So. I’m trying to pull myself together, nutritionally. We don’t eat really horribly, but there’s always room for improvement. When the baby was born, I gave myself until January 1 to eat as I wanted, and then I’d get back in the saddle. But then I lost all the pregnancy weight in a ridiculously short amount of time (a combination of nerves and witchcraft, I believe) so I moved the deadline to February 1. I was hoping I’d have a better handle on some kind of schedule, and also hoped against hope my appetite might settle down. Sadly neither of those has happened. Paxton is a generally happy little guy but he has no sort of schedule at all. One day at 6pm he could be asleep and we’ll be eating dinner, the next day he’s furiously angry and dinner is congealing on the stove, if it got made at all. As for my appetite….let’s not discuss that right now.
We have good intentions though, and a fridge full of veggies that are beginning to head south. It was the perfect time to make up a big pot of soup. Use up some veg and have some healthy food in the fridge that I could have for lunch, instead of salt and vinegar chips.
Minestrone Soup
2 tb olive oil 3 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 5 cups vegetable broth (or chicken) 1 15oz can fire roasted diced tomatos (or regular if you can’t get fire roasted) 1 15 oz can beans (kidney, romano etc) drained and rinsed 1 cup small pasta (I used tubetti) 1/2 tsp dried oregano 2 cups packed spinach, chopped salt and pepper
Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. Add the carrots, onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until the veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add the broth, tomatos, oregano, and beans. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and simmer, stirring, until the pasta is cooked, 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat, stir in the spinach. Season with salt and pepper.
This soup will thicken if it sit, so if you make it in advance or have leftovers, no big deal, just stir in some additional broth or water when you reheat.
The best and only photo I have cause guess who was yelling? Hint: not me.
Sarah at I Thank My Mother hosts the FNCCC, where every week a different Food Network host/ess is picked and you are free to choose any of that persons recipes to cook and share.
This week is Ina Garten. The Food Network site has over 600 of her recipes, but it didn’t take me long to find one to help me use up some potatos and leftover sausage that needed to be eaten – Country Hashed Browns
5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and 1/2-inch diced 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions) 2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 tablespoons minced scallions, white and green parts 1/2 pound smoked ham slices, 1/2-inch diced (I used some chopped up leftover sausage)
Melt the butter in a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan. Add the potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until the potatoes are evenly browned and cooked through. (Allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes before turning.) Turn off the heat and add the parsley, scallions and ham. Reheat on top of the stove or over a hot charcoal grill.
This was very delicious – any dish full of potatos is a hit with me. Thanks to Sarah for the challenge, and go check out her blog for the list of upcoming chefs and weeks.
Life has changed for Scott and I. Understatement of the year when you have a kid, I know. Gone are the days when we could go to sleep and get up when we wanted, eat when we wanted, go out when we wanted. Now everything revolves around the baby. Things like sleeping, eating and going out can only happen when he’s awake (or asleep), or happy, or at least not screaming. And I am not complaining! No, no, no! But man, it’s all an adjustment. The biggest adjustment for me is eating. During my pregnancy, nausea up to the 8th month helped me not gain a ton of weight, which was great since I did not stop myself from eating whatever I wanted. But now that I am nursing (too much information?) I am starving all the time. ALL THE TIME. And it sucks when I’m alone with the baby and he’s eating or crying or drifting off to sleep in my arms and I can’t put him down and get something to eat. No lie, a couple of times my stomach growling has actually woken him up. This is a sandwich we’ve been making for years and it is perfect to make to eat on the go. It’s also fast to make and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you like. Here we go:
For a basic breakfast sandwich I use an english muffin (or bagel), cheese, an egg and some deli ham.
You can change this up as you like – sometimes we use leftover bacon or sausage if we have it in place of the ham. Sometimes I leave out the ham and add tomato slices instead. I usually use a cheese slice, but sometimes slices of cheddar or mozza if I don’t have cheese slices.
Mostly I don’t add condiments, but you could use butter, mayo, mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, brown sauce – whatever combo appeals to you.
Split the english muffin and toast it. While it’s toasting, crack the egg into a microwave safe ramekin. Season with salt and pepper if desired. I always scramble mine.
Microwave until the egg is just set (or to your liking). I nuke mine in 20 second intervals until done. Alternatively you could cook your egg in a pan on the stove.
Assemble your breakfast! English muffin on the plate. Condiments if you’re using them. Then your egg, ham, and cheese on the muffin.
Eat, with some ketchup or brown sauce on the side for dipping, if you’re so inclined.
If I could go back and change one thing from my pregnancy, it would be to cook and freeze a bunch of stuff for easy lunches and dinners for after the baby was born. Every book and magazine I read suggested freezing some lasagnas, casseroles, etc, and stocking up on basic necessities. We stocked up on kleenex and toilet paper, canned soup and cans of beans and tomatos. We bought pork tenderloins and ground beef and chicken, but instead of preparing stuff with them, we froze them as is. I figured, foolishly, that one of us would be able to whip up dinner while the other took care of the baby.
HA! The first couple of weeks crawled flew by in a haze of sleeplessness, pain (c-section), and new parent nerves. Most days I couldn’t comb my hair, much less whip up dinner. Thank goodness for my parents, who shopped and provided us with food that first little while. Since we got a (slight) grasp on our new situation, I’ve tried hard to make tasty, healthy meals that mostly can provide leftovers for other meals. Here’s some stuff we’ve eaten that we enjoyed, and you might too:
This is Cincinnati Chili which is a combo of chili and spaghetti and is really quite wonderful. The sauce is slightly sweet and spicy from ingredients like cinnamon and chocolate, and there are beans! and cheese!
The recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef, but I used 1 lb of leftover Turducken from Christmas. I also mixed the beans right into the sauce, so I could freeze the leftovers, and used green onions to sprinkle on top instead of raw white onions. SO GOOD. I got enough sauce for 3 meals. We will make this on a regular basis.
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This one was so easy and also very good – chicken and waffles. I have long wanted to try chicken and waffles, but believe me there are no restaurants around here that serve food like that. I don’t really love frying at home, but this recipe shallow fries chicken tenders (I just sliced up a chicken breast). It also uses frozen waffles, which I always have in the house. We used the last of the excellent Turducken gravy for this, and that made it that much easier.
Whoever thought up this food combination is A GENIUS. This one doesn’t really count as healthy though. __________
I love sweet and sour meatballs, so I had to try these Mini Skillet Meatloaves for their sweet and sour glaze. They were very easy – I mixed up and formed the loaves in the morning and made the sauce, so we only had to cook them and heat up our side dishes at dinnertime. Paxton decided to have a screaming fit when dinner was ready, so there are no photos. But please, enjoy this one:
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Scott’s favorite dish out of this group is this one, the Smokin’ Chicken Burger. Ground chicken and mushroom patties topped with carmelized onions and a red wine sauce. We also added cheese because we could. Pow!
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I am still so enjoying reading Cookin’ with Coolio and the next recipe I tried was for Karate Meat. Sliced steak cooked with onions, garlic, chile powder and 5 spice powder. I added a bell pepper cause I had one.
This book seriously is fantastic, and I was so happy to hear from 2 people who bought it after reading about it here. I hope they are enjoying it as much as I am. You should get it too!
For the past 3 holiday seasons we’ve branched out from the standard turkey and tried something new for Christmas dinner. Back in 2006 we went Swedish. 2007 was French Canadian, and last year we did Italian. This year we didn’t stray really too far from a traditional dinner – we had a Turducken. A Turducken is a partially deboned turkey that’s stuffed with a deboned duck that has been stuffed with a deboned chicken. And then the chicken is stuffed with stuffing. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? We were quite startled to find Turkucken in the grocery store here. I can’t buy corn tortillas, but there’s turducken?
Our Turducken was cajun style, stuffed with a sausage stuffing and in a spicy cajun rub. Here it is right before being tossed in the oven.
And here it is 4 hours later. Isn’t it pretty? And very low maintenance. All we had to do was uncover it after 3 hours, and then take its temperature to make sure it’s done.
Here’s the inside. Doesn’t that make your mouth water? I was expecting to be able to see the 3 layers of 3 birds, but you can’t tell the chicken from the turkey from the duck. Or at least I can’t. But doing a search shows that this is somewhat normal.
The thing, by the way was amazing. The meat was so moist and tender and the cajun seasoning was excellent.
Here’s our Christmas feast. We had dinner at our house and my parents were fabulous enough to cook all the food but the Turducken which we cooked and bring it to our house. They are super. In addition to the Turducken we had regular stuffing, mashed potatos, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots and parsnips and of course gravy. The gravy was amazing. We also set out Christmas crackers, but didn’t pull them for fear of waking the baby.
For dessert my parents made Louisiana Bread Pudding with Lemon Sauce and Chantilly Cream. No pictures, but ohmygod, you have to make this! Best bread pudding I’ve ever had and you can’t skip the 2 sauces. Since I am typing this with one hand while I have the baby in the other, I won’t write out the recipe, but here’s a link to someone who’s made it. The only difference I see in the recipe is that they’ve increased the raisins from 1/4 cup. Bread Pudding, Lemon Sauce and Chantilly Cream recipes
Well since I can’t focus long enough to write anything about food I’ve made lately, here’s the end of the year quiz that I also did in 2006 and 2007.
1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? I had a baby! We went to Alaska. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last years resolution was like so many years before, to drop some pounds and get in better shape. I made a start on it, but suffered from bad morning sickness from pretty much the second I got pregnant until about my 8th month. Not that I was hoping to lose weight while pregnant, but I was unable to do any sort of exercise except walking, and a lot of the time I couldn’t even do that. My other recurring resolution is to be more organized and I failed on that in 2009. My resolutions for 2010 are the same – get more fit and become more organized.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes! ME!
4. Did anyone close to you die? Yes, Scotts Grandmother passed away in the summer, and in December a former work friend died.
5. What countries did you visit? The U.S.
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Here’s what I said before – More confidence in myself; the ability to not worry so much about things I can’t control; World Peace; some new clothes. And a smaller ass. I would still like these things, along with more self discipline to do things that have to be done, not to put them off and off and off.
7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The night we found out I was pregnant. When we told our parents. The day Paxton was born. Our first Christmas as a family of 3.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Growing and birthing a baby.
9. What was your biggest failure? Same as always. I haven’t been very organized.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? After being induced and going through 32+ hours of labor, I had a c-section.
11. What was the best thing you bought? Baby gear, I guess?
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Scott, for sure, and my Mom and Dad. They were all so wonderful and supportive during the pregnancy and since Paxton was born. I am so lucky to have such a great family.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The government. Lying liars who lie.
14. Where did most of your money go? Mortgage. Getting ready for the baby.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The baby, of course.
16. What song will always remind you of 2009? Just Dance by Lady Gaga. On mornings I had really bad morning sickness and had to go to work, I would sing along in the car to pep myself up.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? Happier. Shockingly I have already lost the weight I gained during pregnancy, so it’s probably a draw. Poorer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Being organized. Resting. Worrying less.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worring about things that don’t matter in the “big picture”.
20. How did you spend Christmas? We spent it at our house. My parents came for dinner.
21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Yup.
22. What was your favorite TV program? Glee, baby!
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Hate is such a strong word. But sadly yes, there is.
24. What was the best book you read? I didn’t keep my book list like I have the past couple of years, and my memory is non-existent now. I did re-read My Life in France by Julia Child.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I liked Lady Gaga, the Glee soundtrack. Anything I could sing along to.
26. What did you want and get? A new member of the family.
27. What did you want and not get? A new car, a winning lottery ticket.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Julie and Julia. LOVE Meryl Streep.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Scott took me out for dinner to my favorite restaurant in town and we shared a bunch of appetizers instead of entrees. Duck fat fries, I love you most of all.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Daily massages and weekly pedicures. And a winning lottery ticket.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? If it even remotely fits, wear it.
32. What kept you sane? Scott.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I still heart Miikka Kiprusoff.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? Budget cuts, the HST. Damn you, Government.
35. Who did you miss? It depends on my hormone level. Some days, everyone. Some days, no one.
36. Who was the best new person you met? The baby! Best new person EVER.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. Life is beautiful.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Don’t stop belieeeeeeeeeeeving. Hold on to that feeeeeeeeeeeeeeling.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Warmest Wishes from our family to you and yours.
2009 for us has been an amazing incredible year that at the same time flew by in an instant and dragged on and on.
The most wonderful moments in my life happened this year and every day is even better than the day before.
Not everything was merry and bright, and some aspects of my life fell to the side, including my little blog. 2010 will not only be an awesome year for my family, it will also be the year I recapture my focus and get organized once again, and work on posting here and visiting your sites to learn and be inspired.
Thank you for everything, and see you next week for our Christmas dinner post!
The Bread Baking Babes have unveiled the December bread – a Viennese Striesel chosen by the Kitchen Babe of the Month, the lovely Katie from Thyme For Cooking. I did not make the bread this month – I can’t even find the time to get dressed or shower daily anymore – but it’s gorgeous and sounds like a fun project and I hope to make it another time. Please head over to the list of Babes in the sidebar and check out their breads. ________________________________________
Last December I did a week of food related gift ideas. Again, I have little time for anything that is not baby related, but I do have 5 gift ideas for you this year -
Regular readers here may remember that at the end of last year/beginning of this year I was part of the recipe testing crew for the Urban Vegan cookbook. I recently received a copy of the book, and it is fabulous. This book is NOT only for Vegans, the recipes are awesome, easy and accessible for everyone. The recipes for Blueberry Grunt and Winter Pesto are alone worth the price of the book.
I hadn’t heard of the Lee Brothers before I was offered this cookbook, and what a shame that is. This is as the title says, a book full of simple and fresh recipes. I may not have access to collard greens, but cooking with okra and making pimento cheese potatos is pretty darn fun. We enjoyed all the recipes we tried and when we had to sub ingredients in a couple of them, the end result was still tasty. My favorite was the buttermilk pudding cakes (made during the sweet tooth phase of my pregnancy) and I can’t WAIT to make the buttermilk cheese!
Every year I like to make at least one homemade present. Because my due date was the beginning of December, I looked for something that I could make in advance, and would be able to sit a while. The first is this spiced salt from Nigella Lawson - 250 grams good quality sea salt 2 tsp red peppercorns 2 tsp crushed dried red chiles 4 star anise
Put the salt in a bowl with with the peppercorns, dried chiles and star anise. Toss everything together, then pour into jars and seal tightly.
I’ve had my eye on this recipe for a couple of years now, I’ve wanted to try to make mustard at home for ages, but have been intimidated by it for some reason. This recipe from Simple Italian Sandwiches is…..simple. And wonderfully delicious. You need a week to get this ready, so you have just enough time to make a batch for this holiday season. 4 oz Colmans dry mustard 1 cup flour 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups white vinegar 2 tb vegetable oil Combine the dry ingredients in a blender. Pulse to combine, and then add the vinegar and oil. When thoroughly blended transfer to a clean jar with a tight fitting lid. Stir daily for 7 days before serving. This keeps indefinitely in the fridge.
And you can’t have Christmas or a holiday celebration without cookies. These shortbread cookies are easy and delicious and only have 4 ingredients. Makes about 24 cookies 1/2 cup cornstarch 1/2 cup icing sugar 1 cup flour 3/4 cup soft butter
Sift together the cornstarch, icing sugar and flour. Blend in butter until a soft smooth dough forms. Shape into 1″ balls and chill 30 -60 minutes. Place 1 1/2″ apart on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a floured fork. Bake 300′ for 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.
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When Paxton was born a couple of weeks ago he spent his first 2 days in the NICU (he is fine) and so every 3 hours we headed off to visit and feed him. The first night I was trying to figure out how to use the alarm on my ipod so I could get up at 1am for feeding time. I couldn’t figure it out. I thought that maybe you had to have the ipod running, so I clicked on shuffle songs and no shit, I am not lying I swear, John Lennon’s Beautiful Boy started to play. And I started to cry.
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