The Naptime Chef

One of the challenges I’ve been enjoying in my year exploring mushrooms with Sargento is incorporating them in to every meal of the day. Mushrooms, I find, are very flavorful in savory meals for lunch and dinner. Grilled cheeses, sauces, and soups taste amazing with a little or a lot of mushroom umami flavor. Breakfast, however, other than stirred into eggs, can be a little more difficult. We know mushrooms taste great in quiche or frittatas, but…what else? Can they be incorporated differently? I wanted to try pairing them with salty bacon, a fried egg, and some delicious cheese. But instead of the ubiquitous quiche I deconstructed it into an easy breakfast bake.

Yesterday I shared our new kitchen and today I am unveiling our new yard. We loved this space from the moment we saw it because of the huge gardening potential. I come from a long line of gardeners, and my husband has three different hedge trimmers, so we are equipped and excited to take on this challenge of making a colorful lush flower garden. In fact, we can’t wait! I can so easily envision the end result and it is gorgeous. However, getting there is definitely going to take a lot work. Along with my new kitchen series I will be starting the “Garden Idea File.” I’ll be sharing different ideas I have and asking for feedback. If you see my making mistakes please speak up – I’ll need the guidance! Since fall is here we are just going to clean up the weeds and take down a half-dead tree for now. Next spring the real planting will begin.

Today I am taking you on a little tour of our new kitchen. As you will see, we have a lot of work ahead. The kitchen will be gutted and redone over time. We want to hook gas lines into the house for a gas stove top, we need more space for food preparation and eating, and we need new appliances that will enable us to wash more dishes and hold more food for our hungry family of four.  So, in truth, I am looking at this room as blank slate to shape into exactly what we want for the long term.

Moving is for the birds. For. The. Birds. I seriously never, ever want to move again. Though, I do want to try living all over the world during my lifetime, the actual act of moving is the pits. Next week I’ll share some tidbits from our new location. But, in the mean time, I will chat a little more about school. This year I have to pack my daughter two snacks. One for morning, one for afternoon. All this on top of lunch. It is a lot of food every day! But, I know she needs it to keep her little body going so I am happy to take on the challenge of sending her to school with as much homemade grub as I can handle.

Of course, don’t panic, I certainly do my fair share of adding in snacks from Trader Joe’s and the like. I would be crazy not to! If you are looking for some homemade treats for your little one’s lunchbox here are a few of our favorites!

Since I am in moving mode I am also in quick-dinner-every-night mode. There is not a lot of time for lengthy food prep and I am relying heavily on my pantry and herb garden for ingredients. Most nights I am either testing recipes for the next book, feeding the family something I pull together at the last minute, or picking up prepared foods at the store. It is a little something I have dubbed “moving survival mode.” You just do what works one night, then move on to the next. The other night I made these awesome pork chops. My mother gave me the recipe since I remember her making it when we were little. It was one of her week night staples. In fact, there are many great recipes for pork chops that make awesome, easy weeknight meals. I will share more in the future, but these are a real favorite.

Have a great long weekend everyone! We plan to rest a lot so my daughter is set for more school next week. We also are going to attend a bonfire on the beach and enjoy our last s’mores of the season. My big project this weekend is photographing our new kitchen and garden. I’ll be putting up a tour online in a couple weeks. I have a LOT of work to do on them both so we can all have some fun picking stuff out and daydreaming about design while we get used to the new space!

– Blueberry Applesauce Snack Muffins are another favorite for the lunch box.

– Does your family love Taco Night as much as we do?

– I finally got with the game and joined Instagram. Took me long enough – sheesh! You can find me @naptimechef

– Sorry for Aimee, I remember this feeling with Hurricane Sandy swept through our neighborhood last year!

– Lizzie always finds the coolest stuff.

– Gabby’s new house is so neat!

– Our new house is going to take up a lot of time, and money, but I would really like a pair of these if I can swing it!

– I’ve been making my Food52 provisions wish-list and checking it twice…lots of gorgeous French bakeware please!

xxKelsey

Today is the day. My daughter is back in school and we are in officially in back-at-school mode. For her this means a fresh start with a new teachers and classmates. For me this means it is time to revisit our quick dinner favorites, lunch box ideas, and stock the freezer with homemade snacks. While the jist of back-to-school cooking is that meals should be fast and healthy, there is still a lot that goes into it. A lot of things I make in advance and I am always mining the freezer for sauces and herb mixes I’ve made in bulk. I draw on all of my resources to get dinner on the table every night! Luckily, the new baby is on a great new nap schedule I can return to naptime cooking, but I still have to be smart about my time with everything else on the docket. Here are a few tips for your own back-to-school cooking and our family favorites I’ll be making a lot this fall!