Powernap: Quick Recipes For When Time is Limited!

I am still working on a very tight back-to-school schedule so I am just stopped in with a short by sweet recipe today. We made these yesterday for my daughter to pack in her bag for snack on her first day of school. She loves corn muffins and I love the idea of her having these mini-muffins with her to curb her hunger come mid-afternoon. This recipe is super easy and lots of fun to make with kids. It makes a regular batch of muffins but you can easily double it and freeze a huge bag like I did. To all you parents out there packing the kids off to school this week and next…good luck!

One of the chief complaints among foodie Cooperstonians is that there is a dearth of gourmet food shops in the area. In fact, the closest place they can buy things like fancy cheeses and exotic produce is 90 miles northeast in Albany. To counter that, however, there is a vast expanse of farmland and the farmer’s market is truly one-in-a-million. So, while I’ve been here this month I’ve been enjoying all kinds of delicious corn, squash, tomatoes, and fruit. I haven’t, however, been able to find a single interesting or exotic mushroom. It is sliced cremini, portabello, or nothing at all.

Last month I got my first pizzelle maker from Wayfair and used it to make ice cream sandwiches. The recipe I started with produced cookies too thick to eat on their own but were perfect for frozen treats. Since then my Mom and I have been hard at work testing and re-testing pizzelle recipes to find the perfect one. We like our pizzelles thin and a little crisp and after some online research concluded that butter, not oil, was the key to our pizzelle-making success!

Each summer I usually set aside a few days to preserve as much of my favorite produce as possible. It can be tough to undertake such projects with the little ones underfoot. But I find I can usually accomplish what I set out to do over the course of a few naptimes and with my mother to help with a little babysitting. However, there are times when I simply don’t have the luxury of my parent’s big kitchen and my father’s helping hands. So, instead of tackling several pints of pickles or a day of apple pie filling, I take the simple route and make a small batch of jam in the skillet.

My herb pot yielded its first batch of basil large enough for making pesto. Needless to say, I already have one batch in the fridge and a small container stashed in the freezer for later this winter. As my husband pointed out, never doubt how much Kelsey loves homemade pesto! The kick off the pesto party this summer I made up an easy summer recipe for pesto grilled chicken. It is perfect for a quick weekend meal and comes together in nearly an instant.

Last summer my second trimester craving was milkshakes. If an ice cream could be whipped together with milk and sucked through a straw I was game. You name the flavor, I wanted it! Of course, this summer there is nary a dairy shake in sight. I am halfway to my baby weight loss goal and I am not going to so much as sip an Awful, Awful until I am comfortably back in my skinny jeans. Until then, I am making myself milkshake-like smoothies that totally satisfy all my shake cravings without the unwanted calories.

As part of my year as a food correspondent for Sargento I am exploring the wild world of mushrooms. It has been awesome so far, playing with new ways to enjoy mushrooms. I love any excuse I can get to find new ways to eat them at home. This week I picked up a few portobello mushrooms and kept them around for a few days until I could decide what to make. I always enjoy a good portobello mushroom burger, but this time I wanted to change it up and come up with something easy and fresh.

Cinco de Mayo is over and it is time to gear up for Mother’s Day! Obviously I am a big proponent of baking something for mom on Mother’s Day. The only requirement is that it has to be something simple and quick. I am pretty sure it would be hard to pull off a surprise cake that required hours laboring away over fondant and multicolored layers. The kitchen mess would surely give you away! So, instead, I suggest you focus on something tasty and easy like these sweet corn muffins. The batter comes together in one-bowl and it is the perfect thing for kids to make if they want to help out. (It is very forgiving so the muffins won’t deflate or anything if a little flour spills over the edge of the bowl – promise!) Once they are in the oven you have about twenty minutes to arrange the breakfast tray, or warm up the soup or sandwich, and your special treat for mom is ready!

I can’t help myself, Cinco de Mayo is just days away and I’ve got sangria on the brain. Of all of the drinks I missed last summer, sangria was the one I missed most. To me, enjoying a big glass alongside a bowl of chips and guacamole on the back porch is the epitome of summer. I love the way a good sangria is just a tiny bit sweet and filled with the flavors of fresh fruit. In fact, in the summer I will take it over a glass of wine any day of the week. In celebration of the upcoming holiday I thought I would share one of my favorite sangria recipes. There will be more great Mexican dishes coming up this week. We’ll likely have a whole fiesta planned by Friday!

I am having so much fun exploring the mushroom food trend for 2013 on behalf of Sargento this year. I love mushrooms and am finding the that more I learn about them the more curious I become. This week I decided it was time to explore the idea of using mushrooms to make a quick meal. I find that it is easy to fall into the trap of making large, involved meals featuring mushrooms. But, what about something easy and fast? My quickest meals usually come about during the day which is why I came up with this lunch pizza.

Sloppy Joe’s are a favorite meal from my childhood. I remember my mother making them every once in a long while and my brother and I jumping with excitement when they hit the table. I still make them from time to time and recently I decided to give them a new twist. Instead of serving a good ole’ Manwich sloppy joe on a roll, I used a biscuit. Then I added cubes of spicy cheddar cheese and a slice of bacon! The whole sandwich was inspired by some of my favorite southern cuisine and a desperate need to turn our everyday Monday meal into something special.

There is nothing like the first hint of spring to inspire a light chicken dish full of fresh tomatoes and herbs for dinner. This true powernap recipe (under 10 minutes to assemble!) came together in a jiffy over the weekend. I had some fresh chicken thighs on hand and decided to roast them in one large pan with cherry tomatoes, shallots, thyme, and basil. The naptime preparation was a cinch, I simply assembled the one dish meal and stuck it in the fridge for the afternoon!