Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals

It's very easy to make cooking whole, healthful ingredients seem hard, time consuming or expensive. What's hard though, is making it look easy—easy, affordable, absolutely doable every night of the week. Few people do that better than Caroline Wright, author of the new book Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals. 

Caroline is the kind of thoughtful friend who just sends things in the mail—surprises—like a hand-knit baby blanket (when you're expecting your first babe), or a hand-written note on a notecard with a pair of Wellies on the front (because she pays attention to what moves you). So I wasn't entirely surprised when I got a slim, black and white bound book in the mail called Twenty-Dollar, Twenty Minute-Meals that she had written, photographed and published herself as a gift to her friends. Amazing. Who does that? 

While that savvy, slim book sat on my nightstand as a reminder of all the things I believe in (creating, giving, chasing dreams), Caroline turned around and got that very book published by Workman Publishing and it's hitting the book stores this week. So now this very thoughtful collection of recipes is available to you, too. 

When I saw the finished book, this time remade with a bright red cover and the same kind of creative recipes inside, my first thought was, yes! Omelets with Asparagus and Goat Cheese, Roasted Haloumi with Scallions, Cherry Tomatoes and Couscous, and Polenta with Mushrooms and Tellegio? Yes, please. This is the kind of simple, satisfying food cooks, like she and I, make at home at night, make for our friends, and want to get the next generation cooking, too. Because this is food to build a life on. 

This food has gumption. Kind of like Caroline. (that's what it takes to write and publish your own cookbook in your spare time, and get it noticed by a serious publisher).

And this food is thoughtful. Kind of like Caroline. It minds your time and your dishes (one step, one-dirty-dish-only kind of meals), and rewards your effort with bright, surprising, delightful meals.

Take this dish, for example, that I cooked in honor of her Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meal book launch party: Zuchini Ribbon Salad with Potatoes, Ricotta Salata, Dill, Peas + Radishes (recipe below). It has almost every one of my favorite foods in it, and puts them together in their easiest form. The potatoes are steamed, the radishes sliced, the zucchini shaved on a simple vegetable peeler. And the peas? No shelling required. Just pert, frozen peas brought to room temperature and tossed in raw. Easy. Peasy. And so, so good.

This is the kind of dish you'd happily make for one (and hoard the leftovers for your weekday work lunch), create to feed a young family (my toddler loved this!), or turn into an easy, spring-inspired dinner party fare. That's kind of the feel of all her food—it fits our modern lives, no matter who we are.

As for me, it's time to pack up that snap ware with the leftovers and head to work. I'll be looking forward to lunch even more than usual today. 

Zucchini Ribbon Salad
 with Potatoes, Ricotta Salata, Dill, Peas + Radishes

Excerpted from Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals

Fill a large saucepan with water to a depth of 2 inches, add salt, and bring it to a simmer over low heat.

Arrange 8 small new potatoes (about 12 ounces total), halved, in a steamer basket and set the basket
in the pan. Cover and steam the potatoes until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the potatoes and 1 cup frozen peas to a colander and run under cold water until the potatoes are cool and the peas hae thawed.

While the potatoes cook, use a vegetable peeler to shave 4 zucchini and/or yellow summer squash into a medium bowl in long, thin strips.

Add the potatoes and peas; 4 ounces ricotta salata, sliced; 1 cup sliced radishes; 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill; 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; and 
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, toss, and serve.

 Copyright 2013 by Caroline Wright

Used by permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. New York

All Rights Reserved    

            

For more easy, delicious recipes like this one, check out these bloggers today as they celebrate Caroline's book! 

• Food 52
• Weelicious
• Sassy Radish
• Matt Bites
• Seven Spoons
• Devour Blog (CookingChannel.com)
• Gastronomer's Guide
• The Wright Recipes

getting is just right

We’ve been reading a lot of classic old stories around our house lately. Rapunzel. Hansel and Gretel. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I can really relate to Goldilocks—I like things to be just right. But it can sometimes seem hard to get there. Especially when you’re trying to get it all right in so many places at once. You hit a home run at work, but drive your toddler to tears; as soon as you’ve managed to convince said toddler that you are the funniest, most wonderful mamma in all the earth, you go and piss your husband right off.    

No one ever said family life was easy. But sometimes you get it just right.

Saturday was one of those kinds of days. We didn’t win the lottery, or accomplish much, really, but it was a nearly perfect day. In the morning, while Greta played in her toy kitchen, I made this baked oatmeal that had been calling to me for days. Delicious. Next, we pulled out the easel and paints, made a few dozen messes and changed our clothes at least twice--always a sign of fun being had. We laid on our bellies on a quilt in the sun eating our first ice cream cones of the season and making up silly songs.  We dug in the yard, planting a few things, pulled up some others. And just before we were about to call it quits for the day, we discovered a patch of wild onions in the back corner of the yard that we’d long overlooked. Jackpot. It was just the thing my random collection of dinner ingredients (black bass, two young eggplant, organic kumquats, the season’s first radishes) would need.

By 6 PM we were all covered head to toe in dirt, winded from moving soil and mulch and one tiny, energetic girl through the day. Everyone was suddenly starving, and needed fed, fast. That, my friends, is when you put your broiler and grill pan to work. Drizzle fat fillets of black bass with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, and olive oil, then pop them in the oven to broil, while the same mixture (salt, pepper, olive oil) dresses thin slices of small, firm eggplant for cooking on the grill pan. It is the ultimate, ten-minute dinner. (If you happen to have some homemade green goddess dressing on hand in the fridge –thank you Real Simple test kitchen—even better. If not, see the recipe, below).

As it all came together on the plate, I started to have that buzzy, motivated feeling you get when you just came up with something really good. András poured us each our favorite Belgian beer, and we gathered at the table. And just when started to pick up our forks, Greta, sitting in her usual spot between us, reached for our hands and said, “Mamma, the prayer!” Oh yes, the prayer. She bowed her head and started, “dear Lord, thank you so much for everything. We’re grateful for our family. We’re grateful for … (something we couldn’t quite make out) and ice cream. Now eat. The end.”

This—parenting—trying to build a life that makes your child joyful, curious, and grateful—is working. And, after weeks of admittedly so-so I'm-too-tired-to-cook dinners, this dinner was working too. In fact it was just exactly right.

I’m not suggesting you go rooting around your backyard for wild onions. Or that you need kumquats or Belgian beer or ice cream cones on a quilt in the sunshine to make life feel swell (though all of the above are great places to start). Sometimes, though, you need a little inspiration—something that speaks to your soul. A bubble bath. A tickle fest with your toddler. Pizza and pink champagne with a good friend. Thirty minutes in the kitchen with a recipe you’ve been jonesing to try. A whole day with no plans or obligations, at all. And a really good dinner that takes almost no time at all to make, and leaves hardly a dirty dish behind.

That night, Greta actually went to bed without a fight. And though we were utterly, deliciously exhausted, András indulged me with a fire on what have been be our last cool night for a long while. I fell asleep to sounds of freshly split wood popping and crackling, my soul content. For one long, ordinary day, everything feels just right. 

~

*I was thinking about all this, and writing this post about our family dinner, when I read that my friend and fellow author, Shauna James Ahern was hosting a Family Dinner party online in honor of the launch of her new, beautiful book, Gluten-Free Girl Every Day. The opening lines of the book read like a glimpse into her lovely, loving and welcoming family life. Shauna, Danny and Lucy, this one's for you: our Saturday dinner, which just so happens to be naturally gluten-free. *


Roasted Black Bass with Radish, Green Onion and Citrus

serves 4

4 6-oz fillets black bass
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus for serving
coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
4 radishes, sliced
6 wild onions or small scallions
4 kumquats or 1 to 2 small pixies or clementines, thinly sliced

Preheat your broiler to high, on the convection broil setting if available. Drizzle the fish with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet and broil until golden brown and the fish is just cooked through, 6 to 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fish and the heat of your broiler), adding your onions to the pan in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Serve warm, topped with the radish, scallions and citrus. Drizzle with additional olive oil. 

~

Grilled Eggplant with Green Goddess Dressing and Pistachios 

serves 4

2 medium eggplant, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup loosely packed parsley 
1/4 cup chopped chives
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
1 small clove garlic
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise
Handful pistachios, roughly chopped

Preheat the grill or grill pan to medium-high. Drizzle or brush both sides of the eggplant with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Grill until charred and just tender, 3 to 4 minutes per side. 

Meanwhile, combine the parsley, chives, lemon juice and zest, anchovy paste, garlic, Greek yogurt, and mayonnaise in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Serve the eggplant topped with a bit of green goddess and pistachios. 

the sweet smell of Saigon + an apple-pear sauce

Do you know what's really wonderful eaten along side a generous hunk of fresh Carrot Banana Hazelnut Bread? A bowl of warm Apple-Pear Sauce. The apples break down into a tender mush, leaving elegant slivers of pear in tact, every bite swimming in the heady satisfaction of Saigon cinnamon. I make mine in small batches because we all love it warm, straight from the stove, but it keeps like a dream in glass jars in the fridge for the week. There's really little more to say....

~

Apple Pear Sauce

Serves 4

4 pounds sweet-tart apples such as Macintosh, Jonagold, empire, or Macoun

1 pound firm, ripe pears such as Bartlett

1 stick cinnamon, or ground cinnamon to taste

about 1 cup apple cider, or as needed

Wash, quarter and cut out the core of your favorite apples (I like a variety, just like in my pie). Repeat with the pears. Cut the apples into chunks and the pears into chunks or slivers. Layer them in a large saucepan with 1 stick of cinnamon, or a generous pinch of Saigon cinnamon. Add just enough apple cider to reach about 1 inch up the pot and cover and simmer over medium heat until the apples are soft and start to break down, and the pears are soft throughout, about 25 minutes.

Spoon the sauce into four bowls and eat warm, or remove from the heat and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Serve warm, or spoon it into sterile jars and cool on the counter before sealing. Store in the fridge up to one week. 

a very happy birthday + the easiest from-scratch birthday cake ever

The day after the election is a good day to talk about something light and fluffy, don't you think? Like birthdays. And cake. My favorite cake is carrot cake. What's yours?

There's something about carrot cake. Well, I can't explain it but those who love it know what I'm trying to say. 

Have you ever done that thing where you project your own likes onto your child? Like, "She really likes soft pillows and her bath extra warm" when it's really what you like? Well, I do that with Greta and food. Once, when she wouldn't eat sweet potatoes, one of my favorite (and one of the healthiest) foods, I said, aghast, "but it's your favorite!" Now, when I serve her sweet potatoes, she says, "my favorite!" and gobbles them right up. So on her second birthday, I knew exactly what cake I'd be making her—the same carrot cake mom made me each and every year.

On the way to this decision, I actually tried on other people's carrot cakes, just for fun. I made some healthier, some double deckers and some plain old-fashioneds.  But here's the thing—on a birthday, only the very best will do. That's mom's cake. 

During this journey, here's what I figured out—this is the easiest from-scratch cake, ever. And I mean ever. Like, make on your lunch break (if you work from home) or while the laundry is on the spin-cycles easy. Which is probably why, besides the fact that I love it so much, my mom always made it for me—I'm the third of four kids and my guess is she didn't have a lot of spare time for making cakes.

What she did do is decorate my cakes to the max, aqua-blue pool for a pool party, a yellow-studded pineapple for a luau party, but whenever she’d slice it open, there was my favorite orange cake. I don't have the patience for piping bags lately, so I opted instead to make Greta’s cake these sweet vintage Jell-O molds my sister bought me during my last visit. I didn't do a test run, just buttered and floured the day of the party and crossed my fingers while I put out the rest of the spread.

It was a risk, I admit, baking them blind on the day of the party. I did pour the remaining batter into a quarter sheet pan for backup, but the mini bundts worked like a charm, too. Just one more reason I love and adore this cake—in any shape or size, it rarely disappoints.

Here's the very, very special thing about carrot cake that really must be said—if you want to, you can go ahead and convince yourself it is good for you, and that it’s a perfectly okay cake for kids. It's carrots, after all. While we know it's not exactly health food, I have made a few modifications to my version (whole wheat white flour, less oil, less sugar) that I guarantee you, even if you happened to have come to one of my birthday parties between age 2 and 12 and got hooked like me, you'd never know the difference.

But enough about cake, let's talk about my itty bitty little lady, who I made this cake for. I adore her. Her spirit is huge and happy. Her eyes shine light and joy on the world. She's a little lover, cradling anything from a baby doll to a bath toy in the nook of her arm and showering everyone she knows with hugs and kisses. It doesn't take carrot cake to sweeten her disposition, but like her mamma, she can down a piece like nobody's business. She knows how to have a good time, and she won't quit until you absolutely make her. We are so, so very grateful for two healthy, delicious years with her and for two loving, doting grandparents who drove 19 hours to celebrate with us. Thanks for the recipe Mom, I owe you one! 

While were telling stories, won’t you tell me your best birthday cake ever story, please? And in the meantime, happy birthday sweet Greta pie. Here's a carrot cake to grow on. 

~

The Easiest Carrot Cake Ever + Creamy Cheese Frosting

Serves 12 adults or 24 kids

Cake

4 large eggs

1 ¾ cups raw organic sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

10 oz organic carrot baby food (or 1 1/4 cups carrot puree) 

2 cups white whole-wheat flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Frosting

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

12 oz Neufchâtel or cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9 by-13-inch pan, quarter sheet pan or 24 muffins or molds. Line the pan with a wide piece of parchment paper cut so that it tucks neatly along 2 opposite sides and hangs over edges by about 1 inch on the other opposite sides to create flaps. Butter and flour the paper or the molds

To make the cake: Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes. Add the oil and carrot puree. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon and stir into the cake batter until evenly combined. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the cake spring back lightly when touched, about 40 minutes for a sheet cake, or 20 to 22 minutes for small cakes or cupcakes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.      

Meanwhile, to make the frosting: Make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft but still cool. Beat them together with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, with no remaining lumps. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and add agave and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled bars, or top each mini cake with a tuft of frosting. Serve at room temperature.   

P.S. Some 2nd birthday party tips: 

1.  Musical Chairs (or pillows) with sticker prizes is a huge hit with the two-to-three set.

2. If you decide you're going to do face painting at your child's birthday party, by Murphy’s Law, your child will be the only one who doesn't want their face painted. Let them paint your face instead.

Photos and Recipes © Sarah Copeland 2012

Please credit source on Pinterest. All other uses require permission via email.

{highchair chronicles} turning two!

{Q and his favorite food - pasta! photos by Jennifer Martine on Instagram}

Babe: Quentin
Mama: Jennifer
Q's Birthday: September 17 

Remember the adorable blue-eyed boy named Quentin who I featured on The Highchair Chronicles when he first started solids? Well, I follow his mama, Jennifer Martine, on Instagram so I can keep up with them on the other coast where she's busy shooting any number of amazing cookbooks and Quentin is busy turning from a babe into a boy. I got a look at his latest feeding frenzy on her stream (above) and once again fell hard for those baby blues.  

Earlier this week Quentin turned two, a milestone that's just around the corner in our house. I thought it would be fun to check back in with Jen and see what's new in her world of feeding toddlers, and since she's an amazing food photographer too, exactly what she's been up to when she's not feeding Q. Here's our Q & A. 

{Make a wish. Q turns two. }

SC: What's different about feeding Quentin now that's he's two? 

JM: I would say the biggest difference is that I am having so much more fun feeding him. Being able to take him to a restaurant and have him eat what we are eating is just so much more fun.

SC: When we first spoke about feeding our babes, you said your rules were to create a formula of flavors that works, and to let him try everything, as long as it's safe. What are your new rules for feeding Quentin as a toddler? 

JM: I live by two mottos: 

1. If I give put a few good options in front of Quentin (if he is hungry) he will eat. And giving him the chance to choose, makes him feel grown up. Knowing I have already had my chance to choose makes me feel in control. 

2. I try to limit too much snacking so that he will be hungry when it's time for a meal, and make it a rule that we always sit down to eat. Taking the time to enjoy the food and be relaxed, I think helps him feel comfortable to eat at his own pace and not feel rushed. 

SC: What are Quentin's favorite foods, and is there anything that really surprised you that he absolutely loves? 

JM: Recently we started a tradition of going for sushi date on Friday night with my good friend and her toddler, Ruby who is Quentin's best buddy, (pictured in the shots below). He mostly eats the edamame, rice and dumplings. He will also eat some of the fish, but I limit the amount just to be on the safe side. The day he started picking up the bowl and drinking the wasabi and soy sauce, I was cracking up. He would get chunks of the wasabi in his mouth and stop to say "hot!" with a smile. But I guess I wasn't so surprised, I ate tons of spicy food while pregnant and just about every time I put something spicy in front of him that I think he won't like, he eats it right up--salsa, spicy tacos, spicy Asian food, you name it, he likes it. 

SC: Ooh, when Greta was tiny and just starting to taste, I dipped my finger in the soy sauce, forgetting there was wasabi, and let her suck on it. Her eyes got really huge but then she kept licking her lips. She still loves that flavor. 

Do you have a go-to fast-easy and healthy meal that's always a hit with Quentin? 

JM. Pasta, any kind of pasta, he absolutely loves it. Spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni, ravioli and it's a basic palate to add some veggies in there to make a complete meal. 

SC: Ditto! I don't make it very often, but I always get a big excited "Pasta!" squeal when I do. It is the perfect place to add in more vegetables and keep changing it up. And, I think it's a brilliant idea to do pasta feeding shirtless. We finally figured that out after Greta christened about half of her sweet summer dresses with marinara splatter. 

So when you're not feeding Quentin, what new projects are you working on? 

JM: I feel so lucky to say that I have been pretty busy these days, hoping the momentum will continue! Here are a few things: 

Salty Snacks by Cynthia Nims (Ten Speed, September 2012); 

The Inspired Vegan by Bryant Terry (DeCapo) and I will soon shooting his new book (Ten Speed); Best Lunchbox Ever by Katie Sullivan Morford of Mom's Kitchen Handobook (Chronicle Books, 2013); Asian Pickles by Karen Solomon (Ten Speed) and New Good Food by Margaret Wittenberg (Ten Speed). 

What an incredible lineup! I know there's at least one book on that list in particular I'm especially excited for. More on that soon. In the meantime, thanks to Jennifer, Quentin and Ruby for giving us a little window into your world today. 

Mama's, I love to hear from you. What are the top two rules you subscribe to for feeding your little ones, and where did you learn them? 

{Q and his bestie, Ruby, eating veggie purees at the park}