In preparation for tomorrow night’s celebration I thought I’d share this fun recipe from Nigella’s new book. I don’t talk about cocktails often since I am usually a wine drinker, but I am always up for a cool champagne cocktail when the occasion calls for it. I mean, with a name like Filthy Fizz how can it not be the perfect beverage for a New Year’s Celebration!

Before I cut straight to the bubbly I want to thank you all, readers, once again for your amazing support this year. It has been a big year for The Naptime Chef with moving to Connecticut, starting a daily column at Babble’s The Family Kitchen, securing the Book Deal, redesigning the website, starting my Tales from the Trenches columns, and producing my first ever packaged food products for JMcLaughlin Westport. It has been a lot of hard work and you have been with me every step of the way. So thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for as we kick-off 2011. I promise this coming year I’ll do my best to deliver even more delicious food, helpful articles and fun webisodes. Happy New Year!

A Typical Grocery Haul When Farmer's Market isn't in Season

Chalk it up to too many glasses of champagne, but today I thought I’d take a break from recipes and give you a peak under the tent. I try to do this with every post – give you an idea of my daily routine – but this time I am going into much more detail. On occasion people ask if I really do it all, or if I have a housekeeper (no) and full-time nanny (no) to assist me with my daily work. These are legitimate questions and I want you to see how I really make it through each day. I am not Supermom by any stretch, I just love to cook and bake and make a point of fitting great food into our family life. I also clean the house, care for our daughter and take care of all those little things that come with family life. I am drawing inspiration from these types of Daily Diary articles. I love how they provide a glimpse into the inner workings of someone’s day or week, a true picture of how it all fits together.

With the book project underway I’ve hired a babysitter for a few (just a few, less than 6) hours a week. This gives me the time I need to work on the manuscript, or meet with people to discuss my other exciting projects like the JMcLaughlin Westport Cafe and such. Also, my daughter is attending pre-school now which frees up a nice amount of time, in addition to naptime, for work and cooking. On a typical non-babysitter weekday this is how my day flows:

7:00am-ish – Blasted out of bed by calls for cereal coming from down the hall. Retrieve daughter from her room, blanket in tow. Immediately brush her hair and put it into ponytails; god forbid the long ends dip into the cereal bowl and bring breakfast to a teary and premature end. Multi-vitamins for the whole family.

7:30am-ish – Make our bed. Make her bed. Toss in a load of laundry. Stumble downstairs in my exercise outfit, maybe wearing make-up and contacts, maybe not. We like hot breakfasts so I dive right in with the hot oatmeal for my daughter and I. My husband doesn’t eat breakfast and he is off to work. I like to savor my oatmeal while sipping hot tea, my daughter barrels through her bowl and asks for another. I often try to have her eat at least one serving of fruit at breakfast so she wraps up her second bowl of oatmeal with a banana. I am always amazed at how much food that little tummy can hold. Clean up after breakfast, empty clean dishwasher from night before, start loading it with dirty dishes for the day.

8:15-ish – Change laundry into dryer and it’s off to the gym! Daughter dressed in a semi-coordinated outfit comprised of clothes that are entirely her choice. I pick my battles. If it is seasonally appropriate she is allowed to wear it. No tank tops in January. I pack a snack trap with pretzels and raisins for the ride. I work-out at the gym while watching the news. It’s usually a boring news show since all the relevant news shows are on earlier in the morning. Make shopping list in the locker room before picking up daughter from the child care area.

9:45 – Grocery store! Yes, I am one of those people walking around the grocery store in yoga tights and a down jacket pushing a cart with a toddler in it. Don’t judge, I just don’t have the time to run home to shower before going back out to shop. Also, shopping after exercising inspires me to steer clear of all the carbs and sweets in the grocery store, bathing suit season is never that far away! I am partial to Balducci’s and our local gourmet shop for most of our food when the Farmer’s Market is not in session. They do a great job supporting local producers. A Whole Foods is being built in our town and Trader Joe’s isn’t too far away, so there is a lot of good food shopping available. While shopping my daughter usually rides in the cart seat and I give her “jobs,” like holding boxes of grains and selecting the fruit she wants for the week.

11:00 am – Home to shower, unload groceries and think about lunch. My daughter prefers hot lunches so we do a lot of pasta with butter and cheese, quesadillas, grilled cheeses and macaroni and cheese. Obviously she is obsessed with cheese. She almost always finishes off her lunch with a yogurt. I like my Trader Joe’s Almond Butter with Sea Salt on whole wheat toast and either pretzels or potato chips. Load more dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

What’s Going on Today: Christmas craziness, is there any more I need to say?

Naptime Goals: Pull together Macaroni & Cheese with Leeks

Tonight’s Menu: Macaroni & Cheese with Leeks, Baked Chicken, Wine (and lots of it!)

Parenting Lesson of the Day: Don’t laugh when they ask Santa for a trampoline.

The next few weeks will be a little nutty for me. We are hosting our first ever Christmas with my in-law’s. I’ve always traveled for the holidays so it will be fun to stay at home this year. In order to get things accomplished I’ve been making dinners that will last me at least two nights. For example, we had this delicious casserole for two nights in a row and I baked chicken or fish to serve alongside it. It was nice having this in the fridge and ready to go at a moment’s notice. I even prepared the whole thing during naptime one afternoon so it didn’t take away from any of the Christmas activities with my daughter.

Introducing The Naptime Chef for JMcLaughlin Westport! The grand opening of the JMcLaughlin store in Westport on Sunday December 12th was a blast. I was so pleased to introduce my limited edition Peppermint Hot Fudge line and chat with all of the fantastic customers. I also racked up quite a wish list which I promptly handed over to my husband. How I hope that faux-fur vest is under our tree this year!

I snapped lots of photos before the party started, so enjoy this visual tour of the event. And remember, I am catering their cafe all December so you can swing by for some fun nibbles any time. Also, the hot fudge went over so well that a few jars are available for sale in the New York City JMcLaughlin stores at 72nd Street & Lexington Avenue, as well as 93rd Street and Madison Avenue. If you are in the New York City area swing by and pick some up!

The bar was all set with nibbles like Spiced Pecans and Parmesan Cheese Straws. We served wine, seasonal ales and spiked mulled cider as well as sparkling water and cold spiced cider.

Sara and her husband live in St. Paul, Minnesota with their two daughters, ages 6 and 4.  When her first daughter was born Sara traded in her days as a social worker to stay at home, and began cooking during naptime. In fact, although the girls are a little older (one of them still naps) Sara still uses this time to her benefit, tackling loads of laundry, paying bills and cleaning – in addition to cooking! We share the sentiment that sometimes naptime isn’t nearly enough time to get it all done! One of her favorite recipes to fit into family life is this amazing bread. She has worked out how to fit each step into an open window during her day. The result is perfect loaf every time!

In December of 2008, my husband gave me a gift that changed my life.  I am not referring to the birth of my daughters, then ages 3 and 1.  I am referring to a book.  A cookbook.  My husband gave me Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The discovery that revolutionizes home baking.  I had been struggling to bake homemade bread for months, with minimal success.  Once I came across this book, I became a confident baker of bread.  A whole new world was opened to me!

The bread I bake most often is the Light Whole Wheat Bread.  It is my favorite for the variety it offers.  I can use the dough to bake bread for sandwiches, pizza crust and even focaccia.

Making this bread is a two part process and requires me to plan ahead.  I typically make the dough one day, and bake it the next.  After I get my now 4 year year old down for her “quiet time” (sometimes it is not so quiet and I wonder what she is doing in her room) I mix the ingredients, which takes me 10 – 15 minutes.  I like to use King Arthur’s unbleached all-purpose flour.  I mix the yeast, flour and salt using first a wooden spoon and then my wet hands.  No kneading is required.  I use Fleischmann’s rapid rise or quick rise yeast.  The authors state that the type of yeast you use is not important, you can use whatever you have available.

Once the dough is made, it needs to sit on the counter in a non-airtight container for two hours while the dough rises and collapses.  I find the dough is easier to work with if I first refrigerate it.  It can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, though mine never last more than a week.  From the amount of dough made, I can usually make 3 loaves of bread.

I am so excited to share this terrific invitation with all of you!  On December 12th from 12 to 4pm I’ll be providing treats for a fun holiday shopping event at the newly opened JMcLaughlin store in Westport CT. Come by and pick out some fun Christmas gifts while nibbling on delicious sweets and savories. There will even be a cookie decorating station for the kids – they decorate while you shop! I am also excited to announce that at this event I’ll be introducing a limited edition line of my Peppermint Hot Fudge Sauce which will be artfully packaged to be the perfect stocking stuffer for your friends and loved ones. It is my first foray into packaged foods and I hope you’ll swing to snap some up while supplies last. If you have any questions feel free to send me a note or leave a comment.

If you can’t make it for this event you can still get a taste of The Naptime Chef at the store all season long. The JMcLaughlin cafe will be featuring one of a kind Naptime Chef sweets all month long. That’s right – stop by for a sweet nibble (no purchase necessary!) while you peruse the racks. Happy Holidays!

What’s Going on Today: Preparing for daughter’s birthday party while she naps.

Naptime Goals: Set-up the birthday cake, popcorn, spiced up chex mix, cheeses, dip, cookies, lollipops, smoked salmon and baked brie.

Today’s Menu: See above: a mix of kid food and adult food to please everyone attending. Bar stocked with Champagne, beer, wine & sodas!

Parenting Lesson of the Day: Little kids will never know if you forget to put out the cocktail napkins!

While we were in Cooperstown for Thanksgiving we celebrated my daughter’s birthday. I can’t believe how quickly time has flown, it seems like just yesterday we brought her home! Reflecting on how quickly she has grown nearly brought tears to my eyes, but just nearly. This year there was no time for crying, we had a party to throw! I filmed the whole ordeal and made it into a great webisode and while I was doing so decided to give away a camera for my holiday giveaway #4. For details on how to enter to win a Kodak Zx1 Pocket Video Camera (courtesy of moi, this is not a sponsored giveaway) see details at the end of this post.

Luckily, my parents are expert party-throwers and weren’t at all daunted at my request we throw a proper party on the actual day of her birthday. In fact, they embraced it wholeheartedly. There was coordinated decor (light blue, per my daughter’s request), a terrific menu and loads of good friends. They even commissioned a special “blue lollipop birthday cake” since that is what she so desperately wanted. My contribution to the party was the creamy baked brie with jam and almonds. It’s is my favorite go-to holiday appetizer that is an absolute snap to make. I prepared it while my daughter napped and popped it in the oven right before the party that evening!