Powernap: Quick Recipes For When Time is Limited!

This blueberry breakfast bread pudding came about when I had to use up leftovers from the fridge. Eggs, challah, blueberries, you name it, all the ingredients were front and center and just about to outlive their welcome in the kitchen. Since the challah had already been used for other things I decided to break it into chunks and marinate it overnight to absorb the flavor like I do with my overnight French toast. In the morning I popped it in the oven and let it bake and bubble until a gorgeous casserole was ready for us all to enjoy.

What do you get when you combine flaky pie crust with your favorite cookie recipe? Peanut butter cookie pie, of course. This treat is a super-duper kid favorite recipe that is bound to be a family favorite for years to come. And if you really want to ensure its place in the dessert hall of fame make it into a giant peanut butter cookie pie overload sundae. You’ll be the most popular person in your house and bask in praise for days on end!

We are on the mend at Chez Naptime after last week’s kiddie virus invasion. I am still amazed at how many tissue boxes we went through! I am slowly getting back on the cooking wagon and am sticking to quick, easy meals that can be whipped up in a jiff. I even make them easier on myself with a little naptime food prep. So simple! These green beans with frizzled shallots have become a recent favorite of ours. We love the salty crunch of the shallots with the snappy beans.

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.

The benefit of having in-law’s in Florida is that they regularly send citrus. Not just any citrus, the real deal Florida fresh citrus. We eat it non-stop, especially during snowstorms, to keep our spirits up. I also use it all the time for baking and cooking. Over the weekend I used one of our last grapefruits to make these sweet little shortbread cookies. I loved how the tangy grapefruit played with the dark chocolate, giving it the flavor of a dark chocolate covered orange peel. These simple cookies are the perfect sweet nibble to chase away the winter blues. Remember people, only 50 days left until spring!

There was no naptime cooking yesterday. Instead there was naptime book launch work and naptime house work. Ah, well. You can’t win ’em all. In lieu of naptime cooking there was one-pot-meal-night. That is, a quick delicious dinner that I could make in one dish. It was an easy recipe that my mom had given me years ago to try and this week I finally got around to it. Here is the jist:

Sometimes I need a break from salad. I know that is not a popular thing to say. Somehow salads have become the ubiquitous side dish that it seems we all should be serving nightly. The more creatively flavored, the better. I always like to serve a good Harvest Salad each fall. But I also love to take my vegetables in different forms. For example, basic carrots roasted to sweet, soft perfection. They are almost easier to make than a salad and come together in a snap. Plus, my kids are more inclined to eat carrots than a salad, so why not take advantage?

I’ve been on a scone kick lately. They are the easiest special treat I know how to make. The dough easily comes together in one bowl during naptime and I chill it until I am ready to bake. This usually happens on Saturday or Sunday morning when the aroma of them baking up fresh puts us all in the mood for a happy, lazy Sunday. Having the dough already set in the freezer makes it so easy to do! I’ve made lots of scone recipes before and this newer one came from the recent goop newsletter that highlighted Huckleberry. I’ve never been to L.A. to try the bakery, but I have the cookbook and am loving it.

I think roasted delicata squash rings are better than steak fries. Those words carry weight, my friends, because I love steak fries. But delicata rise above the fried potato for me because they are simply more flavorful, easier to make at home, and much healthier for you in a baked-not-fried way. Making them doesn’t require any fancy technique or crazy recipe, but it bears reviewing now and again. I like to add a splash of balsamic syrup to mine for a little extra flavor and color, but you can leave them plain if you want. Here is how I make them and a fun way to serve them:

We are huge pancake fans and this fall I’ve been all about flavoring mine with fresh fruit. So far I’ve made them with strawberries, blueberries, and pumpkin. And now I’m addicted to my newest favorite: grated pear. These easy to make breakfast cakes are simply awesome for fall. They taste just like a pie and feature all of my favorite warm spices of these season.

This is a super simple recipe that we enjoyed on Martha’s Vineyard over vacation. I love it because it reminded me of my favorite Watermelon Goat Cheese Salad recipe. It has the same components of the sweet fruits (peach and tomato), warm herbs, and tangy cheese. The burrata is a new one to me as a salad cheese. I usually lean toward goat, feta, or blue, but the silky burrata worked beautifully. The milky mozzarella oozed into the crevices of the chopped tomatoes and enveloped the peaches. There was just a little bit of it in each bite and the trifecta of flavors was summer perfection.

I know summer is in full swing when the farmer’s market starts to fill up with good local corn. I snagged my first bag the other day and nearly skipped home. There is nothing better then fresh sweet corn! I can’t wait to get my hands on it when we get to Cooperstown at the end of the week. A lot of the time I simply grill or boil corn and eat it with butter and salt. But this time I decided to kick off the season with a salad full of fresh tomatoes, a little onion, basil, and corn that had been roasted to concentrate its flavor even further.