Day 4: Easy Weeknight Chicken

Weeknight meals are always tough, especially after working all day and then trying to spend some QT with #maxmars...leaves little time for cooking.

Last night I whipped up this little chicken number: chicken thighs with white beans, kale and cherry peppers. It was pretty good!

I served it alongside some roasted brussels sprouts, but it would have been delicious over spaghetti squash or with a salad, too.

Chicken And White Beans

NOTE: all measurements are approximate, as I was making this up as I went along!

Ingredients:

• 6-8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper

(use 6 if they are bigger, or 8 if they are smaller; they have to all be able to fit in the pan together to simmer)

• 1 can small white beans, drained and rinsed

• 5-6 cherry pepper slices, from the jar, cut into slices

• 4 garlic cloves

• Chicken stock (1-2 cups)

• 1 small bunch kale, chopped

Directions:

• In a large sauté pan, over medium heat, brown the chicken thighs on each side in batches, removing from pan when done

• If you have too much oil in the pan, please remove some until you have about 2 Tablespoons of oil/fat

• Add the garlic and stir frequently for 1 minute (don't let the garlic burn)

• Add white beans and cherry peppers and stir

• Season with salt and pepper

• Cook the beans and cherry peppers until the beans start to slightly brown

• Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock to deglaze the pan; you should have enough liquid in the pan to cover the beans and provide a nice amount of liquid to finish cooking the chicken thighs

• Scape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan

• Add the kale and stir until kale is coated in the liquid mixture

• Nestle the chicken thighs back into the pan in the liquid

• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the chicken thighs are cooked through (about 15-20 minutes)

Day 2: Delicious Fall Entertaining.

I'm a warm-weather girl for sure (the hotter the better!), but if I had to pick a favorite season, it's Fall.

The changing trees. Boots and sweaters. And every day is perfect hair weather.

My other favorite thing about the Fall?

Comfort food.

Crock pots and casseroles. Chilis and stews. Braising and roasting.

One of my favorite meals to cook when we're entertaining is chicken pot pie. I know that CPP was in its heyday in the 70s, but it truly has made a delicious comeback.

My go-to Chicken Pot Pie recipe is from Ina Garten. It's creamy and hearty and the perfect cold-weather meal.

I've made these just like Ina, as little individual pies with crusts. However, this weekend, I deconstructed them a bit, and put my own little Halloween twist on them.

Get Ina's full recipe here; see below for my adaptation.

Chicken Pot Pie

This pumpkin "crust" would be perfect for Thanksgiving, too!

Ingredients – The Filling

• 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts (boneless) OR 1 cooked rotisserie chicken
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 cups chicken stock (I use College Inn low sodium)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 1/2 stocks unsalted butter (butter=better)
• 2 onions chopped
• 3/4 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes (blanch them, trust me)
• 1 10-oz. package frozen peas
• 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Place chicken breasts in baking dish, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the chicken breasts in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. Once cooled, cut into cubes. 
• If you're using a rotisserie chicken, simply remove meat from the bones and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock.
• In a Dutch oven, melt the butter and sauté the chopped onions over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, until translucent.
• Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.
• Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce.
• Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring until thick.
• Add 2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and heavy cream.
• Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
• Continue to cook the mixture on low for another 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Ingredients – The Crust

Instead of making a pie crust and individual pot pies (who has time for that?), I use refrigerated pie crust to create crust "toppers" for the chicken pot pie.

• 1 package refrigerated pie crust, at room temperature for 30 minutes then rolled out flat
• seasonal cookie cutters

Directions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Roll out pie crust on flat surface and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes
• Place dough shapes on ungreased cookie sheet
• Bake until golden brown

To Serve

Ladle chicken pot pie filling into bowls. Top each with a crust.

Enjoy!

Date Night is not dead.

Before Max made his arrival, Mr. KK and I promised each other that we would still have our date nights.

Date night = a night at home with a fire (outside in the summer, inside in the winter), cocktails, chit chat and catching up, sometimes a movie or a game (I am the reining Scrabble Champion, thank you very much) and a delicious home-cooked dinner.

They are my most-favorite nights.

This past Friday night, we kept our tradition alive.

And I made duck.

This is a big deal, because I only make duck a few times a year. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it, but I mostly order it out because it's a pain in the ass to cook because it makes such a mess. So much so, that I only cook it the night before our cleaning lady comes (#firstworldproblems, I know).

MENU
Cocktails
Seared duck breast
Bacon lentils (Emeril's recipe here)
Roasted broccolini
Rioja wine

We were in a beer mood. See that Bourbon County Stout Mr. KK is drinking? That was a FANTASTIC find by yours truly at the liquor store. A little surprise for the hubs.

I got these duck breasts at Stop and Shop; they have them pretty regularly.

Just score the skin with a sharp knife, about 3/4 of the way through (try not to cut into the meat). This allows the skin to crisp up and release all of the fat goodness. 

I never time my cooking, I do it by feel. So I'm always paranoid I'm going to over cook the duck breasts. And every time, I cook them perfectly (sloppy luck). I cook them to a delicious medium rare. (OMG look at the grease on my stove)

The bacon lentils were rich and delicious.

I also roasted some broccolini with garlic and olive oil until it was crispy and tender.

 Date night plus one.

My stove looks like a wreck (sorry, Rosa!) but it was worth it.

I won't even talk about the oatmeal cookies I made for dessert (from the Betty Crocker pouch, people…remember: I don't bake!). Those things are like crack to us. It's embarrassing how many of them we ate. There should be an anonymous program for those cookies. 

But those cookies, warm out of the over? OMG. 

But we're not talking about it.

Ok, kale, you win. I like you.

I'll admit it, I jumped on the 'superfood' bandwagon with kale.

I think my turning point was a Kale Caesar Salad at our Thursday night bar. OMG delicious. I replicated that for like two weeks straight for lunch, then got sick of it. But I love cooking with kale. I add it to my chicken soup. I braise it with pancetta. I sauté it with garlic.

In fact, kale was my vegetable at our Thanksgiving table last year (much to the chagrin of my ninety-plus grandfather and grandmother. "What is that? Kale? Never heard of it.")

So when after what seems like two straight weeks of eating – and eating and eating – Mr. KK requested a salad for dinner tonight, I immediately thought of kale. (I wasn't going to make just a plain salad. That's not dinner.)

Max and I bundled up and ventured out to the grocery store, where I could have sworn he was going to be a teenager before we got back to the car. The grocery store was packed at 2:30pm on a Wednesday. Don't people work??? We can't ALL be on maternity leave!

Tonight I put together a Kale Salad with Butternut Squash, Cranberries and Pepitas. You can find the recipe here.

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The recipe is easy and delicious. The colors of the green in the kale and the orange in the butternut squash is beautiful.

I think my favorite part of the recipe was massaging the kale. I don't even get massages. This super food is WAY high maintenance.

I felt so good about our very light and healthy salad for dinner, that I pre-gamed the dinner event with a nice glass of wine and some manchego. (Perhaps I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to watching what I eat?)

In other news, NaBloPoMo is over, and I'm proud to say that I did it. It was tough to find the time – and material – to write each and every day. I can't tell you how many nights we'd clean up the dishes, fill the dishwasher, give Max a bath and get him to bed and I'd finally sit on the couch at 10:30pm and I would think, "Aw, crap! I have to write my blog post!" (I said this with love, though, I promise).

Max is growing like crazy. Every day he makes a new sound or a new funny face. It's hard to believe he'll be two months this Friday! It's also hard to believe that my leave is more than half over (but we won't talk about that).

Here's a dose of cuteness for the day. We are a very outfitted house over here in the giraffe department.

Speaking of giraffes, does anyone know what sound they make? Because a giraffe showed up during my rendition of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" the other night (we were many verses in, and the old farmer has a VERY progressive farm), and I was stumped for a noise.

Day 14: Navigating weeknight meals with a favorite recipe

One thing Rob and I have always done was try to eat dinner together each night. Even when I would work late, he would wait for me to get home so we could sit down together, even if that meant not eating until 10pm. But it allowed us to take a breather from everything around us and catch up.

Now, eating together is a little easier because I'm home, but it can also be a challenge to work around Mr. Max's schedule. I plan dinner around when Max eats and his post-dinner nap, knowing we'll be able to take that hour to eat and chat.

I always like to try new things out for dinner, especially with the extra time on my hands.

However, there are those few dishes that pop up in our dinner rotation every week or every other week because we love them so much.

One of those dishes is Skillet Chicken with Apricots and Capers.

This dish is easy enough to make during the week, but delicious enough to serve when you have friends or family over.

Skillet Chicken with Apricots and Capers
Adapted from "Everyday Food", October 2013
Serves 4

NOTE: this recipe calls for bone-in chicken breasts. I make this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken thighs because, to me, they add more flavor and you don't have to deal with the bones. Up to you!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast (OR, 1 package boneless, skinless chicken thighs – about 6-8 small thighs)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous (uncooked)
1/2 cup sliced dried apricots (I use about 1 cup because they add such an amazing sweetness to the dish)
1/4 cup capers
2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large, straight-sided, oven-safe skillet (I use my Le Creuset) heat oil over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and cook chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side (about 3 minutes each side if using chicken thighs). Transfer to a plate. You may need to do this in batches depending on how big your pan is.

Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 4 minutes. 

Stir in couscous, apricots and capers and cook until couscous is lightly toasted (you'll need to keep stirring the couscous so it toasts evenly).

Add broth and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken (skin side up if it has skin) and transfer to an oven (uncovered).

Bake until couscous is tender and chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.


This makes enough for 2 to have dinner at night, plus leftovers for lunch the next day.

Happy Friday!

Day 13: Thanksgiving countdown; and a whole lot to be thankful for this year.

Thanksgiving is OUR holiday to host.

It's the one holiday that we have bi-coastal representation, with both Rob's uncle's family and my uncle from California at the table.

Thanksgiving last year was a little bittersweet. We had just lost my Grandmother Rita a few days before the holiday. 

Also, a few weeks earlier – unbeknownst to everyone at the table – Rob and I had just met our surrogate for the first time and were moving forward with medications and all that good stuff. I remember us hoping that maybe there would be one more, very small, special guest at our Thanksgiving table the following year.

For me, Thanksgiving prep started today. I've been gathering recipes over the last few weeks, but today I made my official grocery list with specific items for the recipes I'm going to "try out" next week before preparing them for Thanksgiving. The test run allows me to adjust ingredients and measurements, and to see if the recipes measure up to last year's.

A tradition we started for Thanksgiving was starting the meal off with a bowl of soup. Last year's soup was SO DELICIOUS (recipe below), I'm hard pressed to find another recipe that can top it.

I make a vegetable and stuffing. But the big finale is my famous pumpkin cheesecake.

There are about 3 things in the world that I bake well: Ina's blondie bars, our holiday cookies, and this cheesecake.

Last year's cheesecake…no cracks!

#tbt snapshot of Thanksgiving 2013:

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I went to turn our oven on and it wouldn't ignite. 

I came home that afternoon to THIS. We were only hosting 15 people in 4 days…no biggie.

Thanksgiving morning, in the throes of cooking.

My two favorite things: Mr. KK and a cocktail.

Thankfully we fixed the oven, or we couldn't cook up these two gorgeous birds!

Another tradition we started is taking a family photo each Thanksgiving.

Looking forward to our first holiday photo with Mr. Max.

This year, we have so much for which to be thankful: our families gathered together, and – of course – the addition of Max to our family. 

Let the Thanksgiving prep begin!


Sausage and Lentil Soup Recipe

If there is any recipe you make from this blog, it should be this one. This soup is perfect on a cold night with a glass of red wine and hunk of crusty bread. Adapted from Rachael Ray's recipe.

Ingredients for the lentils:

1 cup dried lentils
2 bay leaves
1 small onion, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the soup base:

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 potato, peeled (NOTE: I use a sweet potato)
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 ribs celery
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, stems and leaves separated; leaves finely chopped and reserved for garnish
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves
salt and pepper
4 cups beef or chicken stock
1 pound sweet sausage (casings removed)

Garnish:

Grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a medium size saucepan, place the lentils with the bay leaves, onion and salt. Cover with 2 inches of water; bring to a boil and cook until tender but with some bite, 20-22 minutes. Drain and discard the bay leaves and onion.

Meanwhile, in a medium size soup pot, heat 3 tablespoons of the EVOO, a few turns of the pan, over medium heat. Using a food processor, pulse the vegetables, parsley stems and rosemary leaves until chopped (NOTE: be careful not to puree them! keep them about 1/4 big); transfer to a pot. Season, cover and let ingredients sweat in the EVOO, 6-8 minutes. Add the stock and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes (NOTE: because I use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, it may take longer for them to be tender).

While the potatoes are cooking, heat a little EVOO in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until brown and crumbly, about 5-7 minutes. Drain the fat, then stir the sausage into the soup along with the cooked lentils.

Serve the soup in shallow bowls and top with the reserved parsley leaves and the Pecorino Romano cheese.

Day 12: What DO you do all day?

Yesterday, I had my 94-year-old grandfather and my 93-year-old grandmother over for lunch to visit with Maxwell.

My grandfather doesn't hold Max ("I'm afraid I'll break him!"), but my grandmother can't wait to get her hands on him.

I made a big pot of Butternut Squash soup; it was easy and delicious. I made Giada's recipe, and instead of doing the fontina crostini I made grilled cheese sandwiches.

During lunch my grandmother asks me, "What do you do all day?" She didn't ask it with an accusatory tone, she was simply wondering what went down at our house during the daylight hours.

"Well, I wake up and feed Max, and he eats every 3 hours. So I feed him about 5 times during the day. I make and clean bottles…"

My grandfather interrupts and says, "Well, that's your whole day right there."

And you know what? He's right.

It IS my whole day.

I'm such a Type A that it's sometimes hard for me to remember that I don't have to be doing a zillion things at once to have a 'full day'. Taking care of Max is a full day in itself.

I was emailing with a friend this week and she was expressing the same things I was feeling. It's hard to get past feeling 'accomplished' if you're not checking a ton of things off of a list.

While I should be satisfied with saying, "Max and I had a great day together! We took a walk, had playtime, read stories and snuggled!" I find myself instead saying "Max and I had a great day together! We took a walk, had playtime, read stories and snuggled! And when he was napping, I did 2 loads of laundry, made dinner for tonight, wrote a blog post and wrote out 20 thank you notes!" And THEN I will feel accomplished.

But even my 94-year-old grandfather knows the deal. Taking care of Max IS enough…it's my new version of a full day.

I'll learn that, someday. Maybe not in the next 11 weeks, but I will.

Anyway, it hasn't happened yet, so today while Max napped I finally starting changing around my closet, which is still filled with all of my summer clothes. I started with my shoes. At least now my feet will be warm.

Happy hump day!

Day 10: Family Fun and a Date Night Recipe

It's been a little hectic ever since we got back from Georgia. Mr. KK has gone back to work, Max and I are finding our routine. There are visitors during the week. 

And because we live in the woods, our yard is FILLED with leaves that need Mr. KK's attention on the weekends (since it's pitch dark at 5pm now…GRRR).

This weekend, however, Saturday was family day – all day long!

It started bright and early with breakfast at a little place down the road.

Max was well-behaved as usual.

After breakfast we headed out to a few car dealerships. Now that we have Max, and with the winter weather upon us, I need a larger vehicle with all wheel drive. For the record, I HATE car shopping. (But that's another post, for another day.)

To keep the spirit of family time alive, all three of us ventured out to Stop & Shop to grocery shop. I was finally able to introduce Max to my other Happy Place! Unfortunately it was the most crowded time to shop, but Max seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. He even got his own cart.

Saturday night was Date Night, as usual!

But it was extra special because we got to enjoy the homemade macaroni Max and I made on Thursday!

I also made a sauce we both LOVE, but haven't had in a while. It's from one of my cookbooks from when we lived in Boston (which feels like a century ago!). It's so easy to make and it tastes fantastic!

Date Night Pasta with Sausage and Pancetta
Serves 4 (if you're lucky!)

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 ounces loose ground sausage (NOTE: to me, 4 ounces isn't enough, so I use 8 ounces)
4 ounces pancetta, coarsely chopped
14 oz. crushed tomatoes
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 pound pasta
5 Tbsp. heavy cream (NOTE: I use light cream and it's equally delicious)
2 egg yolks
salt and pepper (NOTE: I never add salt to this recipe because the pancetta is usually salty enough to flavor the dish)


Directions:

Heat oil in medium skillet or Dutch oven. Add the garlic and fry over low heat to 1-2 minutes to flavor the oil. Remove garlic and discard it.

Add the pork and the pancetta to the flavored oil and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sausage is brown and crumbly and pancetta is crispy.

Add the crushed tomatoes with half of the parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste (or just pepper). Stir well and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. 

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to directions on the package. Or, in our case, cook the fresh pasta for just a few minutes until it floats.

Put the cream and the egg yolks in a warmed large bowl and mix with fork (I usually just fill a bowl with hot water for a few minutes to warm it up and then discard the water).

As soon as the pasta is done, drain it well and add it to the bowl with the cream mixture. Toss the pasta in the cream until it's well coated. Pour the sausage and pancetta sauce over the pasta and toss again.

Serve immediately with remaining parsley.

And because I'm a cheese whore, I absolutely put grated Parmesan cheese on top.

To ensure a good night's sleep for all, Max had a late-night bath (during which he screams like a champ and wears himself out) and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a nice bottle of red wine.

Cheers!

Day 2 NaBloPoMo: the perfect bolognese sauce

Big day today: Rob and I left the house! Alone! Without the baby!

I wish I could say that we snuck away to a bar or the casino or someplace awesome. But we went car shopping. Or, more like car looking. Which I know I should be more excited about since the car is for me, but I'd much prefer to be sitting at a bar. (Cars are just cars, right?)

So today was the first time the "Grammies" came over to babysit for Max! (Everyone survived, poopy diaper and all)

As a thank you, I made Sunday dinner: my bolognese sauce.

If you read this blog you know how much I love to cook. I don't usually share recipes though; not because I don't want to, but because it's frustrating to people because I don't measure anything. So my recipes aren't…exact.

But cooking isn't exact, which is why I love it. And which is why I'm so horrible at baking. When I tell Mr. KK I'm going to bake something, a look of terror crosses his face and he instantly has something to check on/do/mow/build in the yard.

So I stick to cooking.

My bolognese sauce goes something like this:

Ingredients:

1 onion
2 carrots
2 ribs of celery
1 pound meatloaf mix (this is a combo of beef, pork and veal; if you can't find it in the grocery store, you can just use ground beef)
tomato paste (a tablespoon or so)
red wine (about 1/2 cup or so)
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
dried oregano (1/2 tablespoon)
dried basil (1/2 tablespoon)
salt
pepper
sugar (a pinch or so; some people are anti-sugar, but I like the sweetness that it adds)

NOTE: I made a double recipe, so the measurements and photos below reflect that.

To avoid cutting everything up into tiny pieces, 

I pulse the onion, carrot and celery in the food processor until it's a fine dice 

(but not mush). I sauté that in olive oil until it cooks down. 

Stir in tomato paste until it coats the veggies. Add the red wine.

Add the ground meat to brown. I use a potato masher to break up the meat 

while it's cooking (a trick I stole from Rachael Ray!). Cook until the meat is browned.

I only use Tuttorosso tomatoes, because they are all I've every known to be used for sauce.

Add them to the pan. Add the spices and the salt, pepper and sugar.

Stir the sauce and when it starts bubbling reduce to a simmer. 

It will be thick, you can add a half of a can of water to thin it out a bit.

 My secret ingredient: parmesan cheese rind. I add one to my pot of sauce and let it melt down. it gives the sauce a creamier, nutty flavor. I was able to purchase just the rinds at my local Stop and Shop, so they either saw the demand for them, or got tired of me asking for them.

My sous chef for the day.

He can be a little bossy.

 I love bolognese with Rigatoni. It's the best for holding the chunky, meaty sauce.

Oh, and it's all macaroni, my friends. Not pasta. :)