Grocery shopping takes twice as long with two children. Before baby brother arrived my daughter and I had our grocery visits down to a science. Grab a cart, circle the store with our list, and would be in and out of the store in a heartbeat. Now we are much more scattered. Not only do I have to take my daughter by the hand but I also strap a baby to my chest as we peruse the aisles. This added weight slows me down considerably. Then there is the laborious process of getting everyone in and out of car seats as well as unloading the actual groceries and getting them into the house. So, when Blue Apron Meal Delivery contacted me about trying out their grocery service I jumped at the chance to skip the store and have the food delivered straight to our kitchen!

Blue Apron Meal Delivery is an ingredient delivery service that delivers the measured out ingredients for three delicious meals right to your doorstep. Each box of food contains recipes with detailed step by step instructions for making your gourmet meal at home. You can also choose which kind of food you want to receive based on your dietary preference. Since I am concentrating on healthy eating to lose the baby weight I chose the vegetarian box.

My test box of food arrived packed neatly in cold packs with the recipes on top. It contained all of the ingredients and recipes (with step by step photographs!) for Beet & Barley Risotto with Goat Cheese, Potato-Chickpea Stew with Garam Masala & Lemon, and Eggplant Parmesan with Chia. Though I struggle with the taste of beets, the rest of the food sounded amazing and it was such a time saver to have all the necessary ingredients completely measured out!

The first thing I made was the Stew. It was healthy and hearty and made so easy by the fresh ingredients in the box. Then I went to make the Eggplant Parmesan and my husband and daughter asked for it with pasta. So, instead of making the traditional version on the recipe card I decided to make an inside out Eggplant Parmesan sauce. I roasted the eggplant, stirred it into some warm marinara sauce, and served it with small pieces of the fresh mozzarella over hot noodles. The meal was a hit and the lesson I quickly learned was that although Blue Apron meals come with pre-measured ingredients for specific recipes, you can easily improvise and make what you like.

While I don’t think I”ll be signing up for this delivery service for the long term I was very pleased with my testing. The ingredients were delivered fresh and on time. The recipes were straight forward. The results were delicious. I also loved how each recipe came with an explanation on how healthy each dish was. Always a bonus when feeding an active family! This service is perfect for a busy family who wants to get more into home cooking but needs cut out the grocery shopping time in order to make it happen. It would also make a nice gift to a new parent or elderly person who can’t make it to the grocery store easily.

I am psyched to today Blue Apron Meal Delivery is offering readers 30% off your first box if you join by following this link: Click here for 30% off your first order. Enjoy!

This week we had yet another cold snap. While I did my best to envision warmer temperatures via tropical-inspired fish dishes, I had to face the fact that I wanted something warm and hearty. More like a comforting pasta than a light fish taco. So, I decided to make this easy risotto with Sea Cuisine Mediterranean Salmon. Most people don’t consider risotto an easy weeknight meal but I beg to disagree. With this simple technique you stir the risotto slowly – easily done with a baby on one shoulder – then top it with freshly baked salmon before serving.

Today I am thrilled to share an article and recipe from my friend Catherine McCord of Weelicious. As you might remember, earlier this year I chatted with Catherine about her new cookbook and shared a recipe for her awesome Baked Ziti. Her next book all about school lunches is coming out this summer (yay!) and I can’t wait to get a copy. It is perfect timing for me since my daughter starts kindergarten next fall.  I’ll be sure to alert you when it hits shelves! In the mean time, check out these amazing muffins that are completely allergy friendly and great for kids and adults alike.

Sunflower Butter Bran Muffins by Catherine McCord

Today I am thrilled to be offering up a Whole Foods Market Gift Card as a giveaway. The reason? I recently had the pleasure of enjoying their new Whole Foods Organic Frozen meals and I think you all need to go out and try some yourself. I usually don’t buy tons of frozen foods, but I am not opposed to a shortcut here and there. I love the general Whole Foods philosophy of cooking with real ingredients so if I do take shortcuts it is usually from that store. Of course, there is no better time for a shortcut then with a new baby in the house. It made perfect sense to give some of their easy to prepare frozen meals a try this month. Here is what we tried and liked:

This week I am continuing my seafood cook-a-long for Sea Cuisine with this easy coconut tilapia dish that is a perfect weeknight meal. I cooked this over the weekend in a fit of desperation. Will winter ever end? Will it ever be warm enough to wear shorts again?! Is it possible to look so pale that I closely resemble Wednesday Adams?? Harkening back to last year’s trip to Thailand I decided to pair Sea Cuisine’s delicious Coconut Crusted Tilapia with fragrant jasmine rice, coconut and greens. While I wouldn’t consider this Thai cuisine, it is definitely Thai-inspired.

I will admit, I was a tad skeptical when I received a T-Fal Actifry machine in the mail in December. I am not a fan of deep frying, especially since I am now concentrating on losing the baby weight. However, the claim of the Actifry was intriguing. Could this machine really make ALL the dishes in the book while using minimal amounts of oil to keep them on the healthy side?  Why was Oprah telling the world that that machine changed her life when she is not a paid spokesperson? I always thought machines like this were strictly for making donuts and french fries – delicious, but most unhealthy. Curious, I put the machine to the test last weekend.

I am lucky enough to have grown up with a mother who is a knitter. Not just an occasional craft knitter, the real deal hand knit sweaters and afghans every winter kind of knitter. She is the kind of person who can knit in front of the television without ever looking down at what she is doing – that is how good she is. Not only does she knit for herself and her kids, she also knits at quite an astonishing pace for her grandchildren. My kids have multiple baby blankets, not a mention an amazing collection of handmade hats, sweaters, ponchos, and more. When she was visiting earlier this month she even measured my daughter’s stuffed dogs to make them each hand knit coats (!) One of my favorite things she has made my children are these adorable knit animals. She makes one for my daughter every year and now she has started making them for my son.

There are three things I missed when I was pregnant: wine, raw milk cheeses, and oysters with mignonette sauce. I didn’t really care about missing out on raw fish since I am not a big sushi eater, and I couldn’t have cared less about the minimal caffeine guidelines since I can barely stomach more than a milky latte three times a week. I just really missed sipping a glass of wine while nibbling on a yummy cheese plate (my favorite no-cook dinner!), and ordering the occasional oyster platter with my husband on date night. Today, to celebrate Valentine’s Day AND my return to non-pregnant status I am celebrating with a Valentine’s Day champagne cocktail, a trio of delicious cheeses from our amazing local cheese shop, and the promise of oysters the next time we go out.

Today I am psyched to be hosting a great giveaway for Angie’s Kettle Corn. I recently received a huge box of it in the mail and my whole family fell in love with its awesome salty/sugar taste. It reminded me of the popcorn I used to get at the movie theaters in Scotland when they would ask if we wanted sugar tossed in the already salted popcorn. I always said yes – it was so delish! Today Angie’s is generously offering a pack of 20 popcorn snack bags that should be enough to be taken into a child’s classroom for a special snack. If you can’t take it to school it would also be great for a playdate treat or for putting in birthday party gift bags!

To enter to win a package of Kettle Corn for your child’s classroom (contains 20 7-ounce bags of corn):

1) Leave a comment sharing your favorite Valentine’s tradition with kids.

2) Subscribe to Kelsey Banfield on Facebook

3) Subscribe to The Naptime Chef newsletter on the upper right hand corner of the page.

4) Contest runs from February 13th at 12:00pm ET through February 20th at 11:59PM ET. Winner will be announced in the February 22nd newsletter!

I am frequently asked about preparing fish on weeknights. It seems a lot of people think that seafood needs such special handling that it should be reserved for cooking on weekends or nights without time constraints. I always beg to differ with this opinion, preparing seafood for a quick weeknight meal is so easy! One of the ways we enjoy seafood on any given evening is by picking up frozen fish that has already been prepped like this Tortilla Crusted Tilapia from Sea Cuisine. It is not that I am trying to skirt preparing the fish, it is just that Sea Cuisine actually takes the time to prepare the fish correctly and the flavors are delicious. Plus, it is a company I can stand behind since they fiercely committed to sustainability, a cause that is deeply important to me.

Today I am thrilled to be chatting with one of my all-time favorite bloggers and published authors, Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef. In case you missed it, last spring Luisa’s first book, My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes), was released. It is a terrific food memoir (foodoir?) that chronicles her life to date beginning with her young childhood in Berlin, Germany. I won’t give away all the stories in the book, but suffice it to say Luisa has spent her life living around the globe, finding love and solace in her kitchen, and is currently – happily – living in Berlin with her husband and infant son.

I loved this book not only for the rich storytelling but also the uniquely German and American recipes. I’ve earmarked so many things to try and am specifically hoping to master the Elderflower syrup and Springerle cookies before the year is out. Luckily for us, Luisa stopped by to answer some questions and give away one of her books!

1) I love the food memoir format of your book. Did you ever debate about writing a cookbook, or did it always seem like a memoir was the right format for you?
When I first started thinking about writing a book, I did consider a cookbook, but I was never really sure what the angle would be. On my blog, after all, I mostly write about other people’s recipes. In fact, it felt like I had far more personal stories to share than recipes, so eventually a memoir wiggled its way out of me. In retrospect, it made a lot of sense and I’m glad that my agent saw the potential in me. I needed a little convincing! I wasn’t sure anyone would really want to read about my journey.

Oho, was there ever. I’d say there was probably about a year of feeling utterly stuck. I’d left New York and was adjusting to life in Berlin during a very long, harsh winter. All the plans I had for writing went straight out the window. I think deep down I was just plain scared – terrified – of the hard work that lay before me. There were a LOT of truly awful chapters and then a lot of time in which nothing got written. It was so scary! Luckily, my publisher gave me time and eventually the weather got better (haha) and I started my own internal creative thaw. But there were many hard moments – writing a book is what I imagine what running a marathon is like. Episodes of total runner’s high and episodes of utter torture.

At the moment, I’m very happy to be in Berlin. I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, which is epic – it’s what I was looking for my whole life. That being said, I like to daydream about spending a few years in southern California, where it’s always warm and sunny.

All of the positive reviews and letters have been absolutely amazing, but my favorite thing is to hear from readers with similarly mish-mashed background who say that no one has ever been able to sum up their experience so succinctly or authentically and that reading my book made them feel less alone. Those are the letters that bring tears to my eyes – it can be a little lonely growing up this way and I’m so glad to hear that my book gave comfort to others. It’s really incredibly gratifying.

My favorite food memoirs are Cooking For Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser, Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl, A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg and Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. My favorite cookbooks? It’s hard to make a list, since I have so many favorites. But at the moment, I’m really loving Nigel Slater’s latest book, Kitchen Diaries II, and at night I’ve been curling up with The Little House Cookbook that I got for my birthday from a dear friend. It’s so cozy and reminds me of reading The Little House in the Big Woods and falling in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder as a kid.

Thank you! I’m home with Hugo full-time so he’s exposed to my American side all day long: we listen to Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger and Natalie Merchant, I read him my favorite English-language baby books, plus there will be a few trips a year to see his grandparents in the US and I hope to send him to a bilingual daycare/school here in Berlin when the time comes. His dad’s in charge of his German side, though of course since he’s growing up here, he won’t need as much helping along with that.

Baked goods! I’d like to find a more attractive term for the stuff, but desserts isn’t accurate, since German sweet baking encompasses breakfast and tea time too. The German/Austrian baking tradition is unparalleled in the world! From strudel to doughnuts to rustic yeasted fruit pies to towering tortes to myriad Christmas cookies to fruit bread and braided sweet loaves, nut-studded breakfast buns, marzipan confections and more – it’s an entire universe.

Ooh, I don’t know just yet! A book of some kind, yes, though I swore up and down I’d never write again after I finished My Berlin Kitchen. We’ll see. Hopefully I’ll know more in the next few months. (Editor’s note: please, please write another book!!!)

To win a copy of My Berlin Kitchen:

1) Leave a comment below sharing your favorite German food!

2) Contest runs from February 12th through February 19th at 7:00am. Winner will be announced in the February 22nd newsletter! Good luck!

While I like the general sentiment of Valentine’s Day we don’t get overly involved in crazy gift-giving. Instead, we like to stick to sweet simple gifts, homemade crafted items and home cooked meals. This year I plan on making these awesome individual chocolate caramel lava cakes for our Valentine’s Day dessert. (It is anyone’s guess whether we’ll be celebrating while both kids are asleep or with a wide-awake newborn sitting alongside the table in a swing!) Either way, these cakes are so much simpler than they look. They come together in a snap and always look impressive when “dressed up” for the table.