Family Favorite Minestrone

This is not a very traditional minestrone, but my family really likes it. I'm happy with it because it has lots of veggies and fresh herbs. Lots of chopping to get ready, but the you just leave it alone. We usually get 3 meals out of it. I'll often divide it into thirds and freeze two thirds of it.

If you're going to eat it over a few days or freeze it, though, don't put the pasta in. When you reheat it, bring it to a boil, put the pasta in, and let it simmer for 10-12 minutes. If you refrigerate or freeze it with the pasta in it, the pasta will soak up all the juices and turn into those soft gooey noodles that you get in canned soups.

Family Favorite Minestrone
makes about 14 cups

1 Tablespoon olive oil
4 sliced thick cut peppered bacon, diced
1 onion,
diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalked, diced
2 small turnips or parsnips, peeled and diced
3-4 turnip green leaves or swiss chard
leaves, washed and chopped
1/2 head of green cabbage, cored and chopped
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 48-ounce cans chicken broth
8 ounces small pasta, such as orzo, alphabet, or mini shells
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. In a large deep pot (like a stock pot), cook the olive oil and bacon over medium heat, stirring often. Cook until the fat is rendered from the bacon, but it is not brown and crispy.
2. Add the vegetables through cabbage. Cook, stirring often, until onions are translucent and greens are wilted, about 10-12 minutes.
3. Add the herbs and garlic, and cook 2-3 minutes more.
4. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, pinto beans, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, partially covered, for 45-minutes to 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.
5. Stir in pasta (see note below) and let cook 15 minutes more, until pasta is tender.
6. Serve in bowls sprinkled with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese and drizzled with fruity olive oil.

NOTE: If you plan to refrigerate or freeze for later use, only add pasta to as much soup as you think you'll need at any one meal. When reheating, bring to a boil, add the pasta, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Adding the pasta to soup that will be refrigerated or frozen makes the pasta soggy and it soaks up much of the broth from the soup.

This Week's Plan

I started my new job this week. It's a great job and I'm loving it, but it really threw a wrench into dinner. Until this week, we've eaten between 6 and 6:30. The boys have their bath at 7:30 and go to bed at 8:00. This worked out well in my past life, when I got home with the boys between 5:30 and 5:45. But now, I'm walking in the door at 6:45 PM. By that time, we're all grumpy and ravenous. I don't have 30-45 minutes to get dinner on the table, unless I sacrifice bath time and homework. Or start putting the boys to bed at 9, which will leave them sleep deprived. Plus I really need that time of peace and solitude that comes when the boys have settled down for the night and I can sit and relax.

I really don't want another week where the plan goes out the window at we eat hot dogs or TV dinners most nights. So I have a new plan for this week: meals that are very nearly heat-and-eat. I'll accomplish this by doing most of the prep the night before, and through liberal use of pre-cut fruits and veggies.

Here's the plan, both for meals and how I'll prep them.

Saturday: Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Herbs, Root Vegetable Gratin

Sunday: Minestrone & Bread

Monday: Minestrone, bread & salad

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Coleslaw and Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Rollups & salad

Thursday: Warm Chicken Salad (I don't know if the kids will eat this, but I'll serve it a little deconstructed for them, and I'll have lots of fruit on the side)

As for how I'll do this and make it work:

• Saturday, I'll put some effort into making the Roasted Chicken dinner, because I actually have time to cook.
  
• Sunday, I'll make the minestrone. I'll divide it in half just before adding the pasta, and I'll add pasta to the half we're eating that night. I'll save the other half for the next night, adding pasta when I'm reheating it on Monday. That will allow the flavors to develop in the fridge overnight, without the pasta getting soggy. I'm also going to cut up fruits and veggies for most of the rest of the week.
  
• Monday, while the soup is reheating, I'll poach enough chicken breasts and thighs for the dinners on Tuesday - Thursday. I'll store them unshredded.
  
• Tuesday, I'll shred enough chicken for 2 nights, heat it up in a homemade barbeque sauce, throw together a packaged coleslaw while the sweet potato fries are baking. (I'll cheat by using frozen ones - there are some good brands out there.)
  
• Wednesday is really easy because I'll just throw heated up leftover BBQ chicken and some veggies in warm tortillas, and I'm done! Plus I'll cut the veggies for the next night's salad.
  
• Thursday, I just saute the veggies for the salad, shred the remaining chicken and heat it with the veggies, and I'm done for the week!

That's how it should work, anyway. I'll let you know what really happens next week, when I post that plan. This weeks' recipes will be posted by Sunday morning, in case you want to make any of these dishes yourself.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

Our nanny Jessica is a very talented baker and cake decorator. She has created wonderful cakes for my kid's birthdays and other events - the Spiderman cake, fancy 1 cakes, and simply gorgeous cakes. They always taste good, and they're beautiful, too. But even I am not so heartless as to request that our fabulous nanny bake her own birthday cake. So, once a year, I take over the birthday cake job.

I am only marginally suited to this job. I am a fantastic cook and baker. I make delicious cakes, divine frostings, and fabulous fillings. However, I lack the skill or the patience to make them look good. I do not decorate. My background is in math and computers. I am much more focused on the substance, logic, and meaning of things than on their appearance. This applies everywhere in life. I began wearing lipstick at the ripe old age of 28. It is only in the last year that I have learned how to successfully wear eye makeup and put together an elegant daily outfit. Given that I'm a novice at decorating myself, it logically follows that I would have so little interest in decorating food.

I was inspired recently by a beautifully designed cookbook, Cupcakes Galore, by Gail Wagman. The book is filled with gorgeous, full-page pictures of cupcake creations like "After Eight Cupcakes", "Day of the Dead Cupcakes", and "Tarte Tatin Cupcakes with Caramelized Apples". My mouth was watering looking at the pictures, and I could hardly wait to share the book with Jessica. I had her browse through it one day and pick out the cupcakes she wanted me to make for her birthday. She chose the "After Eight Cupcakes", billed as "Chocolate Mint Heaven". I could hardly wait until her birthday!

The resulting cupcakes, pictured right, were somewhat disappointing. I loved the concept, and the frostings were divine. The flavors of cupcakes and frostings were good and well-balanced. However, the cupcakes themselves were quite a disappointment. I followed the batter recipe exactly, and it was the consistency of fudge. It's very hard to get fudge into cupcake liners. I knew that something that thick would make a dense, heavy cupcake, and I was right. The finished cupcakes had the texture and consistency of bran muffins. Not at all what I wanted.

I will probably make a few more recipes from this book. If the results are as uneven as these were, I will probably use the book for inspiration and frosting recipes, and search out recipes for the actual cupcakes.

Here's my modified version of After Eight Chocolate Mint Cupcakes.

Start with a proven chocolate cupcake recipe (there are good ones here, here, and here). You can even use a good mix that you like! Stir into the batter:

• a SCANT 1/8 teaspoon mint extract
• 10 Andes Mints, chopped into bits

Line cupcake pan with liners, fill 2/3 full with batter, and bake as directed
in recipe. Remove from oven, and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove
cupcakes from pan and let cool on rack. When cupcakes are completely
cool, frost with mint frosting (below).

Mint Frosting

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
scant 1/8 teaspoon mint extract
Green food coloring, if desired
2-3 Tablespoons milk

Mix the butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, then mix until smooth, creamy, and light, 3-5 minutes. Add extracts and food coloring (just a couple of drops) and mix until incorporated. Mix in milk, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until frosting is at desired spreadable consistency. Frost completely cooled cupcakes.

Chocolate Ganache

1/3 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces

Place cream in a small ceramic bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds - 1 minute. Place pieces of chocolate in cream and let stand for 2-3 minutes. Whisk, gently at first then more vigorously, until chocolate is smooth and creamy. (You can microwave 10 seconds at a time if chocolate is not soft enough). You can either spoon or drizzle the warm ganache over the cupcakes.

If desired, top each cupcake with a Junior Mint or York Peppermint Patty.

This Week's Plan

I'm struggling this week. I am absolutely uninspired about food. I start my new job tomorrow, so it's more important that I have a plan this week. But I honestly don't want to think about it.

In my fridge right now, I have cauliflower, carrots, leeks, parsnips, brussels sprouts, spinach and parsley. I also have white potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, grapes, oranges and strawberries. I have frozen berries, peas, green beans, and tri-color peppers. I have two pork tenderloins defrosting as well. I do not want to go to the store. I'm just feeling lazy and uninterested.

So, I'm making a very rough plan for the week, because I need a plan.

Sunday: Grilled pork tenderloin with honey mustard glaze, spinach salad, and roasted brussels sprouts with pecans and parmesan.

Monday: Pork Fried Rice made with brown rice, peas, green beans, carrots, and peppers. I'll make the brown rice a day ahead so it's the right consistency.

Tuesday: Pork Cubanos (grilled pork sandwiches) and Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries, plus spinach salad

Wednesday: Spaghetti & meatballs with hearty marinara sauce (lots of veggies for me), salad

Thursday: Veggie Bean Soup (made from Buckeye Bean Mix) & cornbread

Healthier Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is healthier than a traditional pie, because it uses nutritious root vegetables, fresh herbs, a lighter sauce, and a whole wheat biscuit crust. It takes about 90 minutes to prepare, start to finish, but you can easily make it ahead. Dice the vegetables, make the biscuit dough, and cook the chicken the night before. Then cook the veggies, assemble the pies, and bake them the day you want to eat them.

We had this tonight. It was so satisfying, and really delicious. The biscuit dough is great on the pot pies, but I wouldn't use the recipe for stand-alone biscuits. They definitely taste like health food on their own. But on top of the pies - Yum!

This recipe makes either a 2-quart casserole or 6 individual 2-cup pies. I made much smaller ones in 6-ounce ramekins for the boys - the small size was perfect for them and they loved having individual pies.

Chicken Pot Pies

Biscuit Dough
1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm (110 degree) water
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon honey

1. Mix the water and yeast in a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In another small bowl, beat the egg, then mix in the sour cream and honey. Add the yeast and the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture, then stir gently until rough dough forms. Flour your hands, then knead the dough a few times until it can be shaped into a ball. Turn it out onto a well-floured board and pat gently into a flat circle. Flour the top of the dough.
3. Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out circles of dough out the size you will need to top your cooking container(s). Discard excess dough. (You can roll it out again to make biscuits, but it's much better as a top crust than a stand-alone biscuit.) Place on a lightly floured pan and let rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator. (If you do refrigerate the dough, then remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about an hour.)

Filling
2 cups parsnips, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
2 cups carrots (about 3 carrots), peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
2 cups turnips, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
1 large leek, white and light green parts thinly sliced then chopped
30 ounces low-salt chicken broth
3 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried, but the fresh is worth it.)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/3 cup milk or white wine
2 cups diced cooked chicken (poached, roasted, or even grilled)
1 cup frozen peas

1. Place first 4 vegetables and chicken broth in a deep pot so the veggies are completely covered. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let simmer until veggies are tender, about 20 minutes.
2. About 10 minutes before the veggies are done, melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and stir to make a roux. Keep stirring for 5 minutes. This allows the flour taste to cook off, and the roux will start to get golden brown. Stir in the thyme, and stir 1 minute more.
3. Set a strainer over a large bowl, and drain the vegetables over the bowl, so the cooking liquid is saved in the bowl. Return the veggies to their cooking pan.
4. Whisk the roux and slowly pour in the cooking liquid from the veggies, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and let boil, stirring, for about 1 minute. Reduce heat to low. Whisk the yogurt and milk or wine together, then whisk into the roux mixture. Stir in salt and pepper.
5. Add roux mixture to the veggie pan and turn heat to medium. Stir in chicken and peas, and heat through.

To cook pies:

1. Preheat oven to 425. Scoop chicken mixture into your cooking containers, within about 1/2 inch of top. Smooth it out. Place the biscuit dough rounds on top. Brush with milk or melted butter. (If you made the filling ahead, make sure it is hot and all ingredients are cooked through before you assemble. It won't be in the oven long enough to cook the filling.)
2. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until dough is golden brown. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Serve with a green salad with a great vinaigrette, or with steamed green beans or asparagus. Simple side.

Nut Allergy Insanity

I fell off the posting wagon for a few days, but I'll get back into it tonight. My apologies.

My son started Kindergarten this year. Of course, there are kids with life-threatening nut allergies in his class. I've been slightly obsessive about nut allergies for a while. First, I wonder from whence these allergies came. They did not seem to exist when I was a child. Or maybe they were just always fatal, and so we never dealt with it.

My first encounter with a person with nut allergies was when I had my meal assembly business. In this business, we set out all the ingredients for meals, and the customers assembled them and then cooked them at home. We were always very upfront with our customers about the possibility of cross-contamination, and we asked allergy-concerned customers to use extra care in preparing their meals and to ask questions if they had doubts. One month we had breaded chicken fingers on one station, and almond-crusted chicken on another station. A woman called me at home one night because she had cooked the chicken fingers, and her son had refused to eat them because they smelled nutty. She wanted to let me know that we had a problem. She told me that when she was assembling the meal, she thought we had nuts out instead of breadcrumbs, but she figured we wouldn't make that mistake, and she chose to go ahead and make the meal anyway. She wanted to let me know how very fortunate I was that her son hadn't eaten the food, because he could have died, and she would have sued us out of existence.

I appreciate the severity of nut allergies, and I am fully aware that we did make a serious mistake. One of my employees had accidentally put the nuts out instead of breadcrumbs, and it was a real problem. However, I was furious at the customer's abdication of responsibility. She thought there was a problem. Instead of questioning us at the time, she chose to go ahead and make the meal, and then cooked it and served it to her son, all the while suspecting there were nuts in the food. And she held us entirely responsible for "nearly killing" her son. As a result of this situation, I of course changed our processes to lessen the possibility of error. But I also changed our policies: we did not recommend our business for anyone with life-threatening allergies. We would turn them away as customers, even if they were willing to assume full responsibility, because our liability was just too high.

I get very frustrated with the transference of responsibility for health to other people. When Ryan attended his pre-K program, we received a note the first day of school. It informed us that one student in the 700-member student body had a life-threatening allergy to peanuts. Therefore, they requested that we not feed our children breakfast products containing peanuts at home before school on any school day. Because 1 child had an allergy, 700 families were expected to change what they ate in their own homes to accommodate this child. I understand not bringing certain products to school, but this seemed completely unreasonable to me. I feel for the parents who have a child that sensitive - they must live in fear. But as sympathetic as I am, there is a point of reasonableness.

However, I do find some humor in the nut allergy situation. Ryan's teacher presented us with a note on Back to School night. It contained a list of products that we could not send with our child as the daily snack. Some products were obvious, like peanuts, peanut butter crackers, and peanut butter sandwiches. Some were surprising, like Quaker Rice Cakes. But some were puzzling:

Beer Nuts
Cocktail Nuts
Ice Cream with Nuts

I wonder:

• Who sends their kid to school with Beer Nuts? Do they send Bud instead of water?
• If you pack cocktail nuts, do you also pack a martini shaker and some olives?
• Who packs their kid ice cream as a snack? It's 2 hours between the start of school and snack time!

But it is good to know that I am permitted to send Ryan to school with ice cream as a snack, just as long as it doesn't have nuts.

This Week's Menu

The end of South Beach phase 1 is in sight, and I am so happy about that! I would arm wrestle for an apple or a piece of bread at this point. The two lowest points I've had so far:

• My husband eating Pepperidge Farm chocolate chip cookies and describing the deliciousness of every bite. Until I threatened him with a long-term bedroom boycott.
• My kids eating Frosted Flakes every morning. I didn't know I loved Frosted Flakes. I probably haven't had them since I was 12. But I spent each morning hiding in the bathroom while they ate their cereal so I wouldn't give in. Even the box is pretty. You know you're carb deprived when you think Tony the Tiger it HOTT!

On the upside, I'm down 6.2 pounds with 3 days to go, so it's been worth it. Until phase 1, I never realized what a small quantity of vegetables I ate on a daily basis. I think it will be much easier to work them in now. Especially since even good carbs and fruit are extremely limited for the next couple of weeks.

Here's this week's menu:

Saturday: Grilled steak, steamed broccoli sauteed in garlic and chilies.

Sunday: Lentil Chili & salad

Monday: Lentil Chili Burritos for the boys, Lentil Chili & Salad for me.

Tuesday: Roasted Chicken and Roasted Vegetables

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pies made with Whole Wheat Biscuit Crust

Thursday: Chicken Roulades with Red Pepper Sauce and Sauteed Spinach

The Lentil chili is a mix that I love. I get it at a local high-end grocery store, but it's probably sold by Whole Foods, too. It's by the Buckeye Bean & Herb Company, and it's called "Rip Roar'n Lentil Chili". Just saute ground beef & onions, stir in mix plus a can of diced tomatoes, and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours. They don't say it, but I'll add diced bell peppers at the saute stage. It's delicious and pretty healthy. Because it uses lentils, it cooks quickly and is much lower sodium than canned beans. This company has many soup mixes, and I haven't had a bad one yet.

Proof Positive: Parents Create Food Monsters

I've recently encountered two young men - 19 and 20 - who live in different parts of the country. One is from semi-rural Virginia, and one from the Bay Area. What they have in common is that their parents took the easy way out when it comes to food, and you can see the impact in their diets today.

They both were raised on fast foods and convenience foods. Their diets growing up were limited to Mac and Cheese, chicken tenders, pizza, hamburgers, and fries. They were never pushed to try additional foods. In fact, if they didn't like the food being served, their mothers would jump up and microwave something different for them.

The result is that each young man has an extremely limited diet, and a complete unwillingness to try anything different. I attended one man's wedding, and there were chicken tenders at the reception so he would have something to eat. The following night, the hostess had to bake him a potato separately because he was unwilling to eat the herb-roasted potatoes she was serving. As his father-in-law described, "he has the diet of a two-year-old." There are only five foods that he will eat: potatoes (baked or french fried), chicken tenders, hamburgers, steak, and pizza. Given that he won't eat any fruits or vegetables, I would say his diet is less healthy that the average toddler's.

The second young man dines entirely in fast food restaurants. He doesn't know how to cook, and he doesn't want to learn. He grew up on fast food, and that's what he eats. It's all he eats.

Both men are lean, but I imagine that as their metabolisms change, they will gain unhealthy weight. They will also begin to see heart and circulatory problems from their limited diets, and their immune systems will suffer.

Kids who are raised without a diet based on a wide variety of foods won't wake up one day and suddenly want broccoli and grapefruit. The habits they learn as children stick with them for life, unless they make a conscious and sustained effort to change their eating patterns. I believe that as parents, we are shirking our responsibilities if we don't get lots of veggies, fruits, and whole grains in front of our kids. It's a lack of discipline for both them and us.

Kids can be very picky eaters, but if we expose them to a great variety of foods, eventually they'll eat a great variety of foods. They may not eat everything, but they'll eat more than kids who don't get pushed a bit on food. If they don't like broccoli today, we can try spinach or kale or salad tomorrow. Or Brussels sprouts. And try them again and again, until they have a variety of foods they like.

It can also work to shape some of this through manners. I learned this lesson the hard way. My father's best friend's parents were Newport Society. Mrs. Porter entertained in style. She kept note cards on all her guests, and she planned her menus so that no guest would ever have the same dish twice at her house. She also kept notes on their preferences. We were invited to the Porter's for a dinner party when I was about 10 or 11. She had planned this beautiful menu with a Russian theme -I remember borscht and some kind of fish dish. I piped up in the middle of soup that my father didn't like fish and neither did I. Mrs. Porter was mortified, because she thought she should have known that about my dad. She immediately got up and made us each a separate dinner. My father was humiliated and furious at me. I felt like a heel and I didn't know why.

That night, I received a lesson in etiquette from my father. He explained what I had done wrong. He told me that polite people taste each dish that is offered, and show their appreciation to the cook whether they like the meal or not. He told me that you eat what you're offered, and that two bites of fish won't kill you (although I now know that an exception is made for food that might actually kill you.) If you really can't eat the food, you put on a good show of eating and continue to show your appreciation, and you eat later at home. You never inconvenience the host, but instead show appreciation for all the effort they made in entertaining you. He also told me that polite hosts do not notice what or how much their guests have eaten, and they take all compliments gracefully.

I have never forgotten that lesson, and I hope to impart the same knowledge on my children, preferably through a less painful experience. I lay the foundation now by expecting my children and husband to show appreciation for dinner and not complain about the food. If they don't like something, they push it to the side and eat something else on the table.

We want our children to have healthy diets and good manners, and the family table is the place to start. Requiring tasting, appreciation, and undramatic rejection of disliked foods is a beginning. Then our kids won't be adults with a diet limited to only 5 microwavable items.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This is a smooth and creamy soup, somewhat like potato soup in texture, but with more flavor. I love it with a simple salad with a tangy vinaigrette.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup


1 large head cauliflower, cleaned, cored, and cut into small pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 can Swanson chicken broth
1 1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium pot. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. (Don't let it boil over - scalded milk smells really bad). Let simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes for bite-sized florets. Puree in a blender until creamy. (I always cover the blender with a towel in addition to the lid, then start at the lowest setting and work up.) Return to heat and heat through. Adjust seasonings as desired. Great topped with garlicy croutons and shredded cheddar cheese.

Painfully Virtuous

I've been working on losing weight recently, and my old techniques have not been effective. I lost weight before my wedding on Weight Watchers, and it worked both times to lose post-baby weight. This time, however, it's not working for me. I'd stick to the plan for a day or two, and then I'd be ravenously hungry and blow the point count. After 3 months of messing around with that and gaining 5 pounds, I decided to try the South Beach Diet. It's worked for many members of my family, so maybe it will work for me.

The problem with me and South Beach is that I LOVE carbs. If I could take only 1 food to a desert island, it would be pasta. I can live for days at a time with nothing but a head of garlic, a few cans of chicken stock, lemons, and pasta. I even like whole grain pasta. And bread - endless varieties of bread. English muffins, sandwich bread, flat bread, french bread - I love them all. Rice, potatoes, couscous, barley, even farro all make me happy.

I love carbs so much that I believe it could be an addiction. And I know addictions need to be overcome, so South Beach made sense to me. South Beach Phase 1 requires me to give up all my carb-heavy favorite foods. But it's only two weeks long, and I can do most anything for 2 weeks! And I get many of them back, in reasonable portions, at the end of 14 short days. So I can do it, right?

I've made it 5 1/2 days so far. It hasn't been that hard, except for a few times. When I went grocery shopping, I was jonesing like a newly sober alcoholic in a liquor store. Tomato sauce is on the same aisle as the pasta, and I had to blur my vision and pretend I didn't see the pasta. The cheese is next to the display of awesome bakery breads, and I had to race by and imagine I couldn't smell its fresh-baked loveliness. I made it out of the store without purchasing anything I craved, but it was close.

I planned my week's menu carefully, to increase my chances of success. I got frozen garlic Texas Toast for my boys for the nights I need bread for them. It reminds me of the food in my elementary school cafeteria, so I knew it would be a cinch to resist. But, as always, my best plans go awry.

Today, we went to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which was about as good as I thought it would be (not good at all). I piously passed on the popcorn and ate cherry tomatoes and mozzarella instead. We went out to lunch at Fuddruckers, and I had a hearty chopped salad while my traitor son enjoyed really delicious mac-and-cheese. When we got home, I had a headache and decided to take some Advil. And here's where it all went wrong.

We have a cat, Stoney. She's very special because she was a feral kitten behind Now We're Cooking. My friend Julie found her dying out there one day - her mom had abandoned her. Julie insisted that I take this kitten to the vet. I complied, knowing that I was going to ask the vet to put this poor dying kitty out of her misery. The vet refused, said I could save her. This was a daunting proposition because Stoney was a wild cat. She clawed brave Denise as we tried to trap her, she clawed the vet so badly he dropped her, and we had to use a towel to pick her up and handle her from that point on. Although she had ferocious claws, her first-line of defense was her smell. She had lost the ability to clean herself, so she was covered in crusted poo. That fragrance was topped with the aroma one would expect of a homeless dumpster diver who cannot bathe. I can still vividly recall the smell of the poor little kitty, largely because it would be my constant companion for the next two weeks.

Her second line of defense was the fleas. She had so many fleas you could see her fur moving. In fact, it was the fleas that were killing her - the vet diagnosed her with flea-related anemia and malnutrition. Just the thought of handling a cat like that made my skin crawl. But the vet told me how to save her. I had a spare bathroom I could put her in for a couple of weeks to recover, and then I'd release her back to the wild. My husband is a cat-co-dependent, so he agreed. He expected that we were giving her a warm place to die. But I am determined. I spent 2-3 hours a day with this flea-ridden stinking cat. I had to bottle-feed her the first few days. She'd climb on to my lap, hissing and clawing at the same time as she sought the warmth of my body. When I bathed her, the washcloth turned permanently red from all the blood that was crusted in her fur. But, at the end of two weeks, there was no question of releasing her back into the wild - she was an adorable, playful, cuddly kitten.

A few months after we got Stoney, we discovered why her mother probably abandoned her - Stoney has epilepsy. After several vet visits and one long trip to the kitty neurologist, we learned that Stoney would be on phenobarbital for life. Because Rudy has big fingers and Stoney has a small mouth, giving her pills twice a day is my job. I'm on autopilot giving her the pills, morning and evening.

That phenobarbital is how things went awry today. By the time we got home from movies, lunch, and park, I had a bad headache. I went to take some Advil, which I rarely do. And I accidentally took Stoney's phenobarbital. After a quick call to the pharmacist to determine the risks from interaction with another medication I take, we decided it would be best if I napped for the rest of the afternoon. This meant no filet mignon and grilled veggies for dinner, because I needed to go to the store, and the pharmacy said absolutely no driving. Rudy decided to handle dinner, which I figured meant hot dogs. When I stumbled out from my nap, here's what I found:

He got 3 entire pizzas! For a grown man, a 6-year-old, and a 4-year-old. What you see is what was left AFTER they were done eating. I saw that crust and I started salivating. I could feel the texture of yeasty crust and taste the bite of pepperoni. I was hungry, and I wanted pizza NOW! But I've lost almost 4 pounds in 5 days, and I'm almost halfway to completing phase 1. I closed up the boxes and hid them away in the fridge. And I virtuously made my dinner.

Here's what I ate:

That's spaghetti squash, tomato basil sauce, and sauteed mushrooms. It was fine, but it wasn't pizza. And spaghetti squash is to pasta what a brown paper bag is to Prada Tote - it gets the job done, but it's not nearly as enjoyable.

Just FYI, phenobarbital will not get rid of a headache. Or a sinus infection. In fact, in cat-sized doses, it had little effect on me at all. But I'll still be moving the Advil to a completely different location.

Garlic-Herb Marinade for Chicken

This is a fantastic marinade for chicken. It's flexible, too - just change up the herbs. You can replace the basil with cilantro, dill, or rosemary, and it seems to be a totally different marinade. It is important to use fresh herbs in this marinade - it's just not as good with dried.

At Now We're Cooking, we marinated chicken kabobs in this for grilling, served atop rice pilaf. This was one of our most highly requested recipes.

Garlic-Herb Marinade for Chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped (can swap with cilantro, dill, or 1/4 cup fresh rosemary)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 Tablespoons olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over chicken. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 12-36 hours. Turn occasionally if you think of it. (This is also great if you put it in a Ziploc bag with frozen chicken, then let the chicken defrost in the refrigerator in the marinade for 24-48 hours).
2. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook as desired. You can use the marinade to baste the chicken while it's cooking, but make sure it reaches 165 degrees before removing from heat. Discard any remaining marinade - it has raw chicken juice in it!
3. This makes enough marinade for 2-3 pounds of boneless chicken.

This Week's Plan

Saturday morning, which means it's time to plan menus for the week ahead! Need to work in grocery shopping and possibly even a Costco run.

This week's menu is a little more challenging that usual. First, I'm in the first phase of the South Beach Diet, which means no fruit, starches, grains, or sugar. Second, Rudy's birthday is on Sunday, so we need a special birthday meal and cake (ideally one I can resist - maybe I'll add coconut!).

So here's the plan:

Saturday: Pork stir fry (still have leftover pork tenderloin) with broccoli, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, and garlic, tossed with soy sauce, unseasoned rice vinegar, and a little chili oil. Rice for the boys. I spent 1/2 an hour on the Asian aisle of my grocery store, and it turns out that there are NO Chinese sauces without added sugar. So we're going simple.

Sunday: Rudy's birthday! Grilled Filet Mignon, grilled veggies, salad. I may make a very small Potato Au Gratin for Rudy - he loves it. But the boys are not fans, so it will need to be an individual serving. I think I can do it! I also have to make cupcakes. I don't think I could resist a glorious birthday cake right now, so I'm going to make chocolate cupcakes (from a mix - I can resist mixes) and frost with extra buttercream that's in my freezer from Ryan's birthday. I don't know if I have the willpower to make and resist anything from scratch right now.

Monday: Ratatouille with Garlic Bread: I don't know if the boys will eat ratatouille, but they loved the movie, so we're going to try it. I'll grill lots of extra veggies on Sunday - 2 kinds of zucchini, eggplant, portabello mushrooms - and use them as the base. I have great homemade canned tomato basil sauce, and I'll add a ton of fresh herbs - basil, oregano, parsley, garlic. On Monday night, I just arrange it in a casserole, top with sauce, herbs, and a touch of cheese, and bake for 30 minutes. I can make garlic bread (2 day's worth) for the boys and a big salad for me while it's cooking. I'm not sure the boys will eat ratatouille, so I'm also going to have fruit on hand for them to fill up on.

Tuesday: Spaghetti (squash) with Meatballs: I have frozen meatballs for the boys, and great marinara sauce. I'll cook spaghetti for them and spaghetti squash for me. I'll toss in leftover veggies from the ratatouille, plus I'll broil another loaf of garlic bread I made the night before. I'll also pull a bunch of chicken breasts from the freezer, throw them in bags with a garlic/herb marinade, and let them defrost in the fridge in the marinade. It's a quick and simple way to marinate meats - while they defrost overnight.

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan and a big salad, plus fruit for the boys. I'll roast 2 days' worth of chicken breasts in a garlic-herb marinade. For tonight, I'll top them with heated marinara and mozzarella and broil briefly. I'll have leftover spaghetti for the boys and leftover squash for me on the side.

Thursday: Bulked Up Caesar Salad with Chicken: I'll use romaine, spinach, mache (like baby arugula), tomatoes, and grilled peppers, and toss it all with this classic Caesar dressing. Slice up the grilled chicken from last night, fruit on the side for the boys, and dinner's ready in a snap!

That's the plan. Now off to the store!

Dieting in Front of Kids

About a year ago, Ryan started worrying about being "fat". He wouldn't eat certain foods because they'd make him fat, he'd ask if he was fat, and he'd ask whether what we were eating would make him fat. He and his brother began trading insults, calling each other "fat" and "fatty". (They always have some insult word - now it's "baby"). One day, he called me "chubby", and he clearly meant it offensively.

I was concerned because he had transitioned from observation to concern. He has previously noted that people were large, but there was no judgement attached to it. All of a sudden, weight was loaded with judgement, and he was worried about himself. Ryan has never approached anything resembling fat - his weight is smack in the middle for his height and always had been. So I had no idea where all this concern was coming from.


Because I have a natural tendency towards drama, I got really worried as I began to see Ryan's worry about fat turning into teenage bulimia or "manorexia". I thought I had always been very careful to keep my concerns about my weight to myself. But I realized that between TV and normal conversation, my boy had picked up on our national obsession with weight. He had come to believe that one of the worst things you can be is "fat", and he was worried about it.

Dylan is on the opposite side of the fat concern. He was invited to a sleepover at my brother's house. It was a reward for being nice to his cousin for 5 whole days. My brother told him that they were going to go out to dinner, watch movies, and "eat ice cream until they got fat!". On the morning of the sleepover, Dylan told me he didn't want to go. He said he didn't know how to get fat. He was afraid of failing.

One of my goals as a mother is to raise children who have a healthy relationship with food. I want them to enjoy it, but not to obsess about it, binge on it, or drown their feelings with it. I want them to be a normal weight, and to make good food choices most of the time. I want them to eat a variety of foods and be open to eating adventurously. This obsession with fat was definitely something I couldn't let slide.

I need to begin a lifelong conversation with my kids about food, nutrition, fat, and body image. I dealt with Ryan's concerns by telling him that he was not fat, that it's not appropriate to comment on people's weight, and that the food he ate wouldn't make him fat. I told Dylan that he didn't need to eat until he got fat, just to enjoy himself. But it's the beginning of a long conversation about food, about how to make good choices around food.

Nutritionists recommend not dieting in front of your kids, and that you don't put your kids on diets. There are a number of studies that show the long-term hazards of yo-yo dieting. Kids learn much more from what we do than what we say, so by modelling dieting or by teaching them to diet, we may actually be hurting their long-term health.

But the reality is that I need to lose weight. I have eaten myself into 20-30 pounds of excess fat, and it's just going to get worse unless I do something. I've grudgingly committed to the South Beach Diet because it's worked for so many people in my family. For two weeks, I'll eat no sugar, starches, fruit, or processed carbs, then I'll move to a diet that includes fruit and whole grains. Our nanny is currently following Weight Watchers. So the real question is, how do we diet and continue to foster our children's healthy relationships with food?

I don't have answers based on scientific research, but I do have what I believe is a healthy approach to follow. It's based on 3 key concepts: good choices on my part, open communication, and balanced family-style dinners.

First, good choices: I'm choosing a diet that's centered around normal eating, rather than radically restricted eating. My kids aren't going to see me living on nothing but cabbage, eating only grapefruit, or getting all my calories in liquid form. They won't see me consuming vast quantities of bacon, eggs, and cheese. Most importantly, I'm not going to be eating "special" meals separately from them. I'm carefully making choices so that we all eat together, and we eat roughly the same thing. Part of this is setting a good example, but part is laziness: I really only want to make 1 meal per mealtime.

Second, open communication: I am talking to my kids about the fact that I have put on weight by making poor food choices and not getting enough exercise. I'm sharing with them that I don't feel as good or energetic as I used to when I made better choices. I'm telling them that I'm changing the food I eat so that I feel healthier. I'm not dwelling on the scale or the fact that I'm trying to lose weight - I'm just focused on getting healthier. And of course, I'm talking to them about how I'm getting healthier - eating lots more veggies, fewer sweets, and less ice cream. We're using the Cookie Monster song "A Cookie is a Sometime Food" to talk about sweets.

Finally, we're having balanced, family-style dinners. I outlined my general philosophy in a post about overcoming food resistance. Basically, I'm making each meal with food that complies with my plan and food that they'll like. Then I serve it family-style and let each person choose what to eat. Last night, we had burgers, chips, salad, and grilled veggies. I passed on the chips and the buns. The kids ate burgers and chips, but also tried salad. Tonight, we had roasted pork tenderloin, zucchini gratin, tomato salad, steamed rice, and applesauce. I passed on the rice and applesauce, and I was the only one to eat tomato salad. By putting a variety of healthy foods on the table, I have a menu that everyone can live with - happily.

I try to plan the meals so it's not much work to put good meals on the table. It took me only a half-hour per night the last two nights to get 4-dish meals on the table - and I was able to water the garden while I cooked!

The Great Cupcake Debate

Ryan's birthday was last week, and I made cupcakes to take to his class. I was quite sick, so I wasn't up to making cupcakes from scratch. I cheated and bought cake mixes. However, I can't stand canned icing, and I'm not a big fan of powdered sugar icing, so I made real buttercream. I made the simple syrup, cooked the egg mixture to 165 degrees, and added 4 sticks of butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. All in all, it took 4 hours to make and decorate 30 cupcakes.

Because the cupcakes were made with real buttercream, I kept them in the fridge overnight. The morning of his birthday, I took the cupcakes out of the fridge to let them come to room temperature while I ran the boys up to my mom's house. When I got back, I discovered that the cats had licked 4 cupcakes completely clean of frosting. I had only 2 extra cupcakes, so I had a dilemma: If I tossed the cat-licked cupcakes, I'd be short 2 frosted cupcakes.

What would you have done? Here are the choices as I saw them:

1. Toss the cat-licked cupcakes and go to school 2 cupcakes short, thus depriving 2 of 4 teachers of cupcakes.
2. Race out and buy replacement cupcakes (didn't have time or ingredients to make new ones.)
3. Carefully wipe off the cat-licked cupcakes and re-frost them, judging that cat licking is pretty harmless.

The answer was quite obvious to me, but I was surprised by the heated debate it caused when I told the story at my dad's house. Suffice it to say that my step-mother may never again eat food cooked at my house, because she was horrified that I would consider serving food the cat had licked. I truly didn't see the harm in it - the cats are pretty clean, they lick my hands all the time, I don't think they're a source of exceptional germs, and I ate one of the cat cupcakes myself. I wasn't serving them to pregnant women, so there was no chance of that cat disease that got me out of cleaning the litter box for 2 years. I was honestly surprised by Liz's revulsion and horror.

What do you think? Should I be soundly condemned for sending re-frosted cupcakes to school? Would you have done it? If I take steps to avoid cat-licking in the future, can I still be trusted to give cupcakes to the school bake sale? Knowing that I did this, would you turn down all invitations to dine at my house?