“Can we make the chicken for them?” Phoebe whispered in my ear. (And when I say “whispered”, I mean she breathed. Little puffs of inspiration delivered straight to my ears. How can one request be so tickly and so excited all at once?) Paul’s parents were visiting from Florida and after a disastrous dinner the night…
Sautéed Cabbage with Sausage, Apples & Onions
“I JUST DON’T LIKE IT” they all said. Before any of them had tried a single bite. Even I was worried. Would four kids under the age of six like sautéed cabbage and sausage with apples and, gasp, onions? But I couldn’t help myself. A dinner like this is so nutritious, so colorful and it’s even…
Kid-Friendly Chicken Tikka Masala in the Slow Cooker
This is beginner Chicken Tikka Masala, the kind that bubbles away in the slow cooker all afternoon. That’s because my kids don’t do spicy. Actually, I don’t even like a lot of spice myself. I remember growing up and thinking most toothpaste was “too hot”. But man, do I love a nice bowl of Chicken…
Let’s Make Mark Bittman’s Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms, and Wine
Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms, and Wine Excerpted with permission from HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING FAST Time: Faster (30 minutes or less) Makes: 4 to 6 servings Use red wine and this dish is hearty for the fall or winter; use white and it becomes lighter for spring or summer. You won’t go wrong either way….
Grilled Chicken, Peanut Ginger Stir-Fry
GOT LEFTOVER CHICKEN? Looking for ways to make cooking dinner easier (an endless pursuit around here)? We grilled up half a batch of chicken earlier in the week and saved this part for another dinner tonight as part of our 2-in-1 Dinners series. We’re cooking once, eating twice. I always eat leftovers for lunch but otherwise my…
2 Dinners in 1: Grilled Chicken Becomes Creamy Lemon Pasta and Peanut Ginger Stir-Fry
MAKING DINNER EVERY NIGHT ISN’T EASY. This, we know. One of my favorite new techniques for getting food on the table is actually cooking less. Yep. By cooking one base I can make at least two meals. We’ve done it with ground beef, rice and tomatoes in Stuffed Red Peppers, which later became the base…
oven baked barbecue chicken drumsticks
MY KIDS MAY LIVE IN THE SOUTH NOW, but they still aren’t huge fans of chicken. Not fried chicken, not BBQ chicken, not chicken in general. Chicken just isn’t nearly as big of a thing in Rome, where they were all born. Fast forward to our move to the States and these Euro-rascals, the ones…
15-minute cheesy pasta with chicken & spinach
THIS PASTA DISH IS A 3-BOWLER. At least it was for Phoebe, our 5-year-old. Okay, okay. I admit it. I also found myself eating at least another helping, standing next to the sink while I pretended to “clean the kitchen” after dinner. It’s just that kind of pasta dish. And there’s even better news: the recipe is…
roasted lemon chicken with vegetables, the perfect make-at-nap-time dinner
RIGHT AROUND 5PM THINGS GET ROUGH at my house, maybe even 4. There’s too much whining and not nearly enough wine. That’s why I love to make dinner earlier in the day and let it just hang out — or in this case, roast away — until we’re ready. When the cranky hour arrives I…
lemon chicken strips
MOVE OVER CHICKEN NUGGETS. These lemony chicken strips are so juicy and full of flavor that your kids may never ask for the frozen stuff again. They also MAY put their shoes and coats on tomorrow without whining one bit (and if they do, please tell me exactly how that happened, okay? Thanks!) Well anyway, let’s just see…
super simple turkey pot pie (and yes, I cheated)
WHEN YOU HAVE A FRIDGE FULL OF TURKEY and a house full of guests, the best way to handle both is a big casserole of turkey pot pie, just like this one. It’s a new riff on the Barefoot Contessa’s chicken pot pie recipe we made over once (and still the number one recipe of…
one pot dinner: sauteed cabbage & chicken with dried cranberries & toasted almonds
HERE’S THE PINT-SIZED REVIEW FOR THIS ONE: “I like it a little bit.” That would be Phoebe (4) when I served this cabbage dish for dinner the other night. Estelle (2) and George (1) were equally enthusiastic. And you know what? That works for me! A few bites here, a few bites there, and pretty…
chicken soup with noodles
I HAD TO PHONE A FRIEND FOR THIS ONE. Last night was a much needed ladies’ night for myself and the first friend I made in North Carolina, an outsider like me, only Therese came to Durham from Switzerland. She’s also the mother of three, two girls and one boy, but hers are older and…
spicy pasta with chicken, spinach and goat cheese
I’M BREAKING A PRETTY BIG RULE HERE. The idea of making two meals, one for the kids and another for the adults, is just too exhausting for me to even consider on most days. But for our Halloween lunch, I decided to spare the moms those mummy turkey dogs. Instead we adapted a recipe from…
chicken & zucchini casserole castles
“THIS IS SO AWESOME!” That’s what Phoebe said when she saw her casserole castle last night. Then she wouldn’t eat it. Instead there was lots of trying to hug it while murmuring, “I just love it so much”. So that was the down side. The good news is, the whole thing couldn’t be easier to…
Michael Pollan’s vinegar chicken made easier and ALMOST kid-friendly
PROJECT “CLEAN OUT THE PANTRY” is officially underway! That’s right. We are finally, finally, at long last and just in time, moving into our new house. Which is good because I was going to pack up anyway, headed straight for the loony bin. Six months of temporary living among too many moving boxes and too…
one-pot roasted lemon chicken with green beans & potatoes
RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. And easy. And all the kids eat it. That’s what I have to say about this chicken recipe, the one making the rounds on Facebook right now (have you seen it?) that’s actually from Real Simple. And also this: We’ve had this recipe twice in the last week and might have it again….
pan-fried chicken Milanese, a family-friendly recipe from “The Fresh 20” by Melissa Lanz
THE THING ABOUT COOKING DINNER IS, the whole process can get complicated. Even daunting. What to make, when to get to the store, what to do with the rest of that huge bag of kale… One of the things that I’m enjoying about Melissa Lanz’s book, “The Fresh 20” (which you have an opportunity to…
Homemade chicken strips
PICNIC FOOD DOESN’T GET better than this. I’ll just fess up immediately though: this pan-fried technique is more involved than the baked chicken nuggets we made a while ago. There’s oil popping and smoke billowing all over the place. Or maybe that’s just me. But this is for sure: the color is much darker, and…
homemade chicken nuggets
THIS ONE TIME, WHEN OUR KIDS WERE MISBEHAVING, we used a bribe to get them back on track. And these nuggets were part of it. A delicious part.