Kicked Out of the Kitchen and Loving It

For the last few months, I've been kicked out of the kitchen more and more frequently. My daughter's been bitten by the baking bug, and she is staking her claim to the family kitchen. She picks out the recipes, takes out the ingredients, and gets cooking, and she is determined to do it alone (at least until it comes time to deal with the hot oven).

If I close my eyes, I can picture her chubby little hand and her giant smile when I first hoisted her up on a kitchen chair and handed her a wooden spoon. She was my eager assistant, first alone, then with her brother and her sister, for years, until she lost interest, too tween and too cool to hang with her mom in the kitchen.

But now she's back. On her own terms. Without mom at her side. And I couldn't be more proud or excited that she's chosen a path to independence that produces sweet treats, even occasionally sharing the dough with her brother.

Bella's current favorite cookbook is Teens Cook Dessert written by Megan and Jill Carle, two teenage sisters with gorgeous photographs. It's real baking from scratch with personal introductions that really speak teen/tween. I'd love to meet these inspiring young women and thank them for getting my daughter so excited about cooking.

Happy Wordful, Five Minutes Wordless, and Way-back wednesday.

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Skor Chunks

I've been using the same delicious brownie recipe for 20 years. I know that statement makes me sound like an old crone, so I should clarify that I started making homemade brownies as a pimply teenager, shedding tears over mean middle school boys while being hypnotized by the sensuous beauty of chocolate slowly melting into butter. Those brownies were rich, fudgy and decadent, and although I tried other recipes over the years, I never found one worthy of replacing our family brownie recipe, until this week, when I got the latest issue of Bon Appetit.

The brownies were right on the cover, in a mouth-watering tower. Only the chunky walnuts marred their perfection. I actually did a quick Twitter poll, asking how people feel about nuts in brownies. The answer was almost unanimous. Most people think adding nuts to brownies are a crime. I completely agree, crunchy nuts just take away from the chocolate.

Caught this brownie thief red-handed.

The recipe is easy to whip up. You can have a warm pan of brownies on the table in 35 minutes.

The brownies are rich and intensely fudgy, perfect to cut into tiny bites of chocolate bliss. Unlike my original brownie recipe, this one uses cocoa powder instead of melting chocolate as the base, but it still sends tendrils of chocolate smells up throughout the house, combined with the betwitching aroma of browned butter. This recipe makes a very small batch, and I had to make it twice to have enough to bring to my book club and have a few leftover for the kids and these pictures.

After making the recipe plain a few times, I had the urge to experiment by adding bits of Skor candy bars. They melted but gave the brownies a hint of toffee and sweet almonds. Seems like a nice compromise to put to bed that whole nuts in brownies debate.

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Skor Chunks (Adapted from Bon Appetit Feb 2011)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 to 30 minutes
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger - this is worth experimenting with as each cocoa tastes so different)
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
3 Skor Candy Bars, smashed into tiny chunks
2 teaspoons of water
1/4 teaspoons of salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Line an 8x8x2 baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Spray the foil with a non-stick cooking spray or rub with butter. (This foil trick is so neat. No more messy looking brownies stuck in the pan. Revolutionary.)
3. Melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form on the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. Watch it closely. You do not want the browned bits to burn. Use your nose and smell the butter. You want it to smell a little nutty, not burnt.
4. Remove from heat and add sugar, water, cocoa, vanilla, and salt. Stir until blended then leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
5. Add eggs to mixture one at a time, stirring vigorously with a rubber spatula after each addition until shiny and smooth. 
6. Now add the flour and stir until blended. 
7. Stir in the Skor chunks. 
8. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Begin checking at 20 minutes. Note that the Skor candy chunks added 10 minutes of cooking time to these brownies. If you're leaving them out, the brownies will be done pretty close to 20 minutes.
9. Cool on rack then remove by pulling out the foil. Enjoy! These stay moist and delicious in an airtight container for up to a week.

Ebelskiver Pancakes, Little Puffs of Deliciousness

I have a few fashion loving friends who get this fiendish gleam in their eyes when they're talking clothes. To them, the names of the designers on Gilt.com actually mean something. I don't like to look like too much of a soccer mom, but I'll only get behind a fashion trend if it's comfortable (jeggings anyone?). But when it comes to cooking stores, that's when I get that dangerous glint in my eyes. Those burnished copper pots and shiny appliances are pretty much impossible to resist. I've been known to fall into a frenzy and emerge with items that are most definitely not necessities.

Last year, I fell for an ebelskiver pan. It's a nonstick pan with seven shallow rounded wells for making Norwegian pancakes. This being Williams Sonoma, it came with a very convenient ebelskiver pancake mix which we made immediately that weekend.

The pancakes were a revelation, completely validating my impulsive purchase. They were light and puffy, little sweet clouds that melted in the mouth. We filled them with Nutella and various jams. And we repeated the breakfast for the next few weekends, all with the same happy food coma joyful weekend family nap outcome.

But soon the pancake mix ran out, and the pan began to gather dust in the cabinet. It seemed foolish to trek out to Williams Sonoma to acquire another $10 jar of pancake mix. Then, thanks to the magic of Google, I learned that the ebelskiver recipe (also known as aebelskiver) is very easy and just as marvelous as the mix version.

There are some recipes that call for whipping up egg whites, but I would never take the time to do that on a Saturday morning. The recipe below is something you can easily assemble before you've had your first cup of coffee. But you'll need an Ebelskiver pan to make it, that is, if you dare to enter the dangerous realm of kitchen equipment retail.

Aebelskivers/Ebelskivers... Delicious Pancake Puffs
Yield: Makes 12 or 13 pancake puffs
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 Cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons melted butter

1. In a bowl, mix flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat egg to blend with milk, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons butter. Add liquids to dry ingredients and stir until just evenly moistened. Don't overstir, I can't stress this enough, or your puffs will be mini-boulders.
2. Place an aebleskiver pan over medium-low heat. When pan is hot enough to make a drop of water sizzle, brush pancake cups lightly with vegetable oil and fill each to slightly below the rim with batter.
3. In 1 to 2 minutes, thin crusts will form on bottoms of balls. Peek under with the tip of a knife to make sure. The center of the pancake will still be very wet. Pierce the crust with a slender wood skewer and gently pull shell to rotate the pancake ball until about half the cooked portion is above the cup rim and uncooked batter flows down into cup. 
4. Cook until crust on bottom of ball is again firm enough to pierce, about another minute, then rotate ball with skewer until the ridge formed as the pancake first cooked is on top. 
5. Cook, turning occasionally with skewer, until balls are evenly browned and no longer moist in the center, another 4 to 5 minutes. Check by piercing center of last pancake ball added to pan with skewer to see if it comes out clean, or by breaking the ball open slightly. If you're worried your balls are turning too brown, turn the heat down immediately. Better be safe than sorry and cook them a little longer than have them get burned.
6. Lift cooked balls from pan. Make a little hole in the middle and fill with the topping of your choice (Nutella, apple sauce, jams, lemon curd). Alternatively, you can just dip them in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Serve hot. 
7. Repeat to cook remaining batter.

(Relatively) Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets

These Healthy Baked Chicken Nuggets Will Be a Hit with the Kids

Tonight I'm going to give you a gift: a baked chicken nugget recipe that you can whip up in less than 5 minutes. And it's good. Let me tell you how good. So good that my kids ate them with a babysitter tonight and when I came home, Bella came to thank me for making "such delicious chicken." Let me tell you, that's not something that happens every day. I actually don't think it's ever happened before. Of course when I teared up, she told me I was being embarrassing... again.

The reason I qualify them as "relatively" healthy homemade chicken nuggets is that they could be healthier. These little chicken bites would certainly be better for you if they weren't breaded, or if they were steamed or poached, but then they wouldn't be chicken nuggets. They would be bland, plain chicken, and your kids would not be thanking you for making such a delicious dinner. So I'm sticking with the healthy label, and making baked chicken nuggets at home is certainly a lot healthier than ordering chicken nuggets from the McDonald's drive-thru window.

So go ahead, try this recipe. But don't be surprised if your kids throw you a parade.

Baked Chicken Nuggets
Prep Time: 5 minutes (or possibly less!)
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients
2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch wide strips, tendons and yucky bits cut off
15 butter crackers, like Ritz or Townhouse
1/3 cups of grated parmesan
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Place the crackers in a small ziplock bag. Seal it and crush them to coarse crumbs. Go ahead, have fun with it, let out the stress of the day. Pour the crumbs into a small bowl. Add the parmesan and toss to mix. 
3. In a separate small bow, crack and mix the eggs well, to omelette consistency.
4. Dip a chicken piece in the egg and then roll it around in the parmesan crumbs until crumbs cover all sides of the chicken. You won't be able to cover it completely. That's okay. It's meant to look homemade. Then place the coated chicken in a Pyrex or other baking pan. Repeat with the rest of the pieces.
5. Cook the chicken for 45 minutes.
6. Serve with whatever sauces you please. I chose apple jelly in the picture above, but if you want to dip them in McDonald's BBQ sauce, I won't tell anyone.

How to Host a Macaroni and Cheese Intervention

A deplorable thing happened over the course of the year, something I'm ashamed to admit. My kids got addicted to Kraft macaroni and cheese. That skinny blue box with its vibrantly yellow elbow noodles became their definition of a good lunch. Discovering the orange day-glo noodles in their thermos would result in happy squeals, spontaneous dances, and heartfelt declarations that I was the best mom in the entire world.

This did not give me the warm and fuzzies.

So I retaliated by banishing the mac and cheese, but they cried and they moped, and they said that lunch was not the same without it. Then I set out to show them real mac and cheese, filled with real milk, real butter, and a glorious mix of three cheeses, fully expecting a hardcore smackdown. Whenever they've encountered the real deal in restaurants, they've always turned their noses up at it, declaring it too cheesy, too creamy, just not mac and cheese.

But I was determined to try. I couldn't keep on calling myself a foodie and see bright orange moustaches on my children's faces.

I gave the cheeses some serious thought before going to work. I wanted to steer clear of processed cheeses like Velveeta, but didn't want too strong a taste to turn off the kids. I settled on a blend of French Gruyere, Etorki and Kraft sharp cheddar. Both Gruyere and Etorki were my French contributions to the project. I only recently starting snacking and making grilled cheeses from Etorki after receiving a big chunk of it as a sample from Ile de France Cheeses, it's a pleasant, semi-soft sheep's milk cheese that is relatively inexpensive and can be found in many supermarkets. You're probably more familiar with Gruyere, a classic French Swiss-style cheese that is yellow, hard and riddled with holes. And you're undoubtedly familiar with cheddar.

I was kind of dreading grating all that cheese, but the work went more quickly than anticipated, and I found the sight of all those gently falling cheese curls oddly therapeutic, like a very beautiful and pleasantly fragrant snow. The rest of the recipe came together very quickly, filling the house with the mouth-watering smell of toasted bread crumbs, cheese, and pasta.

Thirty minutes later, it was show time. I placed the steaming casserole on the table in front of three skeptical faces. "This doesn't look like the mac and cheese we like..." Everyone tried it, and two out of three gave it a thumbs up and had seconds. The third conceded that he didn't hate it.  Majority rules in my house. It's official, Kraft mac and cheese has been kicked to the curb and I can now call myself a foodie mom once again.

Three Cheese Traditional Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients:
1 box of dried pasta in elbow shape or corkscrew Cellentani shape
6 tablespoons of salted butter
1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
3/4 cup of grated parmesan
1/4 cup of flour
3 1/2 cups of whole milk
1 1/2 cups of grated gruyere
1 1/2 cups of grated Etorki
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Bring salted water to a boil and cook your pasta. Drain and set aside.
3. Grate your cheeses in a big bowl, mixing them well together. In a separate bowl, set aside 1 1/12 cups of the grated cheeses.
4. Make the roux: Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Continue cooking on medium heat for 1-2 minutes to cook away the flour taste. Voila, you have made a fancy-sounding roux.
5. Now pour in the milk, whisking frequently, until it comes to a boil and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat, and fold in the cheeses, with the exception of the 1 1/2 cups you set aside. Stir until all the cheeses are melted and you have a delicious vat of cheesy sauce. Salt and pepper it according to your spice profile.
6. In a large pyrex or baking dish, pour your cooked noodles and spread them out evenly. Pour the cheese sauce over it, tossing it all with a spoon so the sauce gets into all the noodle crevices.
7. Spread the set aside 1 1/2 cups of cheese on top. Top with 1/2 cup of parmesan.
8. In the microwave, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Fold that into the cup of breadcrumbs, tossing well to coat the breadcrumbs with butter. 
9. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the noodles and cheese. Top with the remaining parmesan.
10. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown.

This was delicious right out of the oven, and then every day for lunch for the rest of the week.

There's a New Chef in the Kitchen

"Mom! Sometimes you don't treat me like I'm 8 years old."
"How so sweetie?"
"You know, I think you forget that I'm 8."
"Oh, you mean I expect you to do things that are too old for you?"
"NO! You still treat me like a baby. I mean, I'm 8 YEARS OLD! I should be able to cook all by myself for example."

And so, after a short lecture on the dangers of gas, I handed my 8 year old gourmet my wooden spoon and relinquished my kitchen.

Suddenly, a whole world of opportunity has opened up before our eyes. We began with Rice Krispie Treats, but I'm optimistic that in the very near future, Steve and I will be served a full dinner of duck a l'orange followed by creme caramel.

Happy Wordful, not so Wordless and Way-back wednesday! 

Poached Chicken, a New Food for Picky Eaters

Last spring we traveled to Paris with the kids. We rented an apartment and traipsed all over the city every day. Fueled by croissants and baguettes, we climbed the Eiffel Tower, played in the fountains around the Pyramid of the Louvre, and picnicked amidst the statues of the Jardin des Tuileries. At night, our noisy tribe settled at outdoor terraces of local restaurants and feasted. Nine months later, we still talk about our magical days and nights in that beautiful city.

One of the most wonderful things about our meals was the freedom from the tyranny of children's menus. The kids' meals were concocted from suggestions from the waiter. In this new land of good food and good living, the kids didn't even notice that the ubiquitous chicken nuggets were not available. The first night, they enjoyed grilled juicy steaks with crispy French fries. And the second night, the waiter produced tender, melt in your mouth chicken breasts on a bed of mashed potatoes with some gleaming carrots, so sweet they tasted like candy. When I told them the meat they were eating was chicken, they didn't believe me. Poached chicken was a revelation.

I had never thought of it as a child food, having only eaten it napped with delicate sauces in white tablecloth restaurants. But poached chicken is actually ideal picky eater fare. It has no brown bits, no hard bits, and definitely no yucky bits. It is just plain, tender enough to cut with a fork, bland chicken.

Poaching sounds fancy, but it is actually an incredibly easy way to prepare chicken. Submerge it in a liquid of your choice, bring it to a light boil, and boil it for 10 minutes. Then turn the heat off, and leave the chicken in the liquid for another 10 minutes. Voila! Your chicken is now poached.

The liquid you choose will greatly impact the flavor of the chicken, especially if you use chicken breasts. They will soak up whatever flavors you offer. I like to poach chicken breasts in chicken broth, but you could use plain, salted water if you choose. A nice tomato flavored broth might be nice as well.

Poaching some chicken breasts early in the week will give you material to work with all week long, to make chicken salad, to toss with shelled edamame and teriyaki sauce for a quick Asian stir fry, to make breadless chicken fingers to dip into ranch dressing, apple sauce, or ketchup, or to top plain buttered noodles on a soccer practice night. It's the type of ingredient that will become a staple as soon as you introduce it in your life.

Fun for the Whole Family: Sushi Party 101

I love having sushi parties. When my friend Yumi first initiated me into the secrets of sushi, I didn't believe her. I felt as though I was trespassing in a forbidden world and couldn't believe how easy it was. The wow and fun factors are high, but the effort and cost are low. All you really need, for a successful sushi party, is a high quality Japanese supermarket. The rest is easy.

As soon as we landed in Columbus, I started searching for a Japanese supermarket. I asked everyone I encountered about Asian supermarkets, and whenever I met a Japanese person, I got right down to business, asking them where they shop. The supermarket is key because it's the only place I would trust to buy sushi grade fish. Some regular supermarkets advertise sushi-quality tuna, but that makes me a little nervous. There are no standards for these things, and we all know where a bad piece of sushi can send us. So I prefer to buy my sushi fish from a Japanese supermarket, a busy one packed with customers, with gorgeous fish that looks like candy.

In New Jersey, I loved my trips to Mitsuwa, a huge Japanese supermarket in Edgewater. Here in Columbus, I discovered Tensuke Market (1167 Old Henderson Road 614.451.6002), thanks to The Restaurant Widow blog. Although Tensuke is much smaller than Mitsuwa, I found all of the ingredients I needed, including beautiful fish. As there's little I love more than stepping through the doors of a store and being transported to another continent, I'll continue exploring the other Asian markets in the area.

Other than gorgeous fish, you'll just need a few other items. You can easily walk out with all you need for a sushi feast for under $30. You'll need:

• some short grain sushi rice,
  
• a couple of packets of sushi rice seasoning to make it sticky and sweet (see above for picture),
  
• some wasabi paste, a little pickled ginger,
  
• and a package of seaweed sheets.

Now if you want to get a little fancier, you can also get:

• A couple of bamboo mats to roll up your sushi.
  
• Some veggies: avocado, cucumber, carrots.
• Some fruits: mango, peach, and pineapple.
• Fun Japanese salads like seaweed salad.
• Wild Japanese desserts and candy to entertain the kids.
• Sake and Japanese beer.
  

And as far as the fish goes, I usually go with tuna (toro and regular), salmon, yellowtail, and barbecued eel that I find in the freezer.


Once you have all your ingredients, it's time to put all of your guests to work, creating their own sushi creations. I set out to steaming bowls of sushi rice in the middle of the table, lay the fish, fruit and veggies on platters all around, and let everyone channel their own sushi chef. People can choose to make rolls with bamboo mats or plastic wrap, or stay conservative with sushi pieces of rice mounds topped with fish. At times, I have even been known to just go with sashimi and have a few bites of rice in between. Amy is pictured above. She had never tried to make sushi before, but she was turning out better looking rolls than anyone at the table within minutes.

My kids love these sushi parties. I don't really encourage them to go with the raw fish though, providing them with lots of veggies and some chicken fingers to roll up in the rice. For our last dinner, Bella stuck to her favorite, the chicken nugget roll, but her friend surprised me by making a gorgeous tuna and avocado roll.

Everyone had a blast, and everyone walked away very full.

Chicken Piccata and Roasted Asparagus: Weeknight Chicken Will Never Be Boring Again

Chicken breasts are usually boring. Hum drum, forget what I'm eating, dry, what's for dessert, dull. When I'm planning my weekly menus, I rarely get inspired by chicken breasts, opting for pork, beef, and even lamb instead. Roast chickens, with their crispy golden skin and moist meat, are in a different category.

But the other day, enticed by a killer sale at Whole Foods, I threw a package of chicken breasts into my cart. And that night, I attacked the breasts, and made them into something exciting, something that had us all licking our plates, grabbing bread to sop up sauce, and moaning with pleasure. This chicken piccata recipe, with its savory tangy sauce, will spice up your weeknight dinner too.

Our first order of business was to pound the breasts into thin cutlets. I took the breasts one by one and sandwiched them between two long sheets of plastic wrap. Then I handed the job over to my sous-chefs. I'm always looking for novel ways to get my kids involved in the cooking, and the challenge of pounding the meat with all their strength was the most fun they'd had in weeks. They took to it with gusto, taking turns, shouting words of encouragement to each other. Even three-year-old Juliette got into the action.

For the kids' dinner, I simply took their flattened cutlet and pan fried it with butter and a dash of lemon juice - a junior version of Chicken Piccata. The adult version was just as easy, but just with a little more flavor. And if you've steered clear of this dish because you don't like capers, I urge you to give it another try. The pan sauces and the lemon neutralize the harshness of the capers, giving the sauce a fresh and savory richness.

Chicken Piccata

Ingredients:

1 package of chicken breasts

3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons of capers

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

3/4 cups of chicken broth

1 lemon

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon of salted butter

1. Between two sheets of plastic wrap, pound the chicken breasts, one by one, until they are about 1/2 inch in thickness.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add chicken cutlets (as many as will fit in a single layer), and cook until lightly browned on both sides and cooked through (about 2 minutes on each side). Place on a platter, and cover with foil. Add more oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining cutlets.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and add another tablespoon of olive oil. Then add the capers, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic softens, about 2 minutes.
4. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the pan. Add the chicken broth. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reduces by half, about 3 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and swirl in the tablespoon of butter as well as half of the parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken cutlets. Decorate with a sprinkling of the remaining parsley. Serve immediately.

I served roasted asparagus alongside the chicken piccata.

Roasted Asparagus
Ingredients

1 bunch of asparagus spears (with bottoms snapped off)

1 lemon

4 tablespoons of olive oil

kosher salt

pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Spread the asparagus on a cookie sheet, all flat in one layer.
3. Sprinkle the olive oil, juice of one lemon, salt and pepper on top.
4. Roast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until just caramelized.

Spaghetti Carbonara, Otherwise Known as Bacon Pasta

My three year old Juliette has the palate of a food critic. She not only will eat anything, from California Rolls to Chicken Tikka Massala, but she really tastes it and enjoys it. It's a pleasure to cook with her and to cook for her.

But my other two kids... not so much. They would happily subsist on a diet of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese (and they prefer Kraft over the homemade kind).

Most of my attempts to broaden their menu are met with choruses of displeasure and disgust, but I keep on trying, certain that they will soon grow into adventurous foodies.

The other day, I put together three of their favorite foods to have them try one of my favorite dishes as a kid: Spaghetti Carbonara. Of course, I didn't call it that. I called them to the table to eat their Bacon Pasta. I stayed away from any "yucky green things" and the dish was a winner. I almost felt like I was cheating. After all, it's hard not to fall in love with pasta, bacon, and creamy eggs.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients:

One package of Spaghetti

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/4 pound of pancetta or bacon, cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 clove of garlic, diced finely

1/4 cup of white wine

2 eggs (make sure they are very fresh)

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Optional - verboten in our house - chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the bacon/pancetta and garlic and cook until browned, but not crip, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the wine and simmer until almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Remove bacon from the pan and reserve.
3. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti.
4. In a large serving bowl, whisk together the cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper.
5. Drain the pasta. Add it to the egg mixture and toss quickly and thoroughly. This is what cooks the eggs so make sure you do this immediately after draining the pasta.
6. Pour the pancetta/bacon over the spaghetti. Toss.
7. Serve immediately with extra parmesan and optional sprinkled parsley.

Family Food Fun: Kitchen Sink Cookies

I'm not sure what ended up doing the trick, whether it was the good wishes you sent our way, the sweat and tears we've been putting into cleaning up the house, or whether it was just a case of the real estate stars lining up in our favor, but we now have an offer! It's not a done deal, so please keep your fingers crossed, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Today, we celebrated by getting the kitchen a little dirty with some cooking with the kids. Flour spilled all over the floor and it was incredibly liberating to just let it fall and just live in the moment.

I love to empower the kids in the kitchen, to give them free rein to make their own creations and experiment to develop their tastes. Today we made what I called Kitchen Sink Cookies. We whipped off a batch of the classic Toll House Cookie recipe base and divvied it up onto three cookie sheets. Then I presented the kids with a multitude of bowls of yummy toppings. It was a struggle to keep them from eating them all!

I was amazed how different the cookies came out. Bella kept hers very plain with just a dash of colored sugar. Jack implanted big chunks of Hershey's chocolate in most of his cookies, while Juliette adopted a more thorough approach, her cookies can probably be described as chocolate with a little bit of dough to bind.

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Ingredients:

For the Toll House Cookie Dough:

2 1/4 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 sticks of softened butter

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups of brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (I use 2 teaspoons)

2 eggs

Possible Toppings:

chocolate chips

peanut butter chips

white chocolate chips

chocolate chunks

M&Ms

Hershey's Kisses

dried cherries

raisins

oatmeal

cinnamon sugar

sprinkles

colored sugar crystals

1) Combine flour, baking soda and salt.

2) Cream butter, sugars, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. The more you beat, the better the cookie.

3) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4) Gradually add flour mixture.

5) Using a spoon, drop cookies on a silpat covered cookie sheet.

6) Arm your kids with their choice of toppings and let them loose. The only direction that I gave my kids were that there were no rules!

The Day that Wasn't

Today was going to be an amazing day, one for the record books in terms of productivity. I had a babysitter booked for the afternoon. I was going to write for an hour and a half - something amazing - something that would most definitely get published in either the New Yorker or Brain, Child. The juices were going to flow freely onto the page because my holiday to do list would finally be empty.

During the previous hour and half of babysitting, I was going to find the perfect gift for my mother in law, my father in law, my sister, my brother in law, and one more little thing for my youngest niece. I was going to hit Five Below and find dozens of hilarious stocking stuffers for a buck or two that would keep us all laughing through the entire week we will be spending as a family: a wide assortment of pooping figurines, a pocket Rubik's cube, and some fuzzy slippers.

Then tonight, I was going to get a good night's rest instead of stressing about all that I still needed to do before Wednesday. I was going to stop writing notes on colorful post-its and stop searching for lost post-its. I was going to relax, put my feet up, and really focus on getting excited for this time with my family.

But none of that ever happened.

Because this morning, the board of ed called at 5AM to announce that school would be closed for the day because of a forecasted snow storm. When I woke up an hour and a half later, there was no snow on the ground. I couldn't believe how trigger happy they were so early in the season. I imagined that we would get a little dusting and that I could still carry on with my plans.

And then the blizzard hit. No more babysitter. No more shopping. No more writing.

Instead we hung out at home. We played, we read, but mostly we baked.

and we sprinkled,

and then we sprinkled some more.

until we had industrial quantities of butter cookies in every conceivable shape.

I accomplished very little on my list today. I have one less shopping day to get my presents, but somehow my stress decreased. I realized that it won't matter how much there is under the tree, as long as we can spend quality time like I did today. Maybe we'll even make some more cookies!

Today was also the last Parent Bloggers Network blog blast. They partnered with FFDA, a non-profit organization that offers support and assistance for folks who are feeling overwhelmed, both at the holidays and all year long.

Thanksgiving Recipes: Carrot Souffle and Pecan Pie

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

With less than two full days until Turkey Day, I have gone into major cooking mode. I don't host (Christmas dinner is my big feast), but I do cook up a storm. This year I am bringing stuffing, two sides, and two desserts. I've been lucky enough to be assisted by my little sous-chefs for a good part of the day and we've actually had a lot of fun!

We've made carrot souffle, pecan pie, and begun a chocolate mousse meringue cake. Still on the docket is apple sausage cornbread stuffing, and funeral potatoes. I was going to make creamed spinach, but was intrigued by Angie's entry in my Stop and Shop giveaway (it's for a $100 of gift cards and only has 22 entries!). I emailed her and she sent me the recipe in about thirty seconds. It is an elaborate concoction with sour cream and cheddar cheese - I instantly added it to my list.

I'm not going to share all my recipes or I would never be able to finish cooking, but I will share my favorite side and my take on a traditional dessert. Carrot Souffle is so sweet and delicious that it is basically cheating to not count it as dessert. But I proudly serve it next to the turkey and it disappears quickly every time. It's a great way to get kids to eat a veggie. I'm also including my recipe for pecan pie, with an easy to make homemade crust. And since I'm hooked on my new Flip video, I'll share with you a video of me pretending to be Martha as I could with the kids.

Carrot Souffle
PUDDING INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs fresh carrots boiled until soft (can use baby carrots)
6 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
6 TBSPs flour
2 TSP vanilla extract
2 sticks melted unsalted butter
Dash of Nutmeg

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
12 TBSPs dark brown sugar
8 TBSPs melted butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup crushed corn flakes (feel free to make more if you want more crunchies)

To make the pudding. Put cooked carrots and eggs into food processor and puree. Add the rest of ingredients. Process until smooth.

Bake in greased 9”x13” pyrex pan at 350°F for 40 minutes.

Mix the topping ingredients together. Put the topping mixture over top of baked soufflé. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes.

You can serve after cooled for 20 minutes or reheat the next day in the microwave.
Pecan Pie
Crust:
1 ¼ cups (5 ½ oz) all-purpose unbleached flour
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 tbsps (1 stick)
2 to 3 tbsps cold water

Filling:
1/3 cup (5 1/3 tbsps) unsalted butter, very soft
¾ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

To mix the dough by food processor, combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse 3 times at 1-second intervals to mix. Cut the butter into 1 tbsp pieces and add to the work bowl. Process, pulsing repeatedly at 1-second intervals, until the mixture is fine and powdery, resembles a coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible, about 15 pulses. Scatter a small amount of water on the butter and flour mixture and pulse 5 to 6 times. The dough should begin to hold together. If the mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a disk. Sandwich the disk between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and press into 6 inch disk. Refrigerate the dough until firm, or until you are ready to use it, at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch glass pie dish. Fold the edges under all the around the rim and crimp.

In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the pecans, in order, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in half the pecans. Carefully pour the filling into the prepared crust. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the filling. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes or until the filling is fairly set. Filling will firm up as it cools.

Allow pie to cool for 2 hours before cutting and serving.

My Little Helpers

If I'd known they would be so excited to peel carrots, I would have put them to work months ago. Of course, having the right outfits helps.

Happy Wordless Wednesday! 

Reindeer Cookies

We just had an event here the other night with a food stylist/cookie designer from the city. She showed us many great techniques for decorating cookies, a lot of which were so beautiful I wouldn't even want to eat them, never mind ever hope to make anything so nice. Still she did inspire me and give me some good tips. One of the things she showed us was a great craft to do with kids: reindeer cookies! It requires no baking, only assembly with melted chocolate of things you can buy in the supermarket. You could use the same technique to make cat cookies, dog cookies, or anything else you get inspired to do.

All you need to buy are Amway or other large ready made ginger snaps or sugar cookies, midge tootsie rolls, large m&ms, small m&ms, chocolate chips, and pretzels.

1) Break the pretzels so they look like antlers.

2) Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and pour them into a ziplock bag. Snip the corner of the bag and you have a pastry bag to use as glue for your decorations.

3) Pour the chocolate on the cookie, attach the decorations as you want.

4) Place your cookie in the freezer for 30 minutes - now they're ready to eat. That is, if you could have your kids wait that long.

Can you tell which one was done by the professional up above in the pictures?