Summer Spaghetti

This dish is great served hot or cold... and it goes perfect with a fresh lettuce salad and some bruscetta. My friend Leslie just reminded me of this delicious dish. We enjoyed this pasta on our Mommy and Baby Nantucket visit last August... the perfect pasta for a perfect time out...

Shopping list:

- angel hair pasta or spaghetti
- cherry tomatoes
- fresh basil
- mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese
- sip of white wine
- green onions
- green asparagus (or zucchini)
- garlic
- salt and petter to taste
- olive oil

1. Cook the pasta

2. While Pasta is cooking cut cherry tomatoes in half and chop green onions, garlic, mozzarella and asparagus. Heat some olive oil in a pan add tomatoes green onions and asparagus and pour a sip of white wine in there and add salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for 5 min (don't coo too long the asparagus is supposed to be crunchy and not overcooked).

3. Mix cooked al dente pasta under the sauce and add the mozzarella and chopped basil. Add some parmesan on top... and enjoy!

4. Don't forget to drink the rest of the white wine with it :-).

Spinach nuggets

I found these spinach nuggets the other day at Costco. They are reasonably healthy, very easy to prepare...and Ella loves them.
They have 3g of dietary fiber, 6g of protein, and 7g of fat (0 trans fat). The sodium is a little high though with 390mg.

Try them....

Brisket in the Crock Pot

So I made a brisket all day on Easter and it was sooooo good! This is super easy...and well worth it!
We made brisket sandwiches on Easter night...then we just had brisket tacos tonight! So good!

You will need:

One brisket...just as big as your crock pot is....it shrinks a lot....I cannot remember how big
One jar of your favorite BBQ sauce
One dark beer (you can drink the other 5 while you are waiting)
Red Onion
Brown Sugar
Maple Syrup
(If you want sandwiches)
Bread
?Cheese?
(If you want tacos)
corn tortillas
cilantro
cheese

Posted by Lea

Just put the brisket fat side down in the crock pot
Put the jar of BBQ sauce, beer, a little brown sugar and a little maple syrup in the crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours
I add some chopped onions in there about half way thru
Then just take it out and pull it apart! So yummy....

Minesrone Pasta

For some reason we are having a lot of italian food at the moment. Ella likes pasta and it is quick and easy to make with a lot of variety. Here is one more of our favorites...

Shopping list:

- 1 leek
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk of celery
- 5 green beans
- 1 quart vegetable bouillon (or chicken stock)
- 1 1/4 cup purred tomato
- 2 bay leaves
- shell pasta (or any other kind, but the small shells are easy to eat for the kids)
- rosemary
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- fresh parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta.

2. Heat olive oil in a pan and add vegetables cook until tender. (I chop all vegetables very small that it is easier for Ella to eat them)

3. Pour bouillon and tomato puree over vegetables, add bay leaves, bring to boil the reduce heat and let simmer covered.

4. Add Pasta top with parmesan cheese and serve\

Bon Apetiti!

Ella is not a big fan of vegetables right now, but if they are chopped really small she doesn't always notice she is actually eating them ;-)!

Coconut Mango Smoothie

This is not really dinner but a great little desert or even mid afternoon snack we love.

Shopping list:

- 1 mango
- 14 oz can coconut milk
- 1 cup greek yoghurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- ground cinnamon.

Throw everything into your blender and add ice!!! Yummi!!!

Dining in NYC...

Here is what my friend Leslie emailed me. Her daughter Grace is 16 months old and they live in the City. I thought I share this with everyone...

I pretty much keep it simple with Grace - she eats whatever we are having for dinner. Grace eats everything! Eating is her favorite activity. Haha.

Some of her favorite things:

Breakfast -
-Brown Sugar Oatmeal
-Frozen Pancakes

Lunch and Dinner -
-Chicken Hot Dogs
-Eggs
-American Cheese open-face toasted on bread
-Baked Salmon (she lvoes smoked salmon too....loves her lox like a NYC girl)
-Sauteed ground beef (I buy grass fed organic)
-chicken breast cutlet
-turkey meatballs (i buy them made!)
-rotisserie chicken meat
-Elbow Macaroni Pasta
-instant Mac N Cheese (only when i have nothing in the house!)
-Boiled Carrots
-boiled little potatoes (they're sweeter, I think)
-Frozen peas
-Avocado (loves)
-Steamed broccoli
-rice (we usally like rice pilaf or wild rice, she eats both)
-String Cheese
-Grapes, Strawberries, Bananas, Blueberries, Blackberries

Hope this helps

Chicken Meat Balls

As I said Ella loves chicken, so here is a chicken meat ball dish that can be served either with pasta or rice.

Shopping list:

- 1/2 pound ground chicken
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- salt, pepper olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 1/4 cup tomato puree or diced canned tomatoes
- pinch of sugar

1. Make meat balls by mixing chicken, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and egg. Season with salt an pepper. Form small meat balls. Fry meat balls in a little olive oil and set aside once done.

2. Cook pasta or rice.

3.To make the sauce put the garlic and oregano in a pan adding a little olive oil. Add tomatoes and a pinch of sugar.

4. Add chicken meat balls and cook until meat balls are heated.

Va bene, here is your italian chicken meat ball dish! Hope you like it!

Baked Rigatoni!!

Warm, cheesy pasta with a slightly spicy sauce: Yum! This dish is terrific the first night and works as well reheated later in the week. Or, take leftovers for lunch. I made this and it was awesome...I added a little more red pepper flakes than it has on here....because I like mine really spicy! I also added a few to the parmesan that I added on top...it was yummy! It was good the next day for lunch too!!

1
tablespoon olive oil
4
cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1
(28-ounce) can whole or diced tomatoes, with juices
¼
teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ½
teaspoons dried oregano
1
teaspoon kosher salt
1
teaspoon sugar
1
cup heavy cream
¾
cup grated parmesan (divided use)
16
ounces rigatoni
Preheat oven to 400 F. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until golden but not browned, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes and their juices, red pepper, oregano, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer (crushing tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon, if using whole tomatoes) until sauce thickens slightly, about 20 minutes.
Stir in cream and 1/2 cup of the parmesan. Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni according to the package directions. Add the drained rigatoni to sauce and toss to coat. Transfer to a 2-quart casserole and top with remaining grated parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Makes 4 servings.

Easy and Tasty Bean Soup

Combine two different cans of beans (I used one can of black beans and one can of pinto beans) with juices, one can diced tomatoes with juice, 1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion, 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro, 2 tablespoons taco seasoning. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot with a tablespoon of salsa, one tablespoon of sour cream, and chopped green onions. Add some love. Enjoy!

Ella's favorite...

Ella loves to eat chicken, so we have chicken for dinner a couple times a week. One of her favorites is pretty simple. We call it Cheesy Chicken Casserole.

Shopping list (serves 4):

- 1/2 cup penne pasta (try whole wheat)
- 3/4 cup broccoli floret, 1/3 cup cauliflower florets
- 1 large leek
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flower
- 3 cups of milk
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 cup grated cheese, plus extra sprinkles (cheddar, gouda or any cheese you like)
- 1 tbsp whole wheat brad crumbs, or ritz crackers ;-)
- 1 large chicken breast

1. Cook pasta accoring to package instructions.

2. Clean and dice chicken in small bits. Salt and pepper add a little spritzer of lemon juice and olive oil and let marinade while you make the cheese sauce.

3. For the cheese sauce melt butter, reduce heat stir in flower and cook (constantly stirring) until it turns into a thick light brown paste. Add milk while whisking and cook until texture has thickened. Add the oregano, mustard and cheese and heat stirring until cheese is melted.

4. Fry Chicken slices in a pan until lightly brown.

5. Add pasta, chicken, broccoli, cauliflower to a casserole form. Put cheese sauce on top of it and additional cheese sprinkles and bread/ritz cracker crumbs on top of it. Bake in oven at 375 degrees until cheese on top is melted and broccoli and cauliflower are ready.

Ella does not care for vegetables much but with the cheese sauce and the chicken she doesn't mind the broccoli and cauliflower at all. Next time I'll cook it I will take a picture for you all and add it to the blog :-).

So please everyone start sharing your recipes and we will build a nice little recipe book for our kids this way :-) Simply add a new post to the blog. It will walk you though everything....