at home with ann

A few weeks ago we went into Boston for the day. After chasing little people up, down, and around the Children's Museum, watching Colin climb up three stories on a jungle gym and James' excitement at a room filled with golf balls, we went to Flour Bakery for lunch.  I had the Roasted Sweet Potato sandwich, and it was amazing. I just checked the menu , and it looks like they don't offer it right now, but lucky for you I made a salad that's just as good.  The original sandwich was roasted sweet potato, apple, walnut pesto, blue cheese and kale on wheat bread.  I took some liberties, changed up some ingredients, and made it into a salad. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad Romaine and Kale, shredded Olive oil Sweet potato rounds, roasted Apple, sliced Avocado Roasted tomatoes Goat cheese Balsamic Vinegar Drizzle kale and romaine with olive oil Sweet potatoes - coat slices or cubes with olive oil and roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Tomatoes - toss with olive o...

This was such an easy dinner, perfect for weeknights.  I turned on the oven at 4 and we were ready to eat at 5.  The early bird special works for the kids, otherwise they are demolishing snacks and getting sleepy at the table later.  Last weekend Jon and I went out to dinner for the first time in, oh, 8 months. We put the kids to bed first so we didn't eat until 9.  I was demolishing snacks and getting sleepy at the table, because apparently I'm 4.  Or 94. I made my own pesto, because bunches of basil were half the price of tiny containers of pesto, but either works here. Pesto Baked Chicken Ingredients: 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (depending on the thickness you may want to slice them horizontally or pound them) Pesto 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes (or use fresh) 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour diced tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish. Arrange chicken breasts on top. Spread with pesto. Sprin...

Yesterday we had an unseasonably warm day, and I couldn't be happier about it.  Sure, during the summer I complain about the humidity during a heat wave, and turn on the air conditioning upstairs for sleeping (it's for the baby ); but I'd take heat over cold any day.  This salad is the perfect combination of all the wonderful late summer food; sweet corn, crisp green beans, juicy tomatoes and fragrant basil.  It makes an excellent side dish, we ate it last night alongside broccoli quiche and roasted potatoes, and it is also a perfect light lunch.  Especially if, like me, you're planning to use up some random marshmallows and make rice crispy treats later.  Or, just be healthy.  Whichever. Green Bean, Corn and Tomato Salad modified from Self Salad Ingredients: 3-4 ears fresh corn, removed from cob 1 lb. green beans, blanched in boiling water and cut into bite size pieces 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced 1...

In my pantry I have two large mason jars with grains in them.  I'm fairly certain one of them is hard red wheat berries.  I determined this after comparing them to a bag I had, and getting really close to stare at them.  For a while, I thought the other jar held barley.  But then I got some barley and it looked different.  Instead of just cooking them and figuring it out, I ignored them for several months, and complained about the space they took up.  Finally, I used them for this recipe and determined they are soft white wheat berries.  Mystery solved.  The mystery of why I can't be bothered to label my jars is still out there, however.  Now I feel like I may have told you this boring story before.  Sorry. This salad is great on it's own, but we had some leftovers from a roast chicken so I added it for some protein.  Chickpeas are a good vegetarian option. Wheat Berry Salad with Chicken 1 cup wheat berries, soaked and then si...

Like hummus, but not hummus.  If, like Colin, Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas are too much of a mouthful for you, you can gesture wildly and say, "hummah, hummah."  Sometimes in the afternoons I turn on the Food Network while I make dinner.  Barefoot Contessa is on at 4:30 and Colin says "Iinaaaah."  My poor child is growing up without Sesame Street and instead will be saying things like, "how easy is that?" The recipe says to serve this warm, but we also enjoyed it cold and at room temperature.  Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas original recipe from Barefoot Contessa 2 (15.5-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/2 cup chicken broth 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for serving 2 ripe medium-size tomatoes, seeded and small-diced (or about half a pint of grape tomatoes) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Kosher salt and freshly ground black ...

My sister and her family came by for a quick visit last weekend on their way to Nantucket.  Amidst the craziness of a 6 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old who had been in the car for over 3 hours, they ate this quiche.  It met with positive reviews all around. This is a basic recipe that can be customized however you like.  I made it last year with spinach and cheddar, but really any combination of vegetables, meat, or cheese works.  Crustless Quiche with Goat Cheese and Tomato 6 eggs, beaten 1 cup milk 3-4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled 1 tomato, sliced 1 Tablespoon fresh basil, chopped 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped Salt and Pepper Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9 inch ceramic dish or pie plate with cooking spray, or grease with butter. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.  Stir in herbs and season with salt and pepper. Pour into baking dish and crumble goat cheese evenly over the top. Lay slices of tomatoes over the top.  Attempt an a...

You know how when you order take-out Chinese food and you get way more fortune cookies than the number of people in your party?  The highly sophisticated formula for food per person used by takeout Chinese restaurants is a mystery to me.  Since we always order enough for leftovers, it's ok  to get four cookies for two people.  A few weekends ago we ordered from a new-to-us place that turned out to have extremely generous portions.  Our order of two appetizers and three entrees (we like variety) came with seven fortune cookies.  Seven.  We ate the food for three meals, Jon even had some for extra breakfast and we still ended up throwing some away, along with five of those fortune cookies.  The shame of ordering nearly enough food for a football team prompted me to make a little healthy salad for us to detox on Monday. Wheat Berry Salad 1/2 cup dried wheat berries, steamed - I soak mine overnight, and then simmer in fresh water for about an hour...

It's that time of year when we have more tomatoes, corn and zucchini than we know what to do with.  We got 8 ears of corn and several pounds of tomatoes in our CSA pickup last week, so our meals have been all about corn, tomatoes, corn and tomatoes.  On Saturday we made homemade pizza (using this dough ) and topped it with fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, corn and basil.  I really liked the addition of the corn on pizza, but I would recommend leaving the basil off until after baking because ours got kind of toasted. We were at the beach, so we used cookie trays instead of the pizza stone for baking, and we could totally tell the difference in crust crispiness.  Pizza stones are well worth the investment.  Also, taking crappy pictures with the flash in bad lighting doesn't do it any favors, but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looked like. Sunday night we had burgers, topped with tomatoes, and grilled corn on the cob.  I asked Jon to grill all t...

As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too much quinoa.  At the market the other day I was trying to decide between buying barbecue ribs for dinner or a giant bag of quinoa.  While I like ribs, I knew I'd get much more mileage (and nutrition!) out of the quinoa, so I did the virtuous thing.  This hasn't stopped me from dropping not-so-subtle hints to Jon about the barbecue stand I want to try, however.  I'll wear him down eventually.  Add anything you want to quinoa, stir in some sort of sauce or dressing, and you have a meal.  Perfect for summer.  This is a combination of fresh summer vegetables topped with the amazingly delicious Lemon Tahini Dressing from Oh She Glows .  We had this on it's own as a light entree one night, and the leftovers as a side dish for burgers.  And, you know me, I topped mine with goat cheese, but that's entirely optional.  Summer Quinoa 1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth 1 larg...

This recipe was kind of, sort of, inspired by Tyler Florence.  In the midst of one of the many feeding sessions during the day, I turned on Food Network.  Tyler's Ultimate was on, he was making a roasted salmon over ratatouille, and it looked delicious.  It used to be that Colin would ignore the TV when he was eating, because, you know, eating is his favorite; but now he'll fling himself back to look around and smile at me.  This is adorable, and all well and good, but I'd really rather he focus on the task at hand, so my TV watching might need to be put on hold.  We just had salmon, and while I'm happy to eat it every week, I thought it would be good to try something a little different, so I picked up some haddock.  The summer squash and herbs were from the CSA, and they were fresh and delicious.  The Saucy Squash is really just a tomato sauce with summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes and basil.  I'm using the leftovers to make french bread pizz...

There's a problem with the oven.  A problem that means it takes an hour to preheat to a temperature that is no where near the one set, and randomly cools down while it's cooking.  This meant that after "roasting" in a 425 degree oven for nearly 2 hours , the pan came out cool enough to touch and the vegetables were lightly cooked and lukewarm.   Needless to say, Jon's to-do list for this weekend includes fixing the oven or buying a new one.  This meal was inspired by yet another Pinterest find.  This one , to be specific.  I strayed quite a bit from the original recipe, but really it just put the idea into my head to do a roasted vegetable couscous.  Also, the website is British, so it says things like aubergine instead of eggplant, courgettes instead of zucchini, and shallow tin instead of baking sheet.  That's fun.  Roasted Vegetable Couscous 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1 r...

When I was in college, we used to go to a dive Mexican restaurant to drink giant margaritas.  Along with those margaritas I would often order Arroz con Pollo.  I have to say, my memory of that dish might be a little hazy, but I think my version is way better.  And I'm not just saying that because due to some timing issues and a baby who needed a bath and to be put to bed, I didn't eat dinner last night until almost 9 and inhaled my bowl.  That is late for someone who is usually starving by 7. Also, I sometimes eat lunch at 11 in the morning and today it involved ants on a log.  I'm either 8 or 88.  But I digress. Arroz con Pollo inspired by Eat Live Run Serves 6 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts , sliced in half lengthwise to form thin filets (you can use any cut of chicken here) Olive Oil 1-2 onions, chopped 1-2 green bell peppers, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons cumin 1 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon saffron, crushed 1 bay leaf 1 1/2 ...

I'm not sure why it took me so long to cook spaghetti squash.  I have a vague memory of my mom feeding it to us when we were little, but I went through a pretty long anti-squash phase, so I'm sure I turned my nose up at it.  In any case, roasting spaghetti squash is beyond easy, and it serves as an excellent alternative to pasta.  I can eat a huge bowl of pasta and it doesn't really keep me full for long, but the squash provides good fiber and protein with a far lower calorie count. To roast the squash, simply prick all over with a sharp knife so steam can escape, place in a baking dish and cook in a 375 degree oven for an hour.  Allow to cool slightly so you can touch it, slice in half, and scoop out the seeds in the middle.  Use a fork to scrape the flesh of the squash into spaghetti-like strands, and serve topped with sauce.  I made a simple tomato and meat sauce to go with our squash.  I've shared a recipe for Meaty Tomato Sauce before, and us...

It's been a whole month since I've checked in, I hope a few of you readers are still around!  I took my little guy to his one month checkup today.  He's in the 84th percentile for weight, this kid likes to eat!  Just like his mom.  My sidekick doesn't always feel like hanging out in the kitchen, so I've been doing a lot less cooking these days.  I have been doing a lot of one-handed eating, however.  New mom tip: Drink your soup out of a mug.  Don't bother trying to mess with a bowl and a spoon, you'll never get to eat lunch. Yesterday I did a little cooking for the Super Bowl (we will not be discussing the outcome...).  On the menu was buffalo chicken nachos with blue cheese, pico de gallo and guacamole.  Sadly I didn't get a chance to photograph the nachos due to the aforementioned sidekick who was feeling a little fussy, but they were delicious.  I made the chicken in the crock pot.  One package of chicken breasts into the ...

This is another easy vegetarian dish.  I usually have the bulk of the ingredients (chickpeas, rice, canned tomatoes, spinach, onion) on hand, so it's a good option to keep in mind.  My completely sporadic posting schedule might make it hard to see, but I usually try to balance our eating for the week by offsetting any meat based or heavy dishes with lighter vegetarian fare.  Mediterranean Casserole 1 cup uncooked brown rice, steamed according to package directions 1/4-1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream Olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes salt and pepper 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice 1 bag fresh spinach, or one box frozen spinach, thawed 8 oz. feta cheese, cubed or crumbled Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook brown rice according to package directions.  Stir in yogurt or sour cream and set aside. In a saute pan, heat olive oil o...

I have made a lot of different lasagna and lasagna-type dishes.  Vegetarian, with squash instead of noodles, with goat cheese instead of mozzarella, with white sauce instead of marinara; there are endless options.  This time, however, I wanted to go classic.  Tomato meat sauce, noodles, and gooey cheese.  I intended to add a layer of spinach leaves to get a little more nutrients in the mix, but I can barely remember my name these days thanks to pregnancy brain, much less things that aren't on my shopping list.  A quick Google search brought me to the always wonderful Pioneer Woman.  Not one to shy away from baked meaty, cheesy goodness, I knew she wouldn't steer me wrong. When the power went out on Sunday, and we were deciding what to do with all the food in the refrigerator, the fate of the leftover lasagna was top priority.  I'm happy to say our porch made an excellent alternative refrigerator, even colder than the real thing, and it reheated won...

This recipe was inspired by the Pioneer Woman's new Food Network show .  For those of you who aren't familiar, The Pioneer Woman lives on a ranch in Oklahoma with her husband, four children, and an apparently unlimited number of pets and farm animals.  She's funny, sarcastic, and absolutely charming.  In a recent episode, she made penne a la vodka, which gave me the idea for this recipe.  She  called her husband in from some remote corner of the ranch where he was working cattle to test it.  I called my husband in from the living room where he was putting together our new nursery furniture. Two hours after we ate dinner and I was writing this post I realized I had intended to include baby spinach in the dish, but completely forgot, so I might just stir it in with the leftovers and call it good.  Penne a la Vodka with Turkey Sausage Ingredients: 1 package sausage (12-16 ounces), sliced.  I used hot turkey sausage, but chicken or pork sausage w...

Thanks for bearing with me through my week-long hiatus.  We took a long weekend and went to the beach house in Rhode Island at the end of last week.  Friday was one of the nicest beach days of the year, hot and sunny.  Saturday we were evacuated due to the approaching hurricane.  Sunday we spent the day at our own house, without power or water,  listening to trees and branches crack outside.  Monday, facing a second day without power and no end in sight, we fled to my parents' house in New Hampshire.  Finally, yesterday afternoon I arrived back home and spent the afternoon throwing out half the food in our refrigerator and actually cleaning the shelves.  It's nice to have things back to normal. I've mentioned before how much I hate wasting food.  It feels wrong to me on so many levels.  When I saw that five of the tomatoes from the CSA had some ugly black spots on them yesterday, I knew I wouldn't be making fresh caprese salad, but I c...

This salad went through a lot of different iterations in my head before I made it.  I started planning to make it a salad, then veggie burgers, then back to a salad.  Mostly I knew that with six ears of corn in the fridge and eight more arriving this week, I needed to make a recipe that involved corn.  Fast.  It could be considered a salsa, I suppose, but the black beans bulk it up a bit.  This was good. So good that I dug into it for dinner at 4:58. Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad Ingredients: 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup corn 1/2-1 cup chopped tomatoes Pickled jalapenos, chopped (to taste) 1/2 mango, cubed Dressing: equal parts (~1/4 teaspoon) chili powder, cumin, and coriander.  Sprinkle of salt.   Equal amounts lime juice and olive oil. Mix everything together and drizzle with dressing.  I served with a scoop of guacamole and some tortilla chips for scooping.  Because food you can scoop = good. ...

You know I am a big fan of kale, although I admittedly mostly eat it in chip form.  Kale is crazy good for you, lots of vitamin K, A, and C, among others.  One of my friends sent me this recipe (I love when they do that!), and I was excited to try it with some of the giant bag of kale I picked this week.  I modified the original recipe a bit to add some more ingredients and make it into a meal (and consequently, no longer officially raw, if you care about that sort of thing). Kale, Tomato and Avocado Salad adapted from Happy Foody 1 bunch of curly kale (I filled up about half a salad spinner to serve 2 as a main course) 1 large tomato, chopped 1/2-1 avocado, chopped 1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil Juice of 1/2 lemon sea salt goat cheese, crumbled, for serving Rip kale leaves off stems and tear into bite size pieces. Mix in olive oil and lemon juice with your hands.  Really, use your hands.  The more it gets worked ...