Tools make cooking fun! Everyone has certain tools in the kitchen they cannot live without in the kitchen. My list of ‘cannot live without’ kitchen tools is long. Here are a few of my favorite things:
1) Pressure Cooker – it makes cooking beans, lentils, meat stews a breeze. During the solid food stage with both my kids, I was able to whip up fresh homemade puree in less than 5 minutes using a pressure cooker.

2) My Braun hand blender – perfect for quick jobs in the kitchen – smoothies, chutneys etc.

3) My Cuisinart 16 cup food processor – when I go elaborate, this baby comes out. It does everything in the kitchen. Makes dough, slices the peperoni, makes salsa, etc. I love my 16-cup Cuisinart, but it is heavy and I don’t like the clean up so I don’t use is daily.

4) Microplane – I love the Microplane for zesting and grating. Zesting makes for yummy salads, muffins, pancakes etc. Grating makes for nice garnishes – I can grate chocolate, cheese, and nuts etc.

5) Melon Baller – my favorite addition in my repertoire. I like how I can make small fruit balls using it and make a very beautiful fruit salad. Kids love the fruit balls as they can pick them up. Another bonus – the juices from the fruit seep and blend and the fruit salad tastes yummy as is. No need for other juices or sugar in this salad.

This is the baller I use! (Photo Source: Williams Sonoma)

 You can buy Melon Ballers from here. You will need a Melon Baller for this salad.

We tasted the following:

Mini Duck Tacos with Feta, Tomato, Cabbage & Tomato-Cilantro Sauce. I really like the unlikely combination of duck and feta.

Japanese Style Chicken Meatballs with Japanese Tare Sauce & Pickled Cucumber. Not a big fan, it was a little too salty for my taste.

Pizza makes up the greater part of the menu and their pizzas are absolutely delicious as I believe that “crust maketh the Pizza”.

Brie Cheese & Truffle Oil thin crust pizza with sautéed Mushrooms. This was by far my favorite item on their tasting menu. I am still thinking about it and cannot wait to eat it again.

Royal Hawaiian Woodfired Pizza with Gold Pineapple, Rosemary Ham, Mozzarella, Fresno Chili, Mint & Housemade Tomato Sauce. YUM!

Spicy Thai Grilled Chicken Salad – I couldn’t stop eating this salad, the Thai dressing was amazing.

Messy Sundae with Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Sauce, Caramel Sauce, Walnuts & Whipped Cream; 

Life sure is good when you make your own messy sundaes and don’t have to clean it up

I am a big fan of buy local and I like how Sammy’s strives to use local, regional & organically grown produce. They support local farms around the Los Angeles area and they have a large selection of Gluten Free items on their menu.

I am especially excited about this restaurant as this area is soon going to be our new stomping ground. I love all the amazing little restaurants on Ventura Blvd. To me, Studio City is the perfect slice of Urban/Suburban paradise.  Welcome Sammy’s to the neighborhood!

Stop by, I think you will like it. I sure will to pick up my Brie and Truffle Oil thin crust pizza.

 Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza

12050 Ventura Blvd,

Studio City, CA

I like quesadillas and I also think they are versatile. You can have quesadillas for breakfast, lunch, dinner and for dessert (have you ever tried a chocolate strawberry quesadilla? Yummy!).  I also love how you can use up all the leftover cuts of veggies in a quesadilla. I have been cooking from my pantry and freezer lately, as we are in the middle of a move, which has meant that I need to be even more creative when it comes to feeding the family.

This black bean zucchini quesadilla was a hit with the familia! The other bonus with quesadillas (and nachos) is that every one can add the toppings that suit them. The kids also go with avocado and sour cream, while I love mine with salsa, avocado and jalapenos.

I am so happy that I am finally feeding and nourishing my family. Mission Accomplished! My mojo is coming back. I am starting to think of food again and making simple recipes to start. For example these sesame lavash crackers. So simple and so quick that they are done in less than 5 minutes.

The steps are simple and you can use another breads instead of Lavash bread.

Preheat oven at 350F. Brush some olive oil sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes till the bread is crunchy. Serve with a dip. I made a cucumber yogurt dip.

Now isn’t that easy? It tastes yummy too!

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted recipes for the last 2-3 weeks. It started off because we were meeting our out of town visitors for dinner at restaurants every night. Over a course of 10 days we met with 8 different visitors and after that I was hooked on the convenience of eating out — some one else cooks, no clean up required and pack the extras for lunch for next day.

After our out of town visitors left, we continued eating out because it became easy. Several days later, when I was thinking about what to put on the table for my dinner, and my first instinct was to go out and eat, that’s when I knew I needed to take control.

So here’s what I did to take charge to my family meals:

1) Stock up the refrigerator with fruits and veggies, so whenever I open the refrigerator, the fresh produce is in my face, and then there’s no excuse to eat out.
2) Added up the cost of eating out . Once I saw the number I knew it had to stop.
3) Started making kids favorite recipes so they would want me to cook more.
4) Made it a goal that I was going to eat the next 10 dinners at home no matter what. I do believe that once you do something repeatedly, it becomes a habit.

I am slowly finding my mojo back. Last night’s dinner was store bought Rotisserie chicken with home made roasted Brussels sprouts and home made glazed carrots.

I am BACK!

What tips have worked for you in getting meals on the table for the family?

Forgive me for the lag in posting a new post. I had lost my cooking motivation for a few days but I found my mojo back. In my next post I am going to share what I did to get cranking in the kitchen again.

Today I am going to post about our recent experience at Eco Shopping Interactive Exhibit at the Discovery Museum in Santa Ana, CA.

1)   You walk into this fairly spacious grocery store exhibit where you pick your shopping cart, select your shopping list and go shopping. While shopping there are hints and tips on how to be eco. All the kids in the exhibit were having fun going crazy with their scanners.

2)   For each item in the list, you will be given different choices – i.e. fresh local tomatoes, tomatoes in packaging or canned tomatoes and you have to select what you think is the best and eco friendly option. The tomatoes were easy but different types of packaging for the chips packets even got me.

3)   Once your shopping list is complete, you check out and if you score enough points by picking the right grocery item – your picture makes it to the hall of fame.

This exhibit was bustling. Kids were everywhere, pushing their shopping carts and scanning food items into their virtual shopping cart. What a fun educational experience!  Did you know this?

A few things I walked away with:

1)   Kids love love love to go grocery shopping and grocery stores are great educational experiences. Although it is much easier (and faster!) to go grocery shopping without the kids, taking them makes them see all the different food items. This past weekend we were at a Turkish grocery store and although it was much easier to leave 2 semi tired and cranky kids in the car with hubby while I ran in. I am glad that I took them inside, because we discovered fresh green almonds, pickled turnips and sour plums. In the future, I may actually give my kids a mini grocery list that they are responsible for at the store i.e one gets all the dairy items, or gets bread etc.

2)   Let your child pick one new item to try from the grocery store/farmer’s market. Every time I go grocery shopping with the kids, they both know that each of them is allowed to pick 1 item they either find interesting or like to eat. Most of the times I let them keep their pick in the cart unless of course my 2 year old has picked doggie biscuits or similar.

3)   It’s not enough to just education the kids about food and healthy eating, Packaging and how to buy food should also be part of the education process so they realize how their choices impact the earth.

Here’s a little trick about meatballs!  When you make the mixture for the meatballs, make extra and keep is aside aka freeze it if you want. When you are scrambling to get a meal on the table – use the extra meatball meat, sauté  it with some onions and tomatoes and you have a yummy minced meat dish that you can mix with pasta or rice.

This is exactly what this dish is! I had made some spinach lamb meatballs over St. Patty’s day and kept some meat mixture in the freezer, well that became dinner tonight.

It took about 5 minutes to have the meat done. All I did was heat some oil, chop some onions. I sautéed the onions for 2mins, add the meat mixture and added some fresh tomatoes. Viola! An incredibly simple, easy, and quick dish for dinner was ready!

(source: BonAppetit.com)

I love the French Eating rules above. I came across it on Bon Appetit and thought you may like it too. I have been fascinated with all things French lately. Maybe it is time to revisit France but till that happens I am enjoying the books I have been reading on how French eat – Bringing up Bebe and French Kids Eat Everything. In understanding how French feed their kids I have come to realize that I have been unknowingly French in teaching my children eating habits. Here are a few of my favorite non-negotiable rules:

Rule #1: Parents – YOU are in charge of Food Education

So true! As parents we fuss over what classes our kids take, what school our kids will go to, their activities, their play friends etc..but most of us don’t spend the same energy when it comes to teaching kids why they need to eat what they are eating.

I am constantly trying to teach my kids why eating certain things is good for them. i.e. You take Omega 3 for brain health, you need to eat a balance of carbs, protein and fat in every meal. If your pee is dark then you need to drink more water etc. By always associating food with what it is doing their bodies, the kids are interested in taking care of themselves.

Rule #2: Kids Eat what Adults Eat

Once we crossed over the initial solid food stage, the kids have eaten whatever the adults have eaten in the home. There is no kids meals in our home, it is one food for us. What separates the kid meal from the adult meal in our home is how it is presented.  I try to have fun with the food for the kids. I have lots of plates for the kids to eat from. Sometimes I use these plates from uncommongoods.com and create a face from the food, or I use steel plates with partitions in them, or use different themed plates for a meal.

I might also make the same thing slightly different for the kids – if I am making Indian bread, rotis, then I may make a monster roti, or a butterfly roti.   I believe these little things make childhood special and create lasting memories.

Rule #3: No snacking between meals

In my experience when kids come hungry to the dining table, they will eat whatever is there or are less picky. I always find my kids are more willing to eat anything on the table for breakfast and dinner (as long as they are not really tired). Because these are the times when they are the hungriest.  Their only snack a balanced meal of protein, carbs and fat is around 3pm and after that the next meal is dinner.

What are your food rules? I would love to hear what you do in your home.. so come one leave a comment.

Trail mix is one of these amazing snacks that even a small child can put together. By giving them a selection of items for trail mix and letting them decide how much of what to put it gives the kids a sense of control. Plus mommies and daddies feel that they are feeding the kids healthy stuff.

Watch this video where 4.5 year old Simone makes her own trail mix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FYFjIVp_qY

What do you do when you see a spread like the one above? You just dive right in. The kids and I went to a Spring Preview at Magnolia Bakery a few days ago and it was such a treat literally.  On display were Passover treats, Easter treats and Mother’s Day Cupcakes (wow… it is almost here! This year I am hoping for a picture of my kids and I with a message from my hubby on it  about how he thinks of me as a mother..).  I digress, back to Magnolia. First of all I love the decor of that place. I don’t think I can live in that decor but for a few minutes it is nice to be transported back in time, the vintage time.

My favorite things from their menu were:

• Easter Egg Brownie Bites - Decorated with pastel vanilla buttercream. I love how cute those little brownie eggs looked.

• 3 Layer 6” Pastel Cakes – Classic vanilla and chocolate cake with vanilla and chocolate pastel hued buttercream. Doesn’t this cake look absolutely divine?
• Matzo Crunch - Layers of Matzo cracker, Magnolia handmade buttercrunch candy, chocolate, white chocolate and toffee pieces.
• Single Layer Flourless Chocolate Cake (also available as cupcakes!) – A dense, rich chocolate cake made without flour.

They have lots of  special treats for the upcoming holidays — check out their website for more details.

The kids on the other hand, liked everything they could get their hands on.  I believe in healthy, but  I also believe in moderation. After sampling all the treats we were done and haven’t had sweets since . How did the day end for us?  Like this – high on sugar?

Nah.. this was the excitement on being out on a wonderful spring day, excitement to see mommy after a long day on the other end, the excitement to go try and taste new things at Magnolia.