After coming back from vacation last week, I had a rough time getting back into the rhythm of blogging. That transition from relaxation to dedicated workerbee sure is a hard one, isn’t it? That’s why there was only one recipe last week. Forgive me, there will be more recipes this week. Promise.

So let’s talk favorite comfort foods today.

There are some meals that I could eat several times a week and never grow tired of them. Among them is Chicken Parmesan, and I think Will, Paige and Shawn would agree. It’s comfort food at it’s best: tender, juicy breaded chicken with a solid, crisp crust that is neither too hard nor too mushy. Cooked with brilliant basil infused marinara sauce and topped with melty cheese that pulls apart in long strings when you eat it, it’s just mouthwatering good. For the sauce, I love homemade, but if not that then we all adore Bove’s Basil Marinara. It’s the freshest jarred sauce I’ve ever tasted.

Yum.

This particular recipe for Chicken Parmesan comes together really quickly and is super simple. And the results are something that everyone in the family just devours. Heck, we even fight over the leftovers. And with a limited amount of added fats, it’s not too bad for you either.

What’s your favorite comfort food?

Quick Chicken Parmesan
serves 4

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

Place one chicken breast in the middle of a long sheet of waxed paper. Fold the paper over the chicken. Using a meat mallet, pound to 1/2 inch thickness. Repeat with second breast. Cut each breast into two pieces.

Dredge the chicken in the flour, then the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the chicken has been breaded. Set aside.

In a 12-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until browned. Pour in the marinara sauce and sprinkle with cheeses. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, until cheeses are melted.

Serve over pasta.

Knock, knock!

That’s what Paige says when she’s running into a room. It’s her own special way of announcing her presence. It brings an ear-to-ear smile to my face just to think about it. She is so sweet, so smart and so loving … I couldn’t ask for more. And this weekend, she impressed me as she actually acknowledged and played with my niece, who is just three months older. It was nice to see the girls and Will get along so well.

We are back from the wedding and back to life (after hitting the minor speed bump of a half-day of power outage today). That means, as promised, we are back to food. YAY!

One of my very, very, very favorite things is a well-seasoned pork tenderloin. Particularly one that has the rich flavors of garlic, rosemary and white wine soaked deep through the meat. This recipe adapts those delicious flavors to the faster-cooking pork chop. It’s a rich, tender and tasty way to enjoy boneless chops.

Serve it up with some rice pilaf and a green veggie (like green beans) and you will have an easy and delicious meal.

Rosemary Garlic Pork Chops
serves 4

1 lb pork chops (boneless, thin-cut)
12 ” portion of rosemary, needles removed and minced (discard the woody stick)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp white wine

Rinse the pork chops in cold water. Place in a single layer in a flat-bottomed container and set aside.

In a small food processor, combine the rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and white wine. Process until well combined.

Spread the marinade mixture over the pork chops and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for at least an hour. Flip the pork chops, scraping the mixture off one side and rubbing into the second side of the chops. Get ready to cook, letting the pork site for 5-10 more minutes.

Cook to desired doneness on the grill or under a broiler.

Yesterday afternoon, Paige woke up long before Will from their afternoon nap, a very rare occurrence. Apparently all that fresh air really did him in. Finally, as it neared evening, I had to wake him up. Paige was munching on tasty low-fat chocolate chip cookies and scampered into their bedroom with me. Did she boast about her bounty? No, she proceeded to try to feed a barely awake (he didn’t even have his eyes open!) Will half-eaten cookies. She even climbed onto the bed to get a better angle for shoving the cookies in his mouth.

It was really cute. I daresay she missed her big brother. But then, it got even better. After finishing the cookies, she scooted down in the bed and laid her head on the pillow, pulling the blankets up and over her. Will was just starting to open his eyes when she grabbed a book and started leafing through. Adorable.

They laid there, side by side, looking at books for at least 20 minutes.

I love how much my kids love each other. It’s the best thing ever. I won’t fool you: they don’t always get along (who does?), and they have little spats of jealousy here and there. Paige loves to steal Will’s drinks and drink them in front of them. Will doesn’t always like to share his toys. But ultimately, that is pretty normal. And at the end of the day, they both have showered each other with plenty of kisses, hugs and wonderful shared moments like this. I have two pretty great kids.

Another pretty cute thing? Will sometimes will finish his food and help Paige with hers, stabbing her food with her fork and feeding her. Even when she isn’t interested in being helped by Shawn or I, she usually likes her big brother to help her with her favorite dishes like macaroni and cheese or chicken (any way).

Chicken makes very frequent appearances on our table here. It’s a lean protein that we all like and it’s easy and adaptable. It can be breaded into cutlets or cut into strips and stir-fried. It can be shredded and mixed with barbecue and put into sandwiches  too … the possibilities are endless.

But sometimes, you just don’t want to fuss. In cases like that, having an easy go-to recipe that can be used in a ton of ways is so helpful. This recipe is that for me. The chicken cooks up quickly and comes out juicy every single time. Since you only use a spray of olive oil, it’s also pretty low-fat and dare I say healthy. The simple act of salt and peppering really makes this chicken pop with flavor, but it can also easily adapt to being used with sauces, in sandwiches, with pasta (and sauce, over rice … or whatever you feel like.

And I highly recommend pounding the chicken. It’s therapeutic and makes the chicken so perfect.

Easy Low-Fat Salt and Pepper Chicken Breasts
serves 4

1 lb chicken breasts
salt and pepper
olive oil cooking spray

Heat a large skillet on your stove’s medium setting.

Rinse the chicken breasts and trim away any excess fat. Place in the center of a long (about two feet) sheet of wax paper and fold the paper over the chicken. Use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound the chicken to ¼ inch thickness.

Cut each breast into 2-3 pieces.

Spray the skillet with olive oil cooking spray. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with salt and pepper.

Place the chicken salt and peppered side down on the skillet. Sprinkle the other side with salt and pepper too. Cook for a few minutes on each side until opaque and cooked through. Remove pan from the burner and set aside (or just use the chicken like that).

NOTES:

• Alternatively, you can purchase chicken that has been thin sliced, however you will pay a big premium for it and really, pounding and cutting chicken doesn’t take that long or that much effort.
• I keep a pinch bowl filled with a 1:1 ratio of salt and pepper next to my stove at all times. It’s a great, inexpensive and easy way to flavor meat in a hurry. It also is great on veggies. Just make sure you pinch with clean hands.

Finally, after reading about it again and again and again, I gave in and tried it. As it turned out, when cooked just right, this lean meat is quite tasty. I’ve since marinated and stuffed my way through many flank steaks.

Earlier this week I pulled a flank steak from our freezer, intent on making my Guiltless Beef with Broccoli. As fate (and a bit of sickness-fueled disorganization) would have it, we’d already eaten the broccoli so that idea was nixed. Instead, I went with a nuanced rub that gave a burst of zing and a hint of sweetness. Just a tiny hint. It was tender, juicy and packed with flavor. Ooh, just so good.

The kids devoured it. Shawn loved it and commented on how close it is to a skewered beef dish that he likes at a local restaurant. And me? Well, we will be having this again very soon. Loved. It.

Honey Garlic Chipotle Flank Steak
serves 6-8

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp honey
2 lb flank steak

Stir together the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, chipotle and honey in a bowl. Lay the flank steak out on a large plate and rub half of the mixture into one side of the meat. Flip and rub the remainder into the other side. Place the plate in the fridge and let sit for at least three hours.

Remove the steak from the fridge and place on a broiler pan. Boil on high heat in the oven for 8-12 minutes per side, flipping once, to desired doneness. I aim for well done on the ends and medium in the middle so 10 minutes on the first side and 9 minutes on the second does that for me.

Let sit for about 10 minutes before carving against the grain into thin slices.

Serve over rice.

LEFTOVERS: Leftovers from this are a total hit. You can chop up the beef and serve atop a salad. Or slide the meat and make fajitas or burrittos. Diced meat can dress up quasadillas or even homemade nachos.

In my single days, a mainstay of my cooking was stir fry. It is just so easy. Chop up a few veggies, toss it in a pan with a little oil and stir, stir, stir until the vegetables are done, then add sauce and serve over rice. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, you might add a hint of meat too, but it’s certainly not required. It’s high on taste, low on fat and calories and just good eating …

However, over the past few years, I have stopped making stir fries as often. Why? I really don’t know. Maybe I’ve been too seduced by other meals I have learned to make or maybe the chop, chop, chop just didn’t seem as fun anymore …

The other day though, when I was considering what I could possibly whip up with the sparse contents of my fridge, I decided to make a stir fry. By cutting all of the veggies into bite-sized portions before cooking, this meal becomes super easy to eat alone or with kids. Once finished, it can be just dished up and served, no further cutting required.

The sauce is a star in this dish. The nuances of cinnamon and allspice give the soy and garlic-based sauce a depth of warm flavor. It reminds me ever so slightly of a Moroccan chicken dish I make about once a year. Ever. So. Slightly.

So how’d the kids like it? Well, when I heated up leftovers the next day, they demanded more … I’d say it was a home run here.

Garlic Soy Stir Fry
serves 4

If you choose to add the meat, be sure to use a tender steak. For this, I used meaty trimmings from a filet rump roast I recently cut down into steaks.  As a result, the meat was tender, buttery and perfect.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow onion
1 large carrot
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5-6 ounces of beef, chopped into bite sized pieces

First, prep the vegetables. remove the stem and seed the peppers. Discard the waste. Then dice into small-ish pieces, about 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch. Next, peel the onion and discard the peel. Dice the onion into about a 1/2 inch dice. Finally, peel the exterior of the carrot. Discard peelings. Then, use the peeler to cut the carrot into strips. Pile the strips and run a knife through them to cut them down into smaller pieces.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over just under medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, garlic, allspice and cinnamon. Add to the skillet and stir to combine. Add the beef to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, for about five minutes until it’s browned on all sides and the sauce is slightly reduced.

Remove from heat.

To serve: Place rice in a bowl and make a well in the center. Top with stir fry. Serve. A simple iceberg lettuce salad with carrot shards with soy-ginger dressing would make a great accompaniment.

A few years ago, Will was the kid on the beach afraid to leave his little chair and get his toes sandy. He used to scream about it being dirty. But children grow and change. Yesterday I watched at a distance as Will studied the periwinkles, hermit crabs and minnows that inhabit the tidal pools in this neck of the woods with his cousin. Separated by only a few months, it amazes me to see them play together. In a short span of time, they’ve grown from barely sitting infants to toddlers who weren’t quite sure how to play together to little boys who belted out songs on a little microphone last Christmas. They can now have conversations with each other. They’ve got opinions and ideas . . .

Time does fly, doesn’t it? It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was the one playing with my cousins on the beach, exploring the pools and chasing the birds. Okay, maybe we didn’t chase birds because we were girls, but you get the idea. Now we’re the moms sitting at a distance letting our boys get a taste of the freedom that comes with childhood.

Back when we were kids, dinner was often pork chops, German sausages, or sometimes steak. For vegetables, corn, green beans and peas made frequent appearances. These days, it’s different. Tonight’s dinner packed a heavy wallop of veggie action with a side of sauteed Swiss chard and pasta with kale pesto.

Kale is one of those vegetables that people either love or hate. I happen to fall into the faction of people who love the earthy taste of this stubborn green. That earthiness comes through loud and clear in this pesto. Mix about 1/4 of this pesto with enough penne to feed four as a side, slice up some crusty bread, grill up some tasty chicken and then enjoy.

Kale Pesto

1 bunch kale, chopped (15-20 stalks)
2 large cloves garlic
2/3 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (you can substitute Parmesan, if you prefer)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
a generous amount of salt

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.

Kale pesto can be frozen in smaller portions to use thorugh the winter.

I love – LOVE – the ease of food that can do double duty. For instance, a roasted chicken like the one mentioned on the Everyday Food blog today can be Sunday dinner, Monday chicken tacos, Tuesday chicken and rice and Wednesday chicken salad. Talk about a blessing for a busy, harried mom — or any uber busy person.

That’s why I love this beef recipe. It doesn’t take long to throw together and it can feed a family of four for three meals. It’s adapted from a cookbook that I’ve had for several years, but rarely used, called Better Food for Kids. My version makes it a bit fresher and more to my style/taste.

Since you use it in different dishes, we didn’t get bored eating ground beef three times in a week. Will and Paige gobbled up the shepherd’s pie and devoured the beefy calzone that I made with this (see below for directions). And the bolognese was a huge hit too.

The recipe makes three cups of beef — three dinners worth. Now, I know, you are wondering how you can stretch three one-cup portions into three full meals for a family. Right? Actually, it’s pretty simple. Just forget the notion that protein needs to be the biggest thing on your plate. Toss that idea completely out.

Done? Okay.

Now, get used to the idea of using more vegetables and some good carbs too. It’s all about keeping meals well-rounded. A trip around the food pyramid, if you will.

So what can you do with this beef?

• Shepherd’s Pie: Mix one cup basic beef with two cups al dente vegetables in a casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes (garlic mashed, preferably). Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown very lightly.
• Beefy Calzone for Four: Stretch one prepared pizza dough into a large rectangle. Spread one cup of cheese along the center length of the rectangle. Top with a single layer of sliced tomatoes (down the center only) and one cup of beef, then a second layer of 1 cup of beef. Cook in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.
• Bolognese Sauce: In a medium saucepan, combine one can of tomato paste with 1/2 cup of water and two large tomatoes, diced. Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Add one cup of basic beef. Heat through. Serve over pasta with a salad.

Beyond these ideas, you could make beef quesadillas or burritos, serve it with rice and lots of peppers and onions, make sloppy joes . . . the possibilities are only limited with your imagination.

Enjoy!

Basic Beef
yields 3 cups
adapted from Better Food for Kids

1 lb lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
1 large tomato, diced
2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef. At the same time, combine the garlic and onion in a food processor and process until chopped to a fine and uniform chop. Add to the beef and cook until the beef is browned. Pour off any excess fat.

Add tomatoes, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper to the beef mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

I’ve been cooking almost daily. I love cooking so that’s a chore I totally don’t mind doing. And there are several great benefits to cooking at home, instead of getting take out or going out. For one, a meal made at home is cheaper than one in a restaurant. That’s always a good thing. For another, it’s far easier to control what you eat and how many calories you take in when you are eating at home.

Speaking of calories, there are significantly fewer calories in ground turkey than in ground beef — about 100 fewer, in fact. So, while Shawn and I love a juicy beef burger, I try to substitute turkey for beef when possible. With recipes like my Italian Turkey Meatballs and these Hawaiian Turkey Meatballs, the extra juicy sauce makes up for the dryness factor of the turkey. What dryness factor? Simply put, ground turkey doesn’t cook up as juicy as ground beef.

This recipe has a lot of ingredients — I know, who wants to use that many? But to achieve the right flavor here, you have to. And the result is worthwhile. Plus, this healthy recipe amounts to just under 400 calories for each portion. How much is a portion? Eight one-inch meatballs and one-quarter of the sauce. Serve it with 1/2 cup of rice and you have a healthy meal with a lean protein and about 2 servings of fruits and veggies for about 500 calories. Not bad at all.

Just try it!

Hawaiian Turkey Meatballs
serves 4

Meatballs:
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 small onion, finely minced or processed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp packed brown sugar

Sauce:
2 cups pineapple tidbits with juice, separated
1 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 green pepper, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Mix together the ground turkey, onion, garlic, ginger, egg, panko, salt, pepper, and brown sugar in a large bowl. Knead with your hands to combine well.

With your hands, grab meat and roll into 1 inch meatballs. Place on the baking sheet. Don’t let them touch, but they can be close together.

Place the meatballs in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the pineapple juice, water, brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce until sugar is fully dissolved. Whisk in the cornstarch and raise the heat to medium high. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously.

Stir in the pineapple bits and the peppers. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Add meatballs and recover. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve with rice.

In my defense, I knew that I had a ton of baking to do for the holidays. And I also knew it would be even harder than usual to focus on eating better when I would be surrounded by unhealthy foods. So, I figured I would just kick off the New Year with a bang. Beginning on January 1, I will track what I eat on SparkPeople and cutting out all the bad stuff – fried foods (even if they were homemade), fast food, excessive amounts of sweets, etc. I’ve already started a little bit of exercise (just a very small ab workout so far) and will increase that to include a little cardio too. And with any luck, my husband will be joining me in these pursuits.

In the meantime though, I have been working on some new recipes with a healthier slant. This one, which is zesty but not spicy (don’t be fooled by the hot sauce — it’s just a bit for tang), was fantastic with the Fettuccine Alfredo pictured but let’s face it — that’s not the healthiest side dish. For a healthier slant, I would serve it on a salad bed or with a bit of rice and a vegetable like corn.

Pan-Grilled Zesty Turkey Scallopini
serves 4

3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasonings
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp hot sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1 lb turkey scallopini (very thinly sliced raw turkey – Shady Brook Farms makes and sells it)

Whisk together the garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, paprika, hot sauce and pepper.

Pour over turkey scallopini and let sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat a grill pan over medium. Spray with cooking oil.

Cook the turkey for 2-3 minutes per side, spooning extra marinade over when you flip each piece.

Bacon Cheddar Barbecue Chicken Rollatini

1 lb chicken breast (boneless and skinless, thin sliced)
1/2 cup grated cheddar (sharp)
1 slice bacon per chicken breast
barbecue sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray an oven safe pan with cooking spray.

Wash chicken (remember, you need 1 lb of thin sliced chicken). Lay out pieces and divide cheddar evenly among them. Starting at one end, roll each one up tightly. Lay out bacon slices (these should be UNCOOKED) and wrap around each chicken roll. Secure with a wooden toothpick and place in the pan. Be sure that your toothpicks don’t have any plastic fringe on them or anything — that would be a disaster.

One all the chicken is rolled and wrapped, place the pan in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and brush each roll with about 1 tbsp barbecue sauce. I prefer a honey barbecue for this application like Sweet Baby Ray’s.

Return the pan to the oven and cook for 5-6 more minutes. Then, turn the oven off and turn the broiler on high. Do not open the door or remove the chicken from the oven. Cook for an additional 5-6 minutes until the bacon is browned on top.

Remove from oven and serve immediately.