What's For Dinner - June 8th - 14th

Last night I cleaned out my freezer. It contained many "mystery" items as well as stuff from Trader Joes that was so old I'm not even sure TJs carries those products anymore. I was holding on to them because I hate to throw away food, but I decided that they were adding to both physical and mental clutter as far as the freezer is concerned and are probably so past their prime that they wouldn't taste good anyway.

What I found was some perfectly good meals and meal starters that I forgot we had which have helped me with this weeks meal planning, not to mention greatly reduced what I needed to buy from the grocery this morning.

Here's the line-up:

Saturday - Nigella Lawson's Mini Meatloaves. I found a ziploc full of them during the freezer clean out. The Scotsman made them about a month ago and I had fogotten that we froze half of them. These are delicious, super easy to make and kid friendly. Give them a try!

Sunday - The Scotsman is making some sort of middle eastern inspired turkey burger. I think he got the recipe from Gwyneth Paltrows book. I don't know much about it except that it involves Tahini and will be served in whole wheat pita bread rather than buns as he asked me to pick up those two things at the grocery. If it's good, I'll post the recipe next week.

Monday - Maple Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs from One Hungry Mama

Tuesday - Salmon (found some in the freezer). Try this easy recipe my mom has been making for years - place salmon in a baking dish. Fill the dish with white wine until the wine comes half way up the salmon. Sprinkle with fresh or dry dill (and if you have neither, don't sweat it, just cook as is). Cook for 15 mins or until fish flakes easily.

Wednesday - End of Year Picnic at Ben's preschool. Pizza and salad will be provided.

Thursday - Pasta. With sauce from a jar. Thursdays are tough for us because Jake and The Scotsman get home late from soccer practice.

Friday - Taco night! Jake and Ben will only touch avocados and raw tomatoes when they are in the form of guacamole and salsa, so I try to work in taco night once a week. For some reason, burrioto night does not fly with them.

What are you eating this week?

How I Was Seduced By Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwynnie seduced me slowly. It started with a review of her first cookbook, My Father’s Daughter, in People Magazine. It piqued my interest and I wondered in passing if it was as good as the review said it was.

About a week later I was in BJs, the questionably named Northeast equivalent of Costco. My Father’s Daughter was calling to me from the book section. I paged through the book and thought a lot of the recipes looked good and were things that I would make. But still, I chose to move on to fill my cart with a mother lode of toilet paper.  The next day I logged on to Amazon and right on the homepage Amazon was suggesting My Father’s Daughter was “something you may like”. I took it as a sign and ordered it.

Why was I so fearful of The Blonde One? First and foremost, I swore off celebrity cookbooks a long time ago. Just because you can win an Oscar, sing a song fairly well or play a mean game of football does not mean you can cook. I (perhaps unfairly) assumed celebrities got publishing contracts for cookbooks because they were celebrities, not because the recipes were any good or all that original. And I’ve never been a huge fan of Gwyneth Paltrow. I don’t hate her, but I certainly don’t love her. I would describe the way I feel about her as “meh”. And a post on her Goop blog about how she was a ball of stress choosing a gown for a big awards ceremony did not endear her to me. If only all of us had choosing a designer dress as the most stressful issue in our lives.

I will be the first to admit that I misjudged GP. I loved My Father’s Daughter and have cooked many yummy things from it such as Cheesy Stuffed Burgers (made with turkey and a kid and husband favorite) , Leek and Gruyere Frittata and Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins. The recipes aren’t terribly original, but instead are her own take on the classics with simplicity and flavor being key. And it introduced me to the wonder that is Veganaise. So it was a given that I would preorder her latest book, It’s All Good, when the folks at Amazon alerted me to the fact that it was in the pipeline.

The first thing I will say about It’s All Good has nothing to do with food – it’s the photographs. I am 99.9% sure that Gwyneth is not wearing a lick of makeup in any of the photos! I assume she’s trying to be down to earth and natural, just like the food in her book. Now THAT endeared Gwynnie to me. And I want to know what she uses on her skin – it looks fabulous!

Just like it’s predecessor , It’s All Good is full of yummy recipes. Rather than filling the book with recipes that remind her of family and home as she did in her first book, this book focuses on “pure” and healthy recipes. They are inspired by a recent decline in Gwyneth’s health and the discovery of food allergies in her children that were put right by a whole-foods diet with a bit of elimination diet thrown in. As a result, the book is largely gluten and sugar free. While in principal I’m fine with this (I am all about eating good, minimally processed, chemical and preservative free foods),  I wondered if the lack of sugar and gluten would make this book a dud. I needn’t (is that word?) have worried as I’ve made some delicious things from this book;  Barbecued Chicken Spanish Style, Lentil Salad with Mustard and Tomatoes and Japanese Chicken Meatballs (a HUGE hit with Jake and Ben). Although in the interest of full disclosure, I thought her elimination diet was a bit neurotic. Thankfully, this makes up a small portion of the recipes in the book.

While I will I will not be cooking a whole fish in salt in the outdoor roasting pit I have in my backyard (not!) like GP, I enjoyed the simple, whole-foods recipes It’s All Good contains and will be cooking from it for a long time to come.

In book news – I just started Dan Brown’s latest, Inferno. I know Dan Brown’s novels are very controversial. You either love ‘em or hate ‘em (I am not ashamed to admit I fall in the “love” column). I’d love to know what you all think.

In other news – on Saturday we became a cat family! We adopted Maggie and Stella, two adult black cats (well, Maggie has some white on her) and we are all enjoying the new members of our family, especially Jake and Ben!

Can Working Moms Have It All Or Have We Lost Our Minds?

Hello again! I am so sorry its been so long since my last post. I started this blog hoping to post twice a week (on Tuesdays and Fridays) but you can see how that’s gone! The last week and a bit have been completely crazy. Which has led me to the question  - can working moms really have it all or are we completely insane?

The past week or so has had me in a constant state of feeling like my brain is going to explode. A fiscal quarter ended at work which means I am putting out fires all day, every day as we try to close the quarter. I feel like I don’t get a moment to think.  And I had to leave work early during all of this to attend Jake’s parent/teacher conference and to pick up Ben early from preschool when he was sick on a different day. Jake started Spring soccer which means playing on two leagues, coordinating shuttling him to the practices and games that go with each and finishing up the Winter league which overlaps for a couple of weeks. I had to wrap up the fundraiser for Bens preschool that I agreed to chair. The Never King got some attention that I should have addressed and will, but I’m already behind. The Scotsman suggested I start another blog that includes comprehensive a list of of kid friendly convenience foods that I consider “real food” (see previous post) to make it easier for like-minded parents to shop without having to double the time it takes them in the grocery due to label reading. A great idea and I appreciate his support, but with what time? There was also laundry to be done, dinner to be cooked, and children to be played with. Oh – and blog posts to be written and "binder recipes" (see two posts ago) to try. And last week my seasonal allergies were in full force so I did all of the above (or worried about the fact that I didn’t get to a lot of the above) in a Benadryl-induced fog.

So that leaves me with today’s (lame) post and the question: am I crazy to think I can do it all? Am I putting too much pressure on myself? I want to work at my day job , make The Never King and The Bedwyr Press a success, be involved in Jake and Bens schools and after school activities, have a clean house, clean clothes and a good meal on the table. But is it possible to do all this or do I have to make compromises with myself? Or should I just shut up and stop whining because I know I’m very blessed? Anyone else feel this way?

I did manage to work in a little reading during all of this. Coming up I have thoughts on Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks, Gwyneth Paltrows new cookbook (don’t judge) and a cookbook by an author I “met” on an online forum. I’m also looking for my next good read – any suggestions?