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…
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…
ravioli with peas and pancetta
A BOWL OF PASTA DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN TOMATO SAUCE. One of the easiest ideas I’ve learned from the Italians is to substitute traditional red sauce with something much simpler: extra virgin olive oil, fresh herbs and a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Dinner’s on the table in 20 minutes, and it’s a really good…
Beef tacos become Tex-Mex rice with beef and beans: two dinners in one
OK, I’LL FESS UP RIGHT NOW. This dinner was a double miss but that’s because I made a silly mistake early on: I accidentally used hot, spicy salsa instead of mild. You won’t do this and your family will enjoy the whole thing. Twice.
Crepes with sausage, mushrooms and cream
I HAD MY FIRST CREPE a long way from France. Instead, I was sitting in a high school French class. This was Arlington in 1990, a two-stoplight town in the northwest corner of Washington state. Like many in the area, it’s full of dairy farms and lumber mills but Francophiles are few. Ms. Weingarten, our…
Endive kiwi salad, a recipe inspired by “French Kids Eat Everything”
LIKE THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, we can thank the French for this one. Karen Le Billon, inspiring writer and author of my new fantasy lifestyle manual favorite book “French Kids Eat Everything“, introduced this endive kiwi salad to our household. And hold on to your hats because the kids ate it. Salad. One toddler, one preschooler, eating…
Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Tex-Mex
WHEN IT’S HOT, HOT, HOT outside, the last thing I want is to be inside cooking dinner beside an even hotter stove. Enter the slow cooker. I used to hate this thing, mostly because I could never find a recipe that worked without a package of onion soup mix. But this chicken recipe turned out to…
chicken & vegetable stir-fry with noodles
WHEN I SAW PHOEBE CLOSE HER EYES and suck up each noodle in this simple stir-fry one by one, I knew we had a hit. Even better, she actually ate ALL the vegetables. Including sworn enemies such as zucchini and carrots. So, yes, we’ll be making this again. It’s just a variation of toddler-friendly Asian noodles…
Baked risotto with bacon and peas
SPIN-OFFS ARE A VERY BIG PART OF MY master plan (rubs palms together yet controls the urge to laugh maniacally. Probably because that would be weird. Anyway…). Estelle LOVES rice these days so without driving everyone crazy, I’m going to try as many variations as I can, as often as I can. Also, Phoebe thinks…
5 Italian foods kids love
WE TOOK A TRIP to the Le Marche region of Italy this spring…and it was delicious. Our hosts were a young couple from the States, transplanted to the Italian countryside where they run La Tavola Marche, a beautifully restored villa turned B&B for food lovers. I took a cooking lesson from Jason, a classically trained…