Egyptian Barley Salad

I may have complained about it before, but I've had to do a heck of a lot more driving since moving to Colorado. Everything is just a bit further away here than it was back in Pennsylvania. School alone is an hour long drive round-trip if traffic is good. Get stuck behind a train or caught in a traffic jam and the commute time easily gets pushed passed the 90-minute mark! Because of this, on days when Matthew has sports practice, I normally do not go back home after school until the practice is over. This means that if his practice does not begin until 5:00 PM and school is out at 3:00, that we have to kill time somewhere else for a couple hours. Thankfully, their school is located very close to a branch of the public library. I normally take the kids there and have Matthew work on his homework while the girls and I read, play games, or draw. Surprisingly, the time passes rather quickly and everyone mostly enjoys themselves.

Although we all prefer the days when Daddy brings dry ice from work to play with...

Yesterday we were hanging out the library as we normally do a couple days out of the week. I was reading a story to Emma and Lucy when they suddenly noticed that children were gathering for what appeared to be a story time. Now, we have a very large Hispanic population in the area of town where my kids' school is located. Because of this, nearly half of the library books at this particular library branch are in Spanish and a large portion of the library activities are conducted in Spanish. I noticed that this particular story time - which was very well attended by a dozen Spanish-speaking families - was intended for Hispanics.

Emma and Lucy, upon seeing the moderator preparing her materials for the story time begged me to let them attend.

"I don't know girls. This story time is going to be entirely in Spanish. I'm not sure you're going to be able to understand much of it," I explained to them.

This did not deter Emma, who is currently taking Spanish as part of her Kindergarten curriculum. She began bouncing up and down while clapping her hands and saying, "I am learning Spanish! I can talk a little bit in Spanish!" And before I could stop her, she had danced over to the large group gathered for the story time and skipped right into the center of the circle, waving enthusiastically while declaring: "Hola amigos!!"

The moderator encouraged Emma to be seated and then asked her: "¿Cómo te llamas?"

To which Emma replied: "Eh? What did you say?" You see, she had already displayed the majority of her Spanish vocabulary which I'm pretty sure she learned from Dora the Explorer.

By this point, Lucy and I had joined Emma and I quickly whispered to her: "Tell her 'Me llamo Emma'." And she did. Lucy did the same with her name and the two of them sat down and listened to a story completely in Spanish about a girl who had red curly hair and desired nothing more than for it to be straight and smooth. So, she went through a number of drastic experiments in a vain attempt to straighten her curls. I'm not sure how much of the story my girls understood, but Emma laughed and laughed louder than any other child there throughout the entire tale at each and every silly way the poor little girl tried to change her hair.

Then it was time to sing some songs. The girls quickly caught on to the first song since it was "If You're Happy And You Know It" just in Spanish. They surprisingly picked up the Spanish lyrics quickly and sang loudly while doing all the correct hand motions. For being the only non-fluent participants of the Spanish story time, they were more vocal and enthusiastic than any other child there.

Next, the librarian pulled out a large laminated poster featuring the letters of the alphabet with a corresponding animal picture underneath each letter. She started going through each letter and encouraged the children to make the sounds and say the name of the animal in the picture. When she reached the letter "O", there was a picture of a bear underneath the letter. The librarian prompted the children: "O es para oso." And then reiterated the lesson by pointing to the picture of the bear: "Oso. Oso!" This made Emma laugh very loudly: "Oso! Ha! That's a funny name for a bear! HAHAHA!"

I was truly concerned that their Spanish illiteracy would disrupt the class, but at the end, the librarian approached me and encouraged me to bring the girls back for Spanish Story Time each week. She loved seeing how they did not grow bored or restless even though they did not understand the language but rather displayed an interest in learning new words! Everyone was so kind and encouraging of the girls and they truly did enjoy themselves. Maybe if I keep bringing them, they will actually pick some of it up.

As usual, the recipe I want to share with you today has absolutely nothing to do with my story. It's a simple barley salad that is actually Egyptian in origin. That simple fact is the only reason Matthew was willing to try it because he is suspicious of anything that has feta in it. But he not only tried it, he actually liked it! This is a filling salad - with raisins, pistachios, feta, green onions in addition to the barley. We ate this as a meatless meal and it was plenty filling BUT you could certainly add some grilled chicken that has been marinated in lemon and garlic. This would also make a great side to some salmon or as a bed for shrimp! The original recipe called for pomegranate molasses which I could not find so I used honey as a substitute. They also detail that a garnish of pomegranate seeds would add some lovely color as well as an additional level of texture to the dish but I skipped that too because I don't like them. If you happen to try the salad with either of those ingredients, let me know how you like it!

Egyptian Barley Salad with Feta and Pistachios
from The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook

Note: Do not substitute hulled barley or hull-less barley in this recipe.

1½ cups pearl barley
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
⅓ cup golden raisins
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
¼ cup shelled pistachios, toasted and chopped coarse
4-6 ounces feta cheese
6 scallions, sliced thin
½ cup pomegranate seeds (optional)

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Add barley and 1 tablespoon salt, return to boil, and cook until tender, 20 to 40 minutes. Drain barley, spread onto rimmed baking sheet, and let cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Whisk oil, honey, cinnamon, cumin, and ½ teaspoon salt together in large bowl. Add barley, raisins, cilantro, and pistachios and gently toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add feta and scallions and pomegranate seeds (if using) and toss lightly to combine. Serve!

Quinoa Salad with Parsley, Almonds, and Lemon

I have been enjoying listening to various podcasts while out on a long walk with Peyton. One of the stations I have been particularly enjoying as of late is Alec Baldwin's NPR podcast Here's the Thing. The other night, he had Michael Pollan, one of my favorite food authors, in the spotlight. I loved his books In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma so I was really looking forward to the podcast. To my surprise, Pollan was one of the more entertaining persons Baldwin has hosted on his show thus far. He was extremely articulate, engaging, and funny; the conversation flowed quite easily as a result. I became even more endeared to him after hearing him describe his battle with a pesty woodchuck who would not stop attacking his backyard garden. Pollan describes how at one point he had been so fed up with the disastrous results of the woodchuck's activity that he decided to pour gasoline down the entrance of its burrow followed shortly by a match. I couldn't help laugh out loud when he described how the exercise backfired and he narrowly escaped torching his entire backyard. It reminded me of Paul's current battle with the moles who love to dig their tunnels in our backyard.

At one point during the show, Pollan touched on picky eating in young children and drew on his own experience raising a very sensitive, ridiculously selective son. Pollan stressed that the key to getting children to overcome their aversion towards a particular food is to invite that child into the kitchen to help with the food preparation. He said that oftentimes when the child participates in the slicing, dicing, sauteeing, and searing of a particular dish, the object of their suspicion will quickly turn into one of acceptance. Apparently he had incredible success with this method in his own son and now the two of them enjoy cooking, preparing, and eating just about everything together - as long at it is minimally processed, fresh, and seasonal!

This notion is not a new concept and I have heard it many, many times before from everyone from Rachel Ray to my own mother. But for some reason, I decided to test the theory on an ingredient that has been freaking my kids out a lot lately: quinoa. I have been on a quinoa kick as of late because I have been craving it. When prepared correctly, this plant-based protein is incredibly satisfying, fresh, and nourishing. I love how I feel after eating a quinoa salad and enjoy the energy it gives me for hours after mealtime. I made a quinoa side dish for our Labor Day meal and all the children freaked at the creepy little squiggly, beads piled high on their plates. Emma thought they looked like "little eggs" and refused to try them. Matthew held out for a bit, and then finally succumbed to trying a bite and then ended up finishing his whole plate. I think he still struggled with the texture a bit, but agreed that the flavor was acceptable.

So, I decided to try out Michael Pollan's theory on picky eaters using Emma and the dreaded quinoa as my test subjects. I announced to Emma that she was going to help me prepare a Parsley and Quinoa Salad with Almonds. She balked at the idea initially, claiming that she was too tired to cook. Baloney. After about five minutes of coaxing, she finally climbed up to the counter to help. I'll have to admit that I did threaten her with no television for a week. That seemed to do the trick.

I showed her the quinoa in its uncooked form and explained to her what it is. I let her touch, feel, and play with it for a bit before we rinsed it thoroughly and set it on the stove top to cook. As the quinoa simmered away, I walked Emma through the process of making the dressing. She very much enjoyed zesting the lemons and crushing the garlic. I explained the process of emulsification to her and taught her how to vigorously whisk while adding oil to the acid in order to get the two of them to "get along" and blend properly. She seemed to be enjoying herself so far.

Then, we chopped the sweet onion, the almonds, and parsley. She snacked on all three of these while I took the quinoa off the stove. We added the hot quinoa to the dressing and tossed everything together. I could tell I was losing her interest, so I tried to wrap up the little experiment quickly so we could get to the tasting.

The quinoa was piled high in a serving dish and then offered to Emma.

"No thank you, I don't want it," was the response of my unenthusiastic sous chef.
"But Emma, don't you want to try what we made together?"
"No I don't. You can eat it. I don't like the king-a-wa stuff. I have a hard even remembering its name!" she said, walking away.

I asked her (sternly!) to at least try one bite and she actually obliged. Here it was - the moment of truth. Will she or will she not, out of pride for having just made this dish from start to finish, suddenly cast off any prior disdain for the main ingredient?

As you can see from her face, she wasn't thrilled with the taste - "It tastes a little bit spicy for me. I don't want any more! You eat it, Mom."

I asked if perhaps our experiment made her more likely to try quinoa again in the future, to which she replied with a sing-songy voice: "No."

Well, that experiment was an epic fail. I couldn't convince my child to climb on board the quinoa train despite having helped prepare a pretty tasty dish thus rendering the Pollan theory for picky eaters round one was a bust. BUT for those of you who are quinoa lovers, the recipe we made is posted below. And it's awesome. But I guess you have to like quinoa to think so.

At least I have a pretty delicious lunch to look forward to in the coming days!

Quinoa Salad with Parsley, Almonds, and Lemon
adapted from Food Network

Note: If you like a salad that is heavier on the dressing, cook up only 1 cup of dry quinoa. If you prefer more quinoa, less dressing, cook 2 cups of dry quinoa. Either way is delicious! If I use the lesser amount of quinoa, I like to also amp up the content of this salad with some feta cheese and a can of drained, rinsed garbanzo beans. Delicious!

1-2 cups uncooked quinoa
3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 clove garlic, grated
1/4 cup olive oil
5 cups roughly chopped Italian parsley, with tender stems
1 cup whole almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup finely diced sweet onion, such as Vidalia (I sometimes use more because I LOVE them)

Before cooking the quinoa, rinse very well in a fine-mesh colander for at least 30 seconds. Place in a pot using a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to water. If you are cooking 1 cup of dry quinoa, then add 2 cups of water. If you are cooking 2 cups of dry quinoa, add 4 cups of water. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt for every cup of quinoa. Set the pot, uncovered, over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, checking frequently, for about 10-15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. The time will vary depending on your cooking equipment. When the water is all absorbed, remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let the quinoa steam while you prepare the dressing.

In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, honey, pepper, salt, and garlic. Gradually add the olive oil while whisking vigorously until the dressing has thickened and all oil is incorporated.

Fluff the quinoa with a fork and add to the dressing. Add the chopped onions, almonds, and parsley. Toss well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

Serve immediately or allow to chill! It's delicious either way as long as you're not 4-years-old and picky.

Orzo Salad with Pecorino, Radicchio, and Chickpeas

Back when I was a mother to only a little boy, I told myself that I would be perfectly happy only raising boys. As a little girl, I was never really fond of fancy dresses, makeup, jewelry, beads, or heels like many other children my age. My younger sister was fascinated by all those things and I used to think she was truly strange. All that has changed now that I have two little girls of my own. They both are tough, rough, and strong-willed little things but boy do they love all the glittery, sparkly, princessy things you can imagine. Tiaras, gowns, wands, rings, bracelets, makeup, and shoes...my girls can't get enough. Emma hardly goes anywhere without her purse or ordained with some jewelry, sunglasses, or other accessories and Lucy is starting to imitate her.

Sometimes a girl needs two purses for all her necessities...

Lucy prefers a simpler approach to her outfits. A t-shirt and matching diaper are the perfect compliment to her heels. Classy, classy.

Isn't this ridiculous?...

A friend of ours recently bequeathed the girls some plastic heels and the two of them can be heard clicking and clacking all over our house. There certainly has been more than one wipe-out on our slick hardwood floors.

But even while dressed up as a girly-girl, Emma can almost certainly be found beating up her older brother. I kind of love that about her.

My dainty little princesses certainly do not prefer dainty food - like salads. Pass them ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, or just about anything that makes a huge mess or leaves gigantic stains on their pretty clothing! Maybe one day they will grow up to love their vegetables like their mommy.

And speaking of vegetables and salads, orzo salad is one of my newest obsessions. I can eat a big bowl of this for dinner and be completely satisfied. This recipe in particular is right up my alley because it incorporates a plentiful amount of healthy greens and beans into the pasta to create a dish that is light and fresh yet perfectly filling on a hot day. This would be the complimentary side dish to serve with some grilled chicken, salmon, or even steak! It also makes a great alternative to potato salad or coleslaw at a barbecue or potluck. You can change up the cheeses and add-ins to create your own unique combination of flavors. Try queso fresco, cilantro, lime juice, black beans, and fresh sweet corn for a southwest twist! Or kalamata olives, feta cheese, red onion, mint, and cucumber for a Mediterranean spin! The possibilities are truly endless.

Orzo Salad with Pecorino, Radicchio, and Chickpeas
from Cook's Country Feb/March 2017

1 1/4 cups orzo pasta
Salt and pepper
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 ounces baby arugula, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 ounces grated Pecorino Romano cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 small head radicchio, cored and chopped fine
1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Bring 2 quart water to boil in large saucepan. Ad orzo and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Drain orzo and transfer to rimmed baking sheet. Toss with 1 tablespoon oil and let cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Combine the vinegar, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Slowly whisk in remaining 5 tablespoons oil until emulsified. Add arugula, Pecorino Romano, radicchio, chickpeas, basil, and cooled orzo to dressing and toss to thoroughly combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Let salad sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Serve, drizzled with extra oil if desired. The salad can be refrigerated for up to two days.

Loaded Potato Salad

I'm going to be backtracking a bit to try to catch up on what was missed during my absence from blogging over the past month! I know I posted our Easter Sunday highlights in my last post, but would like to reflect back to a few days before to talk about our family tradition for Holy Thursday and the beginning of the Pascal Triduum.

Every year on Holy Thursday, we recreate the Last Supper of Our Lord through a bit of role-play. We make some unleavened bread, pour some grape juice (for the kids) or Port (for the adults, and read from the corresponding passages from the bible together while using the physical prompts as visuals to (hopefully) make the story more real for the little ones. Paul also gets the foot bath out and washes the feet of each member of the family, imitating the act of humility that Christ himself performed the night before his death.

This year, we thought the kids were old enough to get a little more involved in the role playing. We asked each of them to pick a disciple to play. Matthew immediately raised his hand and excitedly declared himself to be Simon Peter. When we asked Emma whom she wanted to play, she immediately replied: "Jesus!" I had to explain to a very disappointed Emma that Paul would be playing the role of Jesus in our narrative. She was very disappointed but finally picked the Apostle Matthew as her second choice. Paul dubbed Lucy the Apostle John, for she is his "beloved one." Pretty cute. And we were ready to begin.

We began with the washing of the feet. One by one, the kids sat on the chair to have their feet washed. Lucy was a little nervous at first, but after her first foot was cleaned she quickly offered her second fat foot so it obviously wasn't too displeasing to her. When it came time for Matthew's turn, he accurately remembered his role as Simon Peter and refused a foot washing.

"My feet are so dirty! I should be washing your feet! You should not wash mine Jesus!"
"But Peter," Paul (as Jesus) responded, "I have to wash your feet. It is part of the plan."
"Then WASH ALL OF ME! MY HEAD! MY SHOULDERS! MY STOMACH!" Matthew as Simon Peter declared, a bit too loudly, while writhing on the floor. At this point, Simon Peter received a little pep talk about not getting too carried away and afterwards he willingly sat to have his feet washed.

Then, Paul read from the Gospel account of the Last Supper. As he was reading about the institution of the Eucharist, Emma (or Matthew) interjected by shoving herself into Paul's lap: "I want to be Jesus!"

"You're the Apostle Matthew, Emma."
"I don't get to say anything. I want to be Jesus!"
"We are almost done, just listen and pay attention."
Paul continues to read and doesn't make it more than five words in before he interrupted by Emma once more, "Can I have some of that bread?"
"We're going to eat it in a second. Be patient."
"How about some of that wine?"

At this point, Lucy began to tire of the proceedings and left the room. Matthew declared that she was no longer the Apostle John, but Judas Iscariot.

Paul finishes reading the Gospel account, breaks the unleavened bread in pieces and offers each of us a piece. Emma quickly gobbles her piece down and then asks, "Jesus can I have another piece of your bread?"

Paul then poured the wine (or juice) into a goblet and again offered each of us a sip from the cup. When it was Emma's turn, we practically had to pry the goblet away from her lips because she was completely intent on gulping the entire drink down.

At this point, Lucy, or Judas Iscariot, waddled back into the room holding the spoils from her raid of the pantry: a bag full of Blueberry Tiny Toast cereal. "Judas!" Paul declared, "Would you betray your Lord for 30 pieces of Tiny Toast?!" Lucy just giggled and stuffed more Tiny Toast into her mouth. I guess so.

That concluded our family Last Supper. Emma and Matthew proceeded to fight over the remaining loaves of unleavened bread while Lucy continued to munch on her Tiny Toast, with Peyton lurking nearby ready to catch any stray crumbs. Even though there was a lot of laughing during our reenactment of the Last Supper, I do think little family exercises like this help make the true meaning of our religious feast days more tangible to young minds. The next day, when we headed to Church to venerate the Cross in remembrance of Christ's Passion, Matthew and Emma were both very much in awe of the proceedings. They listened to the Passion Readings and were very familiar with the story because we had gone over it multiple times previously. Shortly before it was our turn to venerate the cross, I explained in a whisper to Emma that she could touch, kiss, or bow to the cross as a sign of love and respect. She immediately whispered back to me, "I'm going to kiss Jesus' cross, Mommy!" I held her hand as we walked to the front of church and, sure enough, little Emma knelt down carefully and planted a very slow, deliberate kiss on the cross - it was unmistakable, there was true tenderness and love in her actions at that moment. As a mother, it was a moving moment to watch my child show such reverence and respect for Our Lord. I had tears in my eyes as I headed back to our pew. Our job as parents is to lead our little ones to God. It's such a gift to see that the lessons we try to instill are having an impact and bearing fruit!

Shifting gears a bit, I want to share a recipe for the potato salad we enjoyed as part of our Easter feast on Sunday. We had quite the spread - a simple meal, but filling and indulgent all the same. In addition to potato salad, we enjoyed Maple-Orange Glazed Ham, Strawberry Spinach Salad, Roasted Asparagus, Honey-Butter Rolls, and a gorgeous Coconut-Carrot Layer Cake for dessert.

But, go figure, the dish that received the most rave review from my fellow diners was the Loaded Potato Salad. Paul in particular could not stop stressing how this is the only potato salad I should ever make from now on, something that wasn't all together surprising to me considering that a whole pound of bacon went into the composition of this dish. He didn't even mind the diced raw celery and bell pepper I stirred in as well for a bit of texture - normally Paul gags at any dish with celery in it so I am forced to leave it out altogether or dice it so minutely that it really contributes next to nothing to the final product. However, in this dish, he found their presence not only acceptable, but resoundingly welcome! I have to agree with his overall consensus - this potato salad is really delicious. Again, I'm pretty sure it's the bacon!

Loaded Potato Salad
adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cut into small cubes (about 4 cups)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 (16 ounce) package bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, finely diced

Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until fork tender. Drain the potatoes and put in a large bowl. Drizzle the vinegar over the potatoes and toss lightly to coat. Let cool.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-low heat until crisp. Remove the bacon and reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

Whisk together the bacon drippings, mayo, mustard, sugar, and salt.

Add the eggs, celery, onion, and green pepper to the bowl with the potatoes. Add the dressing and toss gently to coat. Stir in the bacon.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Enjoy!!

Chicken Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Feta

Meet my new favorite meal to eat any time of the day. I would be unable to turn down the leftovers even if they were offered me for breakfast because, my friends, this dish is just so damn delicious.

There is a sweet story behind this dish. While we were in the thick of our kitchen remodel, the phase where I had no sink, no dishwasher, no cupboards, no countertops, and piles of sawdust and nails littered about everywhere, a really sweet friend of mine called me up out of the blue and told me that she was bringing me dinner that night. Now, this friend has a full life of her own - three kids, one an infant, and a husband busy completing his residency program in another city, She is a busy, busy woman but felt compelled to offer me a sweet act of kindness in the middle of our crazy, hectic remodeling project. I almost collapsed with gratitude. We had been subsisting on pizza, ramen noodles, and microwave dinners, so a bonafide home cooked meal sounded downright celestial! I was so touched that she wanted to do something so generous for our family.

And the meal she brought was this wonderfully light, tasty, and completely addicting Chicken Orzo Salad. This meal hits all the notes: part salad and part pasta it is salty from the feta cheese, savory from the chicken, sweet from the cranberries, and just a tiny bit bitter from the addition of the arugula. The whole dish is tied together with a scrumptious lemon-balsamic vinaigrette with just a touch of honey for added flavor and sweetness. Oh my. This recipe catapulted to the top of my favorites list. It can be served warm, chilled, or at room temperature. All ways promise a perfectly satisfying meal.

A picture of the puppy just because puppies are cute!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Jessica for this wonderful recipe! This is what I will be cooking for myself when Paul is out of town on all his work trips. Normally, it's cold cereal and yogurt for me, but this is so much better. I hope you make it and enjoy it as much as we do.

A note on the chicken, if you roast chicken breasts for the salad, I highly, highly recommend brining them first. It both seasons the chicken and helps seal in moisture to ensure that it does not dry out in the oven. It's almost a guaranteed way of ensuring juicy, moist chicken. Just combine four cups of water with a scant 1/4 cup of kosher salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk vigorously until the sugar and salt have dissolved and then submerge your chicken in the brine. Refrigerate for at least one hour, but no more than four. When ready to cook, remove the chicken from the brine, pat lightly with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, and then season with pepper, if desired. Roast at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 165 degrees. That's it! It's easy and makes extremely moist, tasty chicken every single time. Nothing ruins a salad more than dry, tough chicken.

Chicken Orzo Salad with Cranberries and Feta
from my friend Jessica

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey

For the Salad:
1 pound orzo
2-4 cups sliced chicken (brined and prepared as stated above or use rotisserie chicken!)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
4-6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup toasted walnuts or pine nuts (Optional)
Handful of chopped fresh parsley (Both Jessica and I omit this)
Generous fistful of baby arugula, chopped (Not a fan of arugula? Use spinach!)

Cook orzo to al dente according to the packaged directions. Drain immediately. Toss with a bit of olive oil (I used about a tablespoons or so) and then toss with half the dressing. Let cool for about 10 minutes and then add all the rest of the ingredients and the other half of the dressing. Let chill or serve. If serving later, you can choose to add the greens right before serving if you don't want them too wilted. Either way is delicious.

Honey-Chipotle Vinaigrette

One of my favorite things to make and eat is salad. I could eat salad all day, every day if I could, with the exception of for breakfast. I have not really found a good breakfast salad as of yet, but stay tuned! To me, the hallmark of a great salad is a really fantastic dressing. Bottled dressings, while usually sounding great based on the description on their labels, often are disappointing when it comes to flavor. Making your own dressing is both simple and quick, not to mention it will truly make your salads shine. I love whipping up unique, tasty dressings, tossing them with fresh salad fixings, serving it to even the biggest salad skeptic and then sitting back and watching them convert to my side of the salad debate. Salad is awesome. I converted Paul. He never once ate salad during our entire time in college - and we had a pretty awesome salad bar in our cafeteria. Now, he actually looks forward to my salads. The difference is in the dressing.

Speaking of fantastic dressings, this Honey-Chipotle vinaigrette is no exception. I whipped this up on a whim, inspired by my love of pairing chipotle peppers with sweet fruits and vegetables. I was compiling a make-your-own taco salad bar for dinner, including seasoned taco meat, tomatoes, corn, black beans, diced avocado, crushed tortilla chips, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. I decided to make this vinaigrette last minute because I did not really want to load my salad down with sour cream and cheese. This proved to be one of the best decisions I have made in a while since this vinaigrette was the perfect compliment to the salad. Paul could not stop complimenting me as he ate his salad, his greatest compliment being: "You really should start bottling your dressings. This is awesome!"

So despite the horrific lighting, I decided to snap a couple photos and share the recipe here! Yes, I am using tiling samples to prop up my plates. We are currently selecting tile to use for our kitchen backsplash and I just need to pull the trigger already and start installing it. My goal is to have it finished by this weekend and get us one step closer to finishing our kitchen remodel. We are so close! It's just finishing up with some of the details now that all the big stuff is done.

But back to the dressing. This can be customized to your taste. If you want it a little sweeter, add more honey. If you want more of a kick, add more adobo sauce or puree an entire pepper. This paired great with a full loaded taco salad but also was snappy enough to dress up a plate of simple greens.

Honey-Chipotle Vinaigrette

3 T red wine vinegar
3-4 T honey
1 teaspoon salt (add more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from a can of chipotle peppers)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
14 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil (if using olive oil, make sure it is very neutral in flavor)


Add the vinegar, honey, salt, water, adobo sauce, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper to a blender. Turn the motor on to blend. With the motor still running, drizzle in the oil until the salad dressing comes together and emulsifies.

Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Veggie Bowls with Yum Yum Sauce

If you are ever in need of an emotional pick-me-up in the middle of the day, play hide-and-seek with a three-year-old. Emma has been on a huge hide-and-seek kick over the past couple of weeks and she is such a hoot to play with because she is so incredibly terrible at the game. For one, when hiding she makes so much dang noise as she tries to wedge herself into a corner, behind a door, or in a closet. Then, when the seeker (me) begins to get closer to her hiding spot, she begins to giggle and cackle loudly, sometimes even whispering to herself (loudly): "She's never going to find me!"

A lot of times when I'm playing the part of the seeker, I will be really theatrical while looking for the kids. I count super loud and make a ton of noise as I look for them throughout the house, such as opening the bathroom door dramatically and saying in a goofy voice: "Are they in here!? Not in the shower! Where could they be hiding?!" I always know I'm close to Emma's hiding spot, because normally she will answer my rhetorical questions ("I'm not in the bathroom, Mommy!"). It's pretty hilarious.

I need to get this girl some new pajamas. Ones that cover her belly.

On the flip side, Emma is the worst seeker. If she can't find me in the first three spots she looks, she begins to panic. As in, she thinks I left the house or something. Basically, if I don't hide in the middle of the living room, she never finds me unless I start guiding her to my location by banging on the wall or yelling. Once, I hid behind our laundry room door and did not give her any hints. I listened to the sound of her footsteps running up and down the length of the house, passing my hiding spot no less than ten times before I heard her tell Lucy: "Little Lucy, I have terrible news. I lost our Mom!" The funny thing was that Peyton had followed me to my hiding spot and was obviously sitting in the hallway staring at me through the crack in the door. I eventually began knocking on the door and she found me about 10 minutes later and from the celebratory dance she did when she did, you would have thought she had found me immediately without difficulty: "HAHA! I found you! I found your hiding spot! You tried to hide but I FOUND YOU!"

Like I said, if you're looking for a good time on a dreary, snowy afternoon, play a little hide-and-seek.

However, if you want to fill yourself with anxiety and tension, try feeding dinner to a three-year-old going through a major picky-eater phase. I dread dinnertime simply because I hate serving Lucy and Emma dinner. Neither one of those girls are great at that time of night. They're both tired and whiny and both are super pick about food right now. Something they loved the day before suddenly is disdainful to them today. Emma will almost always declare her hatred of whatever I'm making before she even lays eyes on it. Matthew, on the other hand, has had a wonderful appetite as of late and eats almost anything I set in front of him. A refreshing change from the previous four years. Of course once he left that phase, his sisters entered it.

Anyway, that's where these veggie bowls come in. They were despised by shunned by the girls, but loved and savored by Matthew, Paul, and me. So easy to prepare and so filling, hearty, and healthy, this meal was a welcome change from the convenience food and crockpot meals we have been eating during our remodel. First, warm jasmine rice is ladled into deep bowls and topped with warm, seasoned black beans. For convenience, I just used a can of Bush's seasoned black beans but you could most certainly make your own recipe for seasoned black beans or just use plain beans. Then comes the Yum Yum Sauce...

This fantastic sauce that can almost be described as a Mexican-style hummus that adds an ethereal, creamy element to the dish. It's the one component that sets this veggie bowl apart from every other burrito bowl out there. I actually made this recipe almost immediately after reading Mel's rave review of it on her website. Her comments intrigued me and I made it. Of course, I couldn't resist tweaking it a bit but even with my changes I think it's a pretty delicious sauce. I have been dipping carrots and broccoli into it for a snack. It's so good.

After the Yum Yum sauce, everything is topped with a generous portion of tomatoes, olives, peppers, cheese, avocados, cilantro, and sour cream or salsa of your choice. You will not walk away from the table hungry after eating a big bowl of this! Those picky eaters missed out on a truly wonderful meal.

Veggie Burrito Bowls with Yum Yum Sauce
adapted from rockstar blogger Mel at Mel's Kitchen Cafe

For the Veggie Bowls
Jasmine rice, cooked in chicken broth and still hot
Canned black beans, warmed (I like Bush's prepared and seasoned black beans)
Chopped black olives
Chopped red, green, yellow or orange peppers
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped or shredded Monterey Jack or Feta Cheese
Chopped avocados
Chopped, fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Salsa (Hatch Chile salsa, if you can find it, is the BEST)

For the Yum Yum Sauce:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup canned Great Northern or Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 large lemons)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Pinch of Cayenne (or more to taste)
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup nutritional yeast

For the Yum Yum sauce, add the oil, almonds, beans and water to a blender. Process until very smooth, about 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the container if necessary.

Add the sour cream, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, cayenne, cilantro and nutritional yeast. Process again until creamy and smooth. Add additional water to thin out the sauce, if needed. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat. The flavor will improve and develop as the sauce as time to sit!

To assemble the veggie bowls, layer rice in the bottom of a deep bowl. Add black beans and a healthy dollop of Yum Yum sauce. Add a generous amount of all the other vegetables and toppings, finishing with a healthy sprinkling of cheese. Enjoy!