September 1, 2011
Join Me on iVillage for my Healthy Snack Makeover Challenge!
Hi! I am taking a little break today from recipe posts to tell you about this cool project I am doing with iVillage!
September 1, 2011
Join my on iVillage for a Healthy Snack Makeover Challenge!
I am so excited to be joining iVillage as a guest coach for one of their cool Mealtime Makeover Community Challenges. It is going to be so much fun! Here is a little more about it and why you should sign up to join me.
iVillage is partnering with Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars finalist, Antonia Lofaso, on a community challenge aimed at mobilizing millions of women around the country to cook healthier family meals. Launched on August 29, this Mealtime Makeover Community Challenge is the latest in a successful line of iVillage signature community challenges, which to-date have rallied over a million women around causes ranging from childhood literacy to reaching financial success. In addition, challenge participants can enter for a chance to win thousands of dollars’ worth of top-notch kitchen appliances to make cooking at home that much more fun, at http://www.ivillage.com/ivillage-kitchen-makeover-sweepstakes/8-z-374577.
I am so excited to be one of the people working on this challenge. My assignment is to help you make healthier snacks for your family and it will be sent out on September 9th. It would be so much fun if all of you signed up to join in! Even if you don’t do my assignment, throughout the entire meal makeover series acclaimed chef and former contestant in season four and the All-Stars season of Bravo’s Top Chef series, Antonia Lofaso, will provide daily guidance, recipes and creative tips throughout the digital challenge as lead coach. In other words, if you don’t need to makeover your snack routine, but need to work on something else, stick with the challenge because your questions are bound to be answered! There are many impressive guest coaches joining in this challenge as well including who will also take part including contestant and finalist from Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars, Mike Isabella; food expert and daughter of master chef, Jacques Pépin, Claudine Pépin; and celebrity television chef, Sara Moulton.
Mealtime Makeover participants will each receive personal daily emails detailing a new cooking assignment, with creative recipes and inspirational messages from the coaches as well as words of encouragement and around-the-clock support from fellow challenge participants. Each week’s assignments will revolve around an instructional theme, including: Thoughtful and Smart Kitchen Ideas, A Practical Guide to Food Shopping And Cooking, Meal-based Cooking Ideas and Feeding Friends & Family. Simple, yet mouthwatering recipes will include: Potato And Onion Frittata, Leftover Chicken Lettuce Cups and BBQ Pulled Pork. Sign-ups are live now, just CLICK HERE!
I hope you will sign up, and please let me know if you have any questions!
August 30, 2011
Naptime Summer Travel Wrap-Up {Naptime on the Road}
This summer has been pretty low-key. We’ve been traveling to our usual haunts, trying out new recipes and enjoying the slower pace of the season. Work-wise I’ve been spending a lot of time editing the manuscript, revising the layouts (which look awesome) and getting down to the nitty gritty. It has been a blast and I truly can’t wait until Spring 2012 to show you the final product. In the mean time, next month I have a newly redesigned website so share with you. It contains everything you see here, plus much, much more. You could say this summer I’ve been fine-tuning behind the scenes and everything will roll out this fall and winter.
Since I’ve written about our favorite Northeastern vacation spots before I thought I would share links to old posts and tidbits about what we’ve been up to as a little wrap-up for the season
Lagoon Pond, Martha's Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard {travel series, here} was our destination for the 4th of July. We ate at our favorite seafood shack, grilled swordfish and had tons of boat picnics. We also ate at Saltwater for date night, it is now our newest favorite island restaurant. Highly recommend!
August 27, 2011
Babble Weekly Round-up!
August 25, 2011
Naptime Cooking For New Parents {Naptime Simple Tips}
My sweet neighbor just had a beautiful new baby and I am planning to cook a few meals for her as soon as her mother-in-law leaves. It’s not that I don’t want to feed her mother-in-law, it is just that I want to wait until all of her help has departed so I can swoop in when she really needs an extra hand. I’ve cooked for many of my friends after they’ve had babies and I find that around the four week mark, once the helping hands have gone home, that they need a warm meal and some extra TLC.
As I plan the menu for her family I thought I would share a few simple tips I’ve picked up over the years I’ve been feeding my friend’s with newborns. Do you have any tips for feeding parents with newborns? I would love to hear!
Considerations for Menu Planning:
- New Moms often have the same diet restrictions as when they are pregnant since they are usually nursing. Check with the new mom to see what foods she might be avoiding. This list might include raw seafood, blue cheeses and alcohol.
- When a mom is nursing nutrients and elements of the food are passed through the breast milk to the baby. Sometimes a baby will react poorly to a specific food or meal that a mom eats. For example, my friend’s daughter got very gassy after her mother ate particularly spicy food. Again, check with the new mom to see what food she is avoiding, or, alternatively, what she is adding in to her diet for extra protein and strength.
- Serving: Generally speaking, households with new babies can be quite chaotic and any food that is delivered can be served and reheated with easy. This is not the time to bring anything over that needs to sauced or handled delicately!
August 24, 2011
Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese Spread {Naptime Entertaining}
The Occasion: Cookout with friends on summer weekend.
Menu: Salmorejo, Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken, Marinated Green Beans, Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese with Crackers & Breads, Plum Torte
Attendees: Party of 4 adults, 3 kids!
Naptime Goals: Marinate chicken, marinate green beans, prepare chilled soup, prepare goat cheese terrine.
Whenever I am in Cooperstown I always make a point of picking up a tub of Painted Goat goat cheese at the Saturday farmer’s market. The locally made cheese is perfectly tangy and smooth and they make all kinds of interesting spreads with their product. This summer I became addicted to the Rosemary Fig Goat Cheese terrine and was beside myself when I ran out of the tub I brought back to Connecticut. I had a dinner to throw and knew it would be the perfect thing to serve as an appetizer before our chilled soup! Since I didn’t have time to do a quick round-trip upstate I decided to do the next best thing, recreate the spread myself.
