Given that we’ve been slurping a heck of a lot of soup around here lately I thought I’d stop in with one more. I swear, promise (!), that this will be the last one for a while. Even I know it is time to break out of my soupy pattern. It has been so easy while the weather has been crapola, but now it is time to move on. But, before I do, I have to share this little gem I found on F00d52 the other day. It is called Chicken Parmesan Soup because it tastes exactly like a Chicken Parmesan casserole but it can be made with one-quarter of the effort and is a touch healthier.
If there ever was a soup winter this is it. It is barely above 10 degrees F most days here. When we were in Cooperstown last weekend is what rarely above 0 and that is not an exaggeration! To stay warm and happy I’ve been making lots and lots of soup. I even plan to have another new soup recipe for you next week.
There are many reasons why soup makes a great winter meal including:
– Soups are a great way to pack lots of flavors into one bowl. Most soups contain at least one, if not more, vegetables, some beans, pasta, and even meat or poultry. Depending on what you want to make, soup can be a complete, nutritious one-bowl meal.
– Soups lend themselves well to batch cooking. Double whatever soup recipe you want to make and freeze half for later. Soup is always handy to have the freezer when there is no time to cook!
– Since soup recipes can be made up on a moment’s notice they are a great way to use up bits and bobs of whatever is in your fridge or pantry. It is no coincidence that there are so many ways to make soup. You can add almost anything to soup!
– Soup ages well. If you make it in advance by naptime cooking, or even making it the day before you plan to eat it, the flavor of soup will only improve. Reheating it is a snap on the stovetop or in the microwave and it is always easy to serve hot.
Here are some of the favorite soups we’ve been enjoying this winter:
Keeping the house bright this time of year can be hard. The light outside is so dull and the sun sets pretty early. To cheer up our table I like to light candles in little votive holders. It is an easy way to brighten our space and add a little extra warmth to our day. Here are a few of my favorites:
This decadent treat is my gift to you this Valentine’s Day week. I know, we’ve talked about a few sweet things lately but this baby is the ultimate. It is so easy. Really, truly easy. And it is unbelievably delicious. It features a thick spread of salted caramel which is definitely a trendy flavor right now. The caramel is cradled in a simple chocolate cookie crust and topped with a decadent, and easy, ganache.
Last week was the perfect time to receive my latest box from Blue Apron. As you might remember, I get a funbox of meals from them every so often. It is a great way to jolt me out of my cooking comfort zone and get the family excited for new foods. The box comes packed with farm-fresh ingredients for three delicious family meals measured out and ready to be cooked. Not only are the recipes they send inventive and interesting, it also means no trip to the grocery store and no throwing out unused food. Perfect!
Since we like to change up our diets I always get one poultry meal, one seafood meal, and one vegetarian dish. Last week two of the three dishes had a wonderful Asian flair which we enjoyed since I rarely cook Asian-style family meals, though we love the cuisine. The third was a delicious chicken dish featuring a kumquat and cracked wheat salad. I’ll admit, I think kumquats are pretty in the store but I rarely buy them. Now I have an idea of what to do with them and I think I might pick some up.
All in all this box was the perfect thing to get me back on track with trying new recipes and cooking meals full of fresh produce. Though find it harder to cook with loads of fresh vegetables this time of year there is really no reason why I should. I think it is just because I miss visiting the farm stand so much.
If you feel like you are ready be plucked out of a cooking rut, or you just want to try a week of new, inspiring meals you really should give Blue Apron a try. There are lots of people I know who love them! In fact, right now Blue Apron is giving Naptime Chef readers a special incentive. The first 50 readers to sign up here get 2 meals FREE!! If you get hooked on Blue Apron you can continue ordering from them and cancel or skip a week at any time at no cost. Oh, and the shipping is always free. Hard to argue with that! So, what are you waiting for? Treat you and your family to a mid-winter change and have some fun!
(Disclosure: I was sent the meals from Blue Apron to try. The photographs and opinions are wholly my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make The Naptime Chef possible.)
So, this winter we developed a weekend brunch routine. Every Sunday morning for the past few weeks I’ve been whipping up fried eggs and bacon, along with English muffins, tea, and juice for the whole family. There is pretty much nothing better than starting off the day with a hot meal before heading outside to play in the snow. (And yes, for the non-egg eater in my house there are pancakes, too!)
Recently my friends at Zwilling J.A. Henckels sent me these beautiful non-stick pans and they’ve made this egg-n-bacon routine easier than ever. Everything I make on them glides right off the pan and onto the plate perfectly cooked with nary a crumb left behind to burn. I love it! Since they conduct the heat so evenly I don’t have to thrash the pan around the stovetop to keep the egg yolks from setting too soon in hot spots, or worry about the bacon burning. Those days are behind me now!
This week I am gearing up for Valentine’s Day and I hope you’ll join me! I’ve long proclaimed that I am not a devotee of crazy chocolate covered Hallmark holidays. But a few sweets and a glass of champagne are always a good idea. That is where decadent chocolate merlot cake comes in. They can easily be baked up during naptime, or even after dinner, and they contain everyone’s favorite ingredient: wine.
The Pollan Family Table: The Best Recipes and Wisdom for Delicious, Healthy Family Meals is perfectly named. It is not one of those books that offers a mere page or two of advice before diving into unusual recipes. Oh, no. It is more like a cookbook with a lot of wisdom and practical, delicious recipes thrown in. When I first cracked the book I was unsure of what to expect. Would brother Michael’s introduction be a diatribe about America’s tragic food policy? Would all the recipes be strictly diet/low-fat/no flavor? Thankfully, I quickly found the book was exactly the opposite, and so much more.
It turns out that not only is the Pollan family a close-knit family of home cooks. They are also a family of eaters. By that I mean, it is clear they love food, and they love to eat it together. Nobody I know would or could offer up these smart and thorough recipes and tips if they didn’t. Once I came to this realization I knew I was in for a real treat.
The first third of the book is devoted to all sorts of practical advice on how to keep your kitchen running efficiently, and its inhabitants healthy. While I have pages of advice I’ve written over the years, I always love to see how others approach their kitchens. The Pollans have a treasure trove of good advice and I definitely made a few notes! The rest of the book is recipes. The chapters are smartly divided into the major family food groups starting with Poultry and ending with dessert. Within each chapter the recipes come with ample descriptive headnotes and detailed instructions. It is easy to see how each dish fits onto the family table.
I was lucky enough to interview the fantastic Pollan women about their book and here is our conversation:
1) Right off the bat one of my favorite things about this book is the chapter organization. You really hit on the main “family food groups” so to speak. How did you come up with the idea to present the book this way? And thank you for the wide variety of chicken dishes – always a family favorite!
First of all, our families love chicken too! We know first hand how hard it can be to put meals on the table. We organized The Pollan Family Table in a way that we thought would make it easier for people to plan their meals. For instance if you want to prepare “ chicken with a salad” for dinner— the reader can go to the chicken chapter and choose a chicken dish and then flip through the salad chapter and pick out a salad. It was important to us that our cookbook make preparing family meals as easy and as uncomplicated as possible!
2) I bet there were a lot of opinions about the recipes that were tested for this book. How did you decide on the final cut? They all look amazing!
The fact that our book was written by four authors one might think it was difficult to decide what would make the “final cut”. I think because we all grew up in the same household with our mother, Corky, cooking for us and exposing us to all of the same foods, our tastes are extremely similar. We pretty much agreed on everything.
3) Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, could you share your perfect menu for a romantic family meal at home? I love making our Valentine’s Day dinner after the kids are asleep!
We would love to! We would start the meal with our Mixed Lettuce Salad with Three Vinegars, next, the Citrus-Roasted Chicken with Grand Marnier and for dessert, Aquinnah and Schuyler’s Chocolate Cream Pie with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust. This menu is sure to warm the heart. It would be our perfect Valentine’s Day dinner!
4) This book is so chock full of practical advice and recipes. I have to believe there is more where it came from. What is next for the (very busy) Pollan family?!
We would love to write another cookbook. We have some truly wonderful holiday recipes—it would be exciting to put them in a book. In the meantime, we enjoy cooking together and are constantly thinking of new recipes and ideas and bouncing them off one another.
This book really, truly is one of those must-haves you’ll keep around in your kitchen for years to come. Even now I find something new every single time I open it. It is clearly written by a family which is what fills it with warmth that spills out of the pages and into your kitchen. If there is one book you need to start out the new year, this is it!
To enter to win a copy of The Pollan Family Table:
1) Leave a comment sharing a favorite family dish you look forward to sharing with your relatives each year.
