Okay, I admit it, the name was what pulled me in. I thought there was a chance with the name, I might be able to get Hayden to eat it. I’ll spoil it for you, though, no go.

Anyway, this is a Nigerian-inspired dish, and I love trying new things… this one caught my eye in a lot of different ways. (Each will be highlighted.)

Chicken-Goober Stew
From Cooking Time is Family Time
Basic run down:
Chicken breast, cooked with fresh ginger
onion
garlic
plum tomatoes
tomato paste
water
okra
parsley
peanut butter
Tabasco
Fresh fruit (we used strawberries, bananas and mango)
We served with garlic bread

Basically, cook onions. Add tomatoes and water. Cook. Add chicken, okra, parsley. Cook. Serve with assorted fruit and Tabasco.

Kris: Nice and thick, which Kris really likes when I serve dinner in a bowl. Given that he could add as much heat as he wanted, that went over well, too. It seems more like a winter meal, but that would do away with one of the main reasons *I* loved the recipe.

Brianna: What a terrific use of a farmer’s market. Onion, garlic, plum tomatoes, okra, and parsley all came from Saturday’s trip. If our market was a bit bigger, I might also be able to get the berries there. I was a bit worried that this wouldn’t live up to all the prep work that needed to be done. Pre-cooking chicken, lots of chopping and dicing… but I think doing this recipe more often will allow it to become more of a second-nature prep. I can also see this being a winter dish, using canned tomatoes, jarred garlic, frozen okra, maybe even the chicken strips you can get in the deli these days. I was also a bit unsure of the combination of fresh fruit and hot sauce, but, um, wow. I loved this dish.

Hayden: Well, he ate the mango and the bread at least. He’s up one food type from a normal dinner experience.

Gabe: Was very interested in everything that went into the bowl, but wasn’t so interested in actually trying it. He pulled apart lots of bread, and I think ate some of it. Alas, he is becoming more and more of his brother’s brother.

This is one that I looked to cookbooks for guidance, and then decided I could just wing it. Unfortunately, I don’t tend to measure anything when I wing it, so all I can tell you is, a couple of spoonfuls of this, a chug of that…

Here goes:

Broccoli, chopped
Onion, chopped
Zucchini, chopped
Chinese Red Beans, cut into small sticks
Breast of Chicken, diced
Whole wheat pasta
Peanut Butter
Fish Sauce
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
Rice Wine Vinegar
Red Chili Paste
Peanuts
Limes
Red Pepper Flakes

1. Steam broccoli to soften it up a bit. Zucchini can be either steamed or sautéed. Stir fry Chinese Red Beans, cook chicken and onions in sesame oil.

2. Cook pasta as directed on package.

3. Mix a few spoonfuls of peanut butter, about equal parts soy sauce, fish sauce and rice wine vinegar, some chili paste (about one spoonful) into the pan. Let peanut butter melt and create a sauce. Add ingredients again as necessary to get the sauce consistency how you want it.

4. Add all ingredients in pan with sauce (chicken, veggies, pasta and a bit of pasta water to help loosen the sauce up) and heat through.

5. Serve with peanuts, red pepper flakes and lime wedges.

Kris: Likes this type of recipe so much that he gets irritated with me for not writing any of it down with measurements included. Thinks it reheats for lunch even better the next day, so I try to make enough for 4 meals for the 2 of us.

Brianna: Big fan, so much so that I won’t even put it on Hayden’s plate, so as to not waste any of it.

Hayden: Ate a peanut butter spoon for dinner and giggled with glee that I wouldn’t put a plate in front of him.

Gabe: Enjoyed a peanut butter spoon as well, but did eat a few bites of the pasta and broccoli. I count that as a win, given his desire to do everything like big brother right now.

I brought home some fresh beef from work, knowing that we wanted to do hamburgers with it. Given the meat’s leanness, though, I thought it would be best to spruce up the ground beef a bit.

Searching through allrecipes.com gave me this: Bacon-Wrapped Hamburgers.

Our grill isn’t working properly right now, so these were fried stove-top and finished off in the broiler. Given what was in my fridge, I made a couple of minor changes (Monterey jack cheese in place of cheddar, grated pecorino romano in place of Parmesan, diced red onion in place of white)… but all in all, a win recipe, for the adults at least.

I served with a range of fresh toppings: arugula, tomato slices, red onion, and banana peppers.

Kris: Excellent.

Brianna: Biggest issue with these is the mess needed on my hands in order to form the patties (especially when I have a crying toddler in the kitchen, too). But the taste was absolutely excellent.

Hayden: Ate one quarter of a ketchup sandwich.

Gabe: Tried a bite of hamburger, but was more interested in shoveling ketchup into his mouth via a fork.

From Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking with Kids
Recipe: Corn Fritters

Basic idea: Remove corn from a couple of ears of corn, dice a red bell pepper. Cook them in a bit of oil until softened a bit. Through in an herb (I love dill, and never use it, so that’s what I used in this recipe).
Mix a few eggs together with the veggies, and then pan fry them.

Kris: Eh. Mostly a texture thing. Perhaps try with canned creamed corn instead?

Brianna: Well, I ate far more than I should have, but gave away most of my chicken nuggets to the others to make up for it.

Hayden: Almost wouldn’t eat the nuggets that went along with them.

Gabe: Eh.

Overall: Well, if we have a couple of ears of corn that won’t be used in another way, I’ll fry them up with eggs for myself. And, OMG, I love dill. Why do I never think to use it?

Dinner tonight was a mix of a recipe, what we had left in the fridge, and what I could find at the grocery store.

We started with a recipe from Ready, Steady, Spaghetti: Cooking with Kids. Spring Rolls.

I scoured our grocery store, which, given its preppy clientèle, I thought was sure to have rice wrappers. Nope. But given our current love of jalapeño poppers, I knew that wonton wrappers were there. I went with round dumpling wrappers instead.

The recipe called for julienned carrots, but we had coleslaw mix left over from last week, so I used that instead. I diced it up a bit more, to make it fit more easily within the wrappers.

So, I count this as my recipe, right?

Cooked chicken, shredded or a very small dice.
Rice noodles (prepped in hot water, and then cut small)
Coleslaw mix (chopped finer than for coleslaw preparation)
Fresh basil (very small tears)
Dumpling wrappers

Filled each dumpling wrapper with a small pile of the other ingredients all mixed together. Ran water around the edges, fulled and pressed together.

Steamed for a few minutes.

Served warm with soy sauce and plum sauce.

Reactions?
Kris: Good. Not a huge fan, but a fun concept of stuff our leftovers in dumplings. Willing to try again. We should have tried cinnamon basil in them instead. (We’ll be doing so next time, I think.)

Brianna: As is often the case, I am the largest fan of a recipe. I enjoyed these very much, especially for the new experience. They weren’t spectacular, but I definitely loved the mix of the rice noodles and basil.

Hayden: Are you kidding? The kid didn’t even touch them.

Gabe: Tried a couple of bites, but I think the texture of the steamed dumplings (a bit sticky and chewy) gave him pause. However, he was very fond of the oyster cracker that were left on the table from a prior night mixed with soy sauce and plum sauce.

I am a large Greek food fan. My lunch today was a Greek salad from a local chili chain (it was paired with a cheese coney… I also love me some hotdogs with chili), and the new meal picked out from a cookbook was for a Greek pasta salad for dinner. I think being conceived in Greece has something to do with the development of my taste buds.

Author: Robin Miller
Cookbook: Quick Fix Meals
Recipe: Greek Pasta Salad with Feta and Shrimp
Reason(s) for choosing the meal: We have mint in our garden, and we need to find a use other than mojitos. Farmer’s Market was open today, and I knew we could get some peppers and garlic.

Basic rundown of the recipe: Penne pasta, covered in a vinaigrette made with chicken broth, fresh mint, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and dried seasonings, paired with a mix of sautéed shrimp with peppers and garlic. Feta cheese is tossed on top of the pasta at the table.

Thoughts:
Brianna: Well, it has feta and olive oil, but beyond that, I’m not sure I would have instantly put this down as Greek. That said, I still love it. It is a fantastic summer meal, as it is served warm from the heat of the pasta and the cooked shrimp, but it isn’t over powering in its temperature. I would pair it with a chilled, sweet wine (as opposed to the Malbec I had left over from last night). I’m glad I doubled the dressing and served it with a loaf of warm bread (as I loved soaking up the dressing with the bread).

Kris: Excellent dish, a keeper for frequent use (likely not a weekly one, since shrimp isn’t in our budget quite that often). He wasn’t sure what to expect based on the recipe, but he didn’t think it would be anything like what ended up on his plate. (I personally love when a dish defies expectations.)

Hayden: Are you kidding? He wouldn’t even take a piece of bread tonight.

Gabe: Loved putting his fingers in the feta cheese and putting it on his plate. He was very interested in playing with his food tonight, the large serving spoon, especially. Finally, after sitting in Kris’ lap, switching chairs, and saying, “all done” (after nothing actually getting to his mouth) he left the table. Then he saw the chocolate chip banana bread we had picked up at the Farmer’s Market and wanted some of that. “Have to eat some dinner, first.” He came to me, resignedly. Then he took a bite. He looked at me as though I was not who he thought I was, as apparently, I hadn’t mentioned this was “PASTA.” He ate heartedly and then finished up the meal with a piece of the sweet bread.

Kris has worked his butt off today getting some of our art up around the house, and it’s starting to feel like a home. So, given that, it feels as though I should be sharing more about our life.

But, I need something to work with, so instead of saying I’ll be doing more blogging, I think I’m going to try to pick a specific thing to share more often. Since I love to cook, even if I can’t always get all my boys to eat (two of them are decent about trying new things, at least…), cooking seems like a good fit.

I’ve considered trying to work my way through a cookbook in a year, or having some such goal, but I’m not that dedicated. So instead, I’ll forewarn you, I work outside the home, nearly 35 minutes commute, and I’m a bit lazy with prep work… so most of what I focus on will likely be of the “I-have-to-get-something-on-the-table-in-30-minutes-or-less-and-it-has-to-be-something-I’ll-be-willing-to-eat-for-lunch-tomorrow-because-we’ll-definitely-have-leftovers” caliber.

So, with that disclaimer, I’ll add another one. I will only post detailed ingredients listings if I can claim the recipe as my own. If I’m using a cookbook, I will provide the title, author (or online source), recipe listing and a brief review of what I thought the preparation was in terms, of, well, just about anything.

I’ll also be sure to tell you how it was received. If Hayden eats it, it must be pizza or chicken nugget based… or we must have starved him for a week.

The new bread machine had a recipe for soft pretzels, which we have been wanting to try at home, so I followed the directions.

Kris would have been very proud of me, as I even levelled off the flour before adding it. I didn’t want to call me on not following the recipe exactly (as I have a tendency to do, even with baked goods) I started it, watched it for a moment, thinking to myself, “Hmmm… it doesn’t seem to be turning into dough like it should. Maybe the beater needs more time.”

I proceeded to leave the house to go for some consumerism therapy. I ended up getting some much needed jeans (I detest when a store puts up signs for prices, doesn’t put them into their computer system and then doesn’t have enough management to answer the page promptly…), some less needed personal attire, and some very unnecessary–but much beloved–books.

When I returned home, the mess in the bread machine was flour with a couple of small bumps. I added some water, a bit more flour and thought, “Well, if they suck, it’s not my fault.”

And suck they did. For one, I made them too large (pretzels rise a lot once they are in the pretzel shape) and I need a lot of practice to make the pretzel twist stand up to as much handling as they need.

I think we’ll stick with the extra steps of boiling and then a baking soda bath, as I liked the crispness of the outside, but I’ll try to find a better starting recipe.

On the plus side, I LOVE my new breadmachine. I can’t wait to use it on a very regular basis. Now if only I can find some permanent counter space for it.

My four-year old won’t touch anything green unless it is a skittle or a jelly-bean, so I do what I can to make sure he gets some of his nutrients.

I’ve found some winners in this book, most definitely, though unfortunately, they haven’t been the vegetable rich ones yet. Crispy no-fry fries were received with ovations from both the preschooler and my husband. I love the No Harm Chicken Parm, but the preschooler decided he wasn’t hungry after the garlic bread was devoured and the husband said it didn’t hold a candle to my standard chicken parm.

We all loved the Cream of Tomato soup made with sweet potatos, carrots and evaporated milk. We also will be keeping the pancakes and breakfast cookies in a frequent rotation.

If nothing else, this book is helping me to see the health benefits in the things he will eat. The fact that there are multiple fruit purees makes me laugh. My kid not eat fruit? His standard breakfast is a banana, strawberries, blue berries, apple and whatever else fruit is in season and a bagel.

Maybe I’ll need those recipes for my one year old, who currently won’t touch fruit unless cinnamon plays a part.

I am a kitchen enthusiast, but even so, it is not common for me to read a cookbook cover to cover. I was not searching for a recipe; I was not planning a weekly grocery list. Instead, I was simply drawn into what Clotilde Dusoilier has to say about food.

She paints vivid images of culinary creations, using historical, cultural, and familiar dialogues. She is able to share snippets of food history and background, without drowning me in data that is soon to be forgotten, letting me hold onto the information long enough to process its relevance in her introduction to the recipe. She details French cooking in a way that makes me understand why it is both an art form and achievable by the likes of me, that even soufflés that fall can still be tasty. She makes it clear that adventures in a kitchen can and should be a lifetime endeavor. Childhood memories can bring the pursuit of the perfect mashed potatoes into a full life cycle. The personal stories have made me appreciate the time I spend in the kitchen with and for my husband and children, hoping that they are creating memories that will spark them to love the exploration of food even more.

I was a follower of the blog, Chocolate and Zucchini, before picking this cookbook up. I think I took more away from the cookbook than I ever have from the blog. The connections, the groupings, the continuity all make this a strong cookbook, especially for those who are ready to learn not just recipes, or even how to begin to create your own, but how recipes can be connected to your life in both the minutia and the grand.