The Elusive Blogger Returns...

I can't tell you how many times that I've sat down at the computer, started a post, and gotten distracted...first by our non-stop life in Italy, then by relocating to the States, and now by our sweet new baby girl, Charlotte, who graced us with her presence 5 weeks early (a mere 2 weeks after moving into our new home in Atlanta).  There is busy, and then there is BUSY.

That said, this mama hasn't stopped cooking.  Okay, I took a week off when my amazing Mom came down to help us with the baby, but once week 2 of our tiny tot's life hit, I was back in cooking action.  Has it been all gourmet meals?  No way.  But it has been a lot of simple soups, easy crock pot dinners, and yes, Italian food...because frankly, a girl can't leave a country like that and abandon those amazing pastas, sauces and meats.

Starting next week, I'll be sharing some of the amazing recipes that I learned during our amazing year in Italy, as well as some recipes that I've come up with that suit those of you like me that are maybe a little sleep deprived, but don't want to sacrifice the quality of their meals!

Last Minute Cupcakes with Melty Chocolate

I don't know about your little ones, but when my daughter comes home from school, she is famished!  Living in Italy, we often stop by the local bread shop, pick up a few mini pizzas with sausage, and she is one happy little lady.  But then there are days where all my little pinkalicious princess wants is a cupcake.

The other day, Laela came home from a long day of learning and playing, begging for something that sweet that she could help create.  In a moment, I was bamboozled into making quickie cupcakes that I found in the Nigella Express cookbook.  They are ridiculously easy, and when topped with some chocolate (that you can easily melt over low heat on the stove, or in the microwave for a few seconds), you feel like you're throwing the most fancy of tea parties.

For the cupcakes you'll need:

• 1/2 stick plus 1Tb soft butter
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or if you live in Italy and only have powdered vanilla, use about a quarter packet of the vanilla powder.  No more, or it will be a vanilla BOMB.)
• 1 TB milk

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400-degrees farenheit
• Line muffin pan with paper liners/grease muffin pan with butter (I just stick a hunk of butter into a paper towel and spread it around each muffin section evenly).
• Cream the butter and sugar either in a bowl by hand or with an electric mixer (it should look creamy and well blended, kind of like icing).
• Add the eggs, one at a time with a little of the flour, mixing as you go.
• Fold in the remaining flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and milk.
• Spoon the batter into paper liners/greased muffin pan, dividing equally.
• Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked and golden on top. (you can test with a fork or toothpick.  If it comes out clean, they're done.)
• Let cool on a clean counter or wire rack.

For the topping:

Nigella recommends using whipped cream:

-Whip 1 cup heavy cream, once fluffy, put a dollop on top of the cupcakes. 

My daughter and husband are chocolate lovers, so I simply melt a half a bar of chocolate (4 or 5oz- doesn't matter if it's light/dark/milk/white) in a small pot on low heat.  I dip each cupcake in the pot, turning a circular motion as I lift from the pot to remove any excess chocolate. Continue with each cupcake.  If you have the willpower, allow the chocolate on the cupcake to cool before serving. (This seldom happens in my house.)

Enjoy!

(note the melted cioccolato allll over my little girl's happy face!)

(**This recipe is from Nigella Express, page 187 by Nigella Lawson)

Quickie Expat Meatloaf and Biscuits

 

  I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of having kids in the kitchen.  Sure, it creates a bigger mess, and maybe slows things down a bit, but cooking as a family is something that my husband and I make a serious effort to do.  I really believe that it builds confidence while teaching kids about what's in their food (which usually gets them to eat things they might not normally be inclined to try).

 

That said, there are moments when getting a kid to eat a vegetable is like pulling teeth from a snow leopard.  When veggie strikes come up, and this expat mama is craving some "American" style food like meatloaf, it makes it pretty darn easy to sneak in some vegetables. 

 

Now we have visited meatloaf before...there's "sneaky meatloaf" and also a couple of different ways to eat meatloaf when you have leftovers...but this recipe was made on the fly on a day when I had one egg in the house, some spinach, a couple of heels of bread, and some leftover pasta sauce.  I pureed the spinach in with the sauce, toasted and blitzed the bread in the blender, and mashed it all together with the egg in a large bowl.  After that, I baked it for about 40 minutes in a 350-degree oven, and voila, dinner!  The best part?  Kyle and Laela made Laela's favorite biscuits, and voila, we had ourselves a tastylicious American style dinner that took so little effort, Laela and her Daddy wound up playing "biscuit dough" for a half hour.  Fun times.

 

For this easy peasy meatloaf, you'll need:

• 1lb ground beef/meatloaf mix
• 2 heels of bread (toasted and then crumbled in food processor/blender)
• About 1 cup of pasta sauce
• 1 cup spinach (pureed)
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste

 

Wednesday I'll be sharing a super easy cupcake recipe that Laela and I like to make when we're craving cupcakes, and don't feel like making a ton of effort!

United.

I had a moment today.  I was sitting at the kitchen table with my beautiful, too smart for her own good, little girl this morning, eating strawberries and toast for breakfast.  I clicked on cnn.com to do a quick check of the news (something I've found myself doing infinitely more since my family and I moved to Firenze 6 months ago), and I saw that one of the victims of the Boston tragedy was an 8 year old boy.  I couldn't help the tears from escaping as I thought of that poor child's family, of the numerous families that are crushed by these events, of the millions of Americans worldwide that are being shocked to the core at yet one more horrific even in which innocent people are harmed.

My sweet daughter asked me why I was crying.  I'll be honest, I don't make it a practice of being upset in front of my child.  I try to make things sunshine and roses as much as possible.  But when she asked me this, I didn't pause.  I said "some people did a very bad thing and they hurt a lot of people."  Do you know what my 3 year old's reply was?  "They shouldn't have done that Mommy.  No one should hurt anyone."  From the mouths of babes.

I studied Political Science in college.  I have a best friend who is a high ranking military man.  I like to think that I have a decent grasp on war, terrorism, and the effects that it has on society. What never occurred to me was how it would feel for people within my home country to attack one another, or for our country to be attacked from within.

I'm of the 9-11 generation.  I went to college in a big city where our bridges were cut off, our subways shut down for our own safety.  We huddled in our homes and cried together for our fellow countrymen.  Wars were fought.  No one won.

We can't get back the people that we lost.  Not the children that were needlessly murdered earlier in the year, not those lost during the marathon, and during the countless other "events" that have happened over the last few months.  Maybe because I am not currently living in my home country I should feel less upset.  Perhaps my world should feel a bit less rocked- but it's not.  I'm an American.  I love my country, my home.  I don't have one state that I feel tied to.  I feel tied to many.

We are moving home in a few months, and there is a part of me, as a mother, as a wife with husband that travels all over the world regularly, that feels like I should be afraid, but all I can think of is this: we shall overcome.  We're Americans dammit.  And one of the quintessential things that Americans do, come hell or high water, is we band the hell together and fight.  We fight for our independence, we fight for the right to run marathons, send our innocent children to school, to go to work without harm, but most of all, at the end of the day- we fight for each other.  United we stand.  So don't let the evil take over.  Send your kids to school, run your marathons, practice your politics and religions how you choose, because that's your right!  The day that we all stop living in the world, and start cowering afraid is the day that "they" win. 

If we can learn anything from the Italians, it's to keep on keepin' on.  Italians don't quit on themselves.  They don't quit on their country.  They've been bombed, sieged, overtaken, broken down, you name it, it's happened to these poor people.  But they cherish their culture, and they keep moving forward.  Isn't that all any of us can do?  Move forward, stay brave, and be strong?

Yes, I know I'm just a young woman who blogs about food and her family, but writing about my family and what we're having for dinner tonight just didn't feel right to me today.

Pregnancy and Bolognese

I have been a terrible, rotten blogger lately.  The truth is, that for 15 of the last 16 weeks, I've had no desire for food.  Every time I've tried to eat it, my body rejects it.  I've been taken down with a case of pregalimia.  Brutal.

If you haven't heard of pregalimia, then you have either a. never known a pregnant person with "all the time sickness" (morning sickness is seriously the most annoying phrase EVER.  It has nothing to do with the morning.  It has to do with things being smelly, the very cute little alien that has taken over your body and turned you into a vomatious demon, and a very disturbing relationship with your head in the toilet- or the sink- or the trash can...), or a. you are one of those people that have only seen the bright side of pregnancy (i.e. your wife/significant other/friend never got sick, or she kicked it old school, and hid from you until she woke up and saw the sunlight with a rumble in her stomach that said: FEED ME NOW!)

Now that I've hit week 16, I finally have a (mostly)steady, ravenous desire for food.  This is one of those lovely times when living in Italy is first world problems.  What?  You're pregnant!  'No cured meats little lady, but here ya go, have some bolognese!'  It's wonderful.  Good grief.  Writing this blog is making me hungry. (Yay!)

Speaking of bolognese, or ragu, as it is known to some, this is one of the recipes that I have come to love since moving to Firenze.  A good girlfriend gave me the recipe, and it's one of the few things that I've ever made that if it was in our house everyday, my husband wouldn't be able to resist it.  Ever.

You'll need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil (I prefer extra virgin)
• 6 rashers of streaky 'pancetta' bacon, chopped
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 carrots, chopped
• Stick of celery, chopped 
• 1kg/2¼lb lean minced beef (I usually use what is sold as "ragu meat" in Firenze.  Pork is just as tasty as meat if you prefer it.)
• 2 large glasses of red wine (I prefer Chianti)
• 2x400g cans chopped tomatoes (or 1 jar of passata- a type of tomato puree for those that don't like a chunky sauce)
• 2 fresh or dried bay leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 800g-1kg/1¾-2¼lb dried tagliatelle or a good artigianale pasta that will hold up to the ragu.
• freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional for serving)

Instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the bacon until golden over a medium heat.

2.  Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery, cook until softened, and the onions are clear.

3.  Increase the heat and add the minced beef. Fry it until it has browned. Make sure to "chop" at it with your spatula so that the meat gets nice and small (and the veggies too as they break down and cook).

4.  Pour in the wine and boil until it has reduced in volume by about a third. Reduce the temperature.  Stir in the tomatoes and bay leaves.

5. Cover with a lid and simmer over a gentle heat for 1-1½ hours until it's rich and thickened, stirring occasionally.

6.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Serve over tagliatelle, or stir in with a hearty pasta that sticks to the ribs on a cold day!

8.  Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

This is also one of those delicious sauces that tastes better with each passing day, so don't be afraid to make it ahead of time and use it later.  (Although, once you taste it, I guarantee that it won't last long!  I've caught Kyle eating it by the spoonful!)

Chicken Pot Pie 2

 

Okay, I admit it, we've visited Chicken Pot Pie before.  And yes, that recipe is still one of my favorites.  However, this is the perfect recipe for when you are just too busy to make pie crust, and you want to throw something hearty and healthy together quickly.

 

I apologize for not having a picture of the entire product, but Laela was yanking on my pant leg telling me that she was "STARVING", so chicken pot pie with a hunk cut out is what you get.

 

Easy Chicken Pot Pie (mostly from scratch!)

 

You'll need:

• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• 2 chicken breasts (can be leftover from roasted chicken- that's what I used)
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 potatoes, chopped
• 1 celery stick, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1Tb butter
• 1Tb flour
• 1 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 425-degrees Fahrenheit.
• Heat a large skillet to medium heat.  Add a few glugs of olive oil.
• Place the onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes in the pan to cook for about ten minutes.  Stir occasionally.
• While the vegetables are cooking, heat a medium saucepan to medium-high heat.
• Add the butter and flour.  Whisk until they are well combined.  Do not allow it to brown. 
• Pour the chicken stock/broth into the pan with the butter/flour mixture.  Whisk until it thickens to an almost gravy consistency.
• Mix in the rosemary (I cut my rosemary with scissors to make it nice and easily diced) and thyme leaves.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
• If using raw chicken, cut it into cubes.  Put it in the pastry dish.
• Add the cooked vegetables, frozen peas, and the chicken stock/broth mixture to the pastry pan.  Gently stir the ingredients together.  They'll meld together well while they bake, so don't go overboard trying to mix everything together.
• Gently unroll the puff pastry over the pastry dish (I usually use a pie pan, but you can use anything you like- corning ware is great for this).  Gently pinch the sides so that they adhere to the dish.  If you have any leftover dough, hand it over to your little one to make fun shapes, and then top the pastry with the shapes.
• If you want to it to have a rich golden texture, use a pastry brush to paint the pastry with an egg wash (1 egg that's been beaten with 3 tablespoons of water).
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Enjoy!

Fancy Pork Tenderloin Made Easy

 

Do you ever have those moments when you're reading "Real Simple", or your walking through a gourmet shoppe, and you look at the food, and you're like, "*sigh*, wouldn't it be great to have the time to make that?" (Please tell me that I'm not alone in my foodsanity.)

 

If so, this is the fancy dinner for you.  It takes five-minutes of prep, 40-60 minutes in the oven, and then it's time for dinner!

 

Cara's Fancy Pork Tenderloin

 

 

You'll need:

• 1-2 lbs of pork tenderloin
• 1 foot of butcher's twine
• 4-5 slices of bacon/pancetta
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• Salt and pepper

 

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 425-degrees farenheit.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the pork tenderloin.
• Wrap the bacon/pancetta slices around, or over the top of the tenderloin.
• Place the rosemary on top of the bacon/pancetta wrapped tenderloin.
• Hold the rosemary/pancetta-bacon in place with one hand.  Wrap the tenderloin in twine so that the bacon-pancetta/rosemary stays in place.
• Fill a baking pan with 1inch of water.
• Place in the oven in a medium rack (it will dry out on the top rack).
• Lower the heat to 375-degrees farenheit.
• Cook for 40-60 minutes depending on weight.
• **If you feel that your bacon/pancetta hasn't gotten crispy enough for your liking, heat a skillet to medium-high heat.  Place the tenderloin on the skillet, bacon/pancetta side down, and allow it to crisp up for 2 minutes.
• Feel free to add some mixed veggies (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions) to the bottom of the pan to cook with the tenderloin.  Yum!
 

Enjoy!

An Expat Onion Dip Craving...

Since we've moved to Italy, I've had these moments that I've begun to call my "Homer Simpson" moments.  Usually they involve a craving for extra crispy bacon.  Bacon!

Okay.  I'm back.  Whew.  You don't know how much you love certain things until it's either completely impossible, or ridiculously difficult to get them.  Tacos?  I figured that out.  Pho?  Strangely, found the ingredients at a local outdoor market.  But my go-to foods when my husband is traveling and I'm single parenting for a week?  Ugh.  Florence doesn't have them. 

Kyle was away last week, and all this mama wanted was some onion dip.  You might be thinking, onion dip?  Who craves onion dip?  ME.  I want it with carrots, peppers, chips, whatever.  Just hand it over.

But here's the problem, Italians don't do pre-packaged food, or food mixes- unless it's pasta.  Is this good for you?  Yes.  Do I live 99.9% of my life this way?  Yes.  But man, sometimes I just want onion dip. And not that crapgasm in a tin that you can buy for 4 euro.  Ew.  No thanks.  I'd rather be grumpy.

Or figure out my own damn onion dip.

So I did.  I looked up a few recipes online, and realized that no sir, I don't have sour cream.  What I do have is a big bag of onions, some worcerstire sauce, a tub of 0% greek yogurt, some garlic, and some hope.  While you might be thinking, "silly American girl, you can't make onion dip in Italy", I'm telling you that you are so wrong my friend.  So wrong.  And I'll furthermore tell you that my shameful addiction to onion soup mix packets, feverishly swirled together with sour cream and barely refrigerated before I devoured it while we lived in the States is o-v-e-r.

This dip is so good, that even when I got sick I was still finding a reason to house it.  Then I made the mistake of telling Kyle that I figured out how to make onion dip, and I had to make more!  Which only made me eat more!  Ah!  And I'm not one of those people that gorges on things.  Ah well, I guess we all have our kryptonite.

So here's the skinny on how to make some amazing, delicious, and internationally ingredient friendly onion dip.

Cara's Onion Dip

You'll need:

• 3 small yellow onions, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 cup 0% Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup, 1Tb mayonaisse
• Garlic powder (3-4 stiff shakes)
• 2tsp worcestire
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)
• Olive oil

Instructions:

• Heat a medium-large skillet to medium-heat.  Add a good glug of olive oil to the skillet.
• Add the onions to the skillet.  Sprinkle a bit of salt. 
• Lower the heat to medium-low heat.  Allow to carmelize for 20-minutes.
• *If the onions seem to be sticking to the pan, add water periodically to continue the caramelization, and to keep the onions from sticking.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine the garlic powder, greek yogurt, worcestire, and mayonaisse.
• Once the onions begin to caramelize, add the diced garlic.
• After the onions and garlic are caramelized, allow them to cool (10-15 minutes).
• Mix them in with the yogurt/mayo mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
• **This tastes best if you let it sit for a few hours, but it will also taste pretty great if you let it set for just a half hour/hour.

Enjoy!

P.S...Did I mention that this is virtually guilt free? ; )

Laela's Biscuits

My child makes the best biscuits ever.  Seriously.  One day, I had all the ingredients out (but not measured), and she just started scooping and "smooshing" the ingredients together.  Let me tell you, my little 3 year old is a superstar, because baby, her biscuits are delicious.

And yes, she wears a Sleeping Beauty dress while she bakes.  Don't you?

Laela's Biscuits:

You'll need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1Tb baking powder
• 1Tb sugar
• About 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup milk

Instructions:

• Smoosh together with your hands. 
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. 
• Play.  Have fun.  Make goofy shapes. 
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• **Laela also stuffed some with proscuitto and cheese. (You make a pancake, fold the meat and cheese, and then wrap the dough around it.)  YUM.

Here's the snowman biscuit Laela made:

 

 

I cannot emphasize how excited and proud Laela is when she makes something all by herself.  The fact that she made this biscuit recipe up all on her own while we were cooking dinner one night, and that it came out delicious, was fantastic for her self-esteem.  I know it can be messy, and for some it can be difficult to allow anyone into the kitchen, but try it.  Invite your children into the kitchen and allow them to create.  They really might surprise you!

Lazy Le Mont Blanc

Happy New Year everyone!

I don't know about you, but this holiday season has been busy busy busy!  Holiday parties, school activities, and then some much needed family time has kept my family on the go for the last few weeks. 

This Saturday is La Befana, which is the evening before the day of the Epiphany.  In Italy, the night before the Epiphany,  La Befana comes.  The short version of this Italian tradition is this: Befana is an old woman that flies down the chimney and brings treats/small gifts to the good children, and coal to the naughty ones to celebrate the eve before the wise men brought the gifts to Jesus.  You might be thinking, "isn't that what Santa does?"  Italians will argue with you that there is a major difference. Trust me ... don't fight the Italians on this one.  Just accept that you get to leave the lady some cookies and wine and enjoy the extra goodies. 

When the Epiphany is over, my husband is going back to work, Laela back to school, and I will be starting Italian lessons (yay! finally!  I'm going native!)  What's ridiculous, is that I'm most looking forward to my Italian lessons so that I can take some of the cooking classes that I found that are taught by super cute Nonna's who speak Italianglish.  I want to really understand them so that I can share what I learn with you all...and so I can eat more lasagne...

Speaking of lasagne, I had the BEST lasagne the other day.  My buddy Sandro made lasagne that was so good, if I were dropped in a vat of it, I'd eat my way out.  Seriously.  When he forks over the recipe, trust me, I'll be making it for you all!

Until then, let me share this little nugget...

We went to dinner at a friends' house for Christmas.  I was feeling a bit lazy, but I had promised a posh dessert.  What did I make, might you ask?

The lazy person's Le Mont Blanc.

Lazy Le Mont Blanc

You'll need:

• 4 oz good quality chocolate, finely chopped (I used dark chocolate, 50% cocoa- use whatever you have on hand, or what you prefer)
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 10 medium sized meringue cookies (I made my own, feel free to use packaged.)
• (1) 1lb jar of vanilla infused or plain chestnut puree/spread

Instructions:

*The Nigella Express book that I found this recipe in calls for semisweet chocolate and 2 meringue nests (approx. 3in diameter each, from a packet).  I felt that Nigella would understand my lack of desire to traipse out into the rain to switch up from my chocolate choice. 
           As for the meringue, I had just made budino di cioccolato.  Since I had the leftover egg whites, I whipped up an easy meringue.  First of all, heat your oven to 375 degrees farenheit.  In a metal bowl, I whipped 3 egg whites until they had light peaks.  Then I beat in 1tsp cream of tartar and 1/8 tsp salt.  Once stiff peaks were formed, I gently and gradually beat in 3/4 cup of sugar.  Once a stiff meringue (a whitish-silver, smooth textured mixture, that when you pull up on your beater, the mixture leaves a point- like a peak- is what you'll be looking for) is formed, you can be fancy and put the mixture into a piping bag and swirl them into circles, or you can use a spoon to plop them onto the baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Place the meringue cookies into the oven.  Turn the oven off.  Do not open it for two hours.  The longer you leave the cookies in the oven, the crunchier they'll be!  Easiest. Cookie. Recipe. Ever.  And people will think you're a rock star for being able to make a fantastic meringue.

Now, back to business...

• Get out 6 pretty glasses, or one pretty serving bowl. 
• Sprinkle the chocolate evenly among the 6 glasses, or evenly in the serving bowl.
• Whip the cream and vanilla.  Once it has formed the consistency of whipped cream, crumble meringue (I saved 6 for topping the mont blanc, but you don't have to), and gently fold it into the whipped cream. 
• **A note on folding.  You are not folding clothes, and it is not the same as folding dough.  If you mix it, the whipped cream will get watery.  You want to gently scrape the sides of the bowl, and gently, gently, swirl in the meringue.  This is not one of those things that you have to get perfect, or that you have to make sure everything is evenly distributed.  Put down the OCD for a minute, and just let it be.
• Evenly distribute and spread the chestnut cream/puree in the glasses.
• Top with cream and a meringue if you have extra, or are feeling fancy.

Enjoy!