Guess who is sleeping again and is in love with the world?

Yup. We’re all back to our chipper selves.

It’s just in time too because we have a lot trips coming up this month, and it’s my birthday on Friday. This weekend we are headed to my husband’s 20th College Reunion at Bates College in Maine. We are sleeping in the dorms with ALL six kids. Send prayers and wine (although its college, so probably beer instead).

Then it is back to Maine four days later for our annual trip to Lake Sebago. Its technically a work trip for my husband but we have seen the same families for four years (hi Darlene!) and watched their babies grow up…and they’ve watched our family get bigger every year. Can’t wait! We’ll be back just in time for the last week of school.

With all the travel, I’m trying to clean out our freezer and pantry a bit. As some of you know we buy our beef from our favorite Vermont farmer, Bob Standard at Vermont Natural Beef. I also found lots of ground turkey on sale, and all these recipes can use either one, obviously.

Sunday

American Chop Suey

I grew up in Chicago where we called this Beef Mac, but when I googled it this recipe was closer to how I make it. I add a ton of extra veggies to this – kale, spinach, zucchini, carrots whatever I have on hand to clean out the fridge. Need to blog how I do this but this recipe is close.

Monday 

Mini Meatloaves with Roasted Oven Potatoes

 I make these all the time (you might have seen me make it on Instastories). It’s so quick and easy and my kids love it with the Honey Mustard + Ketchup Sauce. If you’d prefer it with bacon on top I did that version here.

Tuesday

Lasagna

Just like the Chop Suey, I load my lasagna with veggies. My kids don’t mind them if they are soft and mixed into lasagna so I think of this a one of our healthier meals.

Wednesday

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

(Or if I get really lazy I am doing Chicken Taco Bowls in the Crock Pot. Again. But these are SO good and I have been craving them, so here’s hoping I can get all my packing done.)

Thursday

I’m going out to dinner with my husband, my best friend and her amazing new husband! Right after Lacrosse and Baseball. But still exciting! The kids are having pizza, and we are probably going to our favorite seafood restaurant in Portsmouth called Surf. But I have always wanted to make this Concussion Chicken from Courtney at A Life From Scratch, so if you are looking for a new dish here you go.

Friday

This is my actual birthday, and my husband is making all the plans for the reunion. I am not sure where we are eating, but I know there is a box of Ramen noodles (remember those in the dorm rooms!) coming with us per my daughter so at least we have that. Still can’t believe we are staying in dorms again. With our kids. And with TWO babies. But if you are looking to up your creative juices for summertime, check out these 21 Adaptable Summer Recipes You Should Memorize  from the NYT Cooking site (no pressure! they’re meant to help you be free and creative. The Ratatouille and Layered Vegetable Torte have my name on them for sure.)

Saturday

Cafeteria food? The fried chicken fingers at the local pub? Again, the hubby is planning it but IF I were home I would LOVE to make this Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma with all the fixings. I have been on SUCH a chicken shawarma kick since I discovered and amazing Middle Eastern Cafe right next to my son’s preschool. He’s only there for one more week (cue all the mom tears) so I better get my fix next week. After that, I’ll be recipe testing at home for sure. UPDATE: He just sent me an email saying there is a formal dinner. Yay for packing 6 dress up outfits. 

Dearest Blog Readers:

I AM SLEEP TRAINING BABIES THIS WEEK. YAY!

And also, whoa. So I didn’t get to do my weekly meal plan and new post as I’d hoped.

Because it is both refilling parts of your night with solid sleep, and somehow exposing you to just how deep your sleep deficit is. Either way, it worked on night one and I am thrilled. We have been following the Sleep Easy Solution and I am working on a post about it because its our 5th time following it and it works. And exhausted parents should know about it.

But in the meantime, I wanted to re-share this post with you since it is what I am making for dinner tonight now that the weather is nice enough to have an herb garden. It is SO delicious, and what better way to celebrate the week we put in our herb garden then this Herb Chicken with Crème Fraîch dinner? Related: what is more therapeutic then a garden center when you are exhausted?

I will resume my meal planning when we are through with this intense week.

Happy eating, and hope you love this dinner as much as we did! xoxo Katie

I couldn’t be more excited to share Roast Chicken with Crème Fraîche and Herbs for the next installment of The Humble Onion Tuesday Dinners. I am hoping that by searching the hashtag  #thotuesdaydinners you can have quick and easy meal ideas at your fingertips for when you meal plan. Or frantically think of dinner at 4:30 like I do on busy days.

This dinner is the trifecta of home cooking; it is easy, delicious and the kids will happily eat it (and possibly lick their plates like mine did). I know many kids have already gone back to school and ours start next Monday, so I am on the hunt for fast easy dinners that still feel a bit special.

As I mentioned last week I am infatuated with the cookbook My Kitchen In France. She shared her recipe for a whole Roasted Chicken with this mixture on top and I was d-y-i-n-g  to make it. I had a package of chicken thighs in the fridge and some Crème Fraîche, and I thought why not just try it with these?

The result? Totally delicious. The chicken thighs cook in a third of the time but the meat has lots of flavor. And the crème fraîche mixture is totally simple but so fragrant and delicious. 

The perfume from the shallots, garlic and herbs is just intoxicating, and when creme fruit melts it almost turns into butter and makes the most amazing gravy. Luckily I served it with whole wheat couscous which was perfect for sopping up all that goodness, but mashed potatoes would be heaven too. (I may have tipped the pan sideways to pour all the leftover juices on my plate).

So don’t forget to add Crème Fraîche, shallots, herbs and chicken thighs on your next shopping list (that’s right. This dinner has 5 ingredients). And get ready to lick your plate. You will totally thank me, scouts honor.

Roast Chicken with Crème Fraîche and Herbs (printer version here): 

1 package of chicken thighs (around 2-3 lbs or a whole chicken, around 3 lbs)
1 & 1/4 cup crème fraîche (you can also use fromage blanc – alternatively, you can mix 2 tbsp buttermilk or sour cream with 1 cup heavy cream)
4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
1 shallot, finely sliced
A large bunch of parsley, chopped
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix crème fraîche with finely chopped garlic, parsley, thyme, salt and black pepper. (If using a whole chicken spoon half of the mixture inside the cavity of the chicken & truss the chicken). Spoon the cream on each piece of chicken.
Transfer to preheated oven and cook for 20-25 minutes (60-75 minutes for a whole bird).

Serve with couscous or mashed potatoes.

Adapted from Mimi Thorisson’s recipe in My Kitchen in France. 

 

Do you like Peanut Butter? Chicken Satay?

Then you are in for a treat my friends.

Its hard to put into words how I felt after racing home on a chilly spring afternoon of sports to find this ready in the crock pot. Tears of joy? Maybe. Especially because this was SO easy to make and took all of 5 MINUTES at around noon time.

If you have ever tried to make Chicken Satay, you know it has SO many ingredients. My husband loves it but I usually chicken out (see what I did there?) when I start to make it because of ingredient fatigue. (Visit Ina Garten’s recipe to see what I mean).

This however has all the flavor of a great satay sauce with a handful of Thai ingredients.

Did you know that Thai cooking tries to balance 5 different flavors? There is usually something sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter in every dish. (I usually leave out the spicy part since I am making this for kids – I left out the red pepper flakes and just added sriracha to mine). This helps me to keep a stocked pantry to cook Thai food, since I know most recipes will call for coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime, brown sugar or honey, ginger and garlic to get these flavors balanced. And I usually keep ginger in my freezer and limes in my fridge so I always have them on hand. If this hurts your brain then just ignore this paragraph and follow the super easy crockpot recipe below and you will just have to lift the lid to have good food in six hours.

This is also a great recipe when you have a package of chicken breasts and want to magically turn it into something delicious.  Add some cilantro, rice and dry peanuts to your shopping list for garnish and you are done.

Also, this recipe for Carrots with Ginger and Honey by Martha Stewart is the perfect side to this and also only takes five minutes. You’ve already got the ginger and honey out anyway.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken (printer version here):

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup coconut milk about a half a can
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce low-sodium
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and minced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 3 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• Optional garnishes: chopped peanuts cilantro or green onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. To a 6 qt slow cooker, add the coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice wine vinegar, ginger, garlic, and stir until combined.
2. Cut the chicken breasts into one inch chunks and add to the slow cooker.
3. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
4. Add the lime juice and cornstarch/water mixture to the slow cooker and stir carefully.
5. Cook for an additional 20 minutes until sauce is thickened.
6. Garnish with desired toppings like chopped peanuts, cilantro or green onions (or all three!).

Recipe adapted from Dinner Then Dessert

 

Carrots with Ginger and Honey (printer version here):

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 bunches (about 2 pounds) baby carrots
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 two-inch pieces fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
• 3 tablespoons honey

DIRECTIONS:

1. Trim stems of carrots to 1/2 inch. Peel carrots, and wash stem area.

2. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Salt water, add carrots, and reduce heat. Simmer until carrots are almost tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove carrots from heat, and drain. (Carrots can be prepared earlier in the day to this point.)

3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ginger, and sauté, stirring, until transparent, about 2 minutes. Add carrots and honey, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until carrots are glazed. Serve immediately.

Recipe from marthastewart.com

 

 

On my last meal plan, I linked to Ina Garten’s Chicken Pot Pie, a favorite among my kids. I do tend to chuckle a bit though when I’m scrolling through her recipe and see her steps for ‘making your own puff pastry’. This seems a lovely thing to know how to do, along with making all my own baby food and growing my garden from seedlings. But, as Shauna Niequist once said, the baby food people do a really good job at making baby food so she just let them, and outsourced that part of her life. Apart from adding water and an immersion blender to what I’m making everyone else, I follow this logic and buy my baby food. And you know what? Pepperidge Farm does a really good job at making puff pastry, so I just use theirs, and use Ina’s recipe for the filler because it’s delicious. The whole thing comes together in less than 30 minutes and tastes like from scratch cooking.

There is something to this idea of finding ways to outsource what you can in the kitchen. The last time I made Shepherd’s Pie, which my family loves, I got to thinking…

What if I let the mashed potato people do their job?

I ordered all natural mashed potatoes from my grocery delivery service, and I was very skeptical, but you know what? They tasted like they were homemade.

The next time I made Shepherd’s Pie, I used ready-made mashed potatoes and was stunned by how easy it all was. I use Alton Brown’s recipe, but now I chuckle when I scroll past all the steps to make the potatoes.

Even though his recipe yields amazing mashed potatoes, I really love skipping a half hour of work. I use his recipe for the filling, and then open up two packages of store-bought mashed potatoes and smear it on top. (One half is the Oprah Cauliflower kind for the adults who are trying to be a little healthy, and one half is all natural regular). Last time I mixed in an egg, which Alton’s recipe calls for in the potatoes and there wasn’t a huge difference.

Isn’t it great having options in pulling together dinner? Some days there’s time to make things from scratch, but on the days there isn’t (…cough, twin babies…), short cuts that don’t skimp on flavor and aren’t filled up with junk like preservatives and chemicals are always welcome.

We made it again last night because now it is moved to our easy meal list. My daughter said, “I love how comforting this dinner is.” If everything else in this week is a bust, we’ve got that.

Here’s hoping this brings Shepherd’s Pie to your family table a little more regularly.

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

Easy Shepherd’s Pie (printer version here

Ingredients

For the potatoes: You can use 2 pre-made potato packages and skip this step

• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg yolk

For the meat filling:

• 2 tablespoons canola oil

• 1 cup chopped onion

• 2 carrots, peeled and diced small

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 1/2 pounds ground lamb

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons tomato paste

• 1 cup chicken broth

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves

• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves

• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels

• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen English peas

Directions

{SKIP IF USING PRE-MADE POTATOES: Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.}

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown’s on The Food Network

 

If you’ve spent a nano-second reading this blog, you know that I’m passionate about good food, and love learning and coming up with original recipes.

And you also know that I have twin babies.

So we’ve simplified a lot of things this year and our dinners are no exception. The benefit for you is we’ve come up with quite a rotation of kid-friendly, quick and easy dinners. I am a BIG believer that home cooked meals made with fresh seasonal ingredients whenever possible feeds our bodies and our souls. And also that real life requires a repertoire of dinners that come together fast. Where the two meet is what’s for dinner.

Since a lot of our weekday meals are ones I consider our everyday food, with no fancy recipes, just simple real ingredients, with kid-friendliness and shortcuts galore, I often think, ‘oh they can find this recipe somewhere else’ and don’t think it is worthy of a whole post. But since SO many people asked for just this kind of help on my Instagram, I’m going to be posting these dinners (dare we call it a series?) here over the next few months.

I realized in order to make my weekly menus as easy as possible for you, I should have a separate blog post I can link to for each meal. I’ll also be tagging them as ‘Everyday Dinners’ on the side bar so you can see them at a glance.  I have a lot of great meals captured with my big girl camera waiting in the wings and will be sharing a new one every week, so check back here often. You can also enter your email address on the side and when I start to email out my meal plans you’ll have them in your inbox.

This stir fry is one of my oldest dinners – I think I learned how to make it when I was a nanny in grad school. Their kids loved it, and so when I had my own I tried it and low and behold my kids loved it too. Something about the salty sweet teriyaki chicken and the way the sauce gets over all the veggies and caramelizes on them. (My new stove does a great job with high, even heat, I love it!)

And of course, the healthy factor is off the charts. My kids eat these veggies! Probably because they are doused in salt and sweetness. I always feel like I am serving a rainbow of colors when I prep for this meal just like all the nutritionists tell us too. And this dinner makes you feel so good after you eat it.

I do have a few kids who don’t love chicken, and if they are having a hard time plowing through their meat, I have let them dip it into…wait for it…strawberry jam. This came about becaus I love to add sriracha or red pepper jelly on the side of my stir fry and my kids were like, can I have some? I grabbed the strawberry jelly instead and said try this its not as hot. They loved it an now we just serve it with this dinner. Too weird for you? Sorry not sorry because it gets my pickiest eaters to eat all this health. If it helps one other family then I am happy. Solidarity, mommas.

Another bonus: the ease factor. I almost always have all the ingredients in my fridge and pantry. And once the first step of stirring together the marinade and pouring it over the chicken is done, I always feel like dinner is practically made. I store it in the fridge for a half hour or so, and then pour it into a pipping hot pan. The rest of it comes together easily in the same pan, and I add the veggies and stir while I am doing homework with the kids or cleaning the kitchen (who doesn’t love a clean kitchen before you eat dinner?).

I usually make chicken flavored rice or rice pilaf for my kids. My husband and I usually have ours with cauliflower rice. So if you are doing a paleo/Whole 30/gluten free diet this ones a winner winner.

So play around with it and see what veggies your family likes. My youngest eater loves the mini corn so I try to add that often too. And if you’re lucky, there will be some left over because it makes the best leftovers the next day. If you have a big crew to feed, this meal is so easy to stretch with extra veggies and soy sauce and rice.

I hope this becomes one of your go-to meals too!

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

 

Chicken Stir Fry (printer version here):

Serves 6-8

 

Ingredients:

 

For the marinade:

⅓ cup teriyaki

⅓ cup soy sauce

⅓ cup olive oil

 

3-4 chicken breasts, cubed (can also use 1.5 pounds of steak or pork)

5 cups of your favorite stir fry veggies:

Sliced Carrots (if using baby carrots allow for extra cooking time or steam first)

Red peppers

Yellow peppers

Broccoli

Snap peas

Water chestnuts

Baby corn

 

Directions:

 

Combine all teriyaki, soy sauce and oil together in a measuring cup and stir to combine.

Cube chicken, and place in a non-reactive bowl such as glass or plastic.

Pour marinade over meat and refrigerate from 30 minutes or up to two hours.

 

Heat large skillet or wok to high heat. Add chicken and stir, cooking for 5-8 minutes or until the meat is just cooked through. Add vegetables, starting with the firmest first. Carrots, then broccoli, then peppers, then snap peas.

 

Continue to stir, add more soy sauce or oil if the veggies look dry at all. Cook until veggies are tender, about 7-10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook chicken or it will become tough.

 

Serve with rice or cauliflower rice.