Anything with avocado is wonderful in my book — and my kids’ books too. We all adore the soft, creamy flesh of avocados. Whether it’s eaten just cut from the pit or mashed into guacamole, you can bet that Will and Paige will gobble it up fast.
So, when I started thinking about making wraps for lunch when a relative visited this past weekend, I decided first on a Turkey Club … and then decided to make it California-style with the addition of avocado slices.
The result was a craveworthy, hearty sandwich with a wonderful creaminess, fabulous crunchy and total deliciousness. It was a little big for little Paige (she unrolled it and ate the contents with a fork), but Will really liked it. And I loved it.
Do you have a favorite wrap sandwich? Share in the comments!
Read the rest of this entry…
one
Waiting patiently has never been something I do particularly well … but when it comes to the CSA (that’s Community Supported Agriculture — I own a subscription for a once-a-week produce box at a local farm), I don’t mind the wait until 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. Somehow, it’s different and exciting — without driving me crazy. There’s the anticipation of what will be included this week, the excitement of picking through the box and the thrill of deciding what to make this week. Add the lovely smells of fresh basil and nature to the mix, and it’s just heavenly. This is one wait that I can handle.
This week, I was excited to see lots of potatoes and peaches in my box. My husband loves peaches, as do the kids, so when something that they all can enjoy so simply arrives, I am thrilled.
Beyond that, the possibilities for the chard, cabbages, basil and more have me bursting to get started.
Here are some ideas for this week’s produce:
Now, as for this recipe. Last week, I mentioned a Napa cabbage fail (it was braised, but not good at all). This week, I worked on a recipe for a slaw that uses the Napa raw (I love raw cabbage). It has a lovely peanut-y sauce with just a tiny hit of spiciness. Perfect for barbecue season, I served this with grilled salmon, but it would work with burgers, chicken or whatever.
Best of all? It takes just minutes to make.
What are you cooking from your CSA or garden or local farmstand this week? Read the rest of this entry…
4 com
Last year, I really wanted to master grilling pizza. However, many pies later, I still didn’t have the process down. That all changed when Everyday Food ran a feature on it recently. It totally demystified the whole thing.
Amazingly, it seems that grilling pizza is way easier than I ever imagined it could be. Stretch, flip, flip, flip, top, serve … all in less than 15 minutes.
So, how do you do it?
Read the rest of this entry…
4 com
Aren’t those adorable? When I was a little girl, I heard about a recipe for Celery Race Car Snacks and beggggggged my mom to make them with me. She did – just once – and I was totally smitten. I made them myself a few times as I got older, but eventually stopped.
When celery appeared in my CSA box last week, the idea immediately popped into my head. I could practically taste the creamy peanut butter on the crispy, cool celery. YUM! I am not a huge fan of celery, but when prepared this way, who can resist munching on it?
The best part is that this recipe can almost entirely be kid-made. Your child will need enough hand control to handle a dull knife (or be willing to accept help from you). Will and Paige both spread their own peanut butter in (Paige did need a little help). Next comes the assembly. You need a little mom-muscle to insert the toothpicks. Will took care of attaching his own wheels. Meanwhile, Paige lined her carrots up for easy stabbing (which I did, at her request). Finally, you add the chocolate chip driver — which is something any kid can do. Then it’s time to eat.
Doesn’t this beget playing with your foods? Well, yes, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Will tried — and loved — celery for the first time today. Paige wasn’t as fond of it, but she is certainly building a comfort level by touching and exploring its crevices. Generally, I am totally anti-playing with food, but really this is one time when it’s just A-OK. I thought mine might want to make race car noises and race them around their plates. Um. No. Once the driver was eaten and the wheels removed, they both turned them into pirate ships before devouring.
It’s a car! It’s a craft! It’s super fun.
Read the rest of this entry…
one
Thank goodness for Fridays …
My Spending Diet: No one ever wants to have to admit that they aren’t doing well. But folks, I haven’t been doing well with My Spending Diet. I took last week as a fluke … I was rusty. But this week? There was no mistaking that I’ve slipped. A lot. I’ve been spending without thinking, using the cash as a reason to spend. As a result, I have been running out of cash early in the week and using my debit card to make up the difference.
This is not the way I want to be.
I mean, seriously, who wants to overspend like this? It’s not like I’ve been out of control, but I have been spending more than I should be. And frankly, considering that I have a weekly CSA, I should be spending less now.
So, what’s the problem? For one, I’ve been getting take out from new places. It’s been so long since I could do that, so it’s felt good … except for the overspending part. Another reason? I have been purchasing more specialty items that I wouldn’t normally buy. Why? Because I had a little extra padding in the budget and took that a little too far.
The solution is obvious. I need to adhere to my budget. That means making a concise weekly shopping list, budgeting for a little take out and cutting back there. Furthermore, I need to be rigid in my spending. If I don’t have it, then I can’t spend it. That’s that.
How are you doing with your spending?
This Week’s Tips, Tricks and Deals
- Got eggshells? If you are really into gardening, then you will love this tip. Crushed eggshells are really good for your garden. They have valuable nutrients that will help your garden grow better. Learn more at Mama’s Health.
- Beach fun. Sure, it might be hard to find beach toys in stores now. But don’t worry. A great alternative is to hit up the kitchen section of your local dollar store for funnels, spoons and more. The kids will have a blast — and you won’t spend a bundle. (Thanks, dear cousin, for that tip!)
Photo credit: greenfinger from morguefile.com
3 com
Welcome customers of Shortt’s Farm CSA! Scroll down for fabulous recipes to use today’s produce.
One of the wonderful things about belonging to a CSA is that I try new things all the time … and I am constantly looking for new methods of making things. It’s awesome.
But, of course, when you are always experimenting and trying new recipes, there is margin of error. In other words, some recipes just have to be duds. Call it the law of odds or whatever, but it happens. And tonight? It was one of those nights.
I was planning to share a recipe for Braised Napa Cabbage that I found on Boston.com today with this post. However, the recipe just wasn’t a winner for us. The sauce just was too mild to tame the flavor of the cabbage. C’est la vie.
So, no recipe today. But here are the recipes that I plan to serve this week.
Enjoy!
one
Growing up, I always picked radishes out of salads. To me, they were a garnish that shouldn’t be consumed ever. The fierce peppery-ness just didn’t appeal to me at all. But then, a few years ago, I tried Balsamic Sauteed Radishes and it was a complete revelation. The peppery taste of the little, hard, red roots was completely tamed by cooking and the balsamic added this fabulous sweetness to them.
For the past year or so, I have been looking for another way to cook radishes in a way that tames them but makes them flavorful too. This, these grilled radishes with dill, white wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, are the result. The subtle flavor is slightly sweet, totally dilly and wonderful. They are tender bits of radish goodness that go great with fish, chicken, salads and more …
If you haven’t had radishes cooked, then you need to try them. It’s amazing. It’s beyond amazing — it’s craveworthy goodness. Try it.
Read the rest of this entry…
3 com
When the email arrived months ago asking if I would speak at the annual BlogHer Conference in August, I answered a quick yes. The topic, Family Foodies: Raising a New Generation of Gourmands, couldn’t be more perfect for me. It’s everything I am passionate about: cooking good, healthy, budget-friendly meals that my whole family will eat.
In fact, I answered yes before I figured out the details of how I would manage to steal away for a few days sans kids.
Every time I think about the panel, I smile. I am speaking with two great food-blogging moms: Stefania from CityMama and Danielle from Foodmomiac. We spoke a few weeks ago about our perspectives and ideas about raising kids who eat well. I couldn’t help but feel a connection to these women as our perspectives aligned.
It’s sure to be a great panel. If you are headed to BlogHer, plan to drop in and listen!
In the meantime, I am hard at work preparing for the panel. I’ve been thinking hard about why my kids will try pretty much anything and why their food interests are so ranging. Here are five things I do, that you can too.
5 Tips for Getting Your Kids to Try New Things
- Let them touch it. Look, we all were taught not to play with our food, but seriously sometimes getting wrist deep in dough or getting all touchy-feely with a veggie can be great for kids. It really helps them open up to foods they haven’t tried before.
- Let them help you. Like #1, getting kids involved in the cooking process really helps kids to open up to new foods. Sure, a completed loaf of Zucchini Bread might be a little intimidating, but if you see if go from simple ingredients like zucchini, flour, sugar and oil to a loaf, then it’s not so much.
- Show them where it comes from. If you live near a farm, it’s an awesome adventure for kids to see where their food comes from. Call ahead and the farmer may even let your kids walk through the crops and see peppers still on the plant and tomatoes ripening on the vine. Or, you can also take your kids to local Pick-Your-Own fields to experience harvesting first-hand.
- Don’t assume they won’t like it. It does kids a great disservice if you just up and assume that they aren’t going to enjoy something. Kids are surprising and if you approach new foods with the belief that the idea that it could be their new favorite food, then they are more likely to want to at least taste it.
- Don’t expect them to scarf it the first time. All it takes is one bite. Maybe it will be an insta-hit. Maybe they will tolerate it. Either way, eating just one bite of an unfamiliar food is a big step towards being open to trying new things. Plus, but requiring just one bite, you create an eating culture that encourages being adventurous.
And hey, readers, are you going to BlogHer ’10 in New York next month? Let me know in the comments if you will be there. I would love to meet and speak to you in person!
5 com
Happy Weekend! We have big plans for pickling cukes from the garden and picking tons of berries this weekend … what about you? But before we shove off to have fun, here’s how things went this week … and how you can save.
My Spending Diet: Sigh. After weeks of not reporting my progress, it was a change to be so focused on what I was doing (spending-wise) this week. In a few circumstances, I had to force myself to pay cash, but I did it. In the end, the results weren’t terrible.
My spending this week was ok … but I didn’t totally stick to the plan. Gas went onto my debit card because it was easier than running in to pay (especially with the kids in the car). But overall, I kept very close to my $200/week spending limit.
Next week, I am going to focus on eating from our fridge since we really need to clear some space for the food we’re putting up. We’ve already got freezer pickles, pesto and grated zucchini in there.
This Week’s Tips, Tricks and Deals
- Free Smoothies! McDonald’s recently introduced two smoothies into their lineup and they want you to try them. So, between July 22-24, get a free sample of the flavors and see what you think. UPDATE: This promo has been canceled. There is also a $1 off coupon for the smoothies and McDonald’s Frappes available on their website too.
- Sign Up! Have you heard of Daily Worth? It’s a free personal finance newsletter for women that goes out daily with great tips and information. Always a good read.
- Go to the Museums. This weekend, Target is sponsoring the Arts + Wonder event at select museums and performing arts institutions around the country. Families get free or reduced admission to the 2,200 events and 120 museums. Sounds like a great weekend day trip.
2 com
Welcome customers of Shortt’s Farm CSA! Scroll down for a delicious Caramelized Onion and Kale Salad recipe and other fabulous recipes to use today’s produce.
Last summer, on a clear August evening, my cousin popped over to my house and dropped off a container of a delicious, refreshing curly kale salad made with whisper-thin red onion slices and a light lemony flavor. I wasn’t expecting to finish it in one sitting, but it was so good that I did.
The salad was amazing. Kale, which is usually rough and bitter, was softer and milder than I’d ever known it to be. The slivers of onion added a nice crunch and hint of sweetness. All together, it was delish.
So, when kale appeared in my CSA box last week, I knew I wanted to make a kale salad. But rather than head to the store for ingredients that we didn’t have (read: pretty much everything other than the kale), I used what we had on hand: a vidalia onion, balsamic vinegar and some little bits of beet.
It was mouthwatering. The kale was softened by the salt, tamed by the balsamic vinegar and given a great lift by the super sweet caramelized onions. The beets add that perfect bit of crunch …
Oh, it’s good. Very good. I could have eaten the whole bowl (and I wasn’t alone in that sentiment!).
Looking for more ideas for your farmshare?
In the box this week:
Read the rest of this entry…
2 com
