The Naptime Chef

In our house weekday mornings are busy year round. From September through June my daughter goes to school fairly early. In the summer both children often have camp or some sort of organized activity every morning. Over the last couple of years I’ve compiled some strategies for making our busy mornings go smoothly. These are things that help me make sure things flow easily so we can get out the door without too much chaos. Here are my favorite tips for making it all work:

1) The Night Before: Bedtime is my favorite time to get things organized for the day ahead. My daughter chooses her outfit for the following day, while I lay out my son’s on his dresser. She also makes sure her backpack is packed and anything special she needs for after school, like a tennis racquet or special book, are by the door. These simple tasks take all of five minutes and eliminate morning tears over outfit choices and ensure nothing special we need for school is left behind during the early morning scramble.

My husband and I love to go out to dinner, just the two of us, when time allows. Our weekdays are so busy and scattered it is rare that we have a lot of time together to chat and decompress. However, sometimes our usual date night agenda of dinner and a walk around town is thwarted by the lack of a babysitter or a sick child who needs our attention. On these nights, we throw ourselves date night at home. We get the kids to sleep, fire up the grill, and have a date on the back porch.

This is one of those quick recipes that I learned from my Mom and eat on a regular basis. It is so simple it is hardly a recipe but I still want to share it in case you are looking for a new way to eat squash. The premise is simple: slice summer squash and vidalia onions very thin.  Set in a strainer over a pot of water and steam until cooked through and wilted. Stir in a thin sliver of butter, good sea salt and a grind of pepper, and enjoy.

I love to wax poetic about the wonders of preserving. It doesn’t have to be hard or complicated, it truly can be simple and fun. Every year I join my friends at Jarden Home Brands to celebrate National Can-it-Forward Day. This year it is on August 1st! The day is full of events featuring prominent home preservers sharing their tips and expertise. Luckily this day will coincide perfectly with my yearly trip to Cooperstown. It is the time of the year when I do a lot of preserving, mostly of seasonal fruits I find at the Farmer’s Market, and this year will be no different.

Jarden Home Brands recently released all sorts of new products for home preservers. These include cool lids and straws that can screw onto the top of a regular mouth jar to turn them into drinking vessels for children. They also came out with snazzy red and purple designer lids to fit on top of jars when you finish your canning. I love that canning is now so fashionable!

Here are four ways you too can celebrate National Can-it-Forward Day:

It has been a big grilling summer around these parts. We’ve been firing up the coals nearly every night and eating outside as much as possible. It is so much easier now that the kids are older and can play on the swing set while we mill around the yard! Naturally I’ve seized this opportunity to work on a few new grilling recipes, including things like vegetables and desserts.

One of our latest new favorites is this grilled romaine salad. Grilling romaine caramelizes the natural sugars in the lettuce and the resulting flavor is amazing. It is honestly so good you could just drizzle it with lemon juice and olive oil and have a great salad. But since I wanted to make it into a main course, I took a more in-depth approach and topped it with Hidden Valley® Roasted Garlic Ranch, one of Hidden Valley’s new flavors, and sprinkled freshly cooked bacon bits on top.

This summer I planted a TON of squash in our garden. I focused on that because we eat zucchini and summer squash all summer long, plus, we were getting a little tired of jalapeos. The other day I harvested three perfect squash and made it a goal to eat them at every meal. First up, breakfast.

Since our morning breakfast routine is usually pretty frazzled I like to make frittatas. They basically require nothing more than a quick saute and whisk, then they are popped in the oven and forgotten until ready. Easy peasy, and so perfect for those minutes I am running around the house making lunches and reminding kids to make their beds.

When we were in Cooperstown over the Fourth of July my mother made this great Tomato Bacon & Farro salad. It was light and flavorful and perfect for serving room temperature with our coffee-rubbed steak. I want to share it with you today because it is a great one to have in your back pocket for summer entertaining. In fact, it would even be easy to take on the go with friends to a picnic or potluck. Pulling it together is very easy and I highly recommend giving it a try at least once this summer. You won’t be disappointed!