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Made these for the Mark Twain Library Frog Frolic (a children’s fair). It took me way too long, but it was my first real attempt at cupcake decorating. Yes, not ideal because of the food coloring. My youngest helped me … Continue reading
One wonderful way to use up leftovers is to make a stir-fry. And a fabulously delicious and nutritious stir-fry is fried rice (home made anyway). We used up scrambled egg from breakfast; rice, a bit of vegetables and a few scraps of pork from dinner. This is adaptable depending on what you have left over or in the fridge. Ours was colorful with plenty of yummy vegetables and delicious flavors from the ginger, soy, sesame and garlic. It is also quick to cook— it’s just chopping that takes any time.
It’s best to use cold rice for this, so if you need you can always cook the rice then chill it before adding it to wok (or in my case, my Dutch oven).
Fried Rice
2-3 cups jasmine or basmati rice, cooked and chilled
pork, chicken, shrimp or tofu (I used about 6-8 oz pork)
2 eggs scrambled, chilled
handfuls of chopped vegetables:
broccoli, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage
½ cup peas (defrost if frozen)
½ cup edamame (defrost if frozen)
½ med onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ inch piece ginger, grated
1½ Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2½ Tbsp canola, sunflower or grapeseed oil
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
sea salt (if needed) & ground pepper
handful of cilantro, chopped
Blanch for a couple of minutes any vegetables that need longer cooking time like broccoli, carrots and peppers. Set aside and chill. Add the canola oil to a wok, sauté pan or other appropriate pan, and once hot add the onion cooking for few minutes. Add the garlic and meat until almost cooked through. Add remaining ingredients except rice and cilantro. Let vegetables soak up flavors then add rice (breaking apart and lumpy bits). Stir often and adjust seasoning (soy, sesame and pepper) to taste. Cook on medium-high heat for about 3- 5 minutes. You’ll want to make sure you don’t overcook the vegetables so they lose color or nutrients. Stir in cilantro. Serve immediately and enjoy!
My kids loved this. The colors are vibrant, the taste is yummy and there’s a few of their favorite vegetables and a couple of not-such favorites they might actually eat since it’s all blended together.
My husband, the chef, was home from work for 4 days in a row, a much deserved and overdue break. During that time he spoiled us with wonderful meals that I’m not as likely to make— only in that they include the wonderful sauces derived from his demiglace. Demiglace that he makes from scratch (roasted veal bones & roasted veggies made into stock with aromatic herbs) that I don’t have the time or impetus to make myself.
One night for dinner he made a veal saltimboca. (I never buy veal, although we may be getting some this year with our “meat share” of our CSA.) Veal medalions pan seared then topped with sliced prosciutto & sage sauce. 
The kids loved it although my youngest didn’t like the look of the veal at first and it took a bit of coaxing to convince him to just try one little bite. I don’t push them to finish something they don’t like but I do usually try to get them to at least taste something new. If it gets too difficult, then I will drop it. I don’t want to force them and know that they’ll be more willing to try if they see us all enjoying it instead of fighting it off. And at least he loved his vegetables: broccoli, swiss chard, and peas.
The other wonderful meal that my husband made was a roast leg of lamb. Now, I can make a great lamb roast but my chef showed me a new way of doing it that resulted in a wonderfully tender and evenly roasted meat. The lamb was a boneless leg from New Zealand that I purchased at Trader Joe’s (it’s not lamb season in NZ now) and I know NZ lamb is grass-fed and have such a great delicate flavor.
He put the seasoned (salt and pepper) leg into the oven at 200ºF oven for an hour then raised the temperature to 225°F for another 2½-3 hours until the internal temperature of the lamb was 140ºF. And then let it sit for another 30 minutes outside the oven. It was very tender by roasting it at a lower temp for a longer time. It retained the moisture and reduced shrinking (a similar method he uses to make a prime rib roast). 
To the pan he then added juices shallots, garlic, rosemary, demiglace and red wine then brought it to a boil and scraped any bits off the bottom. Then he transferred the sauce to a sauté pan and reduced it until it was much more concentrated.
Both the lamb and the sauce were delicious! The boys loved it all. The eldest two had extra sauce on their mashed potatoes once they tried it on the lamb. We had zucchini and spinach to round it off.
So glad to have had such high caliber dinners this week. I love that my kids are mostly open to eating all types of foods too. I think by putting the food in front of them and giving them the opportunity to actually try it— they do. Especially if you eat with them.
Finding local egg, dairy and other farms.
If you’re wondering where to buy your eggs, milk, produce or meat near you. It may be possible to sign up for CSA programs around you too!
These steps will help give your kids healthier options than food from massive farms — those that use hormones, antibiotics and other harmful additives.
Thank you! Yes, my kids really eat this food, but not all of them all the time— I usually say if one didn’t like something. Most of the time, they all do.
I’ve been trying to eat a few more vegetarian meals, mostly out of wanting to cut down on our animal protein intake, but not giving it up entirely. A friend mentioned falafel and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. But I’d just cooked all the chickpeas I’d soaked, supposedly falafel is made with raw chickpeas, so I had to rethink what I was going to make. With the dukkah recipe it gave me an idea for another spice combination and I saw some recipes for vegetarian burgers and fritters using beans. So my chickpea fritter was borne of these.
2 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 garlic cloves
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp olive oil for frying
Toast the seeds over medium high heat for a couple of minutes. Throw all ingredients except egg into food processor and blend together until pasty. Add egg and mix for another minute. 
Form into patty shapes and pan fry in olive oil over medium high heat for a few minutes, flip and cook other side. Turn heat down if it gets too brown. Make sure they’ve cooked through then drain on paper towel. 
Serve alone or with plain yogurt, mint and lemon juice.
I have a good friend who is vegetarian and I was so happy to share one of my new recipes with her— because I finally could! But it wasn’t she who was as enamored of it as her meat-loving son. He couldn’t get enough AND he’d just had dinner. Woo-hoo!
My two eldest loved them too, but I couldn’t convince my youngest to try even a bite. Next time, maybe.
One of my girlfriend’s kids calls chickpeas (garbanzo beans) “bottoms” because they kind of look like bottoms/bums/heinies. Well when I told my eldest this, he thought they looked more like hearts. I love either. Fun images that conjur good thoughts in their minds. If kids have positive associations with food, I believe it helps them try new things/enjoy good foods.
I love that our kids enjoy a wonderful staple and will eat them in all different manners. My friend’s sons eat them right out of the can as a snack. Both our sons also love hummus. I’ve been adding chickpeas to many dishes in the past year, but this week I tried a few new recipes and each time they were well received.
I’d been reading about roasted chickpeas for a while now so I thought I’d take a stab at making them. There’s something about chickpeas that Moroccan spices come to mind, so i thought they’d naturally go well together in this manner.
Roasted Bottoms or Hearts (Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans)
1 can chickpeas
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp turmeric (optional)
⅛ tsp cayenne (optional)
sea salt and ground pepper to taste
Tbsp olive oil
Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and spread out on baking sheet. Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
So easy and so delicious! Brought these as an appetizer to a party with kale chips and turkey meatballs. My eldest son liked them so much that he blurted out in class (complete segue I gather), “Has anyone tried roasted chickpeas? They’re delicious!”
I’ll post the dukkah and other creation later.
