Told Ya So

The true test of culinary greatness is when you can convince someone – in this case the someone is The Husband – that he/she really enjoys consuming an ingredient  - in this case, the ingredient is mushrooms - that he/she mistakenly thinks he doesn’t dig.

God, this husband of mine. Look, I love him with all of my soul. Even when he spills mustard, coffee or some other impossible element to Shout out, scrub out, curse out of his freakin’ million-dollar Ralph Lauren Polo shirts not even an hour – AN HOUR – after The Jersey Girl finishes laundry. Don’t even get me started on the bathroom. And if you must know, yes, he is a snorer.

I know that paragraph was riddled with about 100 husband/wife clichés, but it is SO my reality. What do you want from me?

Meanwhile, my loving better half who moves the earth and the moon and the sun to make my life and that of Baby Evan’s super duper fabulous - (Yes, I’m covering my bootie right now. But The Husband really is awesome despite my griping, pinky swear) – decides to protest the eating of mushrooms. Mushrooms. They’re perfectly harmless. God.

So, what’s your beef with mushrooms, Husband?!

When asked to reveal his inner thoughts on the shroom, The Husband calmly states while swilling his Stella, “You know what it is? It’s the texture.” Then he went on to say something about big mushrooms vs. little mushrooms and that he likes them when they’re in a dish with something else but they shouldn’t be the focus of the dish and he doesn’t like the chewy ones they put in the takeout at the Chinese restaurant….. At this point, as most seasoned wifeys masterfully do, I blocked him out. When he was at a wrap, I informed him that he would be trying stuffed mushrooms with red peppers and scallions, and he would like it.

And……………….

He DID!!!!

In fact, he went back for seconds. AND THIRDS.

God damn, I’m amazing. Well, maybe I’m not that great, but the recipes of Lidia Bastianich are, and I guess really, I should be thanking her.

I strongly believe The Husband was head over heels with this dish due to the above-mentioned sautéed red pepper and scallion. The Husband loves his red peppers and scallions. And beer. And escargot, which is ironic, since the texture of a snail drenched in butter is totally similar to that of many button-sized mushrooms. (The Husband is rolling his eyes right now as he is not a fan of my lectures regarding the similarities between mushrooms and foods he claims to like, or my curseword-laden monologues about how our home is NOT a college dorm and please for the love of God pick up your clothes off the floor, or my subtle reminders that it REALLY is time to bring the mounting pile of castoffs in the spare bedroom to Goodwill. No, really.)

For the record, The Husband is amazing at making the bed, cleaning up the kitchen and tidying up toys. Plus he puts up with me and my questions and my giggles and my worries on a daily basis. So, he really is a saint of sorts. Plus, he rocks out with some fabulous diamond-laden jewels when the time is right i.e, Christmas, birthdays, Labor Day (Just kidding, Husband.) And Evan adores him. And so does The Jersey Girl!!

OK. So below is the recipe. These mushrooms would be fab at a cocktail party. Just stick a toothpick in it. Hee.

There are also some pics of Baby Evan (who is SO not a baby anymore) kicking it at a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. The Husband did not understand why I failed to post pics of this event in my last blog entry. And my reason is….. well, I got nothin’.  Maybe I don’t want to remind all of us how bad this year’s team is.

Take it away, Lidia:

Stuffed Mushrooms

From "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen"

By Lidia Mattichio-Bastianich

24 white or cremini mushrooms

2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the tops of the mushrooms if you like
1/2 cup scallions, finely chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup dry white wine, optional

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the stems from the mushrooms (set the caps aside), and finely chop them.

Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the scallions and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in the red peppers and chopped mushroom stems and cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove and cool.

Toss the bread crumbs, grated cheese, 2 tablespoons of the parsley and the sautéed vegetables until thoroughly blended. Season with salt and pepper.  Stuff the cavity of each mushroom with the filling, pressing it in with a teaspoon until even with the sides of the mushrooms.

Using 2 Tbsp. of the butter, grease a 12-by-18-inch low-sided baking pan. Arrange the mushrooms side by side in the pan and, using the remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, dot the top of each mushroom with about ¼ tsp. butter. Add the stock, wine if using and remaining 2 Tbsp. parsley to the pan. If you like, drizzle the tops of the mushrooms with olive oil. Bake until the mushrooms are cooked through and the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Serve the mushrooms on a warmed platter or divide them among warmed plates. Pour the pan juices into a small saucepan and bring to a boil on top of the stove. Boil until lightly thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon the juices over the mushrooms and serve immediately.

Please note: The Jersey Girl did use the optional wine called for in the recipe. She did NOT top each mushroom with a dot of butter, just a drizzle of olive oil. She also did NOT reduce the pan drippings into a sauce.

Hanging with Mommy.

Hanging with Daddy.

Directing Mommy and Daddy.

Checking out the Phanatic.

Taking a break to shout out some letters. 

Evan's obsessed with the alphabet.

Evan loves his Daddy!

Kitschy Kitschy Yeah Yeah

Deviled eggs. Kinda trashy, kinda retro and kinda AWESOME.

For reals, who doesn’t love a deviled egg?

Tis’ the season for BBQing, picnicking and all that, so you gots to have a deviled egg recipe in your pocket.

Err. Well, your bag of recipe tricks, I suppose, would be a better place for a hard-boiled egg stuffed with a mayonaissy-yolky yellow-stained filling of deliciousness, right?!

There is a secret ingredient, natch. In my case, it’s horseradish. Gives it a good ole’ kick in the you know what. But your summer partay guests will be all like, “Bro, what’s in these eggs?!?” as they sashay to the buffet for seconds and thirds.

You could totally rock these out for a Mad Men finale soiree as well since Deviled Eggs were all the rage back in the day. Of course, if any of your posse actually WATCHED Mad Men, this would be a more enjoyable fete. My one bestie Sarah is a fan, as is my lil’ sis Monica who lives a bajillion miles away in Virginia and is ALWAYS an epi or two behind. (God, Monica. Get with the program!) And Aunt Lorraine watches, but she's kickin' it in Florida right now. Other than that, I gots nothin’. The Husband won’t even watch with me. Not that I’m bitter or anything. I mean, you know, I SO want to be a part of his daily TV experience each night: Flyers, Phillies, Sixers, Comcast SportsNight, MLB Network, Deadliest Catch, Hannity, Cheers reruns. I mean just shoot me now, why don’t you?

So, I’ll just be in the kitchen “deviling some eggs.” That really was a line on the only show I watch. Which is freakin’ amazingly fab, by the way. (OK. You caught me. I do zone out  to Jersey Housewives and Mob Wives late night. But when you’re ironing The Husband’s shirts (gah!!!) or picking up toy cars for the 900^th time (super gah!!!), you need something mindless on the tube.

In the spirit of all things old school, my deviled egg recipe hails from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (natch!). You would be horrified to see my copy. It is literally being held together with a rubber band. Sounds fab, I know. But I refer to this book like all the time.

I totally add more horseradish than the recipe calls for (we groove on things spicy in my house. Yowza.) And I whip the yolk filling into a light fluffy frenzy with my handheld beaters rather than the good ole’ mash-it-with-a-fork method, as advised in the recipe. I think Betty was trippin’ with that step. Be sure to chill the eggs for a bit in the ice box aka the refrigerator. And I like to garnish mine with paprika. Love the pop of color!

Just an update on The Jersey Girl since it’s been forevs since my last post: My piano studio students rocked out at my annual Spring Piano Recital last week. So amazingly proud of them. OMG!!! My recital is such an amazing day. I know it invokes anxiety in many of my pupils, but they ALWAYS put on such a fabulous performance. It is so awe-inspiring to see the progress my musical cohorts make each year. Love them with all of my heart!!!

Meanwhile, my beautiful Evan has been walking all over the joint. Yay!! We celebrated Memorial Day and the kickoff of summer down in Stone Harbor. While I don’t have any pics of him fist-pumping, you can see him kickin’ it along the gorgeous beach. He was all go go go during our time on the sandy shore. Momma got a workout going on while relaxing (ha ha) on the beach.

I’m on hiatus from teaching right now until after Fourth of July, so I will get cracking on my blogginess. Woo-hoo!

Zesty Deviled Eggs

From Betty Crocker’s Cookbook

6 Hard-Cooked Eggs

3 Tbsp. mayonaisse

½ tsp. ground mustard

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 to 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp. prepared horseradish

To hard-cook eggs:

Place eggs in a saucepan. Fill saucepan with water at least 1 inch above eggs.

Heat to boiling in saucepan; remove from heat. Cover and let stand 18 minutes. Immediately cool briefly in cold water to prevent further cooking. Tap egg to crack shell. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell, then peel. If shell is hard to peel, hold egg in cold water while peeling.

For the deviled eggs:

Peel eggs. Cut lengthwise in half. Slip out yolks and mash with fork.

Stir mayonaisse, mustard, salt and pepper, parsley and horseradish  into yolks.  (Please note: The Jersey Girl mixes the yolk mixture with hand-held beaters). Fill whites with egg yolk mixture, heaping it lightly. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Chicken Take 99

It’s safe to say my kid is an eater.

Put some deliciousness on Baby Evan’s tray and he shovels it in, wolfs it down and I’m pretty sure he says, “Please sir, may I have some more?” in between gulping a chilly sippy of ice water and cleansing his palette with 5, 6.… er, 12 blueberries.

Breathe, Baby Evan, breathe!!!

Baby Evan eats often. I’m confident he consumes something every two hours. Not that I’m counting.

Basically, my kid breaks into fits of laughing/crying because he’s THAT excited for yum yums. 

So, if you  need to find me, look in the kitchen. I’m most likely mopping up the remnants of Evan’s meals from my once-shiny floor, wiping down his greasy paw prints from my countertops and scrubbing the high chair - again! -  while sorting out what he’s going to eat next.

It is now clear to the Jersey Girl why my Mom always had enough meals to feed an army in the house at all times. I can not fathom how much food this kid will eat during his teenage years.

And I completely understand why my Mom was so OCD about housekeeping. And why she drinks heavily. KIDDING!!

Word on the street – aka unsolicited pointers from moms my age – is that once Evan turns 2, he will no longer eat anything ever again. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Seriously, Mom. Ummm. Stop taking my picture and feed me.

These days, I am so over-the-moon thrilled when Evan eats something new and totally digs it, especially if the foodie item came from a good place - like a farm - rather than a package. (Yeah, Mr. Animal Cracker and Pepperidge Farm Goldfishie, I’m talking to yous.)

Chicken with Leeks. Yes, it’s good stuff! Sure, cleaning leeks is a pain in the bootie, but the final product is worth the effort. Make sure you soak those suckers, drain, rinse and repeat – maybe twice.

The fact that Evan eats leeks fills my heart with joy because it’s a not-so-obvious vegetable choice. This is food that grownups can eat as well, natch. And really, we all could use a good new way to cook up boring old chicken breasts every now and again. The green leeks taste so yummy with the simple chicken. And leeks just make me long for springtime, right?

 Leeks cooking up. Smells fab.

Chicken with Leeks

6 good size chicken breasts

¼ cup flour

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 medium leeks, sliced into discs and rinsed really really well, drained

½ cup white wine

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

In a shallow dish, combine flour with ¼ tsp. salt and pepper. Mix together.

Dredge each chicken breast in the flour mixture. Set aside.

In a large, deep pan, heat 1 Tbsp. butter with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Once bubbling, cook chicken breasts, about five minutes per side. Repeat with remaining butter, olive oil and chicken breasts.

Remove chicken to a covered dish to keep warm. Return pan to heat. Add leeks to pan. Cook until glistening, about five to 10 minutes. Add white wine. Using a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits off the pan. Add chicken broth. Simmer leeks for about 10 more minutes. Return chicken to pan. Cook for about five minutes more. Make sure your chicken is cooked through and leeks are tender!

And....... Back

What up, party people?

Yes. The Jersey Girl has been so totally MIA these past few months. Le sigh. Truth is, sometimes I need a break from doing it all. And the blog somehow got buried on my Things to Do List, which has been overrun by a whole list of boring stuff. Yucky.

I'm not a huge believer in the whole New Year's Resolution thang, but I do hereby resolve to get my bootie in gear and recharge the blog. Honest to goodness.

So much has been shakin' in the Jersey Girl Household.

The Husband got a new job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Um. I guess you can say we are over-the-moon excited about this development.) We are totally free from the chains of the newspaper world for reals. Yay! And if you've ever been enslaved by the newspaper industry, you know what I'm tawkin' about. Measly pay. Crap hours. 15-hour work days. Delirium. Headaches. Ulcers. Excessive cursing. Paranoia. Heavy drinking. Cranky pants syndrome. It's freakin' awesome! 

Don't get me wrong. The Husband and I didn't walk away from our daily grind in newsrooms empty-handed: For instance, we totally have a stellar vocabulary, exemplary grammatical skills and can work for 12 hours straight without eating. Oh right, and The Husband got to meet me and woo me and make me his woman.

We also made AMAZING friends in the land of newspapers. Lifelong pals, who are just stand-up peeps. So, for that we are blessed.

I'm just so proud of The Husband for taking a leap with his new gig. Woo-hoo! And he loves it! So happy for him!!

Meanwhile, my bubbalicious Baby Evan has turned the big ONE. Seriously, I can't even believe it. He is so big and cuddly and awesome. He had a rockin' time at his Elmo birthday party. And he has been housing the Jersey Girl's eats. For reals. This kid eats everything. I can't even keep up with him. Two weeks ago, I made beef manicotti and he inhaled a portion that The Husband would eat. Comfortably. And he wanted more. Plus blueberries. Plus Mommy's Mango Banana Surprise (really just mango and bananas smushed together in a blender, but my recipe name has so much more allure, right?) Plus cookies. But Evan's got that one all figured out because cookies make the world a better place.

The Babes is not walking just yet. A fact that I am reminded of every day by the fam. But he's pulling himself up and cruising all around. He's rockin' out an impressive vocab. Among his fave words are: tree, zoo and duck. Not too shabby, right? He's got at least eight teeth, maybe more. Of course, whenever Baby Evan is having an off day, I blame teething. So, according to my math he probably has about 50 pearly whites.

Evan had a grand time at Christmas. The Grinch and Charlie Brown are on his hit list, for sure. And of course, he grooved to some Elvis Pressley while his Jersey Girl Momma baked some fabalicious cookies.

Santa hooked him up with some MAJOR gifts, and the grandparents treated him to his first set of tricycle wheels, which he tried out this week and loved. Thanks, Nanny and Poppy! He was stoked about hanging with all of his cousins and aunts and uncles. And he was rightly impressed by the din dins his family whipped up for him. Feast of the Seven Fishes. Holla!

So, I'm sure at this moment, dear readers, you're all like, "What about you, Jersey Girl? What amazing life-changing experiences have YOU undergone in the past two months?"

OMG. You are so not going to believe it?!?!

The Jersey Girl got a haircut.

Seriously. I got nothin.' I think I am officially The Most Boring Girl Who Ever Was. I've organized a closet, and I'm currently cleaning out the basement.

Riveting.

Onto the food....

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto and Goat Cheese.

O.M.G.

So super delish. This recipe was inspired by the Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad.

And when I say "inspired" I really mean that the following scenario transpired: I want to make this, but I'm missing two of the three main ingredients. I so did not have fresh basil or fresh mozzarella in the house, so it was my way or the highway. Sometimes, that's how a recipe comes to life, in my opinion. You gotta do what you gotta do. Plus it was New Year's Day, so no stores were open. Plus, I was recovering from the night before and this is what my muddled mind came up with:

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto and Goat Cheese
Serves 4

6 plum tomatoes, cut in half
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil for drizzling
1 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 Tbsp. goat cheese
1 Tbsp homemade or storebought pesto.
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

On a sheet pan, place plum tomatoes cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper and chopped garlic.

Roast for two hours. The tomatoes will look dry and crispy on top. Remove from oven. Set aside. (I covered mine with foil to keep them warm.)

When ready to serve: Place three tomatoes on small salad plates. Top with 1 Tbsp. of goat cheese in the center of each trio of tomatoes.

In a small bowl, combine pesto with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Drizzle the pesto oil over each plate. Serve!

This salad was really quite awesome. I can't believe I came up with on the fly. Yay, Susan. This is a good way to make use of winter tomatoes, which are totally not as yummy as summer tomatoes, especially in Jersey.

Here are some updated pics of my wonderful Evan as well. He's so big!!!

Evan's all set for his big B'day extravaganza in November.

Photo shoot for The Jersey Girl Household's 2011 Christmas card.

And Now I Need to Feed Yous Guys?!

A Rachael Ray pizza salad.

This is what it’s come to.

Yes, dear patient readers. The Jersey Girl has not blogged in well over a month, and all I have is this measly 10-minute I-just-worked-all-freaking-day/took-care-of-a-baby/washed- 10-loads-of-laundry/cleaned-the-house-and-I’m-totally-over-it recipe. By Rachael Ray.

It’s not my proudest moment.

But for reals, peeps. This pizza tastes AWESOME.

And it’s not take out. Plus, you can do it on zero sleep/patience/brain cells.

(Yes, there is a jarred pizza sauce involved, but get over it. And give me a bottle of wine, why don’t ya?)

So, hopefully all y’all have been doing fab.

We have been rocking out at Chez Jersey Girl.

Baby Evan is a super big biggie who is creepin’ and crawlin’ all over the joint.

He’s reaching many milestones: Waving to Daddy; saying hi to Daddy; whacking Daddy in the face; gazing at Daddy when asked, “Where’s Mommy?”

Guess it’s time to get all Bob Dole/Elmo on Evan and start talking about Mommy in the third person.

Anyhoo, to make this pizza I used a prebaked pizza shell, such as a Boboli, or as my Aunt Lorraine says, “Baba-lo,” because as proven on such astute television programs as, “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” we pretty much mispronounce everything in my parts.

The actual recipe calls for unbaked pizza dough. So, yes. As I hang my head lowly lowly lowly in shame - I am taking even MORE shortcuts than Rachael Ray.

I asure you, dear readers, that the Jersey Girl is still a Domestic Goddess of the highest order. It's just that time is not on my side.

Back to the cooking before I have to go fold laundry:

I always have the ingredients for a Pizza Salad on hand: container of designer lettuce, prosciutto, garlic, mozzarella, lemons, hot pepper flakes.

And I buy two pizza shells at once – because that’s how my rocking Italian market Bagliani’s packages them. So, I use one now and freeze one for later.

See. Even with Mommy Brain, I can still plan.

The recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic, but I seriously quadruple the amount. Sometimes, I go crazy and chop up 10 cloves of garlic for it. (The Husband lurves his garlic.)
So please enjoy the recipe below.

And here’s a picture update on my lovely Evan, who is the cutest cutie pie to ever be in my world. I can't believe he's going to be turning the big ONE soon. Eek!

Pizza Salad
"From Cooking Around the Clock"
By Rachael Ray

All-purpose flour, for dusting
Store-bought pizza dough
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian-4 cheese blend
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 lb. prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced
3 cups arugula leaves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sprinkle a little flour on a clean work surface. Roll or press out dough to form a 12-inch pie and place dough on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Spread pizza sauce on dough and top with garlic and red pepper flakes. Top with cheese. Bake pizza until cheese is bubbly and crust is crip. About 12 minutes. Top the hot pizza with sliced prosciutto, working all the way to the crust's edge and covering the whole pie. Toss arugula with lemon juice and olive oil in a large bowl. Season arugula with salt and pepper. Pile arugula up on the cetner of the pizza. Cut into quarters and serve.

Yield: 2 servings.

Please note: The Jersey Girl bakes her pizza at 375 degrees for 12 minutes because she uses a prebaked pizza shell, such as Boboli.

Hey Mom, What's for Dinner?

“You should write about your baby food.”

So says The Husband to a hazy-eyed wifey one night at din.

“For reals?” I mumble in reply, reaching for a glass, well probably a bottle, of wine.

“Yes,” says The Husband. “Your readers probably want to know about it.”

So, peeps. This is The Baby Food post.

Making baby food is really not very challenging and the final products do not look appealing, which is why the notion of writing about them totally failed to dawn on me.

My instructions are pretty much as follows: Cook the living daylights out of XY or Z, and puree the pants off of desired item in your food processor.

Done and done.

Some things don’t need to be cooked. A banana can be smushed up with a fork. But it needs to be majorly over-ripe, like the banana that is headed to the trashcan or your banana bread. Mmmmmm. Banana bread.

You hear all different theories about when to feed the babies. My doc told me to get cracking at 4 months. But some books I have read say 6 months, and I’m sure if you hang with a gaggle of baby-obsessed mommas, you will get a variety of opinions that will probably make your head explode.

We started with the oatmeal and the rice cereal. Next came the carrots, bananas, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, peaches, butternut squash and mangos. Prune juice was also involved because, well, the solid food kinda messes with the bambino’s system at first. Sorry for the TMI.

My doc told me to give each new food a day and then moveon.org to the next.

Now that Evan is nearing 7 months of age (yikes!), he’s been grooving to some yogurt and blueberries and some chicken concoctions. I’m hoping to try out zucchini this week. I just need to find a moment to cook it.

So, I’m not tsk tsking if you feed your baby food from a container. I totally rock out Gerber every now and again because of convenience. Let’s be real, I barely have time to cook a proper meal for Mommy and Daddy these days. The good news is that you can freeze a ton of bambino food. In fact, once the weather turned warm in my parts, one of Baby Evan’s outings was to the dollar store to get ice cube trays. We also visited the liquor store, but who are you to judge.

Basically, Evan loves to eat anything and everything. My 20-pound roly-poly baby doll is totally down with yum yum time. Yes, sometimes he straight-up gives me WTF face when I’m shoving smashed peas into his gourd. And I can’t blame him. If someone was force-feeding me mushed up peas and pureed sweet potatoes, I would tear a bitch down with my multi-colored Munchkin spoon and Playtex sippy cup. And, Elmo would totally have my back.

But, it’s times like these when I get all Jessica Seinfeld on Evan and camouflage the offensive greens into the happy sweetness of carrots, yams or squash. He also takes the peas mashed into some rice.

His faves are peachies better known as peaches and of course, apples. I make a boatload of apples each week. The gala variety is a win for my Baby Evan. He digs pears as well, but not, I repeat NOT the anjou variety. The anjous produced a grainy puree, and Baby Evan was thoroughly disgusted. So was the Jersey Girl for wasting her time. Plus, I made the babes gag and then felt immense amounts of guilt for causing this situation.

I thin out a lot of the veg and the meat items - yes I puree, chicken - with breast milk or formula. And, there truly is no rhyme or reason to the quantities that Baby Evan consumes. Some days he just wants it shoveled in, and some days he picks a little here and there. C'est la vie.

On a final note, I highly recommend this baby cookery book: "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel.

Here’s a recipe I made for butternut squash from the book. There's two ways to do it. I did the baking way. Baby Evan loves the orange foods. One squash made a ton of servings, so I was able to freeze some in my ice cube trays. Here's how the squash was transformed from odd shaped veg to smushy baby food:

 I also did a batch of sweet potatoes since the oven was on and I am the queen of multi-tasking:

Butternut Squash

From "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel

6 months. Makes 4 portions. Suitable for freezing

1 medium butternut squash (1 pound), cut in half and seeded

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter (optional)

2 Tbsp. orange juice (optional)

Brush each half with melted butter and spoon 1 Tbsp. orange juice in each cavity. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours or until tender, then blend to a puree.



Baby Spinach Salad with Thyme Dressing

I totally should be taking a nap right now.


But peeps, I so miss my blog. So, I’m skipping on nanni time – that’s our lingo for some shuteye in casa di Jersey Girl.

This past month has been a bit cray cray. In addition to planning Baby Evan’s Baptismal Throwdown, we also had our first foray into dealing with a sick bambino. Fortunately, Evan came down with your everyday common cold, but being the OCD kinda gal that I am, I perhaps wigged out at first. Then, The Husband got the cold. Then, the Jersey Girl got the cold. Awesome.

Truth be told, our Baby Evan is an angel. His normal personality is that of Mr. Smiles or Mr. Cuddles or Mr. Giggilies (That’s a guy who laughs a lot). Sometimes Mr. Crankypants comes to town, but I think our baby is absolutely perfecto. Not that I’m biased or anything.

Evan understands that din din time is one of Mommy’s most fave moments of the day. He often is Kool and the Gang when I’m getting my cook on. I just need to work into my schedule some time to actually write about my recipes so that I can share them all with you.

Here is one of my fabu spinach salads. This can be made in five minutes flat. And if you don’t eat veggies, I just don’t know what to say. I don’t understand peeps who refuse to eat entire food groups. So those who are vegetarians baffle me. And those who hate the wonders of earth and vine equally baffle me. Likewise, life is too short to NEVER eat dessert. And seafood is pretty freakin awesome. So, yeah. Hope you get to give my baby spinach salad a whirl.

Baby Spinach Salad with Thyme Dressing
4 ounces baby spinach
½ small red onion, sliced real thin
1 red pepper, chopped

Combine spinach, onion and red pepper in a salad bowl.

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk together. Pour over salad.

Donzo.

Makes 4 servings.

Go On with Your Bad French Self

Confession: I made these dishes B.E. (Before Evan).

These days, everything I’ve been cooking up is tres simple. Or, I’ve already blogged about it. For instance, right now as we speak, there is a pot of Chicken and Dumplings brewing. But, I wrote about that already.

The thing that’s challenging my cookery is neither time nor screaming child. (Evan quite digs it in the kitchen, thank you very much.)

Rather, it’s my inability to get my bootie to the grocery store. I’ve been quite reluctant to take a person who is weeks old and about in the freezing cold. So, I revolve my grocery shopping excursions around those who can stay with the bambino. This wouldn’t be so tough if I had a husband who works a normal 9-5 job. But I don’t. I have a husband chained to a desk in a newsroom 24 hours a day.

So, my grocery trips require more strategery and planning than ever before. But, I promise I will have new and exciting recipes in 2011. For reals.

Today, we’re taking a look at my French Onion Soup and the Barefoot Contessa’s Goat Cheese Tart from her “Barefoot in Paris” cookbook.

First off, I loves me some French food. Truth be told, I love all different cuisines. I have to be super careful with the Asian sector of the world due to my whole food allergy thing, but I love trying out dishes from all over the place.

It’s not like either of these dishes are super fancy or unique. They’re quite standard French fare. Classic, if you will.

Sure, cutting a bazillion onions is a pain in the arse, but the effort is so worth it.

Regarding the tart: If you fear making pastry dough, please try to get over it. The more you do it, the better you become. (That’s the piano teacher in me lecturing you.)

I do recommend keeping the butter as cold as you possibly can for the tart, and be sure to fill up the tart with beans or pie weights all the way up to the top of the dish to prevent the crust from shrinking.

When rolling out dough, make sure your surface and rolling pin are well-floured. Also, turn your dough after six to eight rolls to prevent sticking and tearing.

For the Goat Cheese Tart recipe, click here. I will also list it below.

In addition, I’m sharing with you my recipe for French Onion Soup. This is the perfect time of year to rock out this soup, since the weather is all chilly willy, at least that’s how it is my neck of the woods.

Be sure your Gruyere is very cold. That makes shredding it way easier. And my tip for preventing teary eyes while cutting up a bazillion onions is to run the kitchen faucet and slice up those bad boys really really fast. Scientific, I know.

Make sure you have soup bowls that are a.o.k. for popping in the oven. If you need to purchase some, I recommend these from Sur la Table, where a major sale is under way right now.

I served these dishes with a salad.

Goat Cheese Tart
From “Barefoot in Paris”
By Ina Garten

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board

Kosher salt
13 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, divided
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
3/4 cup chopped shallots (3 to 4 shallots)
10 1/2 ounces garlic-and-herb soft goat cheese (recommended: Montrachet}
1 cup heavy cream
3 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


For the crust, put the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Cut 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) of the butter into large dice, add to the bowl, and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, add the ice water all at once and process until the dough becomes crumbly. Don't overprocess. Dump the dough out on a floured board, gather it loosely into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough on a well-floured board and fit it into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable sides, rolling the pin over the top to cut off the excess dough. Butter 1 side of a square of aluminum foil and fit it, butter side down, into the tart pan. Fill the foil with rice or beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and foil from the tart shell, prick the bottom all over with a fork, and bake for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of butter in a small pan and saute the shallots over low heat for 5 minutes, or until tender. Place the goat cheese in the bowl of the food processor and process until crumbly. Add the cream, eggs, basil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the pepper and process until blended.

Scatter the cooked shallots over the bottom of the tart shell. Pour the goat cheese mixture over the shallots to fill the shell (if the shell has shrunk, there may be leftover filling). Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tart is firm when shaken and the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and serve hot or at room temperature.

French Onion Soup
Makes 6 servings

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
5-6 large yellow and red onions, sliced (I like to do 4/5 yellow and 1/2 red)
1 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
½ tsp. dried thyme
1 Tbsp. flour
4 cups beef broth
2 cups water
3/4 cup white wine
Baguette, sliced and lightly toasted
Gruyere cheese, shredded

Melt butter and oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Once the butter bubbles, add onions. Saute for about five minutes. Season with salt and pepper and thyme. Add sugar. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. Onions should be golden and soft.

Add flour. Stir, cooking for a minute or two.

Add broth, water and wine. Bring mixture to a simmer. Partially cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

To serve:

Ladle soup into ovenproof ramekins or soup bowls placed on a rimmed baking sheet.

Place a toasted baguette slice on each bowl of soup. Sprinkle with shredded Gruyere. Place under a hot broiler until cheese is bubbly and browned.

Fa La La La La

I’ve officially joined the ranks of a group of person I vowed never to become: Those who send Christmas cards of their offspring.

This phenomenon part fascinates me/part annoys me. Why do we think all of our friends and acquaintances want pictures of our little childrens and then big childrens? Are we all THAT self-absorbed?

Now, don’t get me wrong: I love receiving pics of my fab nieces and nephews and the children of close friends and family and my piano students. They always bring a smile to my face. And, I save the pics for years upon years upon years.

But doesn’t it crack you up when you get Christmas cards from people 10 times removed from your life? No? This is just my hangup?

Thank God the whole check-out-my-awesome-kid-in-reindeer-sweater motif wasn’t a trend when I was a child because if my Mom and Dad wanted to put my mug on a Christmas card, I would no doubt answer with a, “Bitch, please.” Or, at least I would have said that inside my truck driver-language filled head.

I asked my sister Monica what the age cutoff is with kiddies in Christmas cards. She had no idea. Do I mortify my son throughout his entire life or just the pre-10 years? Does this madness stop in high school? College? During post-graduate studies? Anyone? Bueller?

Meanwhile, The Husband dropped a major bombshell on me: He wants us to send out a family portrait for next’s year’s Christmas card.

Seriously.

So, here’s my hypocritical blog shot of Baby Evan decked out in Ho Ho hat. No, this is not The Christmas Card Photo, but it is from the holiday photo shoot and it came in a close second. And, well, I quite love this photo. It is so cute I can’t stand it. I did post it on my Facebook page, and now I’m sharing it with my blog peeps.

And, please do not call Child Protective Services on me due to my bambino’s nakedness: There was warm and snuggly blanket on hand to cover him up in between takes.

Love.

Yesterday, Baby Evan let his Momma get on with her Christmas baking. You know, if it wasn’t Christmas time, I would feel quite normal. It’s just that getting all the Christmasy stuff done – including sending Christmas cards – is quite overwhelming immediately after having a super cute and cuddly baby, because all I want to do is stare and hold my cute and cuddly baby.

But, Christmas baking is my most fav thing of all the holiday chores. Shopping, too. Wrapping and card sending, well, I could do without.

I’m sharing with you a recipe for Crisp Chocolate Bites. I love these for Christmas because they are covered in powdered sugar, which resembles snow in my humble opinion. Perhaps, you can tell from my photo, which pales in comparison to the shots taken by The Husband.

My rules for Christmas baking are as follows: The Christmas tree must be all aglow and Elvis’ holiday tunes must be pumping through your veins. Plus, have all your ingredients out and clean up as you go along. Oh, wait those are the cooking rules set by my seventh grade home ec teacher. (Yes, I went to school when they actually had home ec.) I explained all of this to Baby Evan, who most likely cooed or drooled in response, and then dozed off to the sounds of “Blue Christmas.”

Crisp Chocolate Bites
From Williams-Sonoma Cookies

6 Tbsp. (3 oz/90 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 oz (60 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup (8 oz/250 g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract (essence)
¾ cup (4 oz/125 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
¼ cup (3/4 oz/20 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup (2 oz/60 g) confectioners’ icing sugar

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment (baking) paper. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over very low heat, combine the butter and chocolate. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until they are melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in the granulated sugar until evenly moistened. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper. Gradually add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Shape the dough into ¾-inch (2 cm) balls and roll in the confectioners’ sugar to coat completely. place the balls about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) apart on the prepared sheets. Bake the cookies until puffed and cracked on top, about 12 minutes. They may appear underdone in the center but will turn crisp as they cool. Let cool on the sheets for 2-3 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 3 ½ dozen cookies.

Cozy up with a Muffin

The good news is Baby Evan lets his Momma get her groove on in the kitchen.


The bad news is Baby Evan’s Momma is often so tired she limits her cooking to really easy dishes that require few brain cells and/or energy.

This past weekend I rocked out some chocolate chip muffins. They are really loaded up with chocolate chips. And they’re super awesome. And they’re way easy.

I like mine with a cup of tea, preferably Harney and Son’s Paris Tea, which is my fav. I reviewed it here last year. It’s pricier than your standard grocery store teas, but it’s sooooooooooo worth it. So are these muffins. You could totally buy some chocolate chip muffins, but these babies take 10-15 minutes to mix up and they make your house smell all cozy and yummy.

I’m so thankful that Baby Evan let me get some baking in because whisking flour and baking soda with eggs and sugar makes the Jersey Girl very happy. As does good music and shopping. Me and The Husband were able to get out and about on Saturday, thanks to my Moms and Pops offering to babysit their grandson. We went out to din and we did some shopping, which was so liberating. Oh, J. Crew and Banana Republic, how I’ve missed you so.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
From “The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book”

½ cup (4 oz/125 g) unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup (12 fl oz/375 ml) buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups (10 oz/315 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
¾ cup (6 oz/185 g) sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
½ tsp. salt
2 cups (12 oz/375 g) semisweet (plain) chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter flavored nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners.

In a bowl whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the buttermilk mixture, and beat until smooth and well mixed, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a large silicone spatula, fold in the chocolate chips just until evenly distributed. Do not overmix. Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim.

Bake the muffins until golden, dry and springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

Our Miraculous Masterpiece: Evan James Leiser

My little perfect Babycakes is here!

Minutes after Baby Evan is born. Please keep your eyes on the baby, and not the hot mess that is me.

Hangin' with his grandmom, aka Nanny.

All dressed up and ready to leave the hospital. Thank freakin' God.

Asleep at last. Evan was not a fan of the car seat at first.

Tummy time with Daddy.

Mr. Gorgeous.

When I look at him, it still astounds me.

He is only the Cutest Baby Ever in the Whole Entire World. I say this 10,000 times a day.

Baby Evan arrived home on Wednesday, Nov. 17 after what seemed like a foreva eva stint in the hospital.

Induced labor kicked off at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 12, and progressed until the pushing began around 11 p.m. An hour later, the doctor declared that this babe was not coming out the old-fashioned way.

Hysterics on my part did ensue. The Jersey Girl wanted no parts of a C section. But, my crying could not put off the inevitable: We were going under the knife to get a happy and healthy baby out already.

Evan wriggled his button nose and flashed his dimples at us around 1 a.m. Saturday while “I’m Coming Out” serenaded his journey from womb to world. (Seriously. That song was on during the surgery.)

Our stay in the hospital was never ending, clouded by pain meds, yucky food and hormones. Fortunately, I had the most perfect little angel to look at when the hospital stay was wearing me down.

We made a valiant attempt to master breastfeeding. (I’m happy to report that this is going well. I think. Well, I’ve heard no complaints from the mouth being fed.)

And, we tried to get some rest. Of course, nurses and doctors and room service and other random peeps knocking on your door every 20 minutes make that a bit difficult.

Needless to say, we were SO FREAKING HAPPY to leave the hospital and come home. The Jersey Husband and Aunt Lorraine rocked out mad baby decorations. So cute!

And I’m just trying to get back to normal while having the best time ever with my little Evan. Or Babycakes. Or Pumpkin. It seems like he digs it here. He’s been meeting the fam and listening to Mozart and Debussy and catching up on General Hospital.

We had an amazing Thanksgiving. And, I am so very thankful for Baby Evan, and The Husband and for my super wonderful fam.

Hope you all had a great holiday.

Recipes and more regular posts will be back on track this week!

Love,

Susan