Are You Ready for some Football?

You are? Great!

Me? Not so much. Never really been a huge fan of football. But the parties (and the food)? Totally!

We're having a few folks over to watch the big game (in our teeny house). We'll have the usual fair, but with a couple of twists.

• Instead of regular ol' pigs in a blanket, I'll be switching it up by using Aidell's mini chicken apple sausages
• Instead of just nacho cheese dip, I'll be making Queso Fundido

and of course there will be the obligatory chips and dip, soda, bloody marys, and beer.

Yum! Have a great (and allergy free) day!

Gab

Pork Fat Rules!

My mother-in-law celebrated her 65th birthday on Saturday, so we had everyone over at Casa Peterson for a feast.

But what to cook?

Many folks who read this blog don't know that Mark's mom's family are Mexican-American which means that whenever we visit Mamanina (his grandma), we're usually treated to some homemade tortillas. On an even better day, we're treated to homemade tamales (yum!).

That being said, I decided to cook some Mexican food for Olivia.

What was on the menu? Well, I thought you'd never ask Here's a menu (along with links to recipes if you'd like to make this menu as well).

Olivia's 65th Feast
Carnitas (note:I used this recipe as a master, but changed up the spices. BTW, A 5lb pork shoulder was barely enough for us)
Corn and Flour Tortillas (store bought)
Red Rice (I cook my rice in my rice cooker with this - it's kind of weird I know, but the end result is tasty)
Pinquito Beans (you can always use the canned kind from the grocery store)
Pickled Red Onions (this is a foolproof recipe for pickled red onions - no cooking required)
Crema (you haven't lived if you haven't tried this yet - it's basically Mexican Sour Cream)
Tomatillo Salsa (ok, so I bought some from the store - sue me)

A good time (and margaritas and chips and guacamole) was had by all 9 of us.

What We're Eating This Week...

If you care, I posted our menu for the week on Peanut Free Mama.

What's your go-to menu each week? Fill me in!

New Blog

I started a new blog to keep my food allergy findings in one place. If you're interested, head on over.

This is how we plan our meals...

A few of the sites I read have talked about how they go about planning their meals so they don't feel like their only option each night is takeout (fresh or leftover), pasta with jarred sauce, or cereal. The NYTimes had an article about this type of thing last week, but I didn't like it enough to archive it. Check it out for yourself (hopefully it will still be free)>

Here's what I do:

1. First I print out my menu planner sheet (warning: it's a PDF). I used to buy a pad of almost the same thing, but the company discontinued it. So, being the crafty bugger I am, I created one myself. I put in more than 7 meals because sometimes I have to plan 7+ meals in a week (for example, my aunt is coming for Sunday lunch, but I still have dinner to plan too).

2. I figure out what nights I know we're eating out either at restaurants or someone else's place (I like these nights) and mark those in the appropriate day/meal sections.

3. For the nights I know we'll be eating in, I decide what meals will be good each night. I factor in lunches (for example, Fridays at Bella's school are pizza day, so that's out for Friday night). I usually write my ideas in pencil. Sometimes I'll do the math and figure out that spaghetti and meatballs aren't good on those nights Bella doesn't get a bath (so sue me - my kid gets a bath every other night!). So sometimes I switch things around.

As I write down each meal, I write down the groceries that go along with it in the bulleted list below the menu. I usually group them by produce, meats, dairy, etc. I didn't label the planner with these tags because it was too limiting. Some weeks I bought more produce than household stuff and vice versa. I didn't want to be contained by the number of lines on my list! I also added a notes field. This is for anything you want, but I use it for things like reminders about Bella's school - last week she needed an empty egg carton, so a dozen eggs went on the list (as well as a Quiche for Wednesday night to use all those eggs).

4. And before I go shopping, after I've added all the other household stuff I'll need from the store (TP, bleach, etc), I do a quick scan in my pantry one last time to make sure that I really don't have a can of chicken stock in the pantry. I have a small house, so I take the space saving where I can get it.

And that's it. The menu is posted on the fridge for the week. I can tell Mark what's for dinner (so he doesn't have the same thing for lunch), and I don't stress out about what we're having each night.

Try it yourself. It works for me, it might just work for you.

What do you do?

My next post will have some of my favorite standbys for meals that everyone in my family eats. Stay tuned...

How I prevent the pay wall from falling down on me.....

The NY Times has a solid business model in place. You can read an article for about a week, and then it goes behind a pay wall. This is really smart - sort of heroin dealer smart. You make someone interested in the content and then take it away so if they want to refer back to it in the future, they are stuck and they have to pay.

So how do you personally keep the content accessible? You can't bookmark it, or tag it - it wont be there when you return. You can print it (ugh, paper!) or cut and paste the contents into a word doc. Or maybe if it's short, do a print screen.

But this doesn't help you if it's July and you want to make that no-knead bread that you saw months ago in the Times but never tried...now this is probably a bad example as practically every blog in the universe that had something to do with food posted the recipe, but say they didn't. What are you supposed to do?

Want to know what I do?

Any time I see a recipe or article that I want to keep for future reference, I make a PDF. But you don't have acrobat, you say? No problem, download CutePDF (or a variety of other freeware available) and you're set.

And after that PDF is made, I can file it away in folders (recipes, house, money, family, etc.) where I can access it at a later date. And I can put it on my PDA to read in the kitchen while I'm cooking.

Some of you are out there saying "well duh", but maybe one or two of you aren't. And you can use this for just about anything you find on the web. Think of it as your way to freeze the web for a small moment.

Just a small way for me to contribute to my fellow foodies.

Foodie Must Read

Happy Summer Everyone!

Today's NY Times has a great list by Mark Bittman on 101 Summer Meals to make in 10 minutes or less. Do yourself a favor and read it now, before it goes behind a pay wall. There are too many yummy options in this list to choose a favorite.

G

p.s. Things are hectic these days around Casa Peterson, but I promise I do have a few posts up my sleeve for this site and Paper Palate - please be patient!

Somewhere else to find me...

I'm now contributing to a food site called Paper Palate writing about food magazines, books - anything in print or online relating to food.

Check me out (and you can even subscribe to my feed to get notified when new articles are posted).

It is a nice way for me to start the weekend!

food memories of my youth...

i grew up in southwestern connecticut and spent my summers alternately in cape cod and rowayton. my parents were avid sailors so we owned (sometimes) multiple sailboats (catamarans) at once. my brothers sailed too. and me? well, i was a bathing beauty and an all around cutie pie, winning over our fellow beach club members.

roton point was where i learned to swim, where i was hit by the rock that resulted in my first experience with stitches, and where i have my first real food memories.

each night, after a day of sun, we would dress a little warmer and wait for dusk, looking out over the auburn hued water, as the fireflies made their way into the night air. dad would fire up the hibachi, and mom would prepare salade nicoise (it is only now that i realize how 'french chef' that is - all i cared about then was getting to those juicy bits of green beans, eggs, and flaked tuna - yum). the adults (all fairly raucous sailors - holdover hippies really as this was the early seventies) drank their dubonnet on ice in plastic tumblers and the kids had...well, i just don't know what we drank. but i do know what we ate before dinner.

does anyone remember this?


ahhhh port wine cheese spread. cheesy enough for a kid, but with a kick of port to make you think you are being deviant. i don't know if it was this brand, but it sure looks the same. sure i've moved on to affinoise as my cheese of choice, but there is something so satisfying about the bite of this cheese, even now. i keep a container of this in my fridge. my husband doesn't get it, but all i need to do is show it to my mom and i get a nod of approval.

to this day, the sight of port wine cheese sends me back to that little run down beach haven on the long island sound. when i have my bad days, if i'm missing my mum, or feeling down, a slathering of this on a cracker just somehow brings me....up.

The Best Breakfast

2 slices of ciabatta, sliced on the diagonal

lightly toasted

slathered in butter

drizzled in honey.

bliss.

yum-o?

i've never been a dog person. just a cat person.

that is, until i started working with an incredible woman who loves her dog pico THIS MUCH. this dog is her child and she treats him as such - including being just as picky as a mom is (or in this day and age should be) with her baby. put it this way, pico gets tri tip, fresh sausage, free range chicken, and jenni is a vegetarian. you've got to love your dog if you are vegetarian AND willing to handle meat. i digress. back to the treats.

bella and i wanted to do something for little (actually quite large) pico. lo and behold, in the latest rachael ray magazine, was a recipe for doggie treats. it looked kid friendly. and easy. we had to jump into action!

Oh, and before you turn the other way with your nose in the air because you're too cool to like or even try RR's recipes, the recipe was developed by someone else.


Jessica Gorman's Olive Oil and Bacon Truffles

you can find the recipe here, as well as an archive of other recipes here.

basically, these are little scones with nuggets of crispy bacon inside. the ingredients are simple: whole wheat flour, bacon, cornmeal, beef broth, olive oil, and water. mix the dry ingredients and bacon, then add the wet and knead into a smooth dough. roll into balls and place on a foil lined sheet (i used parchment - it was fine). oh, and you bake them after drizzling them with the leftover bacon fat. 35 minutes exactly in a 350 degree oven and they're done.

the ease of this recipe was superb - it came together just as the recipe stated and the cooking time was spot on. considering the scare that pet owners received of late with tainted meat, making your dog's (or cat's) food seems less high maintenance with recipes like this.

as for the pico taste test, you'll have to wait until next week for the verdict...but by the looks of these, i would eat one - who can resist all that bacony goodness? oh wait, I'm starting to sound like the queen of yum-o herself.

i'm still not a dog person necessarily, but if a little pooch should cross my path, i have just the thing to soothe the savage beast.

ok, back to human food...

Review - Everyday Pasta, Giada De Laurentiis

Cookbook: Everyday Pasta
Author: Giada De Laurentiis
Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Recipe: Linguini with Turkey Meatballs
Page#: 177

Giada De Laurentiis just released her third cookbook, Everyday Pasta. Every time I get a new cookbook, I try at least one recipe within the first day or two, just to gauge the book. I usually try something simple. Why? Because if the simple stuff doesn't work, then the rest of the book is likely to disappoint. So what did I choose? Something easy: Linguini with Turkey Meatballs. It is featured as quick and tasty, and is supposed to leave my guests hungry for more (her words, not mine).

Ahem. Now let's get down to business.

What Worked:
Giada had a brilliant idea to add chopped sun dried tomatoes to the meatballs along with diced pancetta. Brilliant! Those little nuggets were a welcome surprise in the otherwise non brilliant meatballs (see below).

What Didn't:
Putting the recipe together was fairly easy, but the ingredients DID need to be tweaked (specifically more bread-crumbs to hold the meatballs together). Also, adding two eggs to the mixture left you with pretty wet meatballs (even after the addition of more bread-crumbs - but you can only add so much to offset the overabundance of eggs).

But the biggest disappointment was that the flavors of this dish just weren't there. The meatballs were bland (even with pancetta AND sun dried tomatoes) and the sauce lacked spark or depth (or heft for that matter, even after simmering a bit longer). My testing companion commented that even when the sauce is there 'it's just not there - it's just water and tomatoes'.

Verdict:
While it wasn't terrible, I wouldn't make it again. Which isn't to say I've given up on the book. But for spaghetti and meatballs, save your time and use another recipe from another book. How about this one? And I hate to say it, but even this one is better than Giada's. And you really can't go wrong with Mario. Doesn't he have sugo coursing through his bloodstream?

I think this recipe speaks volumes for the way that TV personalities tend to crank out cookbooks one after the other. Much like new rock bands who spend years crafting that first hit record, the second and third installments just fall flat.

Bottom line: this is just one of those recipes that looks great on paper, but just doesn't come through in execution. But I will be stealing the diced pancetta for my next meatball experiment.

Kitchen...BPOH 2006

So instead of showing you photos of my oh-so-boring kitchen (ok, if you really want to see it, go here and scroll down a little), I thought I would share my favorite kitchen items instead.

My Le Creuset Braising Pan

My Dualit Toaster


My Tassimo Coffeemaker


My Ceramic Kyocera Knife (actually I have a couple of these...)


OK, I'm done. Now if you want to see some REALLY nice kitchens, go to Shanny's site.

Aw Nuts

Bella's got an allergy, no make that allergies. From now on, we're a peanut (and tree nut) free family.

So don't go giving my girl a pbj (or I'll have to kick your ass).

Bento Baby!

Since I make Bella's lunch each day, I've been scouting around for ideas to elevate them beyond just cut up fruit and mac-n-cheese. I must admit, it's fun for me to have little comparmentalized containers to fill up for her. Turns out I'm not alone.

Here's what I found:

Cooking Cute
Great recipes for adults and kids. Always photographed well, and recipes included!


Bento Corner
This is a mom in the SF Bay area who documents the bentos she makes for her daughter. Bella can't eat alot of what she makes (Bella's not supposed to have shellfish yet), but her Hello Kitty and animal themed food is great!


Vegan Lunch Box
OK, those of you who know me, know that I am nothing close to a vegan. I have always been fascinated by it though. This woman, who is writing a vegan cookbook, documented her sons lunches for a year. Check out the archives, it is really cool how she tries (and succeeds) at making mainstream food vegan for her son.


Yum!

Turducken

Planning our Thanksgiving has been interesting. We originally wanted to have all our family over here. Our dining room is such that we can actually fit 12 people in it. The problem is that our living room can't handle that many people. And isn't lounging around one of the great parts of Thanksgiving, both before and after the meal?

So, instead we are having it at Mark's mother's place. Which is much larger.

Since we were going to provide the whole meal at our place, we were going to do the same at Olivia's. I was going to order the whole thing from Draeger's, a chi-chi grocer in the area. I figure if you are going to get a prepared meal, splurge on the best.

That is, until my BIL called last night and asked if we would mind if they ordered a Turducken instead. Are you familiar with the Turducken? Here's a photo and a description:


Turducken
It's been gaining popularity in the South, mainly Cajun country, for years, and is now poised to turn the heads of the rest of the country. A tantalizing triumvirate of tastes (turkey, duck and chicken) combine for one of the most uniquely delicious food items we've ever come across. A partially deboned turkey stuffed with a partially deboned duck, stuffed with a fully deboned chicken, layered in between with a mouth-watering Cajun cornbread and pork stuffing. 15 lbs. Approx. 25-30 servings.

Interested in ordering one? There are tons of places on the web to find one. Here's a link to just one of them.

Have any of you had one of these things? I figured I would still order all the side dishes (including more stuffing) to make it a traditional Thanksgiving, but this will definitely put some pizazz into things!

Gab

Food Update

Remember that pan that Mark got me for our anniversary last week? Here's a little rustic tart I whipped up with fresh nectarines and blueberries:



And tonight's dinner (it was so hot tonight that I made it a noodle bowl instead of wraps with pan fried dumplings and rice like I planned):



I guess I can't blame all the weight I am gaining JUST on the baby, huh?

G