Dinner Tonight: Little {elbows} scuie scuie

Giada de Laurentiis is one of my favorite celebrity chefs. She's classically trained and Italian - certainly not just a pretty a face. I usually find her recipes online, but I do own her cookbook, Giada's Family Dinners, and I find myself reaching for it a lot - she really masters the combination of comfort and wholesome, which I guess is the hallmark of Italian food in and of itself. 

Case in point: Little Thimbles Scuie Scuie. I made this last Friday for Jack and Nellie and planned on serving it to them two nights in a row. Evan and I were about to order a pizza when he took a bite of the pasta and said, "nope, we're eating this." It's simple and simply delicious.

1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) ditalini pasta (thimble-shaped pasta) or other small tube-shaped pastas such as elbow macaroni (which is what I used)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
5 plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), chopped (I used a 15 oz can of organic chopped tomatoes because that's what I had in my pantry)
8 ounces cold fresh mozzarella, drained, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 large fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, about 8 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a heavy large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and saute just until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the cheese and basil, and toss to coat. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt. Spoon the pasta into small serving bowls and serve immediately.

Chicken sausages

Growing up, it was always such a treat when my mom bought sausages from DePasquale's in Newton. (Look at the picture on their homepage and just try not munch at the screen.) It was one of the first artisanal foods I fell in love with; you could immediately taste the difference between those and the ones we got at the Star Market. They were rich and spicy and tender; just delicious.

Years later, and about 300 miles from DePasquale's, I still love sausage: it's a great go-to food because it's kind of a no brainer to cook. The seasoning's already in there, just add a vegetable and a starch. The problem is, many varieties are high in fat and sodium, not great when cooking for toddlers (or anyone, really). Sausage made with chicken or turkey is a great alternative, but sometimes the sodium content is still sky high, especially if they're pre-cooked. But you can find fresh, lower-sodium versions at the butcher's and at many supermarkets.

We love these chicken-feta-and-sundried-tomato sausages from FreshDirect. They have about a third of the sodium as popular brands like Aidell's or Schaller and Weber, and they're really tasty. We always have them in our fridge, and if Jack could express the notion of a favorite food, I'm almost certain he would pick these sausages. (Or grapes. The kid can pound grapes like nothing I've ever seen.)

Jack and Nellie eat them with peas and orecchiette, with rotini and arugula sauteed with onion (photo above), and with ravioli and balsamic vinegar glazed kale (below). How would you eat them?

Turkey meatloaf

Ground turkey breast is one of those versatile foods that's great to cook with because it's healthy and it takes on the flavor of whatever seasonings you use. I don't like to use turkey as a substitute for ground beef, though - if you want beef, use beef. Turkey is entirely different, and can be quite delicious.

Last week, I made Ina Garten's turkey meatloaf and it was fantastic (I professed my love for Ina in this post; I've never met an Ina recipe I didn't like). Jack and Nellie couldn't get enough - lean ground meat is a great first food as well as an excellent toddler meal - and I kept stealing little bites off their plates because I could hardly wait to eat a piece at adult dinner time. 

The trick is adding a lot of moisture; ground turkey is pretty dry. This recipe calls for sauteed onions mixed with worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and chicken stock. Bread crumbs (I used panko, see photo above) and eggs are a given in most meatloaf recipes. Add a little thyme, salt, and pepper, and yum yum yum. I like it best the next day, as a sandwich with some extra ketchup:

Here are a few more turkey meatloaf recipes to try: this one uses a mix of light and dark meat, Martha Stewart's sounds perfect for fall, and this one uses homemade BBQ sauce. 

Also, this always makes me laugh.

Lentils redux

My friend Emily claims she's not a great cook, but I think she has amazing instincts when it comes to food. The other day we were having sushi at her place, and she whipped us up a side salad of chopped cucumber, avocado, and pomegranate seeds - delicious and the perfect complement to our lunch. She just shared this super simple and healthy recipe with me that she makes once a week for her husband and tot daughter, Willow, one of Jack and Nellie's BFFs. I know you'll love it, too!

Cook two packets of these lentils (from Costco!) as directed. 

Emily adds a can of kidney beans and a sprinkling of chia seeds to boost the healthy and filling quotient. Chick peas would also be tasty.

Serve 'em up with some quinoa, brown rice, jasmine rice, barley, whatever you have on hand! Emily pairs the lentils with roasted veggies - I would love it with some cauliflower tossed with a little curry powder. Turn up the heat with some sriracha or sweeten it with some chutney (or both!). Yum - I can't wait to make this! 

Kids Try Weird Foods

This hilarious video of toddlers trying weird foods - olives! anchovies! - for the first time really made my Friday. Although both Jack and Nellie have embraced olives and didn't balk at pickles, Jack's face when he first tried avocado killed me - he shuddered and looked at me like "what did you just make me eat??" (Sad because avocados are one of my favorite foods - and one of the easiest to prepare for babies. We're just going to have to keep trying.)

Also, this story is too funny.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

I am always thrilled to find one-pan dishes that are also delicious. It's like winning the recipe jackpot, isn't it? Because who has time to prepare a feast and wash 900 pans and prep bowls on a Wednesday?

This chicken bake by Jamie Oliver (remember when he was the Naked Chef?) is so easy and so tasty, I've made it twice this month. It's a hit with the grown-ups, as well as the toddlers; the chicken pulls right off the bone for tot-friendly pieces, and they can't enough of the bread bits (I served it to them with some halved grape tomatoes for an extra veggie punch). With tomato and basil season fast approaching, I'm planning on this being my go-to dish of the summer.

NOTE: This dish is great the next day, but it doesn't reheat well in the microwave, better to do it in the oven so everything doesn't get soggy. Also, I baked it at 375, not 350 (the recipe is written in Celsius but it converts to 350) and I still needed extra baking time to get the chicken and pancetta as crisp as I like. Of course, this may just be my sub-par NYC apartment oven.

Make this tonight, I promise you'll love it!

Ravioli and Peas

J and N have developed a love for raviolis lately. The love, love, love them like the good one-third-Italian babies they are. I'm partial to Buitoni Four Cheese because, not only are they one of Freshdirect's more affordable options, they are also on the smaller side. All I have to do is cut them in half, and the tots can manage them. (And they take about five minutes to cook in boiling water, how easy is that?)

With a pat of butter, some salt and pepper, a sprinkling of parmesan, and plenty of peas, these raviolis were a hit with my one year olds. What about your kids? (Have you guys tried pumpkin raviolis? Nellie loved them but Jack wasn't feeling well that day, so most of his ended up on the floor.)

Little Beans for my Little Beans

We eat a lot of lentils in our house. They are insanely healthy, and no matter what kind of day I'm having, I always feel like a pretty great mama when J and N dive into a bowl for dinner. And they're so delicious, versatile, and easy to cook with, that I find myself making a huge batch of them about every other week and having some every day that week. Which means my family eats lentils about 180 days a year. Ok, I may be exaggerating a little, but really, we do eat them a lot.

Here's my simple lentil recipe. I adapted it from my mom's verbal directions on how to turn these little dried beans into stewed goodness. Keep in mind, the veggie quantities don't have to be exact - I've made it without carrots one time and without celery another, and it tasted just fine. J and N LOVE these, and so do Evan and I. Extra yummy sprinkled with Parmesan...I mean, what isn't?

2 tbs olive oil
2 celery stalks
1 large or 2 small onions
2 med carrots
1 yellow bell pepper (or whatever color you have in your fridge)
1 16 oz bag green lentils
2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1 28oz can chopped tomatoes
4+ cups of veggie or chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Dice all veggies, roughly the same size. Or, if you're like me and for some are reason physically unable to chop carrots and peppers nicely...leave those veggie a little bigger.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large/wide pot over med heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Cook for about 7-8 minutes, until they start to soften, but don't let them brown.

Add peppers, cook for another 5-10 min until all veggies are relatively soft. Onions and celery should be translucent.

Season veggies with salt and pepper. Stir in oregano.
Add the lentils, toss with veggies, cook for 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes, stock, and bay leaf. Stir to combine. Add a bit more salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for about an hour. Check and stir in 15 minute increments. It's done when lentils are soft and have soaked up all the liquid. If the liquid is gone and lentils are still chewy, add a cup or two of water and cook till soft.

This makes a TON. It also freezes well, so if you don't have two growing monkeys to share it with, you can make it last a little longer. Enjoy!!!

Creating Little Foodies, Step 1

Food is a major debatable issue when it comes to babies, and I feel like its even more so in areas like Brooklyn, where there's organic everything and wheat-free dairy-free most things. Everyone has an opinion, from your mom to the lady in the elevator to the French; and while I do think there are some very important guidelines set by the American Association of Pediatrics and your own friendly pediatrician, beyond that, listen to your gut. There's no one way to feed any person, so do what makes sense for you and your family.

It made sense for us to start solids around five and half months (as suggested by our pediatrician), right after I stopped breastfeeding and pumping and switched exclusively to formula. We didn't start with rice cereals, just jumped right into puréed fruits and veggies. Bananas, sweet potato, butternut squash, puréed pear, and apple sauce were the favorites at first - later we tried mango, papaya, melon, and the twins loved it. Carrots are good, too, but you have to cook them for awhile to get them super puréed, which we felt was important for them at first.

My non-expert advice would be to not stress about starting solids; don't overthink it. At first, we gave them one "meal" a day, which happened around lunch, mostly because that's when they were in the best mood. At seven months, we increased to two meals and added chunkier consistencies like pureed peas and beans. And by nine months they were doing three meals a day and eating mushed EVERYTHING - meats, veggies, cheeses, yogurt, fruits. 

It also makes sense for us to feed them exclusively homemade meals. But that's mostly because I love to cook and I'm home with them full time - all homemade all the time might not work everyone, and there are a ton of amazing packaged options these days. 

Now that J and N are eating real(ish) meals and drinking cow's milk, I'm having so much fun introducing them to new flavors and seeing what they like and don't like. I've always believed in feeding them wholesome food that tastes good, and I was never afraid to add a little salt, pepper, and other spices to their food (something my pediatrician said was fine, and even advocates - "babies need bland food" is a myth, apparently). They eat three meals a day with milk and they just drink water in between meals. Eventually I'll probably add in an afternoon snack, but this schedule works for us right now.

I'm happy that both babies seem to enjoy food and the ritual of meals, even at their very young age. I hope to keep them on this path of eating wholesome foods and to not consider any food off limits, but to understand the difference between everyday foods and treats, and meals and snacks. This is one of my favorite parts of this whole parenting thing so...stay tuned for more!