Move over homemade mac & cheese. This cherry tomato candy pasta is my kids’ new favorite pasta! We learned the recipe from Samin Nosrat (who wrote the excellent cookbook “Salt, Fat, Heat, Acid“) when she made it on the adorable Netflix kids’ show Waffles + Mochi. The secret is: roasting the tomatoes first. When you…
Easy Succotash Recipe with Frozen Corn
This easy succotash recipe is the summer side dish my 10-year-old does a little dance for. A dance of joy. For veggies. Our shortcut summer succotash with frozen corn is that good! Buttery and tart, thanks to a splash of apple cider vinegar, this easy succotash recipe is the only way my kids ENJOY fresh…
Shortcut Tomato Pie Made Miniature
I’ve been working on a tomato pie recipe all summer and guess what? Our Shortcut Tomato Pie is it! My friend Liz manages the kitchen at Weaver Street Market, our local co-op, and she lead me to this masterpiece. “Use biscuits as the dough!” she said. So we did and man, what a hit. Naturally…
Shortcut Tomato Pie
When I posted a picture of the VERY HARD TO MAKE tomato pie the other day, my friend Liz shot me an email immediately. “Try this shortcut version!” she cheered. We did. It was a little spicy. So we tried a second version and here’s what my kindergartener said: “This is SO good and so…
DIY bruschetta kids love
Well, something amazing happened. Picture 5:30pm. On a bad day. You know, when the kids are yelling and fussing, you’re trying to get plates on the table and just as you do…everyone groans? Your husband is still at work and you’re wondering why you even bother making fresh meals for a knee-high crowd who doesn’t care? Now…
easy pasta with zucchini, tomatoes & fresh mozzarella cheese
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I NEED TO MAKE DINNER FAST. Before the Clifford video runs out. Before 2-month old Violet starts wailing for her own dinner. Before I turn from Pretty Nice Mommy into Awfully Frazzled Mommy. That’s where a quick pasta dish full of fresh vegetables like this comes in handy. There’s also the…
star shaped cheese, tomatoes and crackers
FOR KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN ITALY, these three are pretty jazzed about celebrating the 4th of July. Actually, they’re mostly excited about these little star shaped cheeses (thanks, veggie cutters!). Fireworks and parades? Our kids have no idea those are part of the package, yet. But boy I sure do.I still get a little…
simple pasta with tomatoes, basil & mozzarella
AS PART OF OUR SEMI-DELUDED PLAN to have friends over this weekend, we served homemade rolls along with two pastas, including this one that I learned how to make when we lived in Italy. Our wonderful guests brought veggies and desserts including a chocolate layer caked called “Tall, Dark and Handsome”. And yes, we’re inviting them…
Ina Garten’s gazpacho becomes kid-friendly watermelon gazpacho
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…
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,…
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…
Tuna nicoise potato salad, Italian style
I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. What kids eat salad? For dinner? If serving a fresh potato salad isn’t in the cards for your crew, consider using the same ingredients to create a plate that works for everyone, without a lot of extra effort on your part. (Also, French kids eat salad. Really!)
Recipes from “French Kids Eat Everything”, carrot salad and stuffed tomatoes
AS THE FRENCH WOULD SAY, these were magnifique. As Phoebe would say, they were magical.