New Chick Lit!

Aw, I hate that phrase, but it is apropos and I was hoping it would get your attention. One of the lovely ways my hubby shows that he cares is by sending me links to interesting news articles he has heard during his day at work. He sent a stunner recently - a book/cookbook review and the author has a blog! He also typed in his email "buy it". Well, he NEVER says that unless it is related to bicycle gear so I plan to get the Kindle version tonight.

And now that I have dragged it out, the book is "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" by Jennifer Reese and her blog is The Tipsy Baker. (Get it: chick lit, she has chickens and she wrote a book - ha ha!) I think we may have a love connection, if only I could get up the courage to comment at her site. Read her post about Cool Whip - hilarious! I wonder if she thinks making baby food is worth it...I will let you know if I find out. Until then...

Bottoms Up!

Chard and Squash

Well we went straight from summer to fall in about a day. It is raining with gusts of 50 mph here and I got Swiss chard in my bin delivery. I wanted to try something new and in my latest issue of Everyday Food was a stuffed squash recipe. I used Delicata squash because when you cook it the skin softens and you can eat that too - less to clean up! This is great even for beginning finger food eaters. The squash cooks up really soft and the chard cooks down and softens so they can get it in their mouth and chew it and swallow it with a minimum of teeth!

More Things to do with Zucchini

We are overrun with zukes at our house, that must mean it is summer, although summer arrived so so so late this year it is in September. Anyway, I am always looking for things to do with all the zucchini that people give us. In fact, I don't bother growing it we are gifted so much. So here are two more uses for it:

1. Shred it for taco toppings - we all loved it on our tacos instead of lettuce!

2. Make this amazing Zucchini and Walnut Bread. I made the bread and it turned out perfect the first time. The second time I made cupcakes with it and they were just as yummy, and I can throw one in a kid's lunch! The recipe came from Relish Magazine; they featured a new cookbook out called The Feast Nearby. I am on the wait list for it at the library and will let you know what I think.

Meatless Monday - Spanakopitas

I love Greek food and this has been a recipe made over and over again at my house. Who can resist savory cheese and spinach wrapped in a fluffy flaky pastry!? Not sure exactly where the recipe came from, but here it is along with step-by-step photos to help you with the assembling.


This recipe is a smidge more time consuming than most of my Meatless Monday recipes, but can easily be assembled in 30 minutes (another 30-40 for cooking) once you get a rhythm going. It can also be made ahead or frozen. Not sure exactly how many it serves, but I usually cut the recipe in half and still have enough for two dinners and a few lunches leftover. In other words...A bunch! Serve it up with a simple mixed baby green salad or cut your pastry even smaller and serve as appetizers. Unfortunately, the night I made these I had to run off to a meeting so wasn't able to snap a photo of them fresh from the oven. But trust me, they come out a beautiful shade of gold!
1/4 c good olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1 bunch scallions, white and green parts, chopped

2-10oz pkgs frozen chopped spinach, defrosted

4 extra large eggs, beaten

3 tbl freshly grated parmesan

panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh black pepper

1 tsp ground nutmeg

16oz feta cheese crumbles

3 tbl toasted pine nuts

16 sheets frozen phyllo dough (about 8oz box)

1/4 pound unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)

sea salt and fresh black pepper for seasoning

Preheat oven to 375
Heat olive oil in medium saute pan, add onions and cook for 5 min over med-low heat. Add scallions, cook another 2 min until wilted, but still green. Meanwhile, gently squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and place it in large bowl. When onions and scallions are done, add them to bowl. Mix in eggs, parm, 3 tbl of panko, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Gently fold in feta and pine nuts.

Place one sheet of phyllo dough flat on work surface, placing long end in front of you. Brush dough lightly with butter, sprinkle with tsp of panko. Working quickly, slide another sheet of phyllo on top and repeat with butter and panko. Pile four layers total on top of each other like this and then cut in half lengthwise. Place 1/2-2/3 cup spinach filling on the end, and roll up diagonally. Fold over straight and then diagonally again, like a flag. Continue rolling until you get to the end. The filling should be totally enclosed. Continue assembling with the phyllo sheets and filling until all filling is gone.

Place on baking sheet seam side down. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, bake for 30-45 minutes until the phyllo is golden and crisp. Serve hot.
 

Ski to Sea

Memorial Day weekend in Bellingham is always huge because it is Ski to Sea, our annual relay race. This year B'ham is celebrating 100 years of racing. My husband is competing in the mountain biking leg and my good friend Rachel's husband (well, Chris is my friend too, I gave him a cool bottle opener!) is competing in the road bike leg. Our neighbor has organized two teams, one which our boys are on and so I am hosting the after party - for 40 people! I told my hubby that next year I would race and he could babysit, ferry racers and prep a meal for 40 - ha!

I decided to serve burgers (that way I can get the hubbies to help), potato chips and watermelon. Then I thought I had better serve some sort of side salad and came up with this last night, inspired by a recipe from our organic bin. So Happy Memorial Day everyone!!! See you on the other side...

Shan's Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Yummy Hamburger Side Salad

1 head of cabbage, shredded
2-3 bundles of radishes, cleaned, tops and tails removed and sliced very thin
1 bundle of cilantro, cleaned and chopped
balsamic vinaigrette (I am addicted to Trader Joe's BV dressing)
ground cumin

Mix 2 teaspoons ground cumin with 1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette.
Mix the cabbage, radishes and cilantro together, then toss with the dressing.

Meatless Monday - Pasta Salad

From my friend, Laurel:

So...I made this on Saturday, not Monday, but had to share since it's a yummy fresh pasta salad excellent for spring and picnic season. My husband says it's my best pasta salad yet and he’s a traditionalist when it comes to pasta salad, unlike me, so that means a lot. A few changes...
*use fun colored baby heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joe's and cut in halves

* sub chives for tarragon (grocery store was out)

* sub baby spinach for arugula

*roughly cut the fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces

* toss everything together rather than laying the mozzarella and spinach on top as directed

Meatless Monday - Black Bean Soup

From my friend, Laurel:

Today's MM  recipe was featured in the local paper and also recommended by a friend. This soup appealed to me from the get-go because it looked tasty, healthy, easy to make and most likely you have the ingredients on hand already. It was so zesty! The cilantro really makes the dish (never understood cilantro haters). Mine looked much better in color, but slightly thinner than the photo. Could maybe add another 1/2-1 can of black beans. Diced carrots would be a good addition. Be sure and serve it up with some sour cream and tortilla strips (just cut fresh corn tortillas into long strips with a knife, spray with a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pop them into the oven for a bit).

Note from Shannon: If you are dairy-free like me, you can sub avocado chunks for the sour cream. I am  planning on making this tonight! Yum!

Meatless Monday - Butternut Squash Lasagna

From my friend, Laurel:

This recipe was delicious and comforting! You can even make it ahead of time and freeze. It wasn't very time consuming, but I was thinking...Mondays are hectic for most people, so you could easily sub Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce for the butternut squash and broth. Then continue following the recipe with the fresh herbs, pistachios and Bechemal.
If you make it as directed, Trader Joe's has precut butternut squash that's a time-saver. TJ’s is also a good source for the fresh herbs and fresh mozzarella. Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce can be found at Costco and won Best Pasta Sauce at the 2009 New York Fancy Food Show.
I served this meatless lasagna with with roasted asparagus – simply break off the ends, toss in olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper, roast at 400 degrees for 25 minutes tossing once or twice. Easy peasy.

Meatless Monday - Sweet Potato and Black Bean Empanadas

From my friend, Laurel:

I've decided to attempt Meatless Mondays and incorporate them into our weekly menu plan. Tonight I made sweet potato and black bean empanadas from Cooking Light. They were delish and everyone – from the almost two year old to the almost 40 year old – loved them. Yay for Meatless Mondays!


For these empanadas I made the dough as described and it was pretty simple, although you could easily sub store-bought dough (and next time I probably will). I left the poblano chiles out since the kids were eating these as well and considered subbing sauteed chopped mushrooms, but if I had done that I would have had to double the amount of dough and time was ticking. These would be lovely served with spring greens tossed with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette.
 

Meatless Mondays and Timesaver Tuesdays

I have this great friend, the one who suggested I start blogging to begin with, and she will be guest blogging here on Mondays. She is trying to go meatless on Mondays and has two little kids. So look for yummy, kid-friendly recipes from Laurel.

Also, Tuesday nights at our house are hectic and we don't get home until after 5:30 pm, just when everyone becomes pissy starving. So I have started using my slow cooker more and I will post those recipes under Timesaver Tuesdays.

I won't even try to promise new recipes every week, but look for them at least once a month if not more. And please, send me your fab and fav meatless or slow cooker recipes to post as well. We can all use a little help and new ideas to stave off kitchen boredom.

Preserved Summer

I took a class last year at Ciao Thyme on cooking with fish. It has changed my life. I am not afraid of fish anymore and (if I do say so myself, and I will!) I can cook fish, any fish! Yeah! One of the recipes from the class was a vinaigrette with preserved lemons in it. I have been waiting for the Meyer lemons to show up at the grocery stores and when they did I bought 20 and preserved them! It was easy (stay posted if mold shows up) and I put two in each pint jar to give away. I followed the recipe from my cooking class which is very similar to this one although I left the spices out. Today my lemons are ready and I am planning on using them with fish, in vinaigrette and actually where ever I can. If you have some preserved lemons try this vinaigrette or this Dover Sole recipe.

Ciao!

The Great Food Fight

Ellyn Satter on NPR yesterday discussed how to diffuse food battles with your toddlers. I agree with her advice (see my post here). She recommends offering regular meals, regular snacks, and a variety of foods, all with no pressure to eat. Ms. Satter and I believe as a mom it is my job to offer healthy food and Clare can choose what and how much to eat from what I have offered her. I am a rule follower so I needed to find some rules for myself; mine are to offer Clare a whole grain, protein, fruit and veggie at every meal. Most of the time she chooses to eat next to nothing. But during some meals it is feast time, instead of famine, and she will devour second and third helpings!

Check out Ellyn Satter's books, as well as the toddler book, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague mentioned in the article.

My Favorite Breakfasts...

I love breakfasts; it is my favorite meal of the day. Some people save dinner recipes, I save breakfast recipes. So I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you. I was at the grocery store the other day and saw the last strawberries of the season and remembered a recipe I ate all the time. I modified it for what I had at home.

Strawberry Toast
2 slices bread, toasted (you can use waffles, English muffins, sourdough, whatever sounds good)
1/4 cup plain yogurt (you can use vanilla yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta, whatever sounds good)
1/2 sliced strawberries
honey

Pile the yogurt and berries on top of the toast. Drizzle with honey. This is one of those recipes which sounds good and tastes even better. Enjoy! Chop small for finger food eaters, they will love smearing the yogurt around with the berries and toast. Replace the strawberries with blueberries for babies under one year.

My Favorite Hot Cereal
1 serving hot cereal of your choice (I like steel cut oats or cream of wheat)
milk
1/4 cup raisins, chopped
1/4 pear, chopped

Heat up milk and add cereal and raisins; and cook according to cereal directions. Once the cereal is cooked stir in the pear and serve. Another recipe even more delicious than it sounds. This is great for finger food eaters. For beginning finger food eaters, peel the pear before chopping.

Scrambled Eggs
1 egg, beaten
1 t. butter
1/2 t. fresh dill, chopped
1 T feta cheese, crumbled

Melt butter in small skillet over medium heat. Pour in egg and continue to scrape until no liquid remains. Remove from heat and stir in the dill and feta. Serve with toast. Eggs are a great source of protein for finger food eaters.

I hope you have some yummy mornings and remember, parenting is easier with coffee!

Have You Tried...

Delicata squash? My photo above depicts an unripe squash - wait until the white strips turn almost orange in color. I like it roasted as "croutons" in my salads. Here is what you do: wash, halve and scoop out seeds, chop into inch-size pieces with skin on, toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in your oven at 400 deg F for 20 minutes or until the flesh is tender and slightly crispy in places. The skin is thin enough to eat. The roasted squash is also nice served as a side dish and it is perfect for finger food eaters.

(The photo is from my class and my instructor love it - yeah! I am getting better, aren't you relieved?)

Plum Perfection

We had friends over last Saturday night and I wanted a meal that was easy to prep, easy to cook and hopefully something toddlers and adults would like so I choose this recipe: Pork Kebabs with Grilled Plums. It was easy to prep, just some chopping. It was easy to cook; I sent the boys outside to grill the kebabs and plums. And everyone liked it! Yeah! I substituted quinoa for the couscous and no one seemed to mind. For side dishes I was about to send my hubby to the store last minute (like I do too often) for more spinach when I thought to make several small salads with what I already had in the fridge. Super idea as it used up our organic bin delivery and the guests had several choices. I made spinach salad, cucumber salad, and Massaged Kale and Currant Salad from one of my favorite cookbooks, Cooking With Whole Foods by Cynthia Lair. I am not a fan of kale and am always looking for a new way to cook it. This salad was fantastic and got rave reviews from the dinner guests. Ms. Lair takes chopped kale and massages it with sea salt until it starts to break down. I think I can use this massaged kale as a base for all sorts of salads. But I think I will just call it kale!

For new eaters, add some of baby's milk to the quinoa for a creamy whole protein. For finger food eaters serve them the grilled plums, chopped with the quinoa or couscous, they can try the kale salad as well.

I Heart Chicken...

...actually, I don't but I do love this dish: chicken with carrots in a slow cooker - and this is one of those good slow cooker recipes that take all day so you can actually throw it in before you leave the house in the morning. (As opposed to those other recipes where you have to wait until lunch time to start them.) The chicken and carrots cook down soft enough that finger food eating babies can have them and babies new to finger foods can try the couscous.

And drum roll please...one of my photos that my instructor liked! Check it out:

I guess I will have to start photographing my meals just as the rain starts outside on our backyard pavers ;)

I'm Easy...

...at least I try to be, but my husband may give you a different answer some days! What I mean is that when I am stressed about something, mainly all the veggies we get in our organic bin delivery that I can't seem to use, then I try to find the easy way out. Yesterday it turned out to be buying a take-and-bake cheese pizza, bringing it home, and dumping all our veggies on it. I got rave reviews from the family! So try that sometime when you have a fridge full of stuff, but not enough of anything to make a "real" recipe. Our pizza had sliced olives, chopped red onions, chopped green peppers, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped basil and fresh spinach leaves. (FYI put the spinach leaves on first and then pile everything else on top).  For babies that are learning to bring food to their mouths, let them gum a piece of pizza crust. For younger babies, pull out the homemade freezer purees.

The Best Salmon I'll Ever Eat...

...turns out to be my own! I took on Bon Appetit's Eat Local Challenge and made (what I like to call) Salmon with Apple Slaw. Oh my goodness - it was delicious. My hubby grilled the perfect salmon and I created a fab apple slaw to serve with it. I served a mixed green salad with red peppers and feta with it and blueberry compote with whipped cream and honey for dessert. Continue reading for food, sources and recipes. Bon Appetit!



Food and Farmers:
apple cider vinegar from Bellewood Acres, Lynden, WA (12 miles)
apples, pepper from Cloud Mountain Farm, Everson, WA (16 miles)
blueberries from Boxx Berry Farm, Ferndale, WA (15 miles)
feta and butter from Golden Glen Creamery, Bow, WA (27 miles)
honey from Backyard Bees, Edison, WA (24 miles)
mixed greens from Terra Vida Farm, Everson, WA (16 miles)
parsley from my garden (0 miles)
salmon from VIS Seafoods, Bellingham, WA (caught between Bellingham Bay and San Juan Island, less than 35 miles)
salt from local grocery (only exception to challenge)
shallot from my garden (0 miles)
whipping cream from Fresh Breeze Organic Dairy, Lynden, WA (12 miles)
wine from San Juan Vineyards, Friday Harbor, WA (32 miles)

Recipes:
For the salmon, brush 2 tablespoons of melted butter over 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet. then sprinkle with salt. Grill salmon skin-side down first, flip when about 2/3 cooked through and opaque. Cook until thermometer in thickest part reads 125 deg F.

For the apple slaw, mince one shallot, julienne three apples (I used Elstar apples because they aren't too sweet), leaf one cup of parsley and toss in small bowl. Add two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to bowl and toss to mix. Serve over salmon.

For the salad, toss three cups mixed greens, with one chopped red pepper and 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese. In a small bowl, mix 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar with 2 teaspoons honey and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Drizzle over the salad.

For the blueberry compote, heat one cup blueberries over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add 1/4 cup honey and cook until half the berries burst. Remove from heat and mix in one cup of fresh blueberries. Top with whipped cream and drizzle with honey.

Eat Local Challenge Ingredients

So I mentioned here about a food challenge I plan to enter. The challenge is to create a meal out of locally sourced ingredients, meaning all ingredients must be grown within 150 miles of your house. The only exception is salt. Ironically, I can get salt locally, but not olive oil which I use every day! So I hit the shops today in preparation for our local dinner tomorrow night. Here in alphabetical order (just to keeping you guessing) are my chosen ingredients: apple cider vinegar, apples, blueberries, butter, cheese, honey, parsley, pepper, salad mix, salmon, shallots, whipping cream, and wine.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Last night we had tacos, which I have already blogged about here. Tonight I am using the leftover meat for chili. Get it chili...chilly...cold outside. I guess it's not that funny if I need to explain it. Okay, moving on. Chili...it is not my favorite but some people in our house like it and so like the good mommy/wifey I am, I found a recipe that I think is yummy. This is easy to make from scratch according to the recipe; but I will modify it below for you if you are using leftover taco meat like me.

In step one, just saute the carrots and pepper because your taco meat already has a sauteed onion in it. Next add the leftover meat and cook until heated through. I added beans to our meat last night and the meat is already seasoned so I just need to add water and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Ta-da! How easy is that?! Then stir in the corn and serve with cheddar, a green salad and cornbread.

This is a perfect dish for babies who are eating finger foods. Also, this is a good introduction to ground beef. When my girls were ready for meat I started with white fish, then grilled chicken, and then ground beef. Just give them a little of it - maybe a tablespoon or two with a veggie and fruit. Don't overwhelm their system with meat and beans at first.