The Naptime Chef

Not only does back-to-school season necessitate lots of new lunchbox packing ideas, it also calls for easy, family-pleasing weeknight meal recipes. My family loves pizza in all shapes and sizes, so we took our love for pizza one step further this fall with these cool pizza pockets. I use fresh store-bought pizza dough from our local pizza parlor, lots of naturally delicious Arla Dofino cheese, pizza sauce and any other toppings we want to try.

I have packed my daughter’s lunchbox four times already and I know I have at least one hundred more times to pack it before next June. In the spirit of sharing ideas I thought I’d round-up a few of our personal favorite lunchbox ideas. Please share yours!

Sandwiches are a big thing for us. We usually stick to basics like PB & J, the occasional chicken salad, ham & cheese, and the such. I also love to make jam and cream cheese sandwiches using lots of my jam from summer. This year I’ve been working on introducing my daughter to beach sandwiches and she is coming around to eating the caprese ones!

Happy September!

I am drawing inspiration from the new season with a little housekeeping today. This summer has been super busy and fun. We took some fun trips, I hustled on the manuscript, and worked hard on my regular writing gigs. In fact, along the way I was hired for a true dream job: writing the food column for Mom.me. I can’t wait to start this month and will surely share it with all of you. In the mean time, I continue to write for Momtastic, Babble, and Lifetime Moms. Going forward I plan to share little snips from those columns every Wednesday. I hate for you to miss all of those articles and it seems like you might if you aren’t following me on Facebook. I’ll also share anything else I think you should check out.  Lastly, I hope to show you the book cover for the new book soon. We’ve been working hard on it and I am really proud of how it is taking shape. It will be released on March 24th!

That is all for now. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments! xxKelsey

A bloody Mary needs no introduction. Any adult, and most kids, have seen it a hundred times before. While we love the classic cocktail we enjoy putting new twists on it now and then. It isn’t about reinventing the wheel, it is more about a little tweak here and there. Sometimes we are inspired by a fresh vegetable from the garden or an amazing slab of bacon we recently tasted, other times it is all about a craving for spice or a certain texture.

When I have the time I love to freshly juice my tomatoes. But, since I don’t own a juicer — how I would love one of these from Williams-Sonoma! — I usually use tomato juice from the store. No doubt fresh juice takes a bloody to a whole new level. But, if you don’t have a juicer don’t sweat it. Last weekend my husband and I were inspired to make a little bloody Mary bar at home and these are what we came up with:

This weekend marks the end of summer entertaining for us. Next week, we’ll be back in full school mode and our simple get-togethers with friends will be less frequent than they have been for the past few months. To send summer out with a bang, I want to have a few friends over and serve some easy dishes that won’t take long to make. I am going to take the opportunity to showcase a lot of my favorite Arla Dofino cheeses since they are a great alternative to processed cheeses and are made with few ingredients, plus, I know everyone will love them! Here is what I’m planning to make:

I am busy stocking up the fridge with goodies for the lunchbox and yesterday I made one of my daughter’s new favorite things: tapioca pudding. It is a dessert we stumbled on by accident. She tried it at a friends house and adored it. She instantly feel for the rich vanilla flavor and interesting texture. In fact, initially she thought it was some kind of warmish ice cream until I explained it was pudding. Perfect for the lunchbox and easy to make I was eager to recreate it at home. It is ideal for tucking into a lunchbox for a sweet and hearty snack.

Every fall I spent a little time freshening up my kitchen. I get rid bits and pieces of food left over from summer, dump out the last bites of jam from jars, refill the maple syrup pitcher, and give my pots and pans a good scrubbing. I also pull out a fresh roster of recipes to make with my daughter since she loves to help me in the kitchen these days. She is learning her way around a recipe slowly and surely and I want to encourage her as much as I can. However, before we dive into a new round of food I like to review a few kitchen first aid with her to make sure we are on the right track.