SOME RECIPES FOLLOW YOU wherever you go. The Barefoot Contessa’s gazpacho is one of them, and I’ve been making it longer than I’ve been a parent. Maybe even longer than I’ve known Paul. There were big batches blended up in small New York City apartments, at least as many in Rome and now our first…
Finally, a Chili Recipe My Kids Will Eat
MY KIDS DON’T LIKE CHILI. EXCEPT THIS WAY. There are a couple of tricks at work here. First, make some chili. Don’t put in too much cumin and skip the spicy chiles. Then swap a soup bowl for a juice glass and present those knee-high guys with this, a chili parfait. And if that doesn’t…
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…
tomato & cheese tart
THIS WAS THE HARDEST RECIPE I’VE MADE in a long time. But I did it. And it was delicious, at least two parents and one preschooler thought so. Baby George and Estelle who is two, begged to differ. But here’s my theory: Phoebe helped me make it and when you’re a kid in the kitchen,…
slow cooker pulled pork
THIS DISH SAVED THE SLOW COOKER from sudden death by way of donation or yard sale, whichever came first. After tons of weird soups and stringy meat dinners, I finally came up with a great slow cooker recipe that uses real food ingredients (no cans of soup, no gravy packets). With a recent move from Rome…
a healthy twist on green eggs and ham
THIS IS ONE OF MY TRICKS. Since I try to cook (almost) every night, I take a shortcut and make breakfast for dinner about once a week. It’s always easy, usually inexpensive, handy because the ingredients are in the pantry–and best of all, the kids love it.
Our Most Popular Casserole Recipe Ever: Sausage, Rice, Zucchini & Cheese
PHOEBE WASN’T EXACTLY PLEASED. Suddenly my four-year-old is opposed to everything being combined into a one-pot dinner. “Only one thing?”, she asks as incredulously as only a preschooler can. And to that I say (at least in my head), “When you start doing the dishes my dear, we can use all the pans for every…
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….
making mac & cheese even kid-friendlier, definitely healthier
MY GOAL IS REAL FOOD. Less boxes, more produce. But all of this only matters if someone’s willing to eat it. And before all the “mmms” and “Thanks Mom”-ing can begin, some brave soul must be willing to make it. This is where I (try to) come in. With the mind of a mad scientist…
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…
10 kid-friendly ways to cook with quinoa: I asked, you answered!
IT STARTED WITH A DINNER FAIL. I tried to spice up what was a delicious quinoa dish full of sweet potatoes and roasted chicken–except this new version was terrible. Instead of chicken and sweet potatoes, I used pork and apples (you know, pork chops and applesauce?) and tried to combine everything into a handy one-pot…
kid-friendly crudite: personal veggie cups with dip
THANK YOU, PINTEREST. I loved this idea the moment I saw it. They did it for a party, I did it for dinner. Which meant my kids ate a bunch of vegetables for dinner. And they did it with smiles.
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.
Linguine with mushroom bacon sauce, a pasta recipe from “American Grown” by Michelle Obama
WHEN THEY SERVE PASTA AT THE WHITE HOUSE, this is it. And also, I’d like to come come over next time they do. But for now I’ll have to settle for the most delicious sounding recipe for linguine that I’ve seen since we left Italy. In this excerpt from Michelle Obama’s book, “American Grown”, you’ll…
Roasted whole carrots with maple glaze
JUST IN TIME FOR EASTER BUNNIES EVERYWHERE, we’ve got a fun take on carrots. The good news is, it’s super simple. The great news is, the kids like ’em too.
Easy update: Add a little chopped spinach to your next pot of rice
WE USUALLY EAT BROWN RICE, BUT NOT THIS TIME. My husband Paul loves the fluffier texture of white rice, and I love him, so for this dinner we used organic basmati rice. But the compromise didn’t end there: I also add added a bit of frozen spinach to the pot while it cooked. Voila, a…
Parmesan mashed potatoes with kale, yes kale (A 101 Cookbooks recipe makeover)
THIS IS THE LAST ONE. We’ve been cooking with Heidi Swanson’s recipes for the last few weeks (among others), from the jaw-droppingly beautiful website 101 cookbooks. Honestly, if all food were that gorgeous, who wouldn’t want to focus on healthy eating all the time? And with that in mind, I set out to amp up…
roasted sweet potatoes and chicken with quinoa in mustard sauce
WE’RE PASTA PEOPLE, and I’ll bet any family with small kids will say the same. But when it comes to other fluffy fillers, rice is always an easy sell around here. Barley is not. Millet has a so-so track record (good in muffins, not great as a dish). And that pretty much exhausts the options that were available to…