The aroma of baking fills the air

Sweet...



and savory!





My husband makes his apple pie without a recipe, so there isn't a recipe to refer you to, but the "Quick and Easy" breadsticks are definitely worthy of sharing - here is the recipe for it if you'd like. The breadsticks freeze well too, so make two batches! I used cheddar because that's all I had in the house. Be sure to be generous when sprinkling on the cheese and garlic spread.

Roasted tomato pasta

If your garden's bounty has you knee deep in tomatoes, you can understand the challenge I face everyday.

It's a good problem, of course, with some good solutions too, I'm finding out. I was particularly inspired by Prudent Baby.

One such solution is this roasted tomato pasta. Yum factor is extremely high, and the smell-o-meter is off the charts grand. It was thrown together for an impromptu meal with a good friend.



Alas, my dark kitchen doesn't produce photos that do this dish justice, but you get the picture (I'm so punny).

The trick is to slow roast your tomatoes. I used beefsteak, roma, and pear tomatoes, because that's what I have. Each imparts a subtly different aura that harmonizes well.

Cut up the tomatoes so they're half inch cubes. I used enough tomatoes to fill a baking sheet, because I wanted to make enough for eight servings.



Add salt and pepper to taste, then add your desired amount of garlic. I used the garlic juice from this Costco monstrosity:



Drizzle a good amount of extra virgin olive oil on the tomatoes, and toss them to coat evenly.



In goes the baking sheet into an oven preheated at 225. Roasting time will be between 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. Trust me, it is worth the time.

During the last 20 minutes of the roasting time, boil your linguine noodles, and lightly salt and drizzle some olive oil. They should finish right around the time the tomatoes are ready and they look like this:



Take a silcone spoon scraper and release all the good bits:



Set aside in a bowl.

Take your noodles and run them against the baking sheet so as to pick up every bit of the pan juices. Add more olive oil as needed. Then add the roasted tomatoes back into the noodles.



Top with basil and serve.

Heather's Roasted Tomato Pasta Serves 8 -fresh tomatoes (I used three kinds: beefsteak, roma, and pear tomatoes) -extra virgin olive oil -minced garlic (I used garlic juice) -sea salt and pepper to taste -prepared linguine noodles 1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. 2. Wash and cut up tomatoes into half inch cubes. Transfer them onto a baking sheet. 3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Drizzle liberally with extra virgin olive oil, giving a good toss to coat evenly. 4. Into the oven it goes for 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours. 5. During the last 20 minutes of the roasting time, prepare the linguine noodles, timing it to finish with the tomatoes. Lightly salt and drizzle a bit of olive oil. 6. Pull out the roasted tomatoes and release the softened bits with a silicone spoon scraper. Set aside in a bowl. 7. Run the noodles against the baking sheet so as to pick up every bit of the pan juices. Add more olive oil as needed. Then add the roasted tomatoes back into the noodles. 8. Serve as is, or add basil and/or fresh mozzarella to kick it up a notch or two. Enjoy!

The beautiful culinary lunch box experience - Research & Development phase

I admit that I am a fanatic about everything I do. I want Amanda to have a filling, nutritious, and aesthetically pleasing lunch. So naturally, I've been scouring the 'net with a vengeance, looking for some ideas. Since you may be interested in creating good lunches for yourself or your young ones, I thought I'd share some of the links!

::Websites::
Sneak in Some Veggies at the Parents Magazine website

10 Creative Ideas for Packed Lunches at iVillage Parenting

From the Kraft Foods website (just wade through the plugs for their brand): MVP Lunches, Budget Lunches, Lunchbox Ideas

Nutritious Lunch Ideas, brought to you by Laptop Lunches. Amanda will be using this bento box system along with a thermos for hot foods, so I'll fill you in about the box as soon as she starts school.

Family Fun Magazine's A+ Lunches and Snacks

About.com's Everyday Menus: Packable Lunch

Food Network's Easy, Kid-Approved Lunch Recipes

::Books/miscellany::
The cool My Lunch Box: 50 Recipes for Kids to Take to School! by Hilary Karmilowicz

Lunch Boxes and Snacks: Over 120 healthy recipes from delicious sandwiches and salads to hot soups and sweet treats by Annabel Karmel

The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine


As evidenced by the title of this post, there will be an R&D phase, followed by an Implementation phase, and concluded with the Analysis phase. I will start sharing photos and successes/mishaps in the Implementation phase. (This whole experience is more intriguing with fancy titles, no?)

Back from vacation

We had fun. The weather was wonderful. Tax-free shopping was glorious. Food was so good that I overate myself into a gluttonous stupor one afternoon. But oh, what a way to go down! :) I'll be pouring over two 8 gigs memory cards' worth of photos this week - I am eager to share my photos of early morning low tide on the beach with you.

Now that most of the laundry is done and our lives are unpacked and unleashed back into the daily grind, my next quest is to compile some great recipes and ideas for my Amanda's lunch box before she heads off to school.

One thing I had Amanda try was this insalata caprese (stacked style), since I have a wealth of basil and tomatoes in my garden:



I love it. But Amanda? Not so much. Though she loved the tomato-basil-olive oil-salt-pepper taste combo, she didn't care for the fresh mozzarella.

If you have some tried and true recipes or lunchbox ideas, will you share them with me? I want her to really love her lunches.

***

And happy birthday to two very special people in my life: my childhood friend Julianne, who is again celebrating her 21st birthday (ahem), and my beloved nephew Elias, who just blew out two candles.

"Happy birthday, America!"

That's what Amanda greeted me with this morning. We decided to celebrate with a special Red, White & Blue drink, which we saw featured in Family Fun Magazine. Love that magazine, by the way.

::Happy Birthday America Drink::

Cast of characters:

-cranberry juice (I bought the no-sugar added kind)
-blue Powerade
-club soda (the original recipe calls for diet 7up, but I refuse to give my children diet anything - bad stuff)

-pretty glasses filled with ice (the taller the glass, the more dramatic the end result)


Directions:

1. Pour cranberry juice in the bottom of the glass.
2. Carefully and slowly pour the Powerade onto the ice - this will ensure that the colors will not mix.
3. Pour the club soda/diet 7up onto the ice until the glass is filled.

The end result:




The judge's verdict:

"I give it two thumbs up, America!"

A staple in our home

Forget the no-carb craze. This family loves carbs - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Mmmm, my mouth is watering.

Amanda and I especially love Jojos. I bet you'll get a kick out of how easy it is to make:



Ron's Famous Jojo Potatoes


1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Quarter potatoes lengthwise, then halve the pieces. Here I used Idaho potatoes, but any kind in your pantry will do. I'm going to try this with sweet potatoes some day.


2. Pull out the seasoning salt, extra virgin olive oil, and paprika. (The paprika has remnants of a previous flour fiasco)


3. Roll the potato wedges in the extra virgin olive oil.


4. Lightly cover the wedges with paprika and seasoning salt, then line them up in a glass casserole dish. Or on a cookie sheet lined with foil, which I have yet to try. Pop the dish in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on how crispy you want the Jojos. My family likes them with some crunch.


5. Take out of the oven, let them cool for five minutes.

We have them with a healthy serving of our favorite ketchup, Heinz Organic (it is free of high fructose corn syrup and, yes, organic). I purposely did not specify how many potatoes to use, because you can make as much or as little as you want.

Enjoy!

A nice weekend

Abigail has a new nickname - she's Abby, the Crabby Crustacean. Funny thing about it though. Amanda thought I was calling her a "Crusty Asian". !!!!

Here's a photo of one of my cameras, the Sony Cyber-shot F717, which we got in 2003:

(Image from Digital Photography Review)

Fabulous camera, but I don't really use it to its full potential, as I am always on AUTO. Yes, I am just a point-and-shooter. But I hope to change that. One of my goals this year is to become chummy with the manual and eventually shoot in manual mode. THEN, we'll be ready to move onto a digital SLR camera.

This mosaic captures some of our happy moments from this past week:

(Click for larger image)

Abigail's hair is long enough for pigtails, so she is sporting a cute little hair pretty from Annie and Olive.

Amanda and I made some dinner mints - super easy, child-friendly recipe. If you'd like the recipe, let me know. They're impressive with little effort.

Amanda's typical breakfast is oatmeal. It's a great source of fiber and low in calories.

And Ron's steak and mushrooms dish - it is to die for!

Ron's Steak & Mushrooms

Ingredients:

A rib steak

10 to 12 white cap mushrooms

1 stalk of green onions

1 tblspn butter or extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Pack the steak with kosher salt on both sides for 15 to 30 minutes, letting it reach room temperature.

2. Wash the salt off the steak and pat dry.

3. Sear both sides of the steak in a pan until desired doneness is reached.
4. Melt the butter in the pan with the steak drippings, and throw in the mushrooms and green onions.

5. Splash some worcestershire sauce on the mixture. When mushrooms are done, pour over the steak. Serve immediately.

We usually make one 1-lb rib steak and share it amongst the family, pairing it with corn, and a stir-fry dish (bokchoy, green cabbage, spinach, napa cabbage). And of course, rice.

Ron was inspired by this blog post that explains how to make cheap cuts of meat taste like prime rib. Very interesting.