On the Table: Plenty

Feeding a toddler is…difficult. This little boy used to eat just about anything, his taste buds were new and he was happy to have anything flavorful hand scooped into his mouth. These days things are a little more peanut butter and jelly shaped but we do have our moments. 

My brother and sister-in-law gave me the most beautiful cookbook for my birthday when they were in town called Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. It written by a London based chef and is compiled completely of unique vegetarian dishes that focuses on freshness and variety. I spent the afternoon just looking through it. I found so many things that I would like to try but I started with something I was pretty sure this kiddo would eat. Mee Goreng is a stir fry noodle dish made with bok choy, green beans, and tofu. It was quick and most importantly the kid gobbled it up! Well, the noodles and the tofu but I'll count this as a win. 

Check it out if you are looking for something new.  Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend! There's lots to do in Cleveland so get on out there!

Rainy Day and Allergic Reactions.

Wednesday was rainy and I wasn't feeling too hot when we first got up so I was concerned about the days activities. Luckily we had a morning play date so that took care of a good chunk of time. Lately O has been pretty obsessed with Playdoh. He needs to make cookies, carrots, and people like everyday. We have a fun set of cookie cutters that make the play time even more fun for him plus the bright colors cheered up the dreary day.

He was pretty proud of his creations and helped take some pictures to document the fun. He's my son alright. The funny thing about the cookie cutters is that he can't quite recognize all of the shapes until he uses them. He was pretty serious about the above animal being a kangaroo, he had it hopping all over the room until suddenly he realized it was a dolphin. Suddenly meaning I had told him that initially but I guess he thought I was wrong.

We hit up the grocery later and picked out a pineapple to have with lunch. He diligently cut it up with me with his little spreading knife and like any good chef was sampling along the way. I had no cause for concern since we've had pineapple before. But suddenly after having a healthy serving he started to yell that his tongue was hurting and kind of freaking out. I looked in his mouth to see some large bumps forming on the back of his tongue. No tongue swelling but he was clearly uncomfortable. So naturally I called my mom, then the advice nurse. I have enough sense to know it wasn't life threatening at that point but it was kind of scary anyway. We calmed down, cooled his tongue with a combo of things and safely ended the mild reaction. I wasn't expecting it so it seemed scary and I was nervous about his nap, but he was fine and was able to eat comfortably by dinner. Yikes! I've heard awful food allergy stories and I know this one was pretty tame but I wanted to share it anyway.

We've got another fun weekend coming up...this mama is turning 35 on Sunday. Have a great weekend and steer clear of really acidic pineapple!

Three Things. In Red.

I think that September is my favorite month. The weather here is almost always so lovely, it's one of those times that Cleveland has bright blue skies and the overcast grey takes a much needed break. We have been out soaking up the end of summer with friends at BBQs, picnics, and now watching football. When I finally connected my phone to dump some photos today I noticed the vibrant colors that I've been capturing and wanted to share. This dahlia farmer at the market has the most beautiful bouquets that I admire weekly. I was standing and talking to a friend about how I should just buy some since they clearly make me happy. But then I didn't...and I've been thinking about them ever since. Why do I feel like flowers are such a splurge? They bring a little beauty indoors but I always hesitate and think, next time. 

Beet juice does not in fact make me happy. It's so red and pretty and misleading. I've tried it twice, gotten some advice about how to make it better. But I don't know if I can subject myself to this flavor again. But isn't it so cheery?

I woke up one morning thinking about the end of summer and decided that I needed to get as many tomatoes as possible before they are gone. I love them when they are in season. They taste like summer and are tangy. I hope you have a happy Monday!

On The Table: Green Goddess

 

Most days we have salads for lunch. My go-to dressing is a balsamic vinaigrette that I mix up at the beginning of the week but it's starting to feel like we were in a rut. Then one night I went to a friend's birthday party and her husband made a really simple and delicious dressing of just avocado and lemon on a spinach salad. It was really tasty and I was hooked. I started looking around for more dressing along those lines and found this Mexican Green Goddess recipe (and this one too, I combined them). It really delicious! I skipped the cilantro and used parsley instead, the husband is not a fan of cilantro at all. It's so lovely and green and I wanted to share! What's your favorite salad dressing recipe?

On The Table: Garlic Scapes

Last weekend at the North Union Farmer's Market we picked up a new item. Garlic Scapes. I've seen them before and admired their twisty shape but never picked them up. I didn't really know what they were or how to cook them. But I was feeling adventurous and as it turns out there isn't much to it!  The raw flavor is pretty intense but when cooked they mellow out. We've used them a few different times this week and they are the perfect onion-garlic flavor to add to any dish. My favorite way so far was on the grill. Here's what we (the husband) did.

Toss the garlic scapes in olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them on a hot grill until they are slightly charred and wilted. Eat. We ate them as is on the side but also put them on top of our veggie burgers. They added a nice new flavor. Check them out if you see them!

Baked Apples

Hello and happy Monday! We are coming off a very busy but very fun weekend! Two birthdays and a wedding show. I'll share more about those later this week. In the meantime I wanted to share our latest cooking adventure. We went to Bon Bon a few weekends ago and my meal came with baked apple slices that were amazing and O really agreed. So the next morning he was really amped up to cook something and baked apples were the right choice. 

We sliced one apple and put it in a bowl with a little bit of brown sugar and cinnamon and a sprinkle of lemon juice. He was having a hard time stirring it up so we dumped it all into a ziplock bag and shook  it up instead. He thought that was pretty fun. Then we laid the slices out on a baking sheet, and O decided to sample some at this point in the process. Into a 350 oven for 8-10 minutes. 

Viola! A very simple and delicious side dish. We enjoyed them for lunch and the house smelled delicious! Enjoy your day out there.

Tiny Chef

We have a new obsession here and it's cooking. Little Man got a kitchen for Christmas that he loves dearly and it's turned into him wanting to help me cook all the time. Even when I'm just making coffee he drags his chair into the kitchen to help. It's so cute, he says "cook-king, cook-king?" 

Sometimes it requires me to think on my feet and find a way for him to help, other times it's simple to have him help put toppings on the pizza and sneak a few pieces of shredded cheese.

This little dude is serious about his kitchen. Happy Monday!

Citrus Avocado Salad

I'm going to take this opportunity to thank Bob the Builder for this post. I once was a fool and thought that letting him watch TV from time to time would melt his brain. Not true. Turns out it lets him take a breather and it lets me have a moment with my thoughts about dinner. The other night I threw together this delicious salad for me and the husband with all the goodies from the West Side Market. Here's what you need.

Ingredients:

3 cups chopped kale

1/2 sliced avocado

1 deveined and chopped grapefruit

A few slices of red onion

Shaved hard goat cheese

Balsamic vinaigrette

Chop, chop, chop. Toss it together and serve! I hope you enjoy it, but most of all have a happy Friday!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

I'd recently been talking to a friend about whether or not our boys would eat soup. They both seem to handle to spoon well for cereal with minor spills so it seemed logical. So when I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I thought it sounded tasty and it looked pretty easy to make. I did my best to follow the recipe with minor substitutions (vegetable stock in place of chicken) and just an addition of a little lemon juice. 

               

While the recipe is clearly very good for you. I felt like it was lacking in the taste department. So if I don't like something, then it's hard to make the boy eat it. He was pretty excited about the cool spoon and the grated cheese on top but he wasn't feeling it either. What's your favorite broccoli soup?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all get to spend your holiday with people that you love and lots of tasty food! We'll be spending ours with some pretty awesome friends and I'm excited about that! I'm bring a mushroom and leek tart, this photo is a quiche but it's such a pretty photo I wanted to use it! Stay happy and warm! And don't forget to check out the opening of the Made in the 216 Holiday Shoppe on Friday if you are in Cleveland!

Image Source

Give Me A Beet

I decided to branch out of my normal range of cooking and bought some beets. A friend told me that she makes beet chips for her kids and they love them. I was impressed so I decided to give it a try. 

Now I'm going to be completely honest with you and say that these didn't turn out all that great. I think the mandolin slicer that I used didn't cut them thin enough and we had some issue, burned edges and soggy centers. But the few that survived were very tasty and Oliver wouldn't eat a single one...but the beets are incredibly beautiful and I couldn't stop taking photos of them.

I based my recipe off of Martha's and this one too. I added salt, rosemary, and garlic to the sliced beets and cooked them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. My goal was to get Oliver to try something new but that didn't work. I'm willing to give it another go but I think I need some tips. Anyone have any thoughts? If nothing else it's sparked my interest and most likely means that I will get a mandolin of my own one day. 

It's in the Sauce

Back on the quest of sneaking in extra veggies here. Yesterday while we were out and about I was trying to decide what we'd have for dinner. I still had half of a butternut squash in the fridge that needed to be used and when I thought "I wonder if I can make a pasta sauce with this." Being the way that I am, I just started to make something up on my own and then looked a recipe up later. And of course Ms. Martha Stewart had one at the ready for me. Here's hers. And now I'll tell you how I didn't really follow all the directions (read I never have all the ingredients on hand so I wing it).

Forgive me, I know these aren't the best photos...anyhow.

Ingredients
Butternut squash (and if you'd like sweet potato)
Garlic
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Rosemary or sage
Whole milk
S&P

Cooked pasta

Heat oven to 350. Dice the vegetables and peel the garlic, toss in olive oil and S&P and herbs. Roast the butternut squash (and potato) for approximately 20 minutes or until tender. Let cool slightly and put in Vitamix (or just any blender but you already know about my love of it) add cheese and milk and puree in to a sauce, adding milk as needed until you reach your desired consistency. I kept ours on the thick side. Add to cooked pasta and serve warm.

Baby boy was pretty sold on it being macaroni and cheese but it wasn't! We really enjoyed the roasted flavors too! It was the perfect meal for a chilly Monday night!

Super Tomato Sauce

Oliver has been on a bit of a vegetable strike these days that came out of nowhere. The only exception being the kale in his breakfast smoothies. So I had to come up with a plan.

I talked to a mom friend of mine about a "super vegetable" sauce that she'd read about online and that inspired me to make my own. Well sort of, I started with a jar of sauce from the store. Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1/2 red pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup chopped frozen broccoli
Vegetable stock as needed
Cooked pasta
Parmesan cheese

Thanks to the Vitamix I can just put all the frozen veggies directly into the blender with vegetable stock. I chopped them on a low speed then turned it up and onto high to steam and cook the veggies. If that's not an option steam them on the stove and purée.

Warm the jarred sauce on the stovetop and mix in the super veggie mix. Ads grated cheese and stir into pasta. I just felt like this was the added vegetable meal that little man needed. The sauce was thick and tasted almost creamy. Give it a try and see what you think!

Appliance Love.

I recently fell deeply in love with an appliance and I think it's an everlasting love. Yes, Vitamix, you are everything I dreamed of in a blender. You make me delicious smoothies, cook my soup, and mix my pesto up to perfection. I have already picked out a spot for you in the new apartment. Thank you for understanding what we need. I'm sure I sound like a lunatic, but I mean it. You're the best! Happy Tuesday!

Tomato Jammin'

Last Saturday I picked all of these tomatoes at once! It was pertinent that I do something with them. They were on their last legs and needed to be used stat. I'd been thinking of tomato jam since I read an article about it way back when. Then I saw someone on TV making it and it seemed like a sign. I found a few different recipes, here and here. I would like to note that the cooking time is really long so make sure that you have time on your hands for this one! I based mine on those combined with what was in our cabinet and it turned out so delicious! We've used it on an egg sandwich and on grilled cheese. I'm a huge fan and hope that you love it too! I

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On the Grill: Vegetable Feast

We feasted on vegetables from the farmer's market over the long holiday weekend. Corn is a household favorite these days so we have to grill two ears for the boy. He ate both! We also picked up some semi-hot peppers, which were actually fully hot just to be clear. Tossed them on the grill with a little olive oil until they charred up, smashed them with a fork and spread on a nice grilled baguette. It was so simple but so tasty. I think it would make a great dip if you mixed it with the right cheese.

Oliver's place setting makes me happy. Glistening peppers ready for the grill. Yow, they were spicy! And a nice country wheat baguette to round out all those veggies. What are your favorite things to grill?

Hey Chickpea

We went to the grocery store on Sunday morning to shop for the week. We've started a nice routine where we all go together so I'm not trying to do it all myself and entertain Mr. Short Attention Span. Once he's done shopping and sampling one of us takes him to the play area while the other finishes up. Anyway, I picked a recipe for Chana Masala which calls for two cans of chickpeas. But the only ones they had at the store were very expensive and I just couldn't do it. So on a whim, I bought the dried beans. I know that many of you use dried beans all the time so maybe this isn't all that big of a deal. BUT to me it was. I've cooked dried beans in the past and have never felt all that impressed with my results so I almost always return to the ever convenient can. This time it was a success and I'll tell you what I did.

Ingredients
2 cups dried beans (my guesstimate for the recipe that called for 2 cans)
Water, water, water
2 carrots cut into chunks
1 onion, quartered
2 juniper berries
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp coarse salt, I used a Hawaiian black salt
Pepper

I used a teapot to quickly boil some water. Rinse and sort the beans and put into a large pot. Cover beans with two inches of the boiling water and let soak for about an hour, add 1 tsp salt (eyeball it). The beans will increase in size by about double. Pour out that water and fill the pot with fresh cold water and cover the beans by about two inches again. Add the remaining ingredients (including the new salt) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for about an hour until beans are tender but not too soft. This method helps to keep the beans intact without rupturing the skin. Then I went on with the recipe for Chana Masala which was also pretty good. But I have to say that the beans were the crowning victory of the day and the dish. I'm just happy it worked out. How do you cook your beans?

On the Table: Colorful Veggie Roast

I have to admit that I go the idea for this recipe from an Instagram photo about baby food. BUT, these flavors are so amazing I couldn't help but give it a try.  I added the garlic and goat cheese on my own, genius, I know (haha). I'm not sure how she planned to cook it but here's what I did.

Ingredients
1 lb. purple potatoes
2 ears of corns, kernels cut off
1 bunch of asparagus
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
S&P
Goat cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice potatoes lengthwise. Chop rosemary and garlic, toss with potatoes in olive oil and S&P and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile cook the corn on the stovetop, fill pot with water and corn and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off heat and cover with lid to finish cooking. I found this recipe to roast the corn in the oven but I had already removed the husks so perhaps next time. After 10 minutes, I checked the potatoes to gauge how much longer they needed. I determined it was about 10 more minutes so I added the asparagus and tossed. Cook until tender. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix in with goat cheese while it's still hot so the cheese can melt. Cut the corn off the cob after it cools a bit and mix that in as well.

Serve warm or as a cooled potato salad. This colorful dish is a winner for sure! It's so bright and pretty it was a treat to eat! I made it to pack in lunches but it would also be tasty for dinner as a side! It was SO delicious and filling. JJ and I both seemed to really enjoy it and I hope that you do too!

All Hail the Kale

Tell me, how do you feel about kale? I love it! Our kale garden is growing wild. We have some everyday in our morning smoothies but it hardly puts a dent in the six plants that I bought! I was a little overzealous. So last night I made some kale chips to snack on after dinner. Because I like to eat all the time. I found a simple recipe here but I would tweak it just a bit.

Ingredients

12 large kale leaves, middle rib removed

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Tear apart the kale into medium sized pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes but check them after 10 and toss. I let mine go for 25 because the recipe suggested 30 minutes but that was really too long. I would have preferred mine to be a little less done. A cookie sheet of fresh kale bakes down quickly so don't be stingy with your leaves. Enjoy!