesson in your home (see the fine print below…). So pour yourself a glass of wine and get those creative juices flowing!

The fine print about the re-naming contest: survey responses will be accepted until June 10, 2009 (so don't dally!); in the event that more than one person submits the same winning name I will have my oldest child randomly draw a winner (trust me, he'll be insanely excited about this honor); winner must live within a 30-minute drive of New Canaan, CT; cooking lesson is for one or two people; lesson to be scheduled on a mutually agreed upon weekend or evening during July or September, 2009; winner has the option of a 1-hour grocery shopping trip + 1-hour in-home cooking lesson OR 2-hour in-home cooking lesson; groceries not included; groceries can be purchased by me and reimbursed or a shopping list can be provided.

May the best mom win!

Easy Pizza Playdate

4 little boys + 1 day of icky weather = Make Your Own Pizza Playdate

What you’ll need:

• Baking sheets lightly rubbed with olive oil
• Pizza crusts (I used Trader Joe's refrigerated ones and each bag of dough made two 8” pizzas)
• Sauce(s): we had 2 choices: marinara (“smooth”) and vodka (“chunky”)
• Cheese(s): we put out shredded mozzarella and shredded cheddar
• Toppings: have the toppings pre-cut and in bowls so little fingers can easily get to them…I offered up red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, salami and roasted broccoli

Unless you’re into clouds of flour, I recommend doing the rolling the dough part yourself then calling the munchkins in to do the decorating. At first half the kids just wanted cheese pizza…but then one of them got the idea of making his pizza into “a face” and that opened up a whole exciting way of using (minimal amounts of) veggies. This was a messy project, but nothing a dustbuster and some paper towels couldn’t handle! Plus each kid went home with dinner to share with their brother or sister...and my children's dinner is made. Bonus.

Chimichurri Rice with Sausage & Spinach

On the day my older son has Kindergarten soccer practice (otherwise known as: one very patient dad trying to herd cats), our whole evening routine is thrown to the wind. Normally I feed my kids around 5:00 and they’ve had their bath and stories and are in bed between 6:30-7:00, respectively. Friends balk at their early bedtime, but neither kid’s complaining (any more than they already would no matter when they had to go to bed) and there is a brief period of calm at the end of the day.

But on the days we’ve got "soccer", we don’t even get home until 6:15 or so. This means I feed my kids their supper at 4:30 then race around putting shin guards on, looking for the soccer ball…and then spend an hour trying to keep my little one off the field and out of the parking lot. Unless I really plan ahead, dinner these nights doesn't get started until well after my husband has gotten home so it's got to be quick and easy...or takeout.

Last night, after the kids were asleep I went downstairs to figure out what I could quickly whip up. I hadn’t been to the market in several days and the fruits and veggies from our CSA were pretty slim at this point in the week. Still, with a little digging around the freezer, dinner turned out great….and plentiful enough that we can both have it for lunch today.

Chimichurri Rice with Sausages & Spinach

1 pkg Trader Joe’s Chimichurri Rice (in freezer section)
1 pkg Trader Joe’s Andouille Chicken Sausage, sliced thin
1 large bag frozen spinach

In a large fry pan, sauté the chicken sausage in a little olive oil. Add the frozen spinach and sauté until warmed through. In the meantime, heat the Chimichurri Rice according to the package (I did the microwave heating). Once warmed, add to dry pan with sausage and spinach. Done!

Mommy Needed a Little Pampering

I wish I could come up with some cool/adventurous story about why I am limping around this Memorial Day weekend…suffice it to say it involved carrying my little one on my hip all of my older one's “K Beach Day” and wiping out (yes, in front of everyone) while trying to make my way to the water. Who knew that a California born and bred mom could have offspring who do not want their feet to touch the sand?! Anyway, rather than throw myself a full-blown pity party I enlisted my husband to watch the kids, and booked a facial for this afternoon. I do very few things that are for me-- and me alone-- but this is one of my regular splurges. And a weekend when I am supposed to “take it easy” seems like a natural week to book another appointment, right?

The aesthetician/owner, Melissa, uses Jurlique products (or Skinceuticals if you request), so I can feel good about what’s going onto my skin…and I come out looking radiant after all that facial massage. If you feel like you need a little “me” time and want more info on Elysian Fields Facial Spa, click here. (Though keep in mind that clearly facials, and not web design, are her forte…in fact I think the prices are outdated on the website too, but at $90, her hour long facial is still worth every penny.)

Savory Muffins for Kids on the Go

This was another part of the picnic we took for Kindergarten Beach Day, and they were a hit for my kids (and everyone else sitting on a towel nearby…until we ran out).

Cottage Cheese-Dill Muffins
(adapted from 1,000 Low-Fat Recipes)

2 egg whites
1 egg
1 tub (1 ¾ cups) low-fat cottage cheese
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup sour cream

1 2/3 cups unbleached, A-P flour
Dash of salt
4 teaspoons sugar (though I think you could omit this with equally good results)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons dried dill

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking tray with a dozen muffin cups.

Using a whisk or hand mixer, combine the egg whites, egg, cottage cheese, vegetable oil and sour cream until blended. Set aside.

In a separate small bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar (optional), baking powder, baking soda and dill). Fold (or using a hand mixer on level 1) the dry ingredients into the wet ones until blended. Dough will be rather firm.

Spoon equal amounts of dough into the 12 muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes, or until muffins tops are golden and firm to the touch. I always also test to make sure a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Fruit Skewers

Yesterday was “K Beach Day”. I knew my kids wouldn’t be long for sitting and actually eating their picnic, so I tried to come up with a lunch that my kids could quickly eat if they were running around with their friends.

Fruit Skewers
Your favorite fruit, cut into chunks
Wooden skewers
Thread the fruit onto the skewer. It’s best to start and end with something like a grape, that isn’t likely to slip off.

I made this for a snack at my son’s school earlier this year and it was a big hit then too. There’s something about getting to pick up a colorful wand of fruit that just makes it so much more fun than plain fruit salad!

Yummy Homemade Frosting

We like cake in our house. I’m a push over when it comes to sweets. If one of my boys announces that it’s a stuffed animal’s birthday…we bake a cake. Usually it’s me baking and them (ok fine, all of us) doing the eating, so I was pleased that my older son wanted in on the baking action last weekend.

The Homemade Frosting (I pretty much put on every cake around here)
Cream Cheese (bricks)
Powdered Sugar
Pure Vanilla Extract (or any other type of extract: lemon, etc.)

Let the cream cheese bricks soften a bit. Whip (I use a hand mixer) at least 2 bricks of cream cheese with a couple teaspoons of vanilla and start with half a bag of powdered sugar. Continue to add sugar until desired level of sweetness, and vanilla until desired taste. Color with food coloring, if you desire something jazzier that pure white.

Sectioned Plates for Children's Meals

Friends have been asking where I get the sectioned plates for my kids' meals. Target has loads and loads of them. Simply go to Target.com and search "plastic plates" or kid's plates" and you'll have 10+ options! There's even a recycled Melamine one for those who want them to be functional and eco-friendly.

Cinnamon Chocolate Brownies

With today’s drizzle came a massive amount of baking and a tent/fort that took over our living room. I now have (totally decadent) Cinnamon Chocolate Brownies cooling on one counter…Sweet Corn Muffins with Cranberries and Honey cooling on another…and crammed onto a third are Lemon Cupcakes and a big Lemon sheet cake that my son will decorate tomorrow after school in anticipation of a Bake Sale to benefit Horizons….oh, and my living room looks like a tornado went through it.

I risk sharing the Cinnamon Chocolate Brownie recipe; for fear that no one will buy these brownies if they know how much butter went into them. But, I am going to take that risk because they’re just too amazing not to whip up, and to share. This recipe is slightly modified from one I found on Epicurious.com a couple years back and has become my go to brownie recipe.

Cinnamon Chocolate Brownies
(Makes one jelly roll/rimmed baking sheets worth…enough to share with several friends)

1 cup all-purpose flour
At least 4 Tablespoons cinnamon
Dash of salt

1 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 sticks of butter (ideally at room temp)

7 eggs
2 cups of sugar
4 Tablespoons vanilla extract

1 12 oz. bag a semi-sweet chocolate chips (yes, this is a second bag)
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter (ideally at room temp)
5 Tablespoons whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter & flour a jelly roll pan (large, rimmed baking sheet).

Mix flour, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.

In a double boiler** stir the chocolate and butter until melted and smooth.

Turn the heat off and let the chocolate stand for a couple minutes while you beat the eggs/sugar/vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture to the egg/sugar/vanilla one, blending well. Gradually add the chocolate mixture, whipping until combined. (You’ll be able to tell because it will go from a pretty marbled appearance to a dark, rich chocolately one.)

Pour the batter into your buttered/floured jelly roll pan. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until tester toothpick comes out almost completely clean. Cool the brownies on your countertop.

In the meantime, make the ganache. Back to the double boiler, you’ll combine the second bag of chocolate chips, the second batch of butter, and the whipping cream, stirring with a whisk until melted and smooth. Pour over brownies. Then pop the whole big baking sheet into your fridge until the ganache is set.

These brownies can be prepared 2 days ahead. In fact, I think they are better if you prepare them ahead of the day you plan to serve them. Simply cut them and layer them in a Tupperware between wax paper and store them the fridge.

** If you do not have a double boiler you can simply improvise by nesting a metal mixing bowl inside a saucepan filled with a couple inches of water. A double boiler prevents the chocolate from burning since the top pot is kept above the boiling water and heated only by steam.

And last but not least, Rainbow Dinner...

11 colors again. A great plate of choices. You get the picture by now…here’s one thing I forgot to mention though. A friends asked if I waste a lot of food when I put out so many choices? No, not at all. If something hasn’t been touched and is still fresh, it gets recycled in the next meal. Sometimes one child just isn’t in the mood for watermelon, or cucumbers, etc. But chances are if they see it a couple times they’ll venture to try it. I do not make ultimatums at dinner, saying you must each such and such. I am fortunate that they both have a pretty varied palate and neither little guy is picky. The battle I fight is keeping them in their seats! There's a lot of energy at our dinner table...

Rainbow Lunch Bonanza

Green: grapes & celery (“2 greens!”)
Orange: carrots & a slice of sharp cheddar cut with a cookie cutter for added excitement…heck if it makes them eat it… (“2 oranges!”)
Red: cubes of watermelon (“1 red!”)
Pink: 1 slice of Applegate turkey rolled into a tube (“1 pink!”)
Purple: grapes (“1 purple!”)
Blue: blueberries & blackberries (“wow, 2 blues this time!”)
Brown: cup of Trader Joe’s High Fiber O’s and a side of hummus (“2 browns!”)

11 colors in this Rainbow Lunch…lots of excitement at meal time.
Time spent preparing lunch: about 2 minutes.

Rainbow Breakfast

My comment yesterday about a plate of food looking like a rainbow and my son counting the colors on his plate spurred a bunch of emails from friends. It seems that we’re all looking for ways to encourage our children to eat a variety of wholesome foods…and what child doesn’t like a contest? By suggesting your child go on a “hunt” for colors on their plate, you will be encouraged to make it more colorful, and they will (hopefully) be excited to see what’s being served. This is today’s breakfast entry and the count that ensued in our kitchen at 7am. If you're daunted by the prospect of getting ready for school morning chaos, please keep in mind that all of the fruits and veggies were prepped yesterday so making breakfast just involved scrambling eggs and toasting the muffin:

Green: grapes & chopped avocado (“2 greens!”)
Yellow: scrambled eggs & yellow peppers (“2 yellows!”)
Red: bell peppers (in the eggs) (“1 red!”)
White: onion (in the eggs) & cream cheese (“2 whites!”)
Purple: grapes (“1 purple!”)
Blue: blueberries (“1 blue!”)
Brown: whole wheat raisin English muffin (“1 brown!”)

Grand total...10 colors!

The path of least resistance...

This isn’t rocket science, but time and time again I am reminded that:

• My grocery will be much less costly if I shop with a list, and
• We will eat more fruits and vegetables if they are prepped and ready to simply grab from the fridge or fruit bowl.

I am hopeless when it comes to my first revelation. It’s not that I’m not organized...it’s just that I love food. So if I’m shopping and something looks really fresh and yummy—or quick and interesting—I tend to grab it. Then I come home with what I intended to shop for and the spontaneous purchases and well, sometimes it’s too much.

I’m not going to fight that battle. I am shopping without a list these days. I am choosing what looks fresh and is priced well. If it’s local, even better. No matter what meal I am making, I always get at least one fruit and veggie on the plate. My older child totally gets the “rainbow” concept when it comes to food and likes to count the colors on his plate.

If you spend an extra half hour when you get home from the market, washing and/or slicing your fruits and veggies…and storing them front and center… you will certainly eat them more than if they’re tucked away and need prep before you can enjoy them. This is why “value added” fruits are so appealing—you see the ripe mango or sliced pineapple and think “hmm, that looks yummy”. You can do the same in your fridge.

Right now, to give you some ideas, here’s what I have prepped and ready to go:

• Strawberries – ½ the box is cut up and sprinkled with a little Turbinado sugar so they’re in with a little syrup for morning pancakes, the other ½ simply has the stems lopped off and are ready for a snack or to pop in a lunchbox;
• Grapes – washed and torn into small bundles, perfect for the kids to grab as they run outside;
• Watermelon – this is the one “value added” item I bought this week since I knew we wouldn’t plow through a whole watermelon. I cut it into chunks that I can quickly pop onto the kid’s plates at mealtime or into a lunchbox;
• Blueberries and blackberries – washed and ready to pop onto pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, or for a snack;
• Red and yellow peppers – washed and cut into matchsticks for lunches and snacks or quickly chopped to go in scrambled eggs or a salad;
• Peas - steamed and ready to be inhaled by my older one and flung/catapulted across the kitchen by my little one;
• Carrots – washed, peeled and cut into matchsticks (or buy a bag of the mini ones);
• Celery – washed and cut into manageable pieces, ready to quickly become “ants on a log” with cream cheese or peanut butter and raisins;
• Spinach and Romaine – from our CSA, washed and stored in a damp paper towel;
• Cucumbers – from our CSA, washed and cut into “cucumber pennies” that the kids like to dip in hummus for snack or lunch;
• Apples – are washed and out in the fruit bowl on the counter;
• Bananas – are also out in the fruit bowl on the counter, within easy reach of my kids.

Prioritization

You know when you feel like you’ve hit the mommy jackpot? It’s the day when the kids are happy (and behaving), your jeans fit, you’ve crossed a long list errands off your list, laundry is folded (and put away), you had a chance to make a some healthy homemade meals (which everyone ate), and you even got to peruse the headlines on the newspaper (on the day it was delivered). Oh, and somewhere in those 24 hours, you squeezed in a little “me time”, whether it was as simple as having an uninterrupted phone conversation or as lavish as booking a sitter for lunch out with a girlfriend. Yeah, well, yesterday was kind of the polar opposite for me. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for each and every day I get to stay home with my boys. But sometimes I get muddled in the juggling act of motherhood. So Annie, this entry is for you.

Last week, my dear friend Annie sent me an email saying how much she likes this bog but asking “how do you do it all and make it look so easy…stay so balanced”.

Fast forward to this morning when my older son gave me a handmade card. The card reads:
“107 TO DIY TO MOM HAPPE MUTRS DAY I LOVE YOU DIS WILL TELL YOU HAW MUCH I LOVE YOU” [then there is a chart at the bottom] “NODE: 0…MACING BREKFAS: 2…LEXEO: 5…BING NOS: 100”

For those not versed in reading phonetically, I got a total of 107 points today and this is how the points broke down: 0 points for being naughty (which he defined as yelling at him), 2 points for making breakfast, 5 points for playing a game with him, and 100 points for being nice. There it is. I have been doing too much yelling. Now if that isn’t enough to make you take a step back and evaluate what you’re doing right and what is causing stress in your life, I am not sure what is?

Though I didn’t have time to actually put pen to paper until now, I was going to email Annie back and then I decided that writing an entry here might actually be more helpful/interesting to our broader group of friends who reads this blog. I mean who doesn’t have a little morbid curiosity when it comes to our fellow moms?

So, let’s tell it like it really is this week. Most days, I’d like to think that I do have it figured out and under control. I have limited my kid’s playdates and after school activities so I am not racing around like a wild woman. Cooking comes easy to me, so even if I haven’t made it to the market I can usually scrounge up 3 yummy, relatively healthy meals a day. To stay healthy, I either go to a Stroller Strides class or squeeze in a DVD workout while my little one naps. And, I have learned that it’s ok to leave the house with the breakfast dishes in the sink… But then I got the brilliant idea that since things were going along so swimmingly I could start this blog, launch private cooking classes, and train to become a Stroller Strides instructor…while maintaining my large volunteer role with The Tiny Miracles Foundation, my smaller volunteer roles at my son’s school and the raising two little cherubs without any help. And for a while, everything jelled.

Then things started to get a little more chaotic: I’d created a need to be at the computer (writing these blog entries, working out the cooking class curriculum and planning the Stroller Strides workouts) many times when I used to spend time with my children...I frequently heard myself saying “Hang on! I need to take a photo of that for the blog before you eat it!”...People send queries about the cooking classes, but the economy (understandably) holds people back…Mom-a-licious readers ask why I’m not posting more frequently…the New Canaan Rec Dept. reneged their approval for Stroller Strides to offer classes at Waveny Park, dashing—hopefully temporarily?—my goal (and lots of time and money spent training) of bringing these classes to New Canaan…and my little one started giving up his nap (poof, free time gone, just like that).

So here I am sort of back at square one feeling like the balance I had created is woefully off this week. Clearly, I am not going to make a habit of spending my precious free time writing blog entries that dwell on the imbalance of motherhood. But Annie, I have my moments. I may make it seem so carefree and easy, but that is simply because those are the times I choose to focus upon and share in the hopes that a friend (or friend of a friend) will glean an idea or inspiration from that entry. We’re all immersed in poopy diapers, too little sleep, the quandary of whether we should be using our MBAs for "real work"...we bristle when our child chooses the Richard Scarry book off the bookshelf, and most of us don’t get to connect with our husband or friends nearly enough. There’s no point in me writing about that!

I guess the point in me making this reply more public is reassurance that just like you, I find that every month or so I need to prioritize. What makes me feel “mom-a-licious”? What do I need to increase or decrease in my life to be grounded, healthy and happy... a good mom, wife, friend and role model for my kids?

Cuban Picadillo

I am starting to get some serious pangs of anxiety when I realize that the lack of a nap is becoming a trend in our house. This lack of "mommy time" explains why my postings have been sporadic at best this past week. I will type fast so I can share this recipe for picadillo with you because it is so easy to prepare, and so yummy… This meal is even better on day two, once flavors have had a chance to really meld. Plus, it freezes well, so if you’re making it once you might as well make extra and enjoy a night off of cooking later this month or next! We like to serve in whole wheat wraps, but traditionally picadillo is served over steamed white rice. Either way, it is delicious.

Cuban Picadillo

Olive oil
1 lb ground turkey (or you may use beef, if you’d like)
2 onions, diced
3+ cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 peppers, diced
1 cup (or more) Amontillado (dry sherry)
Oregano (dried), about 2 teaspoons
Cumin, about 2 teaspoons
6 oz. can tomato paste
Capers with their brine, at least 2 teaspoons
½ cup raisins
½ cup slivered, roasted, unsalted almonds
½ cup Spanish olives
Bay leaf
Pepper (to taste)
Kosher Salt (to taste)

Serve with whole what wraps or steamed rice

In a large skillet, sauté the ground turkey, onions, garlic and peppers in olive oil. When the meat is just about cooked through, add the remaining ingredients: sherry, oregano, cumin, tomato paste, capers, raisins, almonds, olives and bay leaf and stir together. Wait to season with salt and pepper until the dish is cooked through and you have sampled it. The olives and the brine from the capers add quite a bit of salt to the dish!

This was a favorite of my personal chef clients. If you store in a tightly covered container it will freeze well for up to two months.

And on that note, I will go retrieve my little one from the nap-that-did-not-happen.

Mango with Fresh Mint, Cinnamon and Coconut

The title of this entry gives you the recipe for this healthy, sweet way to end dinner. But, if you want more explicit cooking instructions: chop mango into bite-sized pieces, sprinkle with (unsweetened, toasted) coconut, a dash of cinnamon, and some chopped mint. Done! Not only is it pretty, but the flavors are wonderful together.

Citrus-Infused Black Beans

Simple. A great side for any Mexican/Cuban-inspired dinner!

2 oranges, juiced and zested into a saucepan
1 or 2 onions, diced
Cumin
Chili powder
Coriander
Cinnamon
Honey
Cider Vinegar
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

First I zested and juiced two large naval oranges into a saucepan. Brought that to a boil (to reduce the juice and give it a more pungent flavor). Added the diced onion as soon as it was chopped. Added a healthy shake of chili powder, coriander, cinnamon, and cumin. Let my little one squeeze some honey in for sweetness. Added a splash of cider vinegar for tang (but as it boils, this taste will mellow). Then once the liquid was reduced by about half I threw the beans in, popped a lid on top and turned the heat off to let the flavors meld. They are really delicious!

Dinner's Ready!

It was my turn to cook for my Wednesday Dinner Exchange (see March 18, 2009 posting for details on how to start your own). Last week we enjoyed an amazing Gazpacho alongside a Shrimp and Orzo Salad cooked by Christine. So yummy. For anyone who is keeping track, yes, today is Tuesday. The beauty of this swap is that we're all moms and we all have busy schedules, so the group is flexible on the day you pick to cook. Now the serving dishes are packed up and ready for my three friends to pick-up. Here is what I whipped up:

Cuban Picadillo
Citrus-Infused Black Beans
Endive salad with beets, pistachios and goat cheese + sherry vinaigrette
Fresh mango with cinnamon, toasted coconut and mint

The house smells fabulous, and I got all of the cooking done between the time the school bus came for my big one and my little one’s mommy & me gym class started. Translation if you prefer to go by a clock: about 2 hours start to finish (with a couple breaks to answer the phone, admire a block building, and check email).

Will post the recipes momentarily…just need to get the little one to nap (instead of systematically dismantling his bookshelf) so I have a couple minutes of peace to type them up for you.

Simple Spicy Curry (with help from Maya)

Today was non-stop. I team taught a Stroller Strides class…played at the park with my little one…zipped through Whole Foods (which I love, but that reminds how much less expensive Trader Joe’s is) with minutes to spare before picking up my bigger one…took them both for an impromptu picnic (brown rice sushi from Whole Foods and one of the Whole Food’s bakery’s decadent “granola bars”) at the New Canaan Nature Center…home in time to nap the little one and squeeze in half a workout myself…before taking the big one to his music class and then treating the kids to a (dinner busting) gelato at Gelatissimo. Totally worth it. I tried to give them a goat cheese polenta terrine thingy I picked up at Whole Foods (my little one boisterously asked for it and I thought I had a slam-dunk kid’s dinner, but he probably thought it was a cupcake…) anyway, that totally bombed. But in the couple minutes they were sitting still, turning up their noses, I whipped up this curry for our dinner. Most of the time I try to make something I can also give my kids. Maybe it's subconsciously to broaden their palate, but it's also just to keep things more sane around here. But they won’t touch anything spicy, so this is all for us.

Simple Spicy/Sweet Chicken Curry

1 container Maya Kaimal Vindaloo Sauce
3 zucchini, chopped
3 breasts of all natural chicken, chopped into 1” pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Fuji apple, chopped

Combine everything in a saucepan; bring to a boil then lower heat to low. Pop a cover on it, so the chicken cooks through and the zucchini and apple become tender. I had to run an errand, so I actually turned the heat off after it simmered 10 minutes or so, left the lid on, and when I came home dinner was ready (and the house smells amazing).

As Kaimal says on her website, “I make my products with the finest ingredients and traditional techniques to reflect my favorite flavors of India. I take no shortcuts—so you can.” As long as I recognize all the ingredients in a sauce such as this, I am all for shortcuts.

10 minutes after arriving at Tyler Place last year...

Tyler Place

It must be the 3 consecutive days of sun that has me dreaming of Tyler Place…that, or the fact that this family camp has been a recurring topic of conversation amongst friends this past week. (It couldn't be the mild panic I am feeling that school is out shortly...) It seems that many of us want to plan the perfect family getaway, but we are also in dire need of a break. Tyler Place has it figured out. I cannot wait…

Simple Roasted Veggies

I am all about economies of scale when it comes to cooking. If I am making any of my meatball recipes, or something like chicken enchiladas, I make a batch for the freezer. When I whip up a frittata or protein pancakes I make extra for later in the week, so we can simply heat up breakfast in a matter of minutes...but still enjoy a healthy homemade meal. So last night, when I needed to make a veggie side for dinner, I decided to also roast several different veggies to cut down on prep time later this week.

All veggies were tossed in a little olive oil and kosher salt then roasted in a 375 degree oven for between 20-45 minutes, depending upon the type of veggie. The idea is to cook them until they’re crisp tender. You don’t want to overcook them (to the point when they’re mushy) or they’ll be nasty the night you make them…and even worse a couple days later! Here’s what I roasted, and what I intend to make with each one to give you some ideas:

Leeks (tender spring ones from my CSA delivery) – were eaten last night as a side with our halibut
New Potatoes – the kids had these as a side with their chicken apple sausage dinner last night then I chopped them up in a hash I made for our breakfast this morning; we still have a couple leftover and I’ll crisp them up in a fry pan tonight with the kid’s dinner
Zucchini – always a good addition to a frittata; will be tossed in salads; will toss with a little more olive oil, some lemon zest and fresh mint and serve as a side with dinner tomorrow
Broccoli - chopped some and added it to my son’s Annie’s Mac & Cheese at lunch today; will make scrambled eggs with broccoli and Feta; if I have any left, I’ll toss in a sherry vinaigrette and add some pine nuts and yellow raisins for a nice sweet-tangy room temp side
Carrots – also appeared in my son’s Mac & Cheese; roasting them brings out their sweetness, so my kids like to snack on these; another idea for a side would be to toss carrots in a tangy vinaigrette like this: 1T olive oil + 1T mustard + 2t lemon juice + 2t honey...whisk and add chopped fresh parsley
Peppers and Onions – were used in today’s hash; will be used in the frittata; perfect in the black bean burritos that are a current favorite with my kids (probably because it’s a meal they can eat while moving…); and will be a side to the fish tacos I am making Friday night

So, I have a fridge full of veggies ready to go…but tonight I don’t have to use any of them as it’s my night to pick up dinner from my Supper Exchange (see posting from March 18 if you want to set up your own). Chicken Curry here I come!

"I WOCKET!....I VOWCANO!"

Today, as I struggled to pay attention at a school meeting I was reminded that my life is currently not my own. Not wanting to spend $40-50 on a sitter, I brought my little one along, thinking surely the bag full of Etch-a-sketch, small cars and trucks and the lunchbox we packed full of his choice of snacks would keep him quiet. He wasn’t hungry for the snacks (seeing that it was only 8:30 and he’d just had breakfast), the truck he most wanted to play with made a (loud) whirring sound whenever pulled back, and when he realized bellowing “I VOWCANO! I WOCKET!” in a room filled with attentive moms elicited some giggles (and stink eye) we quickly excused ourselves. This seems to happen to me a lot these days. At first I was really annoyed that I learned nothing about the reading process between K and 1st grade. I was in a resentful mood that perfectly matched today’s foul weather. Then I ran into a friend in town who said she was embracing the fact that nothing was going as she’d planned today and that once she did that, she was much happier. Hmmm, I’d never thought of that tact. Instead I was slowly working myself into a lather because my day was totally off kilter. The meeting was videotaped so working parents could get the information too. My kid is two (quite two). Of course he’d rather be bouncing around at a gym class than a meeting full of moms. When I consider that he’s my job these days, I realize it’s ok for me to borrow one of those meeting DVDs too. Gina was a good reality check. I am going to try to laugh times like these off more. My life may not be my own these days, but it’s a short window when my child is completely dependent on me.

Simple Multi-Tasking Meal: Pasta with Red Sauce becomes Papardelle with (Soy) Chorizo Sauce

Today was one of those days when I needed my meal to multi-task…and I only had a short time to prepare dinner before my kids started spiraling downward. It was so cold and rainy here today that I wanted to give my kids a warm, hearty meal. Got home at 5pm, dinner was ready at 5:30 and the kids were bathed, read to and asleep by 7pm. Delicious success.

1 pkg Trader Joe’s (TJ’s) Sprouted Wheat Papardelle
1 jar TJ’s Organic Pasta Sauce
1 pkg TJ’s Soy Chorizo
Freshly shredded Parmesan

After preparing the papardelle according to the directions on the package (boiling it for 7 minutes with a dash of kosher salt), I mixed in a healthy dose of tomato sauce and freshly shredded Parmesan for the kids and served it with a side of finger-friendly strawberries, mango, cucumbers and carrots. (The consistency of the sprouted wheat pasta went unnoticed, in fact, everyone really liked it.) While they started eating (underfoot) I simply sautéed the chorizo until browned, added the remainder of the sauce, and stirred in the papardelle until warmed and nicely blended. Then I sat down and ate with them. This made a simple, but healthy, pasta dinner a little more interesting and zesty… and it’s another meal that holds up well until your husband comes home from work if you also eat in shifts at your house.

The REAL "Protein Pancakes" of my childhood

Thank you to Loren Kaplan, my Rustic Canyon neighborhood pal, who located the original Canyon School Cookbook: Cosmic Cookery for Kids. This cookbook from the 70’s contains the real Protein Pancake recipe I so fondly remember my mom whipping up. I thought I'd done a good job of recreating the recipe through memory and the combination of a bunch of recipes I'd found online, but this makes much more sense with the ratio of cottage cheese to flour. Since the cookbook is likely not an easy find, here’s the recipe:

Cosmic Cookery for Kids' Protein Pancakes

1 lb cottage cheese (1 tub)

6 eggs

pinch salt

pinch sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 T soft or melted butter

2 t vanilla

Blend everything in the blender until the batter is smooth with a consistency of sour cream. Bake small pancakes on hot buttered griddle, turning once. Serve hot with a little cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. Also good served with sour cream, applesauce, jam, etc. May be used as a main dish.

Now I know what I am making the kids for supper tonight. Mmmm, I wonder if the cookbook also has my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Toy’s Egg Foo Yung?

Not your grandma’s meatballs

Not that I have anything against grandmas. In fact, our “Meme and Papa” are visiting now and we’re having a ball. (Hence the reason I haven’t spent much time updating this blog.) But, since the times when our moms taught us to cook, so many interesting ingredients and ethnic cuisines have become mainstream. With that in mind, I am sharing my recipe for Lamb & Pistachio Meatballs. Remember: meatballs are hard to mess up! These ones are amazing, and so easy. As an added bonus, they reheat well and can be frozen. A perfect make ahead meal…and these meatballs are special enough that you could serve them at a dinner party. (We ate them before I remember to take a photo, so I had to poach an image off the Food & Wine site...)

Kofte with Pistachios

1 bag TJ’s (Trader Joe’s) roasted, unsalted pistachios
1 lb ground lamb (which can be difficult to find, so call ahead and order this from your market’s butcher)
1 lb all natural ground beef
2 or 3 yellow onions (depending upon the size of the onion), small dice
1 bunch fresh mint, leaves roughly chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley, leaves roughly chopped
hearty dash of cumin
hearty dash on cinnamon
hearty dash of kosher salt
olive oil in which to sauté the meatballs

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and mix with your hands. (Remove your wedding ring, or it will get nasty.) Heat olive oil in a large fry pan. Roll 1” meatballs and sauté until nicely browned then transfer to a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Bake another 15 minutes, or so, until cooked through. Done! How easy was that? Serve with Yogurt Sauce.

Herbed Yogurt Sauce
This sauce pairs wonderfully with the meatballs, but can also be a nice accompaniment to grilled chicken or shrimp, or stirred into orzo for a side dish, used as a dip for pita chips, etc. Lots of options for this simple recipe….

1 tub Fage 0% Greek Yogurt (or you can use 2% or full fat, whichever one you prefer)
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced
1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
1 bunch dill, feathery part roughly chopped
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
Freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the above and let flavors meld in the fridge for at least one hour. Dip will keep for several days as long as you started with fresh herbs!

I got to enjoy quite a feast before heading off to CPR class tonight (a requirement for my upcoming Stroller Strides classes, not just for a good time): lamb & pistachio meatballs, the cumin/cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes, and the Israeli cous cous with spinach and Feta. Delish. I gave myself a little pat on the back before trotting off to blow hot air into dummies. I’d intended to post the recipe for the meatballs and yogurt sauce when I got home, but instead am sitting here at midnight watching Noggin with a wheezing toddler in my lap, hoping the medicine works….looking at a sleepless night ahead. Assuming I can keep my eyes open, I promise to post some new recipes tomorrow.

I love hearing that so many of you have had such success (and enjoyed!) recreating these meals. It feels great to have a repertoire of some easy meals that are healthy and interesting, doesn’t it?

I want to look like Tracy

Laugh all you want. Fine, so I'll never be 5 feet tall...I haven't had a tiny little body like that since high school (or was that middle school?!)..and I won't be blond with plump pouty lips without some serious intervention, but a girl can dream, right?

I feel like all I have done the past couple days is cook. On Friday night I made a simple and delicious Bouillabaisse (that I prepped earlier in the day then simple added the seafood last minute) so we could enjoy a relaxing dinner with my parents who are visiting. On Saturday I whipped up copious amounts of Protein Pancakes (see my March 21 posting for that recipe) so I’d also have a healthy yummy breakfast before school this week. I also made a big batch of my Mango Chicken Quesadillas (multi-tasking the kid and adult versions, see posting on March 24 for that recipe/ideas) because we’re having friends come up for a visit and lunch on Monday (and if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am all about preparing things ahead of time so I get to enjoy my company…). Then I took the night off of cooking Saturday and let someone else serve me and clean up. This morning I made a Soy Sausage and Cheese Frittata and fruit salad for Easter brunch. After hunting for eggs with the kids, I whipped up Lamb & Pistachio Meatballs... a Greek Yogurt Dip with Roasted Garlic, Dill, Mint and Parsley... Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cumin, Chile Powder and Cinnamon...and an Israeli Cous Cous side that I made up as I went and it ended up with wilted spinach, dried cranberries, Feta and pine nuts in it. But ironically, when we opened the fridge this afternoon my mom lamented that the (scrumptious) Bouillabaisse was going to go bad if we didn’t eat it today, so we ended up having that for Easter dinner. No one complained that we were having leftovers. In fact, everyone ooh’d and aah’d about how good it was again this evening. So, on a random Monday night we’ll enjoy our Easter Lamb & Pistachio Meatball feast! Nothing like making a Monday special.

But if you’re getting full just reading this litany of foods, then you understand why I also made an investment in Tracy Anderson’s video. Mmm hmm. I ordered the video after asking a friend with a couple month old baby how her tummy was so flat after having her fourth child. I’d heard about the videos, but am always a little skeptical of a DVD workout. You know I love my Stroller Strides classes, and I do treat myself to Go Figure classes here and there (if I can wake up early enough on a weekend morning to rally…or get my husband home early one night/week which rarely seems to come to fruition). But on those days when the day passes me by, the kids are finally put down and I need to rally and do something for me, it’s nice to have an alternative I can pop in. Her cueing isn’t great, but I am still impressed. I mean, I am using my sore fanny as a proxy, and that’s as good as any these days.