Category: main courses
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Carrot-Broccoli Cheddar Soup & Little House on the Prairie
I’m in bed, flanked on either side by my daughter, 9, and youngest son, 6. “Here she comes, falling down the hill!” Will says, putting his finger on my computer screen where fictional Laura Ingalls runs with her sisters. We’ve been making our way through the entire Little House on the Prairie series (having read… Read more
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Pasta with Fresh Mozzarella, Arugula, Peas, and Heirloom Tomatoes
About this time of year the reality of shorter days catches up with me. Winter looms here on the east coast, and crisp days of fall are slipping to the days where the sky looks like old, dried paste. Which is also what I’m using to make this year’s costume for my youngest, who is… Read more
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Tatsoi & Sunflower Pesto
One of the farms near me grows delicious tatsoi (you can read more about it here). It’s great in any spinach dish and also makes a particularly tasty pesto. If you can’t find it near you, just use baby spinach or baby kale. This time of year I tend to get kind of hoardy at… Read more
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Red Onion, Tomato, Double Cheese Galette with Corn & Garbanzo Crust
This started as many recipes do, with good intentions…until I reached for the wrong flour. Is there an incorrect one? I guess. If you’re making traditional chocolate chip cookies, for example, and you use chickpea flour, maybe the results aren’t what you wanted. But for this gallette, the garbanzo bean flour wound up in my… Read more
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Italian Rainbow Chopped Salad with Lemon-Tarragon Dressing
Salad is so gay, a new friend said to eight-year-old Jamie. Jamie went on to explain – in front of a group of 5 boys gathered at our house for the first time – that salad can’t be gay. Neither can rhubarb, fyi. He talked about people being gay and how everyone has feelings and… Read more
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Garlic Scape and Bok Choy Tart with Whole Wheat Summer Savory Crust & Crappy Dates
When we have a date – that is, a night out without one kid doing a funny though inappropriate rap and another handing me half-eaten ravioli, one asking what socialism means and the other if I’d eat a unicorn if it were on the menu – I like to imagine my husband and I are… Read more
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Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pie with Buttermilk Biscuits & Random Bedtime Routines
This is a typical bedtime scene: Julia (age 7 3/4): Can I have a song? Me: Which one? J: Met my old lover in the grocery store. [my husband is apparently working his way through the entire 1970s singer-songwriter genre, a guilty pleasure of mine while driving, so I knew she meant Same Old Lang… Read more
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Buried Treasure (Flounder with Baby Greens, Caramelized Onions, & Parmesan) & I’m Back
Hello! NO, you didn’t imagine it – it has been a while…Reason? You want reasons? Okay… My oldest son and I went on a volunteer trip to Central America – great experience, rewarding, challenging, fun, and yes, recipes to follow… Middle son went back to school, which has been a transition for everyone… And I… Read more
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Deep Dish Salmon, Kale, and Potato Pie & Revisited Recipes
Spring in the UK comes early, and when I brought my daughter to see her godmother in London it was a flurry of blossoms, green stubbled grass, and muddy tromps in borrowed boots. We had a gaggle of kids, and the kind of laughs that are only shared with very old friends, wind-red faces from… Read more
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Vegetarian Boston Baked Beans & Bad Songs to Sing at Bedtime
If there’s a skill of mine that will never be rewarded financially, and in fact only serves as a road trip plus or game night choose me incentive, it is my ability for lyric recall. All that brain space that is supposed to be taken up by useful facts and figures is chock full of… Read more
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Ultimate Grilled Cheese (Triple Creme, Quince, and Arugula) & Other Places
I’ve lived in ots of different places, dangled many a key from my chain, hefted moving boxes across the ocean, over state lines, and back. I’m not planning on any of that again. However, when I go to San Francisco I always have that thought: I could live here! Easily. If I did, I’d be… Read more
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Mussels, Clams, & Shrimp Mariniere & Nightlights
“I have an idea,” says the 4-year-old. “I could go back inside you where I lived before I was born. But this time, I would like a nightlight.” PS Yes, the kids asked to have this for dinner. They ate it and loved it…until the very end when my daughter began examining each bite… Read more
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Barley, Kale, and Onion Risotto & Celebrity Sightings
Do you ever have days in which everyone you see resembles someone you know? Half of my time is spent bumping into people now and at least half of the time I have no idea how I know them. There are too many options now – did we go to high school together? Graduate school?… Read more
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Fried Eggs with Baby Greens, Feta (or Cheddar) , and Black Beans & Quick Lunches
Apparently, I am not alone in my need for quick yet satisfying lunches. As a result, I’m sharing another 5-minute meal today. I love this kind of dish because the flavors meld together, the cooking time is mere minutes, and it’s incredibly healthy and inexpensive. As my Grandma Bev would say, “What do you have… Read more
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Quick Skillet Cod with Tomatoes and Onions & The Writing Groove
When I’m deep into my writing grooves, which happens only on Wednesdays when my husband is home with the kids, I have to forage for a quick lunch that won’t break the spell. I’ll be posting some quick lunches that go beyond the sandwich – not that there’s anything wrong with a sandwich! Only, I… Read more