Fresh, healthy, low-carb and high in protein seems to be the mantra for those who are looking to maintain or better yet shed some unwanted pounds. I’ve long held on to this wonderful easy summer salad that packs a delicious flavor punch and is also a very fast meal. 1 can of tuna packed in oil, 1 can (15 oz) of cannellini beans, 1/4 of a medium sized red onion (diced) and a 1/3 cup of italian parsley (chopped). Drain the tuna and reserve the oilive oil in a separate bowl. Rinse the beans and add to the tuna. Add chopped parsley and diced onion. Drizzle some red-wine vinegar into the reserved olive oil, whisk to emulsify and pour of the salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy! As a rule of thumb, a balanced dressing should have 3x the olive oil as it does acid (vinegar).
There is nothing quite like the aroma of herbs in the kitche. Even little Sophia has taken an interest to smelling everything. Basil just happens to have the strongest, most fragrant aroma and there is nothing quite like pasta with pesto in the summertime. I can’t take credit for the meal, nor can I spell out the recipe as hubby cooked it. It is not too difficult, but really good pesto takes finesse and he’s got it. It was perfectly balanced and the pasta al dente. Cue a simple Italian seaside setting, bright sunshine, a cool breeze, a glass of white wine and we’d have what I would call La Dolce Vita.
Well… at least it is a feast fit for the princess of our household. Farmer’s markets are bountiful this time of year and after visiting one in Saturday’s heat, I had enough produce to conjure up the Plat du Jour.
Sophia’s lunch was: Pattypan and Potato Sautee with Russian-Style Turkey Cutlets. It was a rather easy meal to prepare and took all of 30-45 minutes with minimal cleanup prep and cleanup. Those are the types of meals I like best, always have and especially now that time is gold platinum.
I’d like to say that I plan my menu meticulously and make long grocery mart lists, but in reality, I like to buy what is best that day and develop the menu as I make my way along the market. I saw these amazing pattypans and thought that it would be a crime not to get them. Usually, I make a delicious curried pattypan soup, but since I am not sure Sophia will appreciate curry as much as we do, I decided to make the sautee.
The ingredients: onion, pattypan, potatoes, olive oil and salt (very little). Then, as I wandered through the store admiring all the primal cuts of meat, I decided that little Sophia would probably not be ready to tuck into lamb chops especially since we have yet to spy a tooth in that mouth! I settled on a pound of lean ground turkey. The cutlets, which my mother is famous for, I needed an egg yolk, 1/3 lb turkey meat, 1/8th onion finely diced.
Mixed together and seared five minutes a side, they’re easy.
Truth be told that I ate them so much as a child that I develoepd a dislike for them; Too much of a good thing is never a good thing. This was the first time I’ve ever made them and they were good.
My husband was quick to point out that were not as good as my mom’s and that’s fine by me. I can’t expect to achieve her perfection in one try.
{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
We are finally home, a full six days after our weather-related ordeal began. We drove down from Wilmington, Delaware during Sophia’s afternoon nap. Our home was thankfully cooled and the fridge didn’t smell (I keep a box of baking soda there always). I threw everything out, washed the fridge and ran to the grocery store. The lights were still flickering on and off, so I didn’t exactly go crazy at the supermarket.
It turns out that the scary storm was a derecho. It was so severe in fact, that it now has its very own wikipedia page. The weekend is thankfully around the corner and I am looking forward to some serious lounging and relaxation (as much as is possible with an almost 9-month old). There will of course (electricity permitting) be serious cooking too. Stay tuned for some more culinary adventures.
The hubby played with Sophia while I downloaded all our new pictures from our camera; I was readying them for their grand debut on the blog and on our family albums. I closed down shop right before Sophia’s bath and thought I’d finish during her morning nap on Saturday.
We awoke that evening at 10:30 PM (Yes, we go to bed early since our child only sleeps in 3 hour increments at night, STILL… at almost 9 months) to thunder and flickering lights. At first, we didn’t think much of it but changed our minds instantly when we saw tree limbs the size of my car flying around our house. You see, our house is in a beautiful, wooded neighborhood where the association does not permit tree removal unless the tree is dead. In any event, it is shaded, beautiful and green in the spring and summer and gorgeous with bright oranges and reds in the fall. However, because these trees are easily 50ft tall, they tend to fall, split and cause serious damage when there are high winds. Last year, when I was 9 months pregnant with Sophia, a huge limb fell on our roof and broke 2 skylights.
All I remember from this past Friday is running into the nursery and grabbing Sophia out very fast and running downstairs into the family room. The storm was vicious and once the winds died down, the rain came. It poured for 45 minutes and then quieted down. We thought that the power which was already out would come back by the next morning. But after walking Sophia through the neighborhood and seeing two houses split in half by HUGE trees that fell, we realized that maybe this was bigger than we thought. We found out that reached 80 mph from reading news reports while driving up to Delaware.
Before running off to DE, we went to try and gas up my car which took 4 attempts since power was down and stations without generators couldn’t pump. The one or two that could pump had huge queues outside that spilled onto the roads and after waiting for 45 minute to get gas, we were ready to buy a cooler, throw in my stash of frozen breast milk and RUN to cooler places.
So, that’s where we are: at my parents’ house waiting out the heat and hoping that our electricity is restored sometime soon. It has been out since Friday, and the electric company estimates that it’ll be on by Friday. I’d like to remind that 4th of July is Wednesday and that the power company’s estimate is a cool SEVEN days to full restoration.
Saturday has come and gone and it was pretty much a whirlwind. We hosted our family for a BBQ which came together quiet nicely. If you recall, I had put together an ambitious (with having a 8 month old at home) menu and was myself surprised that I was able to execute every single item on it and even add a summer corn and jalapeno succotash to boot.
The strategy I had was simple: I was not going to work past Sophia’s bedtime on Friday and instead relax and unwind so that I could get up early on Saturday and finish things up. I also focused on making dishes that were easiest, kept the best overnight and most fun to make first. I will say that our family was great. My mother-in-law came on Friday afternoon and took Sophia off my hands and my parents came Saturday early afternoon and helped clean up afterwards. We spent Sunday loafing and puttering.
It is official, the husband has reviewed my menu for the family BBQ and said it is “a bit ambitious”. That’s good — I like a challenge. Here is how I plan on spreading out the cooking to make sure that I don’t cook late into the night on Friday AND am able to enjoy Saturday morning and the party in the afternoon.
Friday:
Bake chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies
Cook strawberry and rhubarb blondes
Bake cupcakes
Cut the pineapple for the grilling
Make vanilla ice cream for grilled pineapple
Make court-bouillon and cook shrimp
Make cocktail sauce
Make hummus
Cut veggies and make dip
Make truffled mushroom mac & cheese
Marinate chicken two ways (in yoghurt and spices and in olive oil and herbs de provence)
Since the weekend is fast approaching and with it our family BBQ, I decided that I should better develop a menu or face serious panic while grocery shopping Thursday afternoon.
Usually, I find menu planning rather fun, creative and relaxing. I am keen on making sure that all the guests’ dietary restrictions are accomodated such that noone feels like they are limited in their options and everyone can eat almost everything. For example, a guest at the party has a treet nut allergy and I am planning for the menu to be completely free of tree nuts. Another set of guests observe kosher dietary rules and I am making sure they can have both a main and a dessert (no easy feat considering most entrees are proteins and great desserts are typically loaded with butter)). Kids almost always are picky eaters and a BBQ is no place to try and coax a child to get diverse with food… I am including something cheesey, white and delicious. Lastly, I unite the menu with plenty of fruits and vegetables that most everyone loves.
So… here is the menu as I envision it now. I may change parts of it depending on what looks great at the grocery mart and how much time I have as I tackle the cooking process.
Summer is here in full swing. In fact, it is here a little too much… I’ll give up a few degrees of heat to anyone in a cooler climate. We did not know this before, but the D.C. area sits on a giant swamp which means two things: humidity and bugs.
All that aside… we’ve owned our home for a little over a year now and have had informal gatherings for friends and immedeate family, but have not had a chance to welcome our extended families over. We’re finally doing that! Taking the plunge in entertaining with an eight and a half month old. The date: Saturday… the guest list consists of 20+ family members including wee ones. This is a test of our planning and execution proficiency in our cooking and entertaining departments. The next few posts will chronicle us getting ready by cleaning up, organizing, planning the menu and starting to cook. We are sharing our ongoing experience so that anyone who is thinking of entertaining with a little baby can learn from our experience too.
The last two weekends were spent in organizing the house which, much to my own embarrassment, still had boxes laying around in various rooms from our move. My parents came down both this and past weekend to help with some outdoor work and unpacking. As painful as it is (and was) to unpack, this party is a great forcing function in the long process of turning the house into a home. Thus far, the hubby and my parents put in many, many hours of yard work, window and skylight washing, and de-cluttering.
Next up, we will be planning the menu for the event and starting to cook sometime Friday (hopefully not late into the night). Stay tuned for the menu and in-progress pictures.
