The Naptime Chef Cooking Show

Fall salads are my favorite because I can load them up with strong flavors to match our favorite roast chicken or soups. To give mine a little kick, I use slices of fresh pear, thin slices of red onion, chunks of Arla Dofino Gouda, sweet caramelized pecans and a mix of dark green lettuces and spinach. I toss it all with a homemade vinaigrette and serve it up in big heaping bowlfuls. To show you just how easy it is to prepare this gorgeous salad I’ve prepared a little video for you!

Today I am thrilled to kick-off my holiday gift week chatting about one of my favorite causes, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. I know cancer isn’t necessarily a fun topic, but making cookies and selling them to support pediatric cancer research is definitely a fun thing to do. For me there are fewer things that feel better or more worthwhile than putting my baking skills to good use during the holiday season. This month I have joined several of my food blogging buddies to create and promote a great Holiday Recipe Video series featuring our favorite holiday cookies to support Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Welcome to the third episode of The Naptime Chef Cooking Show! This series of three cooking shows is made possible with support from OXO and features recipes from my new book. My first show featured my recipe for Couscous with Tomatoes & Arugula and my second episode featured my Artichoke-Lemon Pesto.. The final episode showcases my awesome recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread (yum!) and features OXO measuring cups and the new OXO handheld grater.

Welcome to the second episode of The Naptime Chef Cooking Show!! This series of three cooking shows featuring recipes from my new book. My first show featured my recipe for Couscous with Tomatoes & Arugula. This episode features my Artichoke-Lemon Pesto from my Side Dishes & Salads section and features the awesome OXO measuring cups and a great OXO citrus juicer. The final cooking show in this series will be rolled out in two weeks will each have more giveaways for awesome OXO tools and my book. We’re also going to be having fun Facebook contests and Twitter parties so stayed tuned!

Welcome to the new Naptime Chef Cooking Show!! This upcoming series of three cooking shows is made possible with support from OXO and features recipes from my new book. Today’s show: Couscous with Tomatoes & Arugula features the Salad Shaker, Bamboo Cutting Board and Chef’s Knife from the OXO line of spring tools and a recipe from my Side Dishes & Salads section. The next two cooking shows in this series will be rolled out every other week and will each have more giveaways for awesome OXO tools and my book. We’re also going to be having fun Facebook contests and Twitter parties so stayed tuned!

I am so excited that my cookbook trailer is finally available. I hope you have some time to take a look and get excited for the book. I’ve heard it has started to ship and a lot of you have received it which is so exciting. Don’t forget to check out my book page for upcoming events. I am adding lots of new locations every week. Get ready, the wild ride is about to begin!

Last week I noticed my stash of frozen bananas had grown a little too large. I always have at least three in there for emergency banana bread, but during the holidays I didn’t bake any so the pile had grown to nine. We were in need of some fresh snack food so this was perfect timing. Underneath the bananas I also found the last of the pecans I’d use to make Spiced Pecan Snowballs for Christmas. With these two things in hand, an hour until school let out, I decided to whip up a fresh loaf of banana and top it with an crunchy pecan streusel. I had never topped banana bread with anything before, but there is a first time for everything, right?

In today’s naptime webisode I am canning apple pie filling with my Dad. As most of you know, I love canning with my Dad. And, despite the fact that he bought me my very own canning equipment for our home in Connecticut, I still like to do it with him when we visit Cooperstown. In this webisode you’ll notice my lips moving while I talk over the picture, that is because Dad and I were chatting the entire time we did this project. We were catching up on all the news around town and, of course, all the happenings at pre-school here in Connecticut. Our canning projects are more than just the chance to preserve delicious food, they are our time to catch up with each other.

When I agreed to bring an apple-y treat to a playdate recently I knew exactly what I wanted to make. I experimented with this Apple Crumb Cheesecake bar recipe a lot last year but never posted about it. Now I’ve think I’ve got it fine-tuned and am finally ready to share it! They were originally inspired by my husband’s love of cheesecake and my love of apples. I make a lot of apple breads and muffins during apple season, which are great of course, but I really wanted to try combining cheesecake and apples to make one stellar bar we all would love.

A new webisode! I am not going to write much about this pizza since I talk about it so much in the video. I learned this method for making homemade pizza while at King Arthur Flour. The bakers their suggested I preheat my oven for an hour with the pizza stone in it (!) and then use their pizza flour blend to make an easy pizza crust. Their ideas seemed to smart and manageable that I immediately tried it when I got home and am so glad I did. It worked beautifully! So, without further ado. Our homemade pizza night on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

With all that has been going on webisodes were put on the back burner for a while. I love doing them, but they take a lot more time than a regular post. Since my last webisode I’ve traveled to Atlanta, Vermont, Cooperstown (twice) and Martha’s Vineyard (twice). More often than not, these travels have been […]

What’s Going on Today: A birthday celebration! Naptime Goals: Preparing the food for the party (see previous post), including baking the cake and whipping the cream. More Great Birthday Baked Goods: Check out this Naptime Simple Tips column! Yesterday you read all about the birthday dinner I prepped during naptime and today I am focusing […]

Welcome back webisodes! With a few big deadlines met and one nice vacation under my belt I have returned with new webisodes. Given my hectic schedule this spring and summer I plan to feature new webisodes every couple of weeks and hope to return to my weekly filming schedule in a few months. To kick […]

What’s Going on Today: Lazy Saturday morning at home. Naptime Goals: Wrap up book recipe testing, catch up with husband after being away last week. Tonight’s Menu: Book recipe (shhh! can’t tell) Last week I was trolling my mother’s recipe box for new ideas and pulled out this recipe for pancakes. She smiled broadly when […]

What’s Going on Today: Catching up after the weekend in Boston! Back to work on the book. Naptime Goals: Unload groceries, set up the slow-cooker, ignore it until dinner time! Tonight’s Menu: Slow-Cooker Short Ribs Pronvencale, Egg Noodles and Salad. Parenting Lesson of the Day: A little time away is good for everyone. Last weekend […]