5 Minutes = Healthier Comfort Food!

Like mother like daughter.

I love macaroni and cheese.  I do.  I know it's on the top of the nono list for dieters-- tons of carbs and (horrors!) cheese!!!  But I love it, and I have to say, there is nothing so comforting as sitting down to a delicious bowl of macaroni and cheese when you're tired and hungry (which, as a mom of a toddler, I often am).

Luckily, this is on my picky toddler's list of foods she will eat.  Hooray!

Now, you can of course make it from scratch.  If you do that, I support you-- I applaud you in fact.  I tried it myself recently with this recipe from thekitchn.com, and it was fantastic.  It was not unduly difficult, but it definitely took more time than ripping open a box and following the idiot-proof directions.  And lately, I kind of need idiot-proof.  I don't know, maybe it's the heat.

So how to make it healthier?  And in 5 minutes (you may know how I adore 5 minute recipes)?  Vegetables!

Why do these things only suddenly matter to me when I'm trying to get my toddler to eat?  I don't know.  Never in my life before child did I ever think-- you know, I should really put some cauliflower in my mac 'n cheese... or carrots... or broccoli...

But now that I have a toddler, that's all I think about.  How can I sneak into this toddler-friendly food more nutrition so I don't feel bad about feeding her simple carbs and cheese (oh my!)?

Little One is very picky.  She's big on visuals.  If it looks like the real thing, she'll take a stab at it.  Sticking green peas and broccoli in her yellow macaroni and cheese is a big turn off (that being said, she'll eat them at another sitting in another setting, but not with this dish... don't ask.)

Sticking steamed and pureed veges into the mix at the end of the cooking process is the perfect answer for us.  Last time I made the dish, I cheated even further and stuck some carrot baby food into the cheese mixture.  This time, I had left over cauliflower that was screaming to be used, so I followed Mark Bittman's advice, and put it in the macaroni.  Here's how my version goes... 5 minutes of actual working time and you're on your way to healthier comfort food!

Steamed Cauliflower for Healthier Mac 'n Cheese:
This recipe, although you have to wait for the water to boil and the cauliflower to cook, technically involves only 5 minutes of labor.  So it's easy.  Like really easy.  And you can do this once, freeze the leftovers, and simply add it in whenever you need it!

1. Take a head of a cauliflower and core and chop it into large pieces.

2. Boil water, salt it, and then add cauliflower and cook for 20-25 minutes until tender.

3. Drain.  Take a potato masher and mash it up together with a bit of olive oil, mustard, and nutmeg until really smooth.  Quantities are up to you.  My preference is 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 tsp mustard, 1/2 tsp nutmeg.  (This can also be done in a food processor if you prefer... but it's more clean up time, so who needs it?)

4. Mix in your desired amount with prepared macaroni and cheese.  The trick is to add just enough cauliflower that you get the nutrients without overpowering the pasta/cheesiness.  For a box of mac 'n cheese, I used a cup of cauliflower puree.  I like to add some extra grated Parmesan so the dish doesn't loose it's cheesiness.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Leavened!" (Best Passover Muffin Recipe Ever!)

Is it weird that every holiday for me centers around the making and eating of food?

Weeks ago we made plans with friends and invited them over for a weekend brunch.  I didn't realize then that it would be Passover and I wouldn't be able to rely on crusty baguettes or my favorite zucchini bread to supplement the menu.

In our family we give up bread and other associated products on Passover to commemorate the Jews' hasty exodus from enslavement in Egypt and eat matzah-- unleavened, cracker-like, disgusting, aptly named "bread of affliction"-- for 8 days.

So I Googled like crazy, as I often do.  And lo and behold, I am not the only one who obsesses about holiday foods!  A search for "passover muffins" yielded pages of recipes, and after sifting through them I was able to make up a recipe of my own to suit this weekend's brunch.  It seems that I am not the only one who spends two weeks out of every year in a frenzied search for recipes to soften the blow of eight days of no bread

If I do say so myself, these Kosher for Passover muffins will knock your socks off.  They're fluffy, tender, moist, and to be honest, make me feel a little guilty for enjoying myself so much!

"Happy Purim! The most joyous holiday of the year!"

So says the book "Good Night Israel" that we have read to the Little One every night for the last week.  The book says good morning, good evening and good night to many different places and people in Israel, and touches on the Jewish holiday Purim, showing kids dressed up in funny costumes, making noise and having fun.

On the next page there is a picture of kids making hamantaschen, the triangle fruit filled cookies traditional to Purim.  On that page, the book asks, "Would you like to help make hamantaschen?"  And dear Little O, she always answers with a resounding "Yes!"

So you can imagine I was excited for Purim to come.  I told her how we would make hamantaschen.  I told her how we'd roll the dough, fill it with fruit, and bake it in the oven, a la the patty cake song.

I had the Jewish equivalent of visions of sugar-plums dancing in my head.

It didn't turn out quite like I planned.

The trauma began with my electric hand mixer,

Savory Beef and Vegetable Stew: slow cooker tested, toddler approved!

Back in December, when I shared my recipe for a kale and chicken meatball soup, I made the bold statement that I'd be making a lot of hearty and healthy winter stews this season.

Well, I'm ashamed to say that although I have been making stew after soup (still don't know the difference!), I haven't posted too many of them here because, frankly, they don't photograph well!  I've been really trying to take advantage of my slow cooker, and honestly although food that's been stewed together for hours tastes DIVINE...

A Wake-Up Call For Your Slow Cooker: Caribbean Inspired Pulled Chicken

When I was pregnant with Little One, a friend told me that we HAD to take a "babymoon."  One last hurrah as a couple, in some relaxing locale, where we could enjoy each other and the peace and quiet before diapers and sleep training and playgrounds took over our lives.

So we booked a cheap package deal to the Caribbean and went, 6 month baby bump and all.

It was a great trip.  It was too cold to really swim very much, but we sipped virgin pina coladas and relaxed on the beach.  We took long walks, ate fresh fish and lots and lots of mango.

(Yet Another) Hearty & Healthy Winter Stew: Chicken Meatball meets Tuscan Kale

I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of soup this season.

I don't think I touch soup half the year, but when the weather turns cold, there's nothing so comforting as a steaming, fragrant bowl of it for lunch or dinner.

(By the way, if anyone could explain the difference between soup and stew to me, please do!)

Anyway, another joy of soups and stews is that it's so easy to make them healthy without taking out any of the things that make them filling and satisfying...

Tomatoes + Parsley = Quickest Pasta Recipe Ever (p.s. your toddler will eat this!)

I don't think you can possibly find a quicker pasta recipe than the one I am about to lay before you.  Aside from opening up a jar of something, this has got to be it.  And, it's much more satisfying not to mention delicious.

It's a great way to use those beautiful tomatoes that are spilling off the stands at the farmers markets these days.  If the heirloom varieties weren't $4/lb at my local farmers market, I would totally have used them.  Instead, I got the cheaper plum tomatoes (a mere $1.50/lb).  They didn't disappoint.  The tomato flavor really sings in this dish, and you can appreciate the fresh taste since the tomatoes stay raw.

The secret, I think, is that by tossing the warm pasta with the sauce, the pasta drinks in all the flavors and what you end up with is something savory yet refreshing.

So here it is.  Make it while the pasta cooks.

Quickest Pasta Recipe Ever

Ok, so it's a little more than just tomatoes + parsley, but it takes minutes to make!  If you make this in the summer, use as much fresh basil as suits your taste.  Since we're well into fall here, I chose dried basil.  Adding fresh parsley, which I keep in a pot on a sunny windowsill, brightens up the dish and kind of fools you into thinking the basil is fresh too!

3-4 large plum tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp dried basil (or 1/4 c fresh chopped basil)

1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped

1/8 c olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 lb whole wheat penne

Start boiling the water for the pasta.

Chop tomatoes and parsley, toss in the bowl with the olive oil.  Take dried basil and, rubbing it between your palms to freshen the herb, add it to the tomatoes.  Mince the garlic, and add it to the tomatoes, along with the salt (optional: I like to mince the garlic with the kosher salt, it kind of mashes the garlic down even further, which is nice since you won't be cooking this sauce).  Toss well.

While you're making the sauce, add the pasta to salted boiling water and cook according to package directions.  While the water is boiling/pasta is cooking, your sauce will have a chance to set.  Drain cooked pasta and immediately toss with the sauce. If you like, top with shavings of parmesan or pecorino romano.  Enjoy!

Like this recipe? Let me know!  Have a quicker pasta idea?  Share it!

UPDATE: Toddler Alert!  My super picky eater / toddler extraordinaire ate this all up!  So for all of you out there trying to shove food into your toddlers or other picky eaters at your dinner table, try this!

Bread (Crust!) Pudding Fit for a Toddler

You may not know me very well.  If you're reading this you may not know that I have the world's pickiest toddler, that she doesn't like to eat many things that normal toddlers adore, and that every day is a constant struggle to pack nutrition into her little body.

You may not know that about me.  But you may have a similar situation at home.  For instance, I've heard that my Little One's aversion to crusts on her sandwiches is not terribly unique.  Every morning when I make her breakfast (cream cheese sandwiches, it's pretty much the only thing I can get her to consistently eat) I diligently shave off all the awful crusts and... well, to be honest, at first I was throwing them out.  I know.  Terrible waste.  So, I decided to start collecting them in a bag in the freezer, and figured I'd find out what to do with them later.

I Googled like crazy: bread crust recipes...  toddler crust recipes...  what to do with leftover bread crusts...

Anyway, bread (crust) pudding was my favorite find.  A few people suggested it, and one person had a healthy twist on it that I decided to try.

It was good, but a little liquidy and sweet and didn't hold together like I envisioned a bread pudding would.  And, although my picky toddler did try it (hooray!) she did not eat it a second time.

So I tried again.  I used some ideas from the healthy recipe, cracked open the good ol' Joy of Cooking for a little more info and voila!  Pure toddler comfort food.

Bread (Crust!) Pudding Fit for a Toddler

As I shot the photos for this post, my little picky eater made a b-line for the plate of pudding and actually asked for some, even though she just ate a big breakfast!  Try this, trust me, you'll be happy you did.

4 cups lightly packed whole wheat bread crusts, diced into 1/2 inch pieces (or thereabouts)
2 cups whole milk
3 eggs
1/8 c agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 apple, peeled and grated
1/2 c raisins

Whisk eggs, agave, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.  Add milk and whisk well.  In a 2 qt buttered/oiled baking dish, layer as follows: 1/3 of the bread crusts, 1/2 of the apples, 1/2 of the raisins, 1/3 of the egg mix.  Repeat.  End with last third of bread crusts, topped with last third of egg mix.

Let sit for 30 min (very important!!!), occasionally pressing down with a spatula to ensure the liquid gets absorbed.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Bake in water bath* (also very important) about 1 1/4 hr, until browned, puffed a bit, and firm in the center.


*Don't be scared, it's easy! Joy of Cooking says to lie a dish towel, or rack, inside a roasting pan, and place the baking dish on top.  When the whole contraption is in the oven, pour enough hot water in the roasting pan to reach up half way on the baking dish.  Apparently doing this prevents your pudding from getting grainy.  Works for me.

Let me know if your little ones eat it!

Pretty Plum Cake (and dairy-free!)

Today I baked.

I love baking-- I think I could probably drop 20 pounds, easy, if I could just bake more cakes.  I know this sounds crazy, but the joy I get from creating new delicious treats is so satisfying that my normal sweet cravings are kept in check while I feed others.

Baking in a small kitchen is an exercise in organization and planning ahead.  I'm not great at that.  My eyes roll when I see the prep list of a recipe-- combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl... mix the wet in a medium bowl... in a large bowl take the remaining liquid....

Where to put everything when your counter space is limited?  I usually have bags of flour perched on top of the stack of cookbooks, spice bottles tucked in the valleys between the mixing bowls, and measuring cups and spoons just tossed in random crevices.  It's a bit of a balancing act, but it works.

Anyway, so today I baked.

We were invited to a friend's place for a barbecue and it was just a total pleasure being there.  It was a sort of house warming, and the home was warm indeed.  Nice conversation, mostly happy children playing, and of course, great food.  In honor of a visit outside of the house, I felt inspired to bake one of the recipes I've been saving in a notebook for years.  It's a plum upside-down cake, and it's wonderful.

Pretty Plum Cake (Dairy-free) (adapted from Real Simple)

This is such a pretty cake, the photos don't do it justice.  And it's so good.  I made this cake dairy-free, but the original calls for butter and regular sour cream.  I bet the cake would also taste great with yogurt instead of sour cream-- give it a different kind of zing.  Next time.

Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 2 hrs 20 min

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp margarine
6 plums (2.5" diameter) peel on, cut into 8 wedges each
1/4 cup + 2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 large egg
2/3 cup tofu sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest (about half a lemon's worth)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes cloves

Prep.  Heat oven to 350 F.  Grease (with margarine or butter) an 8 inch cake pan (make sure it's deep, at least 4 inches).  Line the bottom with parchment paper.

Plums.  Melt 1 tbsp margarine in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add plums and 1/4 c sugar and a dash of cloves.  Cook, stirring around, until sugar dissolves and juices from plums become syrupy, about 4 min.  While warm, arrange plums in cake pan, in slightly overlapping concentric circles, starting from the outside.  Spoon pan juices over the plums.

Dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and remaining spices.

Wet ingredients.  In a large bowl, beat 1/2 c margarine, 2/3 c sugar until fluffy.  Beat in egg, sour cream, vanilla, lemon zest.   Slowly add dry ingredients, mix just until incorporated.

Bake.  Pour batter over plums and bake until toothpick in center comes out clean, about 55 min.  Let cool in pan 1 hr. Place large plate over cake pan and invert cake onto plate.

Marvel at the pretty thing you made, then eat it.

Do you bake in a small kitchen? Do you think your small space hampers your love of cooking? 

Carmelized Fennel with Sausages

I have a strange relationship with fennel.  Although I'm not a big fan of the licorice/anise flavor, Mr. Minimalist is.  So, for his sake, since he puts up with so many of my food experiments and eats all the "girly" food I often put out, I decided to take up with fennel and see what I could do with it.  In years past, I have used it with success in only one dish (a fish dish by Martha Stewart, of course).  A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I would be trying out a fennel and sardine pasta dish.  It did not go so well.  It was fishy and murky and not yummy at all.  But this week, I tried another fennel recipe and with great success!

This dish is based on a recipe by Lidia Bastianich (of "Lidia's Italy" fame).  I varied it a bit to suit the ingredients I had at hand and it turned out great.  My version involves a little short cut of buying the sausage precooked, so the order of operations was a little different from Lidia's dish.  Plus, by using quinoa as the underlying "grain" (really it's a seed... how cool is that?) I upped the protein/nutrition power of this dish.  Mr. Minimalist loved the dish, as did I, and it's quite healthy and guilt free. 


Carmelized Fennel with Sausage, over Herbed Quinoa

This recipe makes a nice filling but light dinner for four.  If you are super-size me kind of eaters, you might want to double the recipe, that way you'll have more than enough for dinner and leftovers.

A trick I read somewhere to make cooking less stressful is to prepare everything ahead of time. So, before you turn on the saute pan, do the following: peel and crush the garlic, pit and crush the olives (I did these two steps using a meat mallet... very satisfying!), and chop the fennel. The best way is to remove the stalk and the hard base, then cut it in half and cut out the core. Then slice each half again, and slice into 1 inch pieces. In my case, I also used frozen cooked sausages, so I defrosted them in the microwave while I chopped, then sliced them on the diagonal.

2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup olives, pitted and smashed (I used a mix of Sicilian and Kalamata)
1 large fennel bulb, chopped (reserve the fronds)
1/2 cup apple juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
5-6 precooked sausages, about 12 oz, sliced (I used Bilinski's Spinach and Garlic Chicken Sausage)
1 cup quinoa, dry
2 cup water
2 tbsp chopped fennel fronds
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
kosher salt to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp)

Start the quinoa.  Rinse it well in a fine sieve under cold water for at least 20 seconds to remove the bitterness.  Combine the rinsed quinoa and the water in a pot with a tight lid and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat, keep the lid on, and simmer the quinoa for 15-20 minutes until tender and translucent.  Toss the cooked quinoa with a tsp of olive oil and the fennel fronds and dill (reserving some for garnish).

Once the quinoa is cooking you can start on the rest.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large saute or frying pan.  Saute the garlic for a minute over medium heat until it starts to brown.  Add the crushed pitted olives.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the chopped fennel.  Sprinkle with salt, cover, and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Towards the end, add 1/4 cup of apple juice and the apple cider vinegar.  The fennel should be caramelizing, so you should see it change color a bit and soften a great deal.  If the fennel is still hard after 20 minutes, add the remaining apple juice and cook until soft.

Add the chopped sausage and continue to cook over medium heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 3-5 minutes more, until the flavors have melded and the sausages are glazed.  Serve over the quinoa and garnish with fennel fronds and dill.

Lemon Verbena Summer Tea

I have been in love with lemon verbena since childhood.  You may remember me waxing poetic about my aunt and uncle's garden here.  In addition to a proliferation of citrus fruit, they always had a small bush of lemon verbena growing in the front yard.  My aunt referred to it by part of it's Latin name, Aloysia. As a child, I was sure she was calling it "Louisa." I didn't realize until embarrassingly later in life that this wondrous plant was in fact called lemon verbena, and not named after one of the Von Trapp daughters.

Some years the plant grew waist high, some years-- drier years-- it was scraggly and low, but there were always a few leaves for picking and steeping in tea.  Lemon verbena, in the proper climates, is a shrub.  The leaves are so fragrant that you can smell the lemony sweetness even by brushing past them as you walk. In tea, it gives a really smooth and subtle lemon flavor, with none of the sourness or acidity of actual lemons. It's warm and wonderful.

Now, since the garden is finally ready for planting (more on that later) I went out and got myself my very own Louisa plant.  I live in a much colder climate than lemon verbena should really have to thrive, but I'm hoping for the best.  Wish me luck.

Lemon Verbena Summer Tea

You can make lemon verbena tea on its own, or add it to hot or iced green or black tea for something a little more complex. It's very versatile.  Today, I made this tea hot.  You can follow the same directions, increasing the portion size, and with a little patience have a pitcher full of delicious iced tea.

6 oz boiling water
5 leaves lemon verbena
1 tsp honey

For one mug of tea, pick at about five good sized leaves.  Pour six ounces boiling water over the leaves and let steep about five minutes.  Add a scant teaspoon of honey.  Sip and enjoy.

A Midsummer's Day's Musing

We went to the park today.  Today was one of the rare days when it was actually hotter in the park than outside.  Normally the park is a haven from the heat-- it's shady, breezy, and isolated from the heat that collects on the city streets.  Normally, we lay out, spread a blanket on the grass, and stare up at the blue blue sky while the little one watches all the bigger kids play ball on the field.  Normally our view is something like this:

But today it was muggy, buggy and overall just an unpleasant place to be.  I dragged my poor family to the park, however, because it was the farmer's market today, and we made a new resolution (call it a midsummer's resolution) to buy three different vegetables every week so that we could incorporate more fresh produce into our diets.  Last week it was beets.  Big mistake.  Beets, I believe, are not one of those vegetables that must be purchased fresh to enjoy.  To make most recipes, you have to roast or boil them, and to be honest, it was so labor intensive I lost all appreciation for the vegetable.  Maybe I just don't have the beet gene. 

But I digress. 

Anyway, this new resolution of ours has been working out well.  We got fennel and kale (we still have beets left over from last week, so we only got two more this week).  I found a recipe for fennel and sardine pasta sauce that I'll try out later and let you know about.  Kale is always good, and we throw it in everywhere. 

So today was productive, but hot.  No laying out for us today.  But we'll have vegetables for the week.  Recipes to come.

Greek Yogurt + Dill = Happiness

It's amazing what I've learned to do in five minutes.  I can load the dishwasher (or, since it's been broken for a week, I can hand wash a sink full of dishes), sort and start a load of laundry, or catch up on email.  Today, I realized, I could also make a super yummy dip that is actually pretty healthy too. 

I found a recipe for dill dip years ago, and the first time I made it I accidentally screwed up the proportions and it turned out wonderful!  It's a great way to use fresh dill which you can find all over the place right now.  The walnuts really add something I think.  The best thing about this recipe?  You can make it in five minutes.  Maybe less if you move fast.  I made it this morning while my daughter played with her toys.  If you've had a one year old, you know that five minutes is sometimes all you have.

Five-Minute Summer Dill Dip (adapted from Real Simple)

It really makes a difference what kind of yogurt you use for this recipe.  We go through vats of greek yogurt in this house, so it's always around.  If you don't keep it in stock, then you can probably pick up a single container just for this recipe (I like Chobani's 0% greek yogurt, a 6 or 8 oz container should be fine).  According to this recipe calculator 1/8 of this recipe (which would make up a hefty snack) has only 3.3 grams of fat and more protein than carbs.  Pretty good I'd say.

1 cup fat-free greek yogurt
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Chop. Mince. Mix. Eat.