June 22, 2010

Barbara’s Brownies for the Beach {Powernap}

Cuisinart Brownies | The Naptime Chef

What’s Going on Today: Morning at the Beach!
Naptime Goals: De-sand beach bag, wash beach towels, prep Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner.
Tonight’s Menu: Char’s Chinese Chicken Salad, leftover Brownies from the beach.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Sometimes kids panic when crabs pinch their toes!

We love living in a beach town. When the weather is hot and sunny, like it has been for the past few days, we walk a short six blocks to a beautiful stretch of sand on the Long Island Sound. Though we miss our friends in NYC, it is hard to beat spending mornings poking around tidal pools and eating picnic lunches with the sandpipers. For our beach picnic just the other day I brought classic peanut butter sandwiches – for some reason I’ve always felt the peanut butter and saltwater go well together – pretzels, mint lemonade, and a fresh batch of Barbara’s brownies.

This recipe was given to me by Uncle Kevin’s wife, Barbara. She adapted it from the manual that came with her food processor almost 30 years ago! I love these brownies because they are absolutely delicious and extremely straightforward to make. I whipped these up during my daughter’s afternoon naptime the day before our picnic. It is remarkable that they lasted through the night since my husband is a bit of a brownie maniac, but they did.

I love the taste and texture of these brownies. They are soft and chewy with a deep chocolate flavor reminiscent of a chocolate wafer cookie. Their strong taste makes them wonderful for ice-cream brownie sundaes or, alternatively, chopped up and added to homemade ice-cream. Since they are so dense and fudgy I choose to cut them up into smallish squares, I don’t need a huge portion to enjoy huge taste. I should note that instead of walnuts I used chocolate chips, but you can certainly go ahead and add the nuts if you’d prefer. Either way, they are great served warm, or cold, or at a beach picnic down the street.

Recipe

Barbara’s Brownies

Ingredients

1 c. sugar
½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 6-8 pieces
2 eggs
1/8 t. Kosher salt
½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. all-purpose flour, sifted
½ c. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9×9 square baking dish, set aside.
2. Fit the food processor with a metal blade and add the sugar and butter. Pulse until the butter is thoroughly combined. Then, add the eggs and salt. Process continuously until mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Do not overbeat. Then, add the cocoa and flour, pulse until there is no visible cocoa or flour remaining. Stir in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

3. Spread batter into baking dishes and spread to make sure top is even. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is set. Cool on rack and cut into bars.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

Feel free to omit the chocolate chips or add in walnuts. These would also be great baked in individual tart dishes if you want to hand them out to friends!

Naptime Stopwatch

Making this batter takes about 8 minutes!

Naptime Reviews

My daughter loves brownies and happily ate hers at the picnic. She even remarked that she liked that they were warm – which was from the sun, not the oven!

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June 17, 2010

Strawberry Mint Ice-Cream {Webisode #28}

What’s Going on Today: Picking up knives from new knife sharpener (!), library trip, fun in the sun, Mom’s night out!
Naptime Goals: Make Strawberry Mint Ice-Cream, organize schedule for babysitter, clean up email inbox.
Tonight’s Menu: Mom’s night out! (Dad and daughter eating leftovers)
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Introduce kids to their local library early and often, it is a wonderful place!

This week I had a really fun Mom’s night out. You all know that I love to cook for my family, but even the best of us need to go out with our friends once in a while. On the days when dinner plans are already made, I use the time I might have spent rolling meatballs to play in the kitchen. I’ll often experiment with new ice-cream flavors, baked goods and stock the pantry with some honest-to-goodness batch cooking (5lbs of homemade granola anyone?!)

I’ll get to the batch cooking later this summer, right now I am going to tell you about ice-cream. As you can see we are in full summer mode here and my cooking is beginning to reflect that. Instead of diving into my favorite cookie recipes, recently I’ve been breaking about my good ole’ Cuisinart Ice-20. For the next three months I’ll use this almost as much as I use my KitchenAid mixer, generating pint after pint of our favorite summer freezer staple.

Since we are still taking advantage of strawberry season, this week I decided to make some delicious Strawberry-Mint Ice-Cream. I love the flavor pairing of strawberry and mint, it is both refreshing and sweet. As you’ll see, I was even able to finish off the batch in full cocktail dress, wedges and all.

Recipe

Strawberry Mint Ice-Cream

Ingredients

1 c. whole milk
3 eggs
½ c. superfine sugar
1 t. good quality Peppermint extract
2 c. heavy whipping cream

For Strawberry Swirl:

3 T. superfine sugar
½ c. water
2 c. fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

Juice of 1 small lemon

Makes about 6 cups

Instructions

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and peppermint extract. Ladle a small portion of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisk constantly to incorporate. This will help temper the eggs. Whisk in another small ladle of milk. Then, pour in the remaining milk mixture and whisk to completely combine.

2. Pour the egg/milk mixture back into the saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly until mixture thickens and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove it from the heat, pour it into a fresh bowl and whisk in the heavy cream until mixture is completely smooth. Note: If you suspect lumps in your egg custard place a fine mesh sieve over the bowl and pour the custard through it to catch any lumps, the whisk in the cream.

3. Place plastic wrap over glass bowl and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 1-2 hours.

4. For the ripple, pour the water, sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is slightly reduced – about 4 minutes. Place the strawberries in a blender, pour in the sugar mixture and puree until smooth. Pour the strawberry mixture through a fine mesh sieve to catch any seeds. Place in the fridge next to the custard.

5. To make the ice-cream, pour custard into ice-cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s directions. At the very end of the churn cycle drizzle in the swirl for about 1 minute so it forms a ribbon through the ice-cream, but doesn’t get too distributed. Alternatively, you can fold in the ripple with a spoon or spatula. Freeze ice-cream until ready to eat.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

If you just want plain strawberry ice-cream it is fine to use vanilla extract instead of peppermint. The basic vanilla base is also a great jumping off point. Instead of strawberries you could use raspberries, blueberries or even peaches for the swirl in.

Naptime Stopwatch

Making the custard takes about 20 minutes, then churning is roughly another 20 (depending on your machine).

Naptime Reviews

We are a family of ice-cream enthusiasts – we ate the entire container in 2 days! (Or, maybe I shouldn’t admit that?)

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June 15, 2010

Summer Panini Sandwiches {Naptime Simple Tips}

What’s Going on Today: Returned from high school reunion yesterday, tired but happy. Re-group with fresh groceries, playgroup, pick-up new library books.
Naptime Goals: Monday Catch-Up: Mail, laundry, general house-cleaning, put away groceries.

Tonight’s Menu: Paninis, salad, seltzer (no more wine!)
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Kids don’t have much sympathy for Mom when she’s tired.

My high school reunion was a blast, though it did make me feel a little old. Some of the younger girls at reunion were born in the late 80’s and early 90’s and had just graduated from college – what?! When did we get so old? Despite feeling slightly out of date, my classmates and I had a blast. We even held our own staying out late at a local pub catching up, something I haven’t done in ages.

The day after I got home was a typical Catch-Up Monday. There were laundry piles, bills, emails and loads of other little things to attend to. I usually have a day like this every couple of weeks. I find that dedicating one entire day to running the household seems to be the most efficient way to do things. This way I can spend a lot of time doing fun activities like going to the beach, strawberry picking or visiting local museums.

Luckily, last week when my friend Nicole came to visit she’d followed the wonderful tradition of bringing us Bread, Salt and Wine. I couldn’t have been more grateful for her thoughtfulness. With the bread still in it’s bag I decided to forgo major Naptime Chef-ing that afternoon in order to concentrate on household stuff. In the evening I used the bread to make up some yummy pressed sandwiches for all of us. As you know, I swear by paninis as a great, healthy dinner in a pinch.

My friend Cecily shared with me a cool secret she’d come up with recently to make her sandwiches even more flavorful, marinating the tomatoes. By tossing them with some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt the tomato flavor is enhanced and the extra oil gets soaked into the bread, giving everything a little more moisture and taste. I gave her technique a go with this sandwich and I think it works really well. We devoured these so quickly that I barely had time to take a picture. The good news is that after my Catch-Up Monday I was ready for the rest of the week. And, boy, I have some great Naptime Chef-ing planned!

Recipe

Summer Panini Sandwiches with Balsamic Vinegar

Ingredients

Serves 2

2 flatbreads or 4 slices of country bread
4 slices of thinly cut prosciutto
6 pieces of thinly sliced fresh mozzarella
½ pint grape tomatoes, washed and patted dry
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. good quality olive oil
1 pinch Kosher Salt
6-8 fresh basil leaves

Instructions

1. Cut grape tomatoes in half or into thirds. Place them in a bowl and toss with vinegar, olive oil and salt. Allow them to sit for at least 10 minutes, or up to an hour at room temperature.
2. Lay bread open on the counter. Place 2 pieces of prosciutto on one slice of bread. Layer on 3 slices of mozzarella, then 3-4 basil leaves. Top with half of the tomatoes.
3. Drizzle the remaining slice of bread with some of the balsamic/olive oil mixture at the bottom of the bowl. Close sandwich.
4. Sandwich can be toasted on panini press, in a skillet or eaten as is.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

Sandwiches are a great dinner, especially in the summer. Try substituting roasted red peppers or eggplant for a new, flavorful, twist on this old favorite.

Naptime Stopwatch

Making this sandwich takes 10 minutes from start to finish.

Naptime Reviews

This is definitely a family friendly meal, my daughter eats pressed sandwiches like there is no tomorrow. Though she did pick out the basil leaves this time because she didn’t know what they were for…

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June 10, 2010

Summer Fruit Crumble {Webisode #27}

What’s Going On Today: Rainy day in CT, sing-along at the beach before cloudburst, errands in the afternoon.
Naptime Goals: Strawberry-Raspberry Cobbler, roast vegetables, marinate chicken.
Tonight’s Menu: Chicken with Veggies, Cobbler (our second one this week!) with Strawberries from the farmer’s market.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: When conversing with toddlers always have a pen handy, they say the funniest things!

I have pretty much gone strawberry-crazy these days. As you’ll see above, last week my daughter and I picked 12lbs of strawberries together at a local farm. It took me two full naptimes to preserve, freeze and bake with all of the berries, and even that was barely enough time. I would have loved to have taken all weekend, but strawberries are so delicate I had to act quickly before they turned. Luckily, I managed to preserve the little rubies to the best of my ability and now have a nice stash for the rest of the year. This also means I’ll most likely be garnishing everything I make – from risotto to pancakes – all summer with my jams and syrups. My daughter seems to be game for this, as it is I’m expecting her to turn into a strawberry any second she’s eaten so many already!

When we had our barbecue last Sunday, I decided to make a fruit cobbler to bring along in addition to Uncle Will’s Ribs. I still had some fresh strawberries on hand as well as a small packet of raspberries I’d picked up at the market. It was almost a no-brainer to make a fruit cobbler during my daughter’s afternoon naptime. I washed and sliced the fruit, made the crumbly topping and popped it in the oven to bake while I prepared the meat.

I love this particular cobbler recipe because it works with almost any kind of fruit. Also, the loose oatmeal topping has a taste reminiscent of an oatmeal cookie with the added cinnamon. Of course, you can omit the spice if you’d like, but I love it. Since the heatwave was particularly awful when I made this the first time I opted to serve it with vanilla ice-cream, though whipped cream would work well, too. And, best of all, when it was finished baking I simply let it cool on the counter before taking it next door for dinner. It was the perfect make-ahead dessert. I know I’ll be making this again when we bring back a big haul of blueberries next month.

Recipe

Strawberry-Raspberry Cobbler

Ingredients

3 c. fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and cut in half.
1 c. fresh raspberries, washed (optional – if not using use 4 c. of strawberries)
1 ½ c. Oats (not quick cooking)
1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. dark brown sugar, packed
1 ½ sticks (12 T.) unsalted butter
1 t. Kosher salt
3 T. good quality honey

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Place the fruit in a 9″ pie plate or 9×9 baking dish.
3. Blend the oats, flour, butter, sugar, salt and honey together in a food processor until it forms a sticky dough.
4. Layer the topping on top of the fruit evenly so that the top is covered.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly and cooked through.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

This is a fantastic make-ahead dessert for any family meal or larger event. After it has cooled pop it in the fridge tightly covered with plastic until you want to serve it. It can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time. This recipe works well with apples, rhubarb, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and peaches. (Try more fruits if you want!)

Naptime Stopwatch

Washing and slicing the fruit takes about 10 minutes. Preparing the topping takes 5 minutes. Baking time is approximately 30 minutes.

Naptime Reviews

This is a great dessert for kids and adults alike. It is also healthier then pie and is a great way to persuade children to try new fruit.

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June 3, 2010

Scallops and Pasta for Memorial Day {Webisode #26}

What’s Going on Today: Returning from Martha’s Vineyard with a pile of laundry and an overtired kid.
Naptime Goals: Sort through mail, laundry and fridge. Make grocery list.
Tonight’s Menu: Meatballs for Choir Boys from the freezer, Salad, Wine.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: There is nothing like a visit to the grandparents to tire kids out!

On Tuesday we returned from Memorial Day on Martha’s Vineyard with a car full of laundry and sand. It was a great vacation. As you’ll see above, our time away included amazing weather and mellow days. Our time was mostly spent browsing local art fairs and peaking into our favorite shops. These low-key activities were the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

This trip was our first family getaway since the move last month and we both seized the opportunity for a mental break. My husband caught up on novels and crossword puzzles while I caught up on cheesy iTunes movies. As for cooking, I mostly relied on old favorites. One day we cooked up some hot dogs, another we enjoyed some fresh scallops with pasta and, get this, our last night we even had a date night while my in-law’s babysat. (Yeah!)

I began looking forward to scallops with pasta the week before we even arrived on the Vineyard. It is one of my favorite simple dinners and I haven’t made it in a bit since I haven’t found a good fish store in CT yet. So, the minute my daughter went down for her nap I raced to The Net Result and picked up almost a pound of diver scallops for dinner. Then, instead of cooking them during the day, I waited until just before dinner and whipped up this simple and elegant meal. I hope that scallops come your way this summer and, if they do, here is one great way to enjoy them.

Recipe

Summer Scallops with Pasta

Ingredients

1 1lb. fresh diver scallops
1 1lb. Fettucini or any long strand pasta
3-4 T. unsalted butter
2 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of Kosher salt
Serves 4

Instructions

1. Rinse the scallops under warm water and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Add olive oil and butter to a skillet over medium heat. Then, add the garlic and saute until lightly golden and softened.
3. Meanwhile, as the garlic is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta.
4. Once the garlic is soft and golden add the scallops to the pan and make sure there is a little space between each one. Saute until golden on one side – about 2-3 minutes – then turn each scallop over with a pair of tongs and cook the other side. When the scallops have cooked remove them to a plate covered with a paper towel.
5. Drain the pasta briefly and add it to the skillet in which the scallops where cooked. Twirl the pasta briefly to coat with the sauce. Divide amongst serving plates and top the pasta with scallops. Serve hot.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

This dish would be beautifully enhanced by some fresh herbs. Parsley or basil would taste especially delicious.

Naptime Stopwatch

Preparing this meal takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Naptime Reviews

My daugher isn’t a big scallop fan yet, but she loves the pasta!

More Naptime Recipes

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June 1, 2010

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi {Powernap}

What’s Going on Today: Enjoying Memorial Day weekend on Martha’s Vineyard.
Naptime Goals: Whip up some Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi during naptime, pop it in the fridge until dinner. Read magazines in the sun.
Tonight’s Menu: Ricotta Gnocchi with butter and cheese, green salad, fish on the grill.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Fresh air + sun = happy children.

Memorial Day on the Vineyard was relaxed and low-key, just the way we like it. The weather was so nice that we didn’t really want to spend any time indoors, even during naptime. In order to maximize our time at the beach, I mostly concentrated on prepping food after my daughter’s bedtime and, for dinner, I stuck to recipes that could be completed in a relatively short time-frame.

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi is exactly one of these dishes. I make it a lot and really should have told you about it before now. To prepare the gnocchi I simply mix the four ingredients in a  bowl, form the logs and cut out the dumplings during naptime. Then I place them in plastic container and leave them, covered, in the fridge until dinner. Cooking them is amazingly easy and efficient. Bring salted water to a boil, add the gnocchi and cook them until they rise to the surface. This takes about five minutes, which is just enough time to make some browned butter with sage and get the Parmesan cheese out of the fridge.

Combined with our favorite fish from the grill and a green salad, our gnocchi rounded out a gorgeous dinner. It was also a hit with our daughter, ever the fan of anything with browned butter. Rest assured, gnocchi is not the only homemade thing I cooked over the weekend. In fact, I did an entire film about another dinner I made and will be writing about that on Thursday. Not surprisingly, the meal was also centered around some amazingly fresh seafood. I swear, there is nothing like a trip to The Net Result, our local Vineyard fish store, to signal the beginning of summer.

P.S. While you’re waiting for the next post, pop over to my blog on The Family Kitchen at Babble for the chance to win a trio of Tessa Kiros books! (The contest runs for one week.)

Recipe

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi

adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros

Ingredients

2 c. good quality ricotta cheese
3 T. finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil.
2. While the water is heating up, mix together the ricotta, Parmesan, flour and salt in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
3. Lightly flour your hands and roll out the dough into thin sausages about ¼″ thick. Be careful not to add too much flour on your hands or the surface of the counter or the gnocchi will get tough.
4. Cut gnocchi with a sharp knife into pieces about ¾″ long. Drop into boiling water and cook for about 45 seconds, or until they float to the surface. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place in serving bowls. Serve with pesto, tomato sauce or browned butter sauce.

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

Gnocchi tastes great with many different toppings. I recommend Perfect Pesto, Tomato Pesto, Fresh Tomato Sauce, Butter and Cheese or any kind of light butter and herb sauce.

Naptime Stopwatch

Naptime Stopwatch: Preparing the dumplings takes 10 minutes, cooking them in boiling water takes 5.

Naptime Reviews

This is a wonderful dish for both adults and children. It is soft and easy to chew for toddler and goes well with almost any topping they might like.

More Naptime Recipes

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May 27, 2010

Hot Dog Feasts and Memorial Day Menus {Webisode #25}

What’s Going on Today: Packing for Memorial Day, pick up dry cleaning and fresh bottles of sunscreen. Plan for walk to the beach after naps.
Naptime Goals: Prepare Cous-Cous Salad with Blue Cheese and Craisins, wrap up blog posts, zip up suitcases!
Tonight’s Menu: Hebrew National Hot Dogs with Toasted Buns, Cous-Cous salad, Green Salad, Chocolate Almond Ice-Cream.
Parenting Lesson of the Day: Never underestimate the appeal of shell collecting to a toddler.

As you’ll see above, last Saturday I spent the morning at an awesome Hebrew National Better-Than-A-Picnic Picnic on Randall’s Island. I don’t normally align myself with brands and attend company sponsored picnics, but I really do like Hebrew National. Their hot dogs are tasty and all natural, plus, they had me and the other mom bloggers attending take part in a great service project. I always love it when large brands take the time to help others.

At this particular picnic we decorated reusable lunch sacks for the Magic Summer Lunchbox Program. It is a program run by Feeding America to help feed children during the summer when they are unable to get their usual free lunches at school. The lunch totes we decorated were taken to the Food Bank in East Harlem and distributed, full of food, to children in the neighborhood. To make the picnic even more fun, Cheryl Hines emceed the event beautifully. She believes strongly in helping others and has a new show she is executive producing called School Pride debuting this fall on NBC. I’ll definitely be tuning in – with a wad of tissues at my side – for that!

So, back the hot dogs. I love a good hot dog but steer clear of those filled with gross, unidentifiable ingredients. When I do reach for them I usually buy Hebrew National because they are so authentic and the taste proves it. Being at the picnic really put me in the mood for hot dogs at home, so, as you’ll see above, I came home and did just that.These hot dogs would be perfect for any upcoming Memorial Day picnics. Need some more Memorial Day menu ideas? See below. Also, be sure to check out my newsletter this week for an especially great summer recipe that’s never been seen here. Have a great weekend!

Memorial Day Menu Ideas:
Mint Lemonade
Aunt Ethel’s Blueberry Muffins
Cous-Cous Salad with Blue Cheese and Craisins
Ruth’s Curried Chicken Salad
Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken
Marinated Asparagus
Lemon Squares
Simple Rhubarb Almond Cake

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