Cook, freeze, repeat! December 27, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Dinner, Easy.Tags: dinner, eggs, Paula Deen, quiche, quick
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We’re counting down to baby at our house and to me that means cooking and freezing but I got sidelined about a week ago when we went to the hospital with regular contractions. Now I’m supposed to spend most of my day “taking it easy,” as the doctor says.
Among my many stressed out thoughts when I was first told to keep near my bed for the next four weeks was that we were going to burn right through all the dinners I froze for post-baby’s arrival. And then, what am I going to do with the mountain of fresh food I was planning to cook this weekend? Two solutions presented themselves. The first, my good friend Cat stopped by with pasta enough for dinner and lunch the next day and another whole container to freeze (plus the can of cannellini beans to add to the sauce when we defrost it!), thank you Cat! The second was my husband, who went to work on the food in the fridge with a little guidance. He cranked out 4 beautiful quiches–1 for dinner and 3 to freeze–in no time at all!
Here is the basic quiche recipe which can be doctored up with any ingredients you want. Ours turned out to be filled with: 1. cheddar, zucchini, and bacon; 2. breakfast sausage, cheddar and shredded potatoes; 3. spinach and feta; and 4. spinach and bacon. You can make your own pie crust but I buy it frozen most of the time purely as a time saver. The basic proportions for this quiche come from Paula Deen’s Bacon and Spinach Quiche.
Bacon, Cheddar, Zucchini Quiche
Pre-heat oven to 375° F.
9 inch pie crust
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
6 pieces of bacon, cooked well and crumbled
5 whole eggs
3 egg whites
1.5 cups milk
salt/pepper
Completely defrost pie crust if using frozen. Cook bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels and chop or crumble. Shred cheddar cheese and zucchini. The Cuisinart makes quick work of it. Put all three filling items into the crust.
Beat eggs and combine with milk. Paula Deen uses heavy cream, I find 1% and 2% milk both work just fine. Add a little salt depending on how salty your cheese and bacon tends to be–taste it if you’re not sure–and a sprinkle of pepper. Add the egg mixture to the pie crust and bake at 375° F for 55 minutes. Don’t delay on putting it in the oven once the liquid is in the pie shell or you’re in for soggy crust.
Notes and tips:
The prep time on this is very quick, especially if you don’t use bacon. If you’re just throwing in spinach and feta cheese it takes no time at all. I never make just one of these if you have a big measuring cup you can double up on the eggs and split them between two pie crusts and an immersion blender makes quick work of beating the eggs. If you have the Cuisinart out you might as well make use of it and shred up enough filling for two and have extra cheese, veg or what-have-you for quick quesadillas or whatever.
Especially nice served with a salad for lunch or dinner, and equally good for breakfast or brunch. Belly loves bacon and sausage and cheddar…if I get the combo right she’ll devour these. If I don’t the slightly mushy texture can blow a perfectly good toddler dinner to bits.
Chicken Barley Soup November 3, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Food, Slow cooker, Soup.Tags: easy meals, rachel ray, slow cooker, soup, winter fare
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As a child, one of my favorite things to eat was Campbell’s chicken barley soup. I liked to think it had every food group I needed: chicken (protein), carrots and potatoes (vegetable), and barley (grains). A glass of milk and a banana and I had a well-rounded meal. Yes, even at ten I was a little obsessed with my meal planning.
Well a little while back I happened across this recipe in Rachel Ray Magazine for Chicken and Rice Soup and I only just got to try it out. Me being me, I changed it pretty completely and chicken barley soup was the surprise result.
1lb boneless, skin-less chicken thighs
1 small onion
2-3 garlic cloves
2 (or so) large carrots
8 oz dry black eyed peas or 16oz canned or frozen
1/2 cup (or more if you like) pearl barley
1 cup white or cremini mushrooms
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
salt, pepper
canola oil
Night before: wash and drain dried black-eyed peas if you’re using them. Let them soak in the fridge over night in water that covers them about three inches.
Salt and pepper the chicken. In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat a little canola oil (enough to lightly cover the bottom of the pan) to medium/high and drop in the chicken thighs just sear them on both sides and remove to a plate with paper towel to drain. Chop onions and garlic and slice carrots into thick diagonal slices about 2 inches across. Lightly saute onions and garlic in the same pot you took the chicken out of until just golden brown.
Add in the carrots, beans, barley and chicken along with a quart of chicken broth and a quart of water. Let simmer for at least three hours, adding more water if it gets too thick. I load all of the components it into the slow cooker crock, without the liquid or barley and the beans stay in their own bowl to soak, the night before and refrigerate over night then set to cook in the slow cooker all day. If I’m cooking it in the slow cooker I add extra water to completely cover everything in the crock and then some so there’s no chance of running out of fluids. The barley and beans will soak up a lot of water.
Wait to season until the end depending on how salty your chicken broth is. The chicken thighs give the soup a lot of flavor without having to add two quarts of chicken broth which makes everything really salty.
As Rachel suggests: serve it up with some warm, crusty bread and enjoy!
p.s. You can put any veggies you want in here. Belly loves mushrooms to I use those, but potatoes would be good too and Rachel’s recipe puts in frozen creamed spinach so I bet a bag of fresh baby spinach or chopped escarole would be great too.
Sorry no pictures of it but I’ll get some the next time I make it.
Happy Anniversary to Us October 30, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Dining Out, Food, New York City.Tags: Maialino, rustic italian
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It’s not everyday that Sean and I get to go out for a dinner sans Belly but when my sister and brother-in-law volunteered to watch her so we could celebrate our anniversary we snapped up the offer. And we are so greatful because Sean and I experienced probably one of the best meals of our lives last night at Maialino just off Gramercy Park.
Maialino is a Danny Meyer creation and one of their chef’s, Ben Gaynor, is an old friend of Sean’s who more than graciously arrange a reservation for us on a busy Friday night. Thank you Ben! :)
The food is rustic Roman style. Everything is clean, traditional Italian flavors. The kind of food that many would call simple home cooking not knowing the care and thought that lies behind each dish. We ordered salumi misti (the sliced meat and olive plate) and crostini di fichi to start. The crostini were perfect little treasures of fresh ricotta and honey with sliced figs so delicate and pink they melted like candy. The salumi, I’m guessing, consisted of mortadela–fantastico–a proscuitto–guessing from Fruili-Venezia–and a thick cut salami served with an assortment of olives with just a slight hint of red pepper and a nice dose of citrus. Ben sent out a salad as well, the di Scarola, which was escarole, hazelnuts, grapes and pecarino chopped fine in a light not citrus but not balsamic dressing…maybe a white wine vinegar.
The wine’s by the glass are just a few fine choices which keeps ordering fairly simple. Sean and I shared a glass of the Pinot Bianco with our appetizers and primi course. For primi we ordered the agnolotti di zucca–a pumpkin filled pasta with a light balsamic sauce and a sprinkle of ricotta salata. It was sweet and savory with just the slightest balsamic tanginess to it. Sean and I struggled to decided on our entree the specials sounded amazing: a pan fried rabbit and salt encrusted sea bass but we were overwhelmed by the house specialty, a slow cooked (six hours we were told) suckling pig which we ordered with just a small bit of hesitation since rabbit is likely one of my favorite things to eat. But it seems someone in the kitchen was reading my mind because with our pumpkin agnolotti came a dish of house made fresh pasta–larger than a penne and far thinner–with rabbit and a savory tomato broth that we soaked up every ounce of with the amazing Italian bread that greeted us when we first sat down. The rabbit was so tender and flavorful, and was a nice pairing with the sweeter pumpkin.
Finding a wine to go with our main course was a little trickier. I don’t usually drink red but thought the pork deserved something rubust to stand up to the fat. The wines by the glass featured a special section of nebbiolos and we knew we wanted one of these so we asked our server, David, for some recommendations. I didn’t write the wines down but we tasted the Carema and Sfurzato. We went with the Carema which was lighter with a carmel sweetness.
They brought out the pork before they carved and served it. And it was a golden orange, crisped to perfection on the outside. When they returned with it carved you could see the meat was falling apart and over a bed of boiled potatoes soaking in the pan drippings. Ben sent out some greens–kale–with chickpeas to accompany the pork and it was all delicious. It’s safe to say we were fairly stuffed at this point and just ate a small bit of the pork and greens. But the ribs were sprinkled with fennel seed and I ate a section of those and tried the crisp skin and tender meat that was moist and full of fatty goodness. The flavors were mild, not over salted, nothing overdone. Just the amazing flavor of really high quality meat and greens. Just the way they would do it in Italy.
We couldn’t decide on a dessert and asked David for his opinion. Well suffice it to say, we didn’t need to decide because they sent out five desserts: the olive oil cake with marscapone cream (Sean’s pick), a pignoli/lemon tart with citrus honey (my pick), along with pear gelato, concord grape sorbet, and the triumph of the desserts a pannacotta with gently stewed figs and honey. Along with a cappuccino for Sean and a lavendar mint tea for me it was altogether an amazing meal. Ben came out one last time to say goodnight and we wished him goodnight with our sincerest appreciation. As we walked around Gramercy Park, our stomachs groaning but entirely pleased and not in anyway upset from all of the indulgence we appreciated six years of marraige, many amazing meals (although few and far between these days) and travels finding those meals, and thought about the next six years and where we will be then.
I never would have guessed half of what has happened in the past six years and the future holds much excitement and uncertainty. But the one thing I am certain of, Sean is my partner on this trip and I am so glad.
Barley and Birch April 21, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized.add a comment
Each day I wonder whether we are only spiraling on a terrible path of pollution, destruction and a world that Belly won’t want to live in much less love in, grow in, thrive in. But then there are moments when I realize that I’m not alone and there are so many people out there working towards a better world for the next generation. I don’t know who is going to win but if I were a betting woman I would bet on Kyle of Barley and Birch. This woman is on a mission and I’m proud to know her, albeit only digitally. Today Belly is up on her blog wearing one of her gorgeous organic designs.
http://barleyandbirch.blogspot.com/2010/04/wear-it-wednesday_15.html
Beautiful Belly
There is good in the world.
Photo credit: Alasandra Russo
Lentil Soup April 16, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Uncategorized.add a comment
This is the time of year when two things really start to plague me: anemia and a lack of vitamin D. I’m no expert on either but I am always borderline anemic and try to manage it with a diet rich in iron which isn’t easy when you don’t eat a lot of meat.
About a year ago Belly was really sick and had to stay in the hospital for three days. We learned that she was anemic which isn’t unusual for a sick child, especially one that has been exclusively on breast milk. We left the hospital with a prescription for an iron supplement in addition to her usual multivitamin. Belly hated the iron supplement. And I hated forcing her to eat something that tasted so terrible. How do you explain the idea of eating something that tastes toxic to a one-year-old when you’re trying to teach them not to eat things that taste bad, like cleaning products and soap.
So I did a lot of research and found a way to fill her diet with iron rich foods. From that time came one of the staples of our diet: lentil soup. Lentils are high in iron but the non-heme type, meaning they aren’t so easy for your digestive system to absorb. They need some vitamin C to help them along. So I worked out this recipe that gives plenty of both and is so quick and easy to make.
With fancy photos by (c) Sean Sime
Red Lentil Soup
2 tbsp butter or canola oil, divided
3 medium size carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
2 cups red lentils, washed and pick out any sticks or stones
2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
Lemon, salt, pepper to taste
Put 1.5 tablespoons of butter or canola oil* into a hot heavy bottomed stock pot on medium heat. Sauté carrots, celery and onion until they are tender but not soft and just a bit browned, create a little space in the middle of your pot and drop just a bit more oil or butter into the center and then add the coriander and cumin, if you like a good amount of pepper now is a good time to add it too (otherwise you can just sprinkle some in at the end) let it sizzle in the oil for a minute and then stir into your veg. If you have a good amount of browned goodness on the bottom of your pan a healthy squeeze of lemon at this point will deglaze it for you, a tablespoon or so should do it.
Add lentils to the pot and stir to coat with the oil, let simmer for one minute then add six cups of stock (reserving two for the end). Lentils don’t take long to cook. In 15-20 minutes they should puff up full of liquid and make a thick soup. At this point I like to blend my lentils with a hand blender, you could also use a Cuisinart or just leave them whole if you prefer. Season with salt and pepper and as much lemon as you like.
The lemon really brings out the flavor in this soup and it also adds to the vitamin C from the carrots to aid in absorbing the iron from the lentils. Belly likes this soup blended up well best and red lentils allow you to make a very smooth soup. Other kinds of lentils have different textures and flavors and are also great in this soup but a French lentil, say, will not blend well. It keeps a tougher casing through the cooking process and doesn’t break down as well. Which is fine if you want a whole lentil in the soup and a little chewiness.
- The stuff that makes it good! (c) Sean Sime
And it makes great baby food! It freezes well, so we put it in this silicone cups and then pop them into freezer bags once frozen:
Lentil Soup: Divide and Freeze (c) Sean Sime
*I took a class last fall at a wonderful restaurant in the Village called Camaje. It was a great experience if you ever have the opportunity. The chef there spoke at length about cooking oils and the overuse of olive oil. I’d often thought about this because extra virgin olive oil (the really healthy stuff) burns at a pretty low temperature so if you’re browning vegetables or frying something you’re also burning your olive oil and losing a lot of the nutritional benefits right along with it. She recommended testing out other oils but to try and find cold pressed and unprocessed as best you can. I’ve been using a cold pressed canola oil from Trader Joe’s it’s not expensive, it’s organic and it has a nice, mild flavor. It’s perfect for frying. Other fats she recommended trying are peanut and sesame oils (both have a strong nutty flavor and a high smoke point but can be mixed with olive or canola oil to mellow out the flavor), walnut oil is similar to EVOO in smoke point but very high in omega fatty acids and great for salad dressing and anything you’re just warming up in a pan, like wilted greens, and animal fats add a lot of flavor and can be mixed with a vegetable oil to lighten them up a bit.
To see more photos by Sean Sime click!
Waffles! January 15, 2010
Posted by Sarah in Breakfast, Food.Tags: alton brown, Sunday, waffles
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Usually by Sunday morning I’m starting to perk up a little bit. The week exhausts me. Work plus toddler plus more work equals a very tired and cranky me but Saturday is recoup day and by Sunday I’m feeling almost human again.
And Sundays around our house start with waffles. Sometimes we go the pancake route but if Belly has her choice waffles it will be. I think it has to do with the fact that she loves that I yell, “Waffles!!” Everytime the waffle iron dings.
© Sean Sime
But maybe it’s just that they are so crispy on the outside and soft on the inside or the fact that she gets to dip them in maple syrup. Either way, you should give them a go!
Basic waffle recipe courtesy of Alton Brown:
4.75 ounces whole wheat flour
4.75 ounces all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar (I tend to use less)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp butter (melted)
Plug in the waffle iron. Combine dry ingredients. I sift them once but it’s not a requirement. Belly just loves the sifter. Beat eggs well. Mix butter, buttermilk and eggs and then combine with dry ingredients and don’t over stir. Lumps are good in this case. Let them sit a few minutes and you’ll get nice bubbles which make the waffles really light. Ladle into your waffle iron according to your own experience, mine takes a good 3/4 cup of batter for one waffle. And that’s it! Ding, Waffles!!
© Sean Sime
This recipe makes enough for four adults or two adults a toddler and some left over. They freeze very nicely and heat well in the toster over, not unlike an Eggo. I’ve also found, that if you’re a little short on buttermilk, you can add orange or grapefruit juice (thanks Dad!) to top off the liquid and you get a little extra sweetness and a little more carmel crunch.
Photos courtesy of Sean Sime.
Tired? Dehydrated? Sore Throat? December 16, 2009
Posted by Sarah in Bedlam, Christmas, Mom, sick.Tags: honey, lemonade, party, sick, yum
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You’re worn out you say? Too much partying? Kids wearing you down? Getting sick, you think? Well, do I have the solution for you! Vitaminavegimin…oh, no…sorry, I don’t have the recipe for that:
Sarah’s patented hot lemonade!
steam makes everything better
Lots o’ honey, like 3 tablespoons
Lots o’ lemon, about 2 tablespoons (fresh squeezed)
Hot water*
Breath in, drink, yum, feel better.
*No, a tea bag does not make it better. Water!
warm honey, what's not to love?
It’s even good for baby with a cold, baby older than 1 year that is. Ever since they took all those children’s cold medicines off the shelf we’ve learned to rely on honey for soothing sore throats. It really does the trick. And if you’re without means of making said hot lemonade try Bee M.D Organic Honey Throat Drops. I love em; don’t give them to baby. Right, you knew that.
Photo © Sean Sime
Gingerbread Fiasco 2009 December 11, 2009
Posted by Sarah in Bedlam, Christmas, Food, Mom.Tags: Christmas, gingerbread, kids, mommy, parenting
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The Gingerbread Fiasco is nothing short of bedlam. Kids, candy, moms (a dad or two), icing (everywhere), babies, no naps, a little wine, six pizzas, Christmas movies, and more gingerbread than can possibly be imagined. Then there’s cousin Brucie: booming stories, smearing icing on begging faces, and in the old days cooking up the Canadian breakfast that followed our night-long candy eating and one-too-many-vanilla-stoli-and-ginger-ale-consuming binges, that have now become the silly memories of our college days. And Aunt Adrienne keeps it all rolling pretty smoothly–while letting 12 moms and 15 kids overrun her house!
This is the first year I’ve tried to build a house with Belly in tow and it was a half hearted success. She sat still long enough to eat two and a half mini slices of pizza–carved out of my big slices–and was a mostly surly toddler the rest of the time until her buddy Alex showed up and then she cheered up a bit.
That equals about 40 minutes of house decorating time–thanks mostly to Jenny who assembled the structure for me. Thanks Jen!
So if you’re ambitious you can start from scratch and build one with the directions below courtesy of Jen and Adrienne. Or you can do like I did and buy the house and go from there. Target, Amazon (I bought this one), even your grocery story should have them this time of year.
Here it is, in it’s current state, with hopes of whipping up some Royal Icing and finishing this bad boy before Christmas!
Fully assembled if not complete.
A PondeRusso Thanksgiving December 2, 2009
Posted by Sarah in Baby, Food.Tags: "star trek", home, pie, thanksgiving, turkey
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Thanksgiving at my parents’ house is much the same every year and I like it that way. Several trips to the market, days of preparation, a turkey from the Goffle Road Turkey Farm, and pie!
My dad has officially corned the market on apple pie. The crust is so crispy and tender it practically falls apart. He swears by winesap apples and he has to taste them to figure out how much sugar he needs, a little vanilla ice cream on top and voila! Awesome, apple pie. I promise to post the recipe this month but it’s too late already tonight. But it was the perfect end to Thanksgiving day. My sister made some pumpkin pie so they both duked it out on most plates while we watched the newish Star Trek movie.
Two slices of heaven and a movie!
The sci-fi geek in me thought it was a great movie. Lots of action, great reference to the original TV series, and the promise of a sequel…all things I like. But this isn’t a blog about movies, this is probably the third one I’ve seen all year!
So back to Thanksgiving: Belly’s almost 23 months old now. She doesn’t have a full complement of teeth yet (most toddlers will by the age of two). Without any molars some things are still a little hard for her to chew. But she was pretty happy to try everything we offered. Her favorites were on the sweet-side, sweet potatoes and cranberry-orange compote, but we worked in some turkey and peas too.
I tested out this recipe for cranberry burbon truffles. To be frank, I wouldn’t bother with them. They’re sort of pretty if you get the consistency right but they are so sour and nothing like a truffle at all. If you want something delicious try this excellent apple sauce courtesy of Honey and Jam.
And now for the Turkey, drum roll please:
Thanksgiving Turkey 2009
Photos courtesy of Sean Sime.
Meet Belly November 24, 2009
Posted by Sarah in Baby, Food, Mom.Tags: "baby food", "farmer's market", cooking, homemade, summer
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<<OED Definition of Belly>>
3. a. That part of the human body which lies between the breast and the thighs, and contains the bowels; the abdomen. (The ordinary mod. sense.)
Belly is my daughter. She is most affectionately called “Belly” and mostly just by me. She has more nicknames than a baby rightly should but this one is mine. First she actually was my belly. It was round and getting bigger every day for months until she arrived (nearly six weeks early) and then she remained, belly. Once the doctors let her start eating she proved to be a real champ at it. She would nurse and nurse quite simply until her little belly could hold no more and she would spit everything back up. It was a time of many wardrobe changes, tiny little bibs affixed around her neck, and burp cloths, loads of burp cloths.
We made it through that tough time and eventually got to the real food. And me, being me, I thought I should make her food. Truly. It was the middle of summer and the farmers market was overflowing with the fruits and vegetables of the summer. So we started with peaches. Fuzzy and pink, much like my little one, they seemed like the perfect food. I peeled and lightly steamed them and then blended them up. They turned into nectar, almost juice. And Belly loved them. We spent the summer trying all sorts of things as they came into season: green beans, watermelon, plums, blueberries, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, and then fall came and we had apples and pears, all kinds of squash and pumpkins. Anything that caught our eye we tried. And I found that I could make her food just fine. All we needed was steam and a Cuisinart and we had instant baby food.
We like to eat real food, we, being my husband and I. We both love to cook and to eat and we hope some day Belly will enjoy those simple pleasures too. So it seemed only natural to feed her fresh food, just like we eat, even if it took a little extra time.
Belly’s First Peaches
6 peaches
Peel, halve and remove pit from peaches. Put 1/2 inch water in in a pot and place peaches in a steaming basket above water (best not to have the water touching the peaches). Steam for two to three minutes (or until peaches are soft but not mush). Remove peaches from heat and blend, cool and serve. Unused peaches can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours or you can freeze in ice cube trays and keep for up to three months. (also nice on yogurt or ice cream for persons currently allowed to eat cows milk: no cow’s milk for baby until 1 year for those of you confused by this statement)
