ChowBaby

A few days ago, while still recovering for our colds, Mike and I took Isaac to the NYC transit museum for a much needed outing. By the time we returned home, I was pooped. I opened the fridge hoping to find a complete leftover meal and instead found about 2/3 of a rotisserie chicken (New Yorkers: Fresh Direct sells tasty roasted antibiotic free chickens). I hit the pantry and pulled a can of chickpeas and a container of Maya Kaimal curry sauce. (As you can tell by the frequency with which Michelle and I mention these all natural sauces, they are a lifesaver that keep me from defaulting to mac-n-cheese every time I'm super short on time.) Next stop, the freezer for 1 box of frozen spinach. Within 15 minutes (total prep and cooking time), a well-rounded meal, topped with a little yogurt, was on the table.

Could dinner have been better had I sauteed some fresh garlic and ginger first? Or added a little cilantro and lime juice? Sure. Was it necessary? Nope. Not on this night. That was the beauty of it. Dinner was so easy, in fact, that I got to thinking: what else could I make with 1 store bought rotisserie (or leftover) chicken, 1 box of frozen spinach, 1 can of beans, and some pantry staples?

Here's what I came up with. (A little jaunt around the globe!) I didn't bother with with exact measurements--you can play with each "recipe" based on taste and also consistency (e.g., you may want a soupier dish if serving with noodles, a thicker sauce if serving plain or with rice). Some of these "recipes" will take longer than 15 minutes to cook down the sauce (since they don't call for pre-made sauces like the curry one I used the other night). I also gave some ideas of other ingredients you can add if you feel like getting fancier. Would love to hear your ideas, too.

GREEK style with chickpeas and avgolemono (egg-lemon) sauce
1. Put some organic chicken broth over medium heat. The amount of broth depends on what consistency you want. One whole box (32 oz) or more will make a soup (to which you can add orzo or rice). Just a little less will make a stew-like meal. A whole lot less will make just enough egg-lemon sauce to coat your chicken, chickpeas, and spinach.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, saute chickpeas and shredded chicken in a little olive oil. Add thawed & drained spinach. Set aside once all 3 ingredients are well mixed and excess water from spinach is cooked off.

3. Beat 2 eggs until they begin to froth. Continue beating while slowly adding juice of 2 lemons. When the mixture is very frothy, slowly add some hot broth. The point here is to slowly raise the temperature of the egg/lemon mixture so that it won't curdle (ie, the egg won't cook) when you add it to the rest of the hot broth.

4. Once your frothy egg-lemon mixture is hot, bring all of the elements (egg-lemon sauce, any remaining broth, chicken/chickpea/spinach) together. Season with salt and pepper.

you can also add...frozen peas, sauteed onions, fresh dill
serve with...orzo, rice, couscous, top with a dollop of yogurt

FRENCH style with white beans (inspired by cassoulet)
1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add fresh or dried thyme or herbs de provence.

2. Add white beans, shredded chicken, and thawed & drained spinach. Cook until excess water from spinach is cooked off.

3. Add a bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar and a can of whole peeled tomatoes, breaking each one up with your hands. The amount of juice you include depends on the consistency you want to achieve. (If you want something even soupier than what you can achieve by adding the whole can of tomatoes and juice, add chicken broth.)

4. Cook down until the sauce thickens as much as you'd like. Season with salt and pepper.

you can also add...sauteed carrots and/or celery, sage, rosemary, sausage
serve with...couscous, egg noodles, rice, top with breadcrumbs

TEX-MEX style with pinto or black beans
1. Saute onions and garlic in a neutral oil. Add cumin, a little chile powder, and a chopped jalapeno (if you want a little spice).

2. Add an all-natural enchilada sauce or a can of tomato puree. If using tomato puree, you may need to add a little broth and additional spices, and cook down until the thickness of an enchilada sauce.

3. In a separate pan, saute beans, shredded chicken, and thawed & drained spinach in oil. Cook until all ingredients are well combined and any excess water from spinach is cooked off. 

4. Add sauce to chicken, beans, and spinach. Season with salt and pepper.

you can also add...unsweetened cocoa powder (add at the same time as cumin and other dry spices for a depth of flavor), frozen or canned corn, sauteed peppers, fresh lime juice
serve with...tortillas, rice, lime wedges, salsa/pico de gallo, top with a dollop of sour cream and/or shredded cheese

ITALIAN style with white beans (inspired by chicken cacciatore)
1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add fresh or dried rosemary and/or oregano.

2. Add white beans, shredded chicken, and thawed & drained spinach. Cook until excess water from spinach is cooked off.

3. Add white wine and simmer a few minutes.

4. Add a can of diced tomatoes and juices. Cook down to desired consistency.

5. Season with salt and pepper and a final drizzle of olive oil.

you can also add...sauteed mushrooms, olives, capers, frozen peas
serve with...polenta, pasta, noodles, rice, top with grated cheese

MIDDLE EASTERN style with chickpeas and yogurt sauce
1. Saute (a bunch of) garlic in olive oil. Add a lot of fresh or dried mint, yogurt (the thick greek kind will work best), and fresh lemon juice.

2. In a separate pan, saute chickpeas, shredded chicken, and thawed & well drained spinach in olive oil. Cook until excess water from spinach is cooked off.

3. Add yogurt sauce to chicken. Season with salt and pepper.

you can also add...bits of pita chips, cubed cucumber (at the very end), white wine (add to chicken, spinach and chickpeas, cooking off before adding yogurt sauce)
serve with...couscous, rice/pilaf, top with slivered almonds

and, of course, you can always just toss cooked penne or other cut pasta with the beans (chickpeas and white beans would both work well), spinach, and chicken in olive oil and a little broth (or a can of all-natural jarred sauce, if you can find one you like), and top the whole shebang with grated cheese. yum.

-S

related posts: talking turkey with you chickens (plus turkey paprikash for 10+ mos)

i almost didn't take pictures while cooking last night. i'd decided to make one of my and mike's favorite dishes, bucatini all'amatriciana (sloppily plated above with a side of swiss chard--pictures really were a last minute decision!). i used to make it all the time. i'd perfected it. even once claimed (while drunk) that mine was better than mario batali's. while not true, i do have a knack for this dish. but with pancetta, hot peppers and a ton of olive oil (none of which i'm willing to skimp on, even for my tyke--sorry, isaac), i've never made this for the three of us. in fact, i haven't made it in 2 years.

when i decided to make amatriciana for me and mike as a new year's eve treat i figured there was no point in posting about a dish that isn't particularly family-friendly. especially as my first post of the new year. but i've changed my mind. i've even come to think that it's the perfect first post of the new year.

michelle and i share our recipes, feeding hacks, and point of view here because we hope to inspire and help parents create healthy, adventurous eaters. but, at the end of the day, reading a blog isn't going to make your children healthy, adventurous eaters. neither is buying particular products or making particular recipes. it's your love and respect for food that will instill your children with their love and respect for food. which brings me to amatriciana. a dish i'm passionate about. a dish that reminds me of why i love food and, even though he's never eaten it, why isaac loves food, too.

so, here's the recipe. you can serve it to your kids or not. with adjustments or not. and if you don't feel like making this, find time to make something else you love. even if you can't feed it to the kids. just keep your passion for food alive. in 2009 and beyond.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana
2 tbs organic olive oil
1 large organic red onion, halved & cut into 1/2" slices
2 cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 lb pancetta (or guanciale), 1/4" thick, diced
1-3 fresh hot peppers*, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (or 1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes)
1 can organic whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz)
1 lb organic bucatini (spaghetti works well, too)
1/2 cup organic pecorino romano cheese, grated (plus extra to top!)
salt and pepper

*the amount of pepper you use and whether you seed the fresh ones depends on how spicy you like your food; i typically use 2 fresh peppers, seeds and all. also, the type of pepper you use will impact the taste of your sauce, so play around. i've used everything from red jalapenos to (fewer) scotch bonnets. 

1. Put a large pot of salted water on medium-high heat (about 6 qts water & 2 tbs salt). Bring to a boil.

2. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onions and garlic. Sauté over medium heat until transparent.

3. Create a space in the middle of the skillet by pushing onions and garlic to the edges. Spread the pancetta in the open space and cook until it starts to turn brown.

4. Mix pancetta, onions and garlic together, and add peppers. Keep sautéing until you get a nice golden brown color to everything.

5. Add tomatoes to onion mixture, breaking up each one with your hands. When all of the tomatoes have been added, pour the sauce from the can into the skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste (don't be shy with the salt). Cook for about 15 minutes, until sauce thickens and pulls all the ingredients together. (This is not meant to be a heavy sauce, rather it should give a nice coating to the pasta. the picture below was taken just as the tomato sauce was added to the skillet.)

6. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain, saving about a mug's worth of cooking water.

7. Toss pasta in the skillet with sauce over low-medium heat. Add cheese, an extra drizzle of olive oil, and the pasta cooking water. Keep tossing until all of the pasta is coated and heated throughout. Taste and adjust seasoning to get it just right--you may want to add more olive oil, cheese, salt, and/or pepper.

happy eating. all year.

-S

instead of making and posting about all kinds of wonderful, memory-making, family-friendly recipes this holiday season, i've been convalescing. well, as much as you can convalesce with a snot covered (literally) 2-year-old screaming songs from yo gabba gabba in your face.

in the midst of all my lying around and horizontal, half-ass attempts to entertain a toddler, my mother-in-law saved the leg of lamb that i bought (and never made) for christmas dinner by roasting it up with lots of garlic and herbs de provence three nights ago. delicious. but instead of many eaters ready to throw down in honor of baby jesus, it was just three of us plus that pesky toddler, and my appetite wasn't even near full force. this made for A LOT of leftovers.

though not feeling 100% yet, i was up for some cooking last night. one of my winter stand-by's is shepherd's pie. it's an easy and delicious way for all of us to get some protein and veggies in one, simple dish. and the mash potatoes make eating the veggies easy even when isaac is going through a pickier phase. (lil' cheat: sometimes i make this even easier by buying already made mashed potatoes from my natural foods supermarket).

it's easy to make a  whole bunch of this recipe so that there are leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day, and it freezes well. what more could you want from a family-friendly dish?

i usually use ground beef or turkey and start from raw. this time i used he already cooked leftover lamb, which required some adjustments to my recipe.

Shepherd's Pie
*can feed children as young as 10 mos who are already eating meat, just be mindful of meat and veg piece size and added salt

1 lb organic ground beef (any kind of ground meat will do, though you may need to add a little butter depending on how lean it is)
1 medium organic onion, chopped (finely minced for early eaters 10+ mos)
1 clove organic garlic, finely minced
1 tsp organic thyme (i've used dried, too)
3 tbs organic ketchup
1 tbs organic flour
1 lb bag frozen mixed veggies (or whatever you have in the freezer; chop veggies for early eaters 10+ mos)
1/2 cup of beef or chicken broth (optional)
salt and pepper (optional)
1/2 cup parmesan (or some other yummy melty cheese like mozzarella, gouda or cheddar)
mashed potatoes (my recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sauté ground meat in a skillet until cooked through. Break up meat as much as you can, making sure there are no big chunks (be especially mindful if you plan to feed this to an early eater 10+ mos).

2. Add onions and garlic and cook until they are translucent. (Here's where you may need to add a little fat if you're using a super lean meat.)

3. Add thyme, ketchup, flour, frozen veggies (straight from the freezer is fine) and up to a 1/2 cup of broth or water. Cook until liquid thickens. You can play with the amount of liquid--you don't want soupy, but rather a medium-thick gravy that pulls all the ingredients together. If all of your eaters take salt and pepper, season now. Otherwise you can save the S&P until you serve.

4. Put the meat & veg mixture in a baking dish and top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle cheese on top. I like to also sprinkle some black pepper for a little contrast in color. Bake until cheese is melted and mashed potatoes are browned.

Notes on using already cooked, leftover meat:

• i sauteed the same amount of onion and garlic called for by the recipe above in 2 tbs of butter as my first step
• while the onions and garlic were cooking, i minced the leftover slices of lamb in the food processor
• i added the lamb to the onions and garlic and found that, since i had trimmed a lot of the fat, i needed to add 1 more tbs of butter and a touch of broth before resuming step 3 above

Mashed Potatoes
everybody has a mashed potatoes recipe and/or technique. here's mine. it's far from perfect, but they are pretty yummy for a recipe that doesn't use cream, sour cream or cheese (all of which make for sinfully good mashed). i use my kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment when i feel fancy and want restaurant-like consistency, but i'm not a stickler for that. i'm happy to eat lumpy, hand-mashed potatoes if the flavor is good.

about 2 lbs organic potatoes (i used yukon gold, but read here for more on choosing the right potato for making mashed
4 tbs organic butter
1 cup of organic whole milk
salt and pepper to taste

1. peel potatoes and cut into 1-2" pieces (don't fret over being exact!)

2. put potatoes in a big pot and cover with cold water. cook over medium-high heat until potatoes are just cooked through (you should be able to pierce them with a fork)

3. place cooked potatoes in bowl (of mixer, if using). begin mashing or turn mixer on to start breaking down potatoes

4. add milk and butter in 1 tbs pieces

5. keep mashing or mixing until desired consistency. give it time and effort. even with the mixer, this step always takes longer than i remember when trying to achieve super smooth mashed

hope there's some inspiration here. either for what to do with leftovers, making a quick weeknight meal or something you can make in a big batch and freeze. enjoy.

-S

i've been hit again. stomach virus, done. new sickness, not quite. just as i was starting to feel human again, my throat started to hurt. within 24 hours it turned into a swollen neck, lost voice and achy body. isaac's had a congestion/coughing sickness since the day after xmas. i must have caught it from him. rough times here. thankfully, though, baby daddy has been holding up and was able to fulfill my first request for food since christmas eve: his version of orzo risotto.

this is one dish that baby daddy makes better than me 100% of the time. he's been making it for many years. it started with mark bittman's recipe for orzo risotto from How to Cook Everything. his variation adds tomatoes which, somehow, makes a world of difference. it goes from being a simple, quick, creamy pasta dish, to a comfort food staple that we call adult mac-n-cheese. it's perfect sick food. it's perfect not-sick food. try it, you'll like it.

Baby Daddy's Orzo "Risotto"
adapted from Mark Bittman's Orzo Risotto, How to Cook Everything

2 tablespoons organic olive oil
1 organic onion, chopped (minced if you plan to serve to an infant)
1 box organic chicken broth (32 fl oz)
1 box organic orzo (16 oz)
1 can crushed organic tomatoes (28 oz)
1 cup grated organic parmesan, plus extra to top (optional)
salt and pepper

Heat stock in a small pot. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, sautee onions in olive oil until translucent. Add orzo to onions and stir until coated--season with salt and pepper. Add stock to orzo all at once--cover and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally. After about 10 min, as liquid starts to thicken and orzo puffs up, add entire can of tomatoes. Turn up heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. Reduce heat again and cover. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until orzo reaches consistency of risotto. Take off heat and drizzle with additional olive oil (optional). Mix in grated cheese and let sit for 5 minutes. If you like it extra cheesy (like us), serve with additional grated cheese sprinkled on top.

this recipe can be served to any child  10 months and up who is already eating pasta, cheese and tomatoes. if your child isn't eating tomatoes yet (or is sensitive to them), try Bittman's version which is basically this one minus the tomatoes. just be sure to cool all the way to room temp and mash up the orzo before serving (orzo is bigger than pastina). it's also super easy to add veggies to this recipe for eaters of any age--it's delicious with sweet potato or squash puree and a dash of nutmeg, frozen peas, or a bunch of chopped up spinach. enjoy.

(sorry there are no pics of us cooking this. i was too sick to take 'em. next time.)

-S

we usually do our grocery shopping on friday or saturday. but we're leaving early next week for a visit with the grandparents (make that both sets of grandparents. and, yes, we will be driving on christmas day. sigh.), so we're trying to run through what's left in the pantry. the good and bad news is that there's not much left. so today, i was trying to piece something together that would warm our bones when atticus and i got back from our icy afternoon adventure. i found some rice, some dried fruit, some almonds, and a wayward can of coconut milk and figured i should be able to make something yummy with that, right?
 
here's what i came up with. a slightly sweet sticky-ish rice. it'd go great with a chicken curry. if only i had some chicken....

final tip: when the rice cooled, atticus "helped" me roll the rice into little balls that make great healthy hand-held snacks!

coconut apricot sticky rice
2 cups rice (i used white, since that's all i had, but next time i want to try a short-grain brown)
1 14 oz can coconut milk (i used low fat, again since that's all i had, but whole fat should work)
2 cups plus 2 oz water
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon sucanat (you could also use cane sugar, brown sugar, and maybe agave nectar)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 cup diced dried apricots (you could use just about any dried fruit like raisins , prunes, or mango)
1/4 cup crushed, sliced, or chopped almonds
combine all ingredients in a rice cooker (if you don't have one, this is a super convenient kitchen tool—and the cheapest version works as well as the more expensive varieties). turn it on. when done, fluff/mix with fork (especially since a lot of the add-ins float to the top).

-m

   

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oh, juice. the bane of my mama existence. and probably the topic of many posts to come.

this is from a february 2007 policy statement from the american academy of pediatrics entitled The Use and Misuse of Fruit Juice in Pediatrics:

basically, juice doesn't provide the full scope of nutritional benefits as whole fruit and it's a lot easier to feed beyond the daily recommended intake (which means a whole lot of sugar) when fruit is served in juice form.

but fighting the requests for juice sometimes feels like a never ending battle. plus, as it turns out, organic juice, at least, can be a great source of vitamin C. (check out the section A Glass of Orange Juice More Protective than Vitamin C Alone.) good to know, especially in the winter months.

this morning i managed to give isaac a small cup of freshly squeezed orange juice without having to contend with begging for more. i bought juicing oranges for mulled wine this weekend (mama juice?). i grabbed one in my pre-coffee haze and decide to make a spectacle of squeezing it "special" for isaac. it yielded almost exactly 1/3 of a cup of juice (just about 3 oz)--a perfect serving size! once i had extracted all of the juice, which took all of 2 minutes, i let him play with the orange halves. you know how we're suckers for tactile food experiences here. plus it was fun, distracted him from wanting more juice, and gave him a concrete way of seeing that the juice was "all done" (as opposed to me sneakily slipping a full container back into the fridge while dishonestly--and guiltily--repeating, "all done").

-S