Friday recipes; or Fricipes

Technically, I'm not including a recipe. But this is definitely food related.

The New York Times just wrote a really interesting article about the mistakes parents make when feeding the kids. I was a little shocked that "Letting your child live exclusively on Fruit Loops" didn't make the list, but hey, I guess that's sort of implied.

I have to say, I'm only guilty of one to two of the six sins. The article suggests you shouldn't force kids to take at least one bite of everything. I'm definitely in that camp. My argument is, I'll give you an alternative if you don't like what I made, but you've got to at least try it.

Anyhow, I thought it was a great list unlike any I'd seen before. Most say things like, don't let kids fill up on carbs. Well, duh. But this actually offered some useful advice.

1. Don't send kids out of the kitchen. Let them hang around for preparations. BTW, I'm super good at this one.
2. Pressuring them to take a bite. I think I've mentioned, not so much.
3. Keeping good food out of reach. "Good food" was a misnomer. It actually means stuff kids think is good, like candy. The argument is, don't have it in the house if you don't want your kids to have it. I hope wine doesn't apply.
4. Dieting in front of your kids.
5. Serving boring veggies. For Pete's sake, but some butter on those green beans.
6. Giving up too soon. It can take kids up to 15 tries before they accept they like something.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

For my birthday, my aunt gave me this great cookbook all about cooking with the seasons. Since she's also quite the gardener, I also came home from a recent visit with a paper bag full of tomatoes.

"Simply In Season," commissioned by Mennonites, has fantastic recipes for all kinds of veggies. From springtime asparagus to winter squash, almost anything growing in your garden is covered. Since I was the lucky recipient of all these tomatoes, and because I don't can, I made a simple tomato sauce, which I froze. The following recipe is pretty much straight from the book, with a few of my own tweaks.

1 chopped onion sautéed in 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium head until soft.
2 garlic cloves, minced. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Add two shredded carrots, 1 chopped green (or red) pepper, 2 bay leaves, 1/4 cup fresh parsley, 2 Tbsp fresh basil, 1 Tbsp fresh oregano and/or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme.

Stir well

6 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes. Puree about half in food processor or blender.
6 ounces tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste.

Sauté about 15 minutes. Have a lovely bowl of pasta and freeze the rest in plastic bags.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

So you had a big party last night and that big bowl of tortilla chips is stale. Or, more likely in my case, you fell asleep with an open bag while you were watching "We Are the 80s" on VH1 for the 15th time.

Whatever. There's an awesome remedy for those inedible corn chips — chilaquiles.

Chilaquiles is a traditional Mexican dish using leftover corn tortillas. The tortillas are fried, layered with leftover sauce and cheese, and baked into a casserole. There are a ton of varieties to this great dish, and here's a link to get you started, but my personal favorite is the tomatillo variety. It's tangy and wonderful.

2 lbs. tomatillos, quartered. They look like husked green tomatoes and sold near the avocados.
1 medium onion, diced.
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped.
Juice from one lime.
1/2 tsp salt.
1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, for the brave. (otherwise, optional).
2 cup chicken broth.
1/2 bag corn chips. If you don't have this, fry up about 12 corn tortillas cut in eighths.
16 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded.

1. Combine the tomatillos, onion, cilantro, lime, pepper and salt in blender until smooth. Bring mixture to boil on stove.

2. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Turn to low and simmer 10 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 350.

4. Put about 1 cup sauce on bottom of casserole dish. Layer with tortilla chips.

5. Add another cup of sauce, half the cheese and another layer of chips. Top with sauce and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is bubbly.

6. Serve with sour cream. If it's a spicy dish, it works really well with a fried egg.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

The tomatoes are here! The tomatoes are here!

Every year when we get those first few tomatoes, we always analyze the best way to eat them. A fresh mozzarella/tomato salad with olive oil and great bread? A fantastic BLT?

How about some fresh salsa? Oh how I love the conundrum of summer food.

Here's my recipe for the perfect summer salsa. Next week, check back to find out how to deliciously use stale corn chips.

This is a single tomato recipe. Just double, triple or multiple by 100 for your needs. Also, don't be afraid to experiment. A seeded cucumber or diced carrot can make a nice addition, especially if you're making a clean-out-the-fridge variety.

One good sized tomato
Tsp salt
One small onion
One jalapeno or Serrano pepper (use half a green pepper if you don't like the heat)
One small ear of corn, boiled five minutes and cut off cob
Juice from half a lime
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1. Dice tomatoes. Put in colander in sink and sprinkle with salt (this will rid the tomatoes of their excess juice)
2. Layer diced onion, diced pepper and corn on top of tomatoes. Do not stir.
3. Squeeze lime juice over vegetables
4. Wait about 15-20 minutes.
5. Stir the mixture into a medium bowl. Stir in cilantro and season with salt and pepper.

Eat with corn chips, tacos or over scrambled eggs.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

I've got nothing against the traditional grilled cheese sandwich. Who doesn't love butter, bread and cheese slices, maybe some ham if you're feeling fancy?

But I definitely prefer a more grown-up variety, especially in the summer. And both my kids, even my picky eater, love it.

Today is one of my favorites. I got some good Ciabatta bread from the bakery. I could have made my own rustic version if I had the time and inclination, neither of which panned out.

Then I layer fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and some shredded mozzarella. I brush both sides with olive oil and cook over medium heat on the stove top until both sides are golden brown, about four minutes each.

Add and subtract veggies and cheese to find your favorite combo. I'm also partial to sautéed spinach with goat cheese.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

Who doesn't love a good smoothie? That's right. Nobody.

So I was pretty happy my husband passed along his mom's quick smoothie recipe for a refreshing after-dinner treat. You can make it with ice cream, but I find it works just as well with plain yogurt (I never buy the pre-sweetened stuff because it's chock full of high fructose corn syrup and it's just as good if you take the plain stuff add a generous helping of maple syrup and your choice of fruit).

This smoothie literally takes about three minutes and could use almost any fruit. I read another great recipe to freeze these in Popsicle containers for smoothie frozen pops. Yum...

Strawberry-banana smoothie

• I cut up one banana, a half dozen good sized strawberries and throw those in the blender. I add about a cup and a half of yogurt and two TBS of maple syrup, which I swear does not make your yogurt take like maple syrup, just yummy sweet.
• Blend.
• Add about a handful of ice cubes.
• Blend until the cubes are crushed.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

As promised, another DIY for homemade crayons, stolen straight from my Green Living Family Tips for Nick Jr. Magazine. I wrote it, so I guess it's probably OK for me to steal it.

This is a great option for birthday favors, along with homemade Play-Doh or a homemade CD burned with your favorite kid tunes.

Recycle your crayon bits

1. Collect broken and used crayons for a rainy day project.

2. Remove the paper from crayons and fill muffin tin halfway. Use just one color, or mix a bunch for a tie-dye looking crayon. Bake at 200˚F for 12 minutes, or until wax melts. Watch closely. Let cool.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

Last week, the girls took home a tiny tub of Play-Doh from their summer reading program. It was a sticky mess and I promptly threw it away and promised my elephant-never-forgets-minded 4-year-old I'd make some myself one day it rained.

So she kept waiting and waiting and waiting for a rainy day. Today, still no rain despite predictions of 80 percent, and I gave in.

I don't know why I had waited so long. Homemade Play-Doh is super easy and fast. It doesn't have any mystery ingredients and you can decide on the fly what colors you want. Break out the cookie cutters and you've got yourself an afternoon.

Simple Mom just posted a super recipe for the stuff on her site a few days ago. Rather than steal it, I'll just go ahead and link directly to her site. I just made two batches and found it simple to follow with a great result. Next week, I'll post my other favorite rainy day DIY — homemade crayons.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

My salad days are back — literally.

This week in my CSA bounty, I received three full heads of lettuce, a bag of baby greens and a bag of spinach. That means salad.

I'm totally not complaining. I would gladly eat salad every day between now and doom's day. But of course, I need a good dressing. A first-rate dressing is important when trying (begging, pleading and threatening) to get kids to eat their green leafies as well.

Personally, I lean on the side of sour on the sour/sweet debate. Here's what I view as the perfect combination. Just blend all the ingredients, the oil in a slow, steady stream to emulsify the vinaigrette. Toss immediately with greens (and if I'm really lucky, some yummy radishes).

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (just a pinch if you only have table salt)
6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
a few chopped chives, optional


My CSA farmer passed along this dressing recipe recently. I haven't tried it, but I'm intrigued. I'm guessing it would be a favorite with the girls.

Combine about 1/4 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip--it will not work!) with enough milk, thinning it, but not runny. Add about 1 tsp sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add vinegar (cider vinegar works best) to taste, 1 TBSP or more.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

Could there be a more perfect spring dish than spinach salad? The greeny deliciousness. The bacon. The vinegar.

I just love it. But it also needs a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg, one of life's most perfect foods. For such a simple thing, hard boiled eggs can be hard to master. I normally end up with most of the egg going down the disposal with the shell or an overcooked yolky mess that works like cement inside my mouth.

But the following method seems to work well.

Put the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Cover the eggs and let set for 10 minutes, remove the eggs and plunge them in an ice-water bath.

Just because I'm a huge pain in the ass, I must admit I actually don't do this because I am the lucky owner of an electric tea kettle.

I just plop the eggs inside, turn on the kettle (it turns off when it reaches a boil) and take them out at 10 minutes. If I don't break any, I make myself a lovely cup of tea as a reward for being so smart.

Run them under cold water as you peel to reduce egg-white waste.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

I recently bid house guests a safe trip home. I made a huge pork roast with basmati rice and broccoli, but I'm pretty sure I could have opened a can of tomato soup, grated some cheese on top and called it a day — all to the same reaction of "What a wonderful dinner."

That's because I made my own bread. Homemade bread is deemed such a luxury that it matters little else what is on the table. And a tasty loaf is truly a wonderful thing. If you've ever looked at the ingredients in your typical sandwich bread, you'll likely see a bunch of mystery ingredients, including high fructose corn syrup.

I make mostly two kinds of yeast breads: American white loaf and Rustic Italian, depending on what I'm serving. Stews and American-style meals, like roasts, are better with the white bread. Everything else gets rustic. Also, the American bread recipe takes just a few hours, whereas the rustic recipe takes two days.

These recipes are pretty complex, so I won't include them here. I use Cooks Illustrated (best cookbook EVER) for both the white and the rustic. You need a subscription (which is well worth it, by the way, but they also have an unlimited search for 14 days free).

The New York Times ran this interesting recipe for no-knead bread that I've never had any luck with, but it's a great idea. I just think my oven doesn't get hot enough. And here's a nice recipe for white bread from a pretty thorough site.

So bake a loaf today, but don't expect it to be there tomorrow.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

In case you weren’t aware, there’s this worldwide rice shortage at the moment. So, sure I’m about to pass along my favorite rice recipe because what the world needs now is more middle American rice consumers.

Anyhow, I love rice. I buy in bulk basmati rice at the local Asian grocer. Whenever I cook rice as a side dish, I always make way too much on purpose.

The purpose? Leftover fried rice. It’s so totally easy and it gets rid of all those leftover veggies about to go bad in the fridge. For whatever reason, day-old rice makes a much better fried rice than fresh rice. So just store about six extra cups in the fridge overnight (even a day or two is fine) and get ready for the best freakin’ leftovers ever.

I made this last night and even had my veggie-hating 2-year-old to devour her dinner, complete with komatsuna. That’s right, komatsuna.

Six cups fried rice
Vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup oyster sauce (also available at the Asian grocer)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
One clove of garlic
2 carrots, cut into bite size pieces
cups of frozen peas
2 scallions
* Note (the carrots, peas and scallions can be substituted with any vegetable you have ready to hit the trash. Good substitutes are mushrooms, greens, onions or broccoli)

1. Scramble the eggs. I like to use just one pan (easy cleanup) so I drop the eggs in oil over medium high and stir the crap out of them. It’s not like eating fluffy eggs for breakfast so don’t worry too much if they don’t look perfect. Set aside in a bowl.
2. Add some more oil (a tablespoon or so) and add the garlic. If you’re using onion, do that first for about two minutes. Cook garlic for about 30 seconds.
3. Add carrots and peas. Cook for about a minute.
4. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and rice. Stir until it looks like the stuff you get from your favorite Chinese restaurant. Remove from heat and add scallions (if using) and eggs.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

I've recently changed my diet to reflect a more Asian style of eating. I did this after seeing the Asian Diet Pyramid, a different spin on the healthy eating pyramids seen in every middle school in America, and realizing they are permitted to drink alcohol EVERY day.

Now that's a diet I can get behind.

The biggest change for me is less meat. Specifically less red meat, which I kind of love. Plus, it's not as expensive as fish or fancy veggies. Plus-plus, nothing fills you up like a good old-fashioned slab of steak.

But I'm working with it. And I recently created this fantastic pita sandwich with sautéed spinach and mushrooms, and topped with bean sprouts. But the real heart of the sandwich is the Green Goddess Dip, which is versatile, yummy and is a fun and healthy dip for kids.

2 Garlic cloves
1 cup parsley
1 cup Spinach (Green goddess dip is typically all herbs, like basil and dill, but I like spinach so there)
3/4 cup of yogurt
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut up garlic in food processor or blender. Add parsley and spinach. Blend in the yogurt. Add lemon juice.
Scoop into bowl and vigorously stir in the ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.

Friday recipes; or Fricipes

I can't get spring out of my head. A garden. The CSA. Salad at every meal.

I guess by spring, I actually mean food.

There's nothing better to me than fresh veggies prepared in all kinds of ways. It's my comfort food and there's no reason little kids won't love it as well.

So, in honor of spring, I'll make Friday's recipe days. I hope to include all my favorite dishes that are both healthy and delicious.

And to start, in honor of the spring that hasn't quite arrived, let's try an arugula pesto which is a little less expensive (and has a prettier, brighter green color) than it's basil counterpart.

1 clove garlic
1 bunch of arugula
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup walnuts (toasted pine nuts work as well)
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese (fresh is best, but the other stuff works too)
1/4 cup of olive oil (the better the oil, the better your pesto)
Salt and pepper to taste

I just use the food processor to make light work of this dish. Process the garlic, followed by the nuts. (You can toast both if you're feeling fancy.) Add the arugula and cheese and drizzle oil as you process until the pesto is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If you're using this as a pizza topping (no kid in her right mind would say no to pesto pizza) just substitute tomato sauce for the pesto.

With pasta, I like to add a quarter cup of risotto cheese to give it a creamy texture. I find rotini pasta works best.

Oh my gosh... I am so hungry right now. Hey spring, where are you?