Foodmomiac

Successful New Dish: Lentil Potato Salad

2013-01-21T08:51:30-06:00

On Saturday night, we decided to stay in and cook dinner. Dylan was at a sleepover, so it was just me and the two guys. We had some prime ribeye steaks from Costco, so we knew that would be the focus, but it was up to me to come up with a side dish. My first instinct was some sort of potato dish. Unfortunately, when I checked our potato supplies, I realized that we only had one pound of potatoes which wouldn't be enough. It was time to get creative.

When Michael and I went to Paris last month, I spent an hour in G. Detou, one of the world's most amazing grocery stores. One of the treats I came home with was a tin of French de Puy lentils:

Lentil de Puy are a great treat if you've never tried them (and you don't need to buy them in Paris - they are available at many specialty grocery stores in the U.S. - I have even purchased them at Whole Foods). They keep their shape and texture when cooked. Typical lentils get soft and mushy, which is great when you are making a soup and stew, but not ideal when you want the lentils for a salad.

So, back to my story. I had one pound of potatoes and I had the lovely tin of lentils. I decided to combine a couple of recipes from The New York Times Cookbook; a Mediterranean lentil salad and a French potato salad. French potato salads are served slightly warm or at room temperature and are made with olive oil instead of mayonnaise. They are much more suited to cold weather than the standard mayo-based varieties.

The salad was easy to prepare and delicious. I hope you love it as much as we did!

Lentil Potato Salad

1/2 cup de Puy lentils
1 pound new (red) potatoes, scrubbed and cut into a 1/4 inch dice
1 Tb onion, finely minced
Vinaigrette of your choice (I used this one)
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste

Combine lentils with three cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 - 20 minutes (you want them tender but not mushy). Drain and set aside.

Cover potatoes with cold water in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Drain and place in a large bowl. Toss with the minced onion and a few splashes of vinaigrette. Allow the vinaigrette to soak in a bit. Taste. If there is no flavor, add some more (the potatoes soak up quite a bit - by dressing them while they are warm, you insure great flavor).

Add the carrots and celery and lentils. Toss with more vinaigrette and the salt and pepper, tasting as you go. This is a very flexible recipe - you will want to play around with it until it is seasoned to your tastes.

Enjoy!

Our Favorite Crockpot Meal: Red Beans with Smoked Turkey

2012-09-13T15:01:35-05:00

We didn't have a good morning. It's day four of the Chicago teachers' strike, so the routine we were so happy to return to last week is shot. Additionally, Michael is oversees on a business trip, Dylan insisted that she had no pants available to wear, Max wouldn't eat breakfast, no one could tell me what they wanted for lunch, and I'm having one of those weeks where I'm just super stressed about having a start-up and all of the uncertainties that entails.

By 8:30am, all three of us were crying hysterically. Not my proudest moment.

I finally got the kids out to their "strike camp" and headed off to my annual dermatology appointment. Now, I pride myself on having crazy low blood pressure. It's so low that when I went in to get Lasik surgery eight years ago, I wasn't allowed to take a valium as it would have made me too loopy. So, anyway, there I am at the doctor, and they pulled out the blood pressure cuff. I was soon informed that my blood pressure was a bit high.

Yeah. A morning like we had can do that to a person.

Once I got back home, I decided I needed to so something to calm myself down a bit prior to jumping into my work day. I needed to do some chopping. That's when I pulled out the crockpot and the smoked turkey legs. I love this dish because it is hearty, and delicious and easy and makes the house smell fabulous. I also love that it uses (cheap) dried beans but doesn't require overnight soaking. I made things a bit more complicated this morning because I added vegetables. As I said, I needed some time with my chefs knife. The food is now happily cooking away and I'm quite sure my blood pressure is back to its freakishly low self.

Red Beans with Smoked Turkey Legs

One large or two smallish smoked turkey legs (the ones I used today were purchased at Whole Foods, but they often have these at our grocery store as well)
One bag red kidney beans, rinsed and picked through
Veggies, chopped (optional) - today I used one onion, three stalks of celery and a few peppers including one jalapeno

Put the turkey legs into your crockpot. Top with the beans and veggies. Cover everything with water and cook on low for 6-8 hours. About an hour before it's done, pull out the turkey legs, remove the meat from them and put them back into the crockpot. (Be careful with the bones -the legs have these really weird spindly needle bones throughout.)

Serve with rice.

Note: we also like to top ours with a healthy sprinkling of Tony Chachere's creole seasoning.

Weekly Menu, June 10 - June 15

2012-06-12T12:18:59-05:00

Second week in a row of meal planning! We did a great job last week, and actually made everything I had planned to make with the exception of pizza. Pizza night still happened, but we grabbed takeout instead of making it ourselves.

So, I sat down once again and made a weekly menu. We didn't take a trip to the Farmer's Market this weekend, so the menu wasn't as challenging (I didn't have to search for a recipe for Lamb's Quarters). BUT! Our CSA (community supported agriculture) starts up again this weekend, and I can't wait. I literally let out a "woot!" when I got the email notificiation from them.

Weekly Menu, June 3 - 9

2012-06-03T18:29:41-05:00

Here is our menu for the week! We went to the Green City Farmers Market yesterday, and used the ingredients we got there to guide our plan.

The lambs quarters are essentially a weed, but were marketed as wild spinach. I am looking forward to cooking them!

What are you guys eating this week?

Weeknight Cooking - In Search of Inspiration!

2012-05-23T15:07:01-05:00

I'm sure most of you know Helen Jane? If not, click her name and go meet her. I'll wait.

Then go read her brilliant meal planning advice here.

Helen Jane is one of those people who just brings smiles wherever she goes. She is truly lovely. And she lives in St. Helena, in Napa Valley. I love her lifestyle. I was hanging out on her blog earlier and decided that I really would love to get back into meal planning.

To that end, what are some of your favorite weeknight ideas for springtime/summer? I'm feeling tired of all of our usual stuff. Share below!

FINALLY! Mexico Part 2 (The story of awkward mom)

2012-05-21T16:47:48-05:00

I truly hope this story is actually weird to anyone other than myself. I feel like I've waited so long to share it that it doesn't even matter anymore, but oh well, here goes...

Before we left for Mexico, I told Dylan that she absolutely had to find a friend on day one of the trip. When Dylan doesn't have a friend on vacations, she is a total pain in the ass. When she does have a friend? A total delight. (translation: she lets me sit on my ass reading without demanding that I entertain her).

To her credit, she totally followed my direction. Within 15 minutes of our first day at the pool, she had introduced herself to a girl her age, and voila - instant BFF for the week. Dylan and Lauren did everything together. They wore matching black sun hats, they went swimming, they drank a gajillion Miami Vices (non-alcoholic strawberry daquiri mixed with pina colada) and they chilled out in the hot tub. They also did what all tween girly girls do - they giggled a LOT.

So, one afternoon, Lauren headed into town, and Dylan was forced to hang out with us on the chaise lounges (see above photo). Shortly after she settled down, one of the other vacationing moms at the hotel came over to her and asked if she had been in the hot tub earlier. At this point, Michael and I had our radar up, as it's kind of disconcerting for another adult to address your child in your presence without even acknowleding said child's parents. Dylan responded that she had indeed been in the hot tub earlier. The mom then proceeded to lecture Dylie for being mean to her kids! Apparently, her kids had told her that two girls in black hats were making fun of them in the hot tub, saying that they were ugly, etc. etc.

Now, I know my kid. Had my SON told me she was mean? I would have totally believed it. But would Dylan ever be hurtful to someone who wasn't a family member? NEVER. That's just not her. She is one of the most empathetic people I have ever met (adults included), and is super sensitive to bullying of all kinds.

Michael told the mom as such (I was sitting in stunned silence with my mouth hanging open), explaining that our kid would never behave that way, and telling her that it must be some sort of misunderstanding. The mom responding by turning to Dylan (again, not to us), and saying, "Well, if you did do it, you know that it's wrong to do that right?" and then she left. The three of us were totally shocked and kind of weirded out by the entire interaction.

Flash forward to 10 minutes later. The same mom approaches us again. And once again, she goes straight to Dylan. This time, it's with an apology. Apparently, her kids MADE THE WHOLE THING UP. My guess is that they were intimidated by two cute girls giggling in the hot tub and assumed that the girls were giggling about them. The mom also apologized to us. It was super, super awkward.

For the rest of the week, I did my best to avoid the mom. I was on vacation. Awkward encounters had no place on my vacation.

Well, then we show up at the airport. And guess who is at our gate? Awkward mom.

Dylan was horrified, and asked me if I thought the family lived near us in Chicago. I told her they could easily be flying to Chicago to transfer somewhere else. And then in one of my snottiest moments ever (and I apologize in advance to those this offends), I said, "and even if they do live in Chicago, I am QUITE SURE they live in the suburbs." (I know, I know).

Later that day, we land at O'Hare, and I have to run to the customs bathroom so that Dylan can continue her food poisoning vomit fest (it was fun!). Guess who walks into the bathroom? Awkward mom. It was getting to be ridiculous.

A week or two after our vacation, I took Dylan to our local skating rink for the dress rehearsal of the ice show. The rink is the only indoor public rink in the city and is located about a mile and a half from our house. I get her skates on and put her on the ice, and I get ready to leave the rink. And who do you suppose I see? FRICKIN' AWKWARD MOM IS AT OUR RINK.

Now, to her credit, she called me over, apologized again for everything, and told me that it was one of the more horrifying moments of her life. We ended up chatting for about 10 minutes (she was actually kind of nice), and things ended on an OK note. Turns out, her kids go to the school just north of ours (NOT in the suburbs), and we know a ton of people in common.

And that is the final saga in our Mexico trip. Weird, right?

Mexico Part 1.5: I'm Still Peeved

2012-05-16T08:32:00-05:00

Did any of you see the article about Fishers Island in the New York Times travel section on Sunday? It's here, if you missed it. To summarize, a mom took her 18-year-old daughter to spring break in Florida, splurging on a very upscale hotel. There were multiple issues at the hotel, and I couldn't help but be reminded of our own spring break debacle. The line that really resonated was this one,

One of the problems with staying at an exorbitantly priced resort is that the rates raise the bar so high that any slight or sign of neglect feels like betrayal; flaws that might be overlooked at a more modestly priced hotel are hard to forgive when a single night can cost more than the airfare.

That is exactly how I felt at the CasaMagna in Puerto Vallarta. Granted, it wasn't anywhere near as expensive as the hotel this woman stayed at, but since it was a five star joint, we had certain expectations.

I also found myself relating to the writer's desire to share her experiences with other guests:

I wanted to buttonhole another guest to see if I was overreacting.

Michael and I spent the entire week saying, "Are we overreacting? Are we crazy?"

We do have one more story to tell about our Mexican adventure, and this one is a doozy, I promise!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

2012-05-14T10:52:02-05:00

I had a perfect Mother's Day weekend.Friday night was filled with our new favorite show, American Pickers and yummy delivery from a vegetarian Indian restaurant. On Saturday, we had breakfast at The Bagel (love that place) and then rushed home to spend the day laying around doing nothing. It was heavenly. I told Max that my big wish for Mother's Day was to lay on the couch with him watching cooking shows on PBS. He complained a bit, but then complied.

Later that evening, Michael and I headed out for date night at a steakhouse downtown, and then we walked over to Nordstrom's where I got to pick out my present (a new purse - I am a very lucky woman). On Mother's Day itself, we headed out to the suburbs to do our food shopping at Meijer, which was one of our favorite supermarket chains in Ohio and Michigan. Sadly, the one we picked was pretty small and lame, but it was nice to get out of the city, albeit for an hour.

When we got back to the city, we walked over to one of our local restaurants for brunch outside, and then Max and I headed over to the garden center to pick out veggies and flowers for planting. After planting everything we bought, we enjoyed a lovely barbecued dinner with my brother. It was a great weekend.

This morning, I was feeling a bit under the weather, and Max came upstairs to say goodbye before school. He also handed me two laminated sheets that he brought home last week and forgot to give me yesterday. One was a handprint with a cute poem. The other was a list of the Top 10 Reasons He Loves His Mom:

10: She puts me to bed on time

9: She makes me a good lunch

8: She's good at being a mom

7: She's nice

6: She wakes me up in time for school

5: She makes me feel safe

4: She takes care of me

3: She's funny

2: She's a very good cook

1: She loves me

You can't get much better than that.

The Joseph Kony Project: A Guest Post by Dylan Wiley

2012-05-07T20:23:27-05:00

Hi everyone! I am Dylan Wiley (Danielle's daughter) and I just recently wrote a book for my school called The Joseph Kony Project. It was for my school Pulitzer Prize. I became a nominee but, sadly, I didn't win. I would like to share my story here to see what your thoughts on it are.

The Joseph Kony Project

By: Dylan Wiley

Joseph Kony, The LRA, Invisible Children, all of these are huge problems that we need to fix. This problem in central Africa is unlike anything that has ever happened before. The LRA is an army that commits terrible crimes but, there are organizations trying to help fight against the unique challange of Joseph Kony.

The Army

The LRA is a horrible army that commits terrible crimes. The first thing you need to know is that Kony's army is called The Lord's Resistance Army or for short, The LRA. One of the most atrocious things that Kony does is taking kids from their homes, giving them a weapon, and telling them to hurt or kill innocent people. Kony is so mean that if the kids disobey him, he kills them. But, dont worry, we're safe. Kony's army is in central Africa.

The Charity

Invisible Children is a charity that is trying to help stop Kony but, they don't use all of their donated money for this cause. Invisible Children spent 80% to 85% of the charity money on program expenses. That is a lot of money! The employees got a lot of money too. The three highest paid employees got between $87,00 and $90,000 in 2010. they use some of their money wisely though. Invisible Children spends charity money to bring survivors of Kony's army to the United States to raise awareness of Kony. Invisible Children made a bideo to help raise awareness. But, the video was made by activists or someone that fights for a cause, not journalists. The charity really doesn't use very much money for the cause at all. They only use 30% for the charity.

Fun Facts

There are a lot of interesting facts related to Kony, The LRA, and Invisible Children. Kony is one of the worst people in the world! He is #1 on the list of most wanted people. Kony has been taking children for a really long time. He has been taking children for almost 30 years! One thing nobody knows about Kony is where he is. He hasn't been in Uganda for 6 years. The Kony 2012 video was a big hit. After 3 days of it's release on YouTube, it was viewed on YouTube 40 million times!

The LRA and Joseph Kony are sone of the biggest problems and we need to raise awareness of Kony and find him.

The End

I really hope you enjoyed my book! Please leave a comment and tell me if you enjoyed. Thank You!

Weird Mexico Trip: Part One

2012-05-03T16:18:23-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, we went on a very strange family vacation to Mexico. There are actually two stories to be told here, so I'm breaking this into two posts.

(A note: this ENTIRE post could easily be filed under first world problems. We are so very fortunate to be able to take trips like this, and I am sharing this story because it amuses me, not because I am scarred in any way from my luxury vacation-gone-bad.)

This was our third visit to Puerto Vallarta. On our previous two visits, we stayed at the Sol Melia, which is just a fabulous all-inclusive hotel. It's not the fanciest place ever, but it is clean, and the rooms are spacious. The pool is enormous, and there is always something going on. The kids club has lots of different activities (art, water volleyball, face painting, talent shows, sand castles) and they have terrific entertainment every night under a large palapa. Silly me assumed that any four or five star all-inclusive hotel in that area would be the same way. So, when I started researching this year's spring break trip and there was a five star Marriott available just down the road from the Melia at a significantly lower price, we decided to make the switch. Ay yi yi - not a good call.

We arrived at the hotel and soon realized that most of the guests were NOT all-inclusive. This created a slew of annoyances, most of which are too boring to detail here, but the biggest issue was that it meant that all of the restaurants were empty. I mean, think about it. If you were staying at a pricey hotel and paying for all of your food and drink, would you choose to dine there? I think not. It is WAY more enticing to hop into a taxi and head into the downtown area for amazing and affordable food. We ended up doing that a few times ourselves (even though our meals were paid for), but for most of our meals, we were kind of stuck at the hotel. And thus we ended up eating dinner in restaurants that were virtually empty almost every night. So awkward.

There were other aggravations as well. The kids club offered no activities beyond video games and movies. The fitness classes were taught by staff members with no training. The pool was packed with people who weren't even staying at the hotel so it was a total zoo (people walking around with six packs of beer in walmart bags, styrofoam coolers everywhere, etc.). There was no entertainment in the evening. Again, we are so fortunate to be able to take vacations like this, but when you pay for a 5 star hotel, you expect a 5 star experience.

So, I did what any other blogger in my situation would do. I took to Twitter. Oy, that was a HUGE mistake. As soon as Marriot corporate got wind of our displeasure, we were bombarded. Managers started calling our room just to check on us and see what they could do. The head of recreation took over the fitness classes and came to get me every day for the water aerobics (so awkward). I had complained that we were disappointed by the sad, Americanized kids menu at every restaurant (hot dog, chicken fingers, etc.). This led to Max receiving a plate of tuna tartare (his favorite) at every dinner (hand delivered from the one restaurant that served it on the other side of the resort). I can now kind of sympathize with celebrities who try to live a low-key life. It's impossible! Everywhere we went, we were greeted with, "The Wileys! How are you? Do you need anything?"

So... that's part one of our strange story. Part two is even stranger. Stay tuned. :-)