Good Tools Is All You Need

One day, not so long ago....Hubby comes home and announces that he got me a gift. This was just a regular day, not my birthday, not a holiday (well, maybe just a few days before Valentines Day). Of course I was very excited, maybe even a little giddy to hear about this mysterious gift. The anticipation was killing me.

He finally blurted out that it's a new set of pots and pans. If with all that build up, you expected that he'd say "diamonds" or something of the sort, don't be saddened. I was still very excited when I heard what the gift was. A brand new set of Cuisinart pots and pans is actually something I really wanted. I've been using bent pots and pans for at least a decade, so this was GREAT news. Apparently, TechBargains.com isn't just for Tech Bargains.

Until next time...

Everything But The Kitchen Sink, Pizza

I always looked forward to Friday night. It was the end of the work week. The beginning of the weekend. A time for myself, relaxation, sleeping in and fun. With kids, Friday night is just like any other night. Friday night doesn't mean you get to sleep in on Saturday. It means you get to wake up at 7 a.m. (best case scenario), just like on any other day of the week.

To mix things up, and make Friday night feel at least a little special and somewhat different from all the other nights of the week, I decided to make homemade pizza for dinner. Homemade pizza means, toppings include whatever may be laying around in the fridge.

Homemade pizza  a la Mommy-Chic in Suburbia style:
Crust: pre-made pizza dough (I know, I know). For the lazy homemaker, it's a saving grace.
Sauce: any pasta sauce you may have on hand.

Toppings: lots of cheese (in my case, hand-grated mozzarella), leftover brisket, sliced hot dog (nitrate-free of course), tomatoes, black olives and mushrooms.

Bake this beauty based on the directions of the crust. My was put together in 15 minutes and baked in another 15 minutes. Perfect for the whole family!

Happy Hanukkah!...From New York to Santa Monica

A bit of a cheesy title but I found it catchy after reading "The Night Before Hanukkah" to my son. This is the first year that my older son is aware of holidays. Since preschool heavily focuses on Christmas, I wanted to make sure my son has at least a basic understanding of his background. For this reason I decided to make it at least a little bit traditional. No praying involved here. But some yummy food is a must, and maybe a lighting of a couple candles too.

I made a brisket for the first time! Mom threw in her house for dinner and, some latkes, deviled eggs and eggplant dishes. This is from a woman that has a full-time job. I also contributed rogaliki for dessert.

The brisket recipe I used is quite simple actually. It involves using the slow cooker. With this hands-off approach, it makes the cooking process much easier. Especially when a 4-month old is in the mix. The recipe comes via Food & Wine magazine's website. Due to lack of time, I cooked the meat on high for 5 hours instead of on low for 8. I also didn't add the last 1.5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to the sauce at the end. The meat still turned out great.

I don't know what Mom's recipes are for deviled eggs and latkes, but I'll share some of my. I've shared these recipes before on my old blog, so I'll just re-share (no need to reinvent the wheel).

Deviled Eggs...

Recipe: 

Boil eggs (number of eggs depends on how many you need).
Mayonnaise (I usually just eye ball it. But about 1 tablespoon should do)
Dijon mustard (also eye ball it)

Peel boiled eggs, cut in half lengthwise. Carefully remove the yolks from the whites, keeping the whites in tact. Place the yolks in a mixing bowl, and whites on a serving plate. Add mayonnaise and Dijon mustard to the yolks and mix with a fork until smooth.

Spoon the mixture into a piping (pastry) bag and pipe into egg whites. Don’t worry if there is no piping bag around, you can also spoon the mixture into the egg whites. Sprinkle with dried dill weed, and they are ready to eat.

Latkes...

This recipe comes to you via Epicurious. With a KitchenAid shredder/slicer attachment this recipe takes no time at all.

For dessert...

Rogaliki...

Recipe:

For the dough you’ll need the following:
3 egg yolks
1 stick of margerine
100 grams of sour cream
Flour (as much as needed to get the dough consistency)
Raspberry preserves (for the filling)

Mix the egg yolks, margerine and sour cream with flour until the mixture has dough consistency. Separate the dough into 3 or 4 balls and refrigerate for about 3 hours or over night. Roll out the dough into a thin circle (using additional flour, to prevent the dough from sticking). Cut the dough into 16 triangles. Place a small amount of raspberry preserves onto the wide side of the triangle and roll away from you to create rogaliki. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Place rogaliki on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for about 15 minutes at 375 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Once rogaliki are out of the oven, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and serve once they cool off.

Next year I will attempt sufganiyot (a.k.a. jelly doughnuts). Who doesn't like some good old deep-fried dough?

Happy Hanukkah!

Dreary Day = Comfort Soup

It's yet another day of rain, wind and an all around dreary, dark weather. A day like this calls for some warm soup. This soup is also great for another reason. This is a slow cooker soup, so while you're dealing with your day-to-day chores, dinner cooks for you. When as a Mommy, your time is very, VERY limited (no matter how chic you may be), this is a must!

This recipe comes to you from Back For Seconds blog. All it takes is just about 10 minutes of hands on time and the rest is taken care of by the slow cooker. The recipe calls for celery, not only did I not have celery on hand but while at the store, I consciously chose not to get it. I know, not a healthy choice, but I am just not a fan of celery. I used long grain brown rice (rice wasn't specified in the recipe).

The note in the recipe says that the soup should cook in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low, but that newer slow cookers may cook faster. I decided to cook the soup on high for half the time. Need this soup to be ready for dinner, and I started late. Let's see what my little, $20 slow cooker can do. If it sounds like the soup is in process as I am typing this, you are correct. However, it will be done before I press "publish".

This is my version of the soup...

Sans the celery, the soup still turned out to be pretty tasty. Even my toddler, who claimed that he doesn't like corn, finished his entire bowl. Afterward, he proclaimed that the soup was yummy. That's a win in my book.

Winter Storm = Cozy Breakfast

Winter is definitely here. Nothing like a winter storm to reaffirm this fact. Pineapple Express is rushing through the area. Streets are flooding, schools are closed. For those of us who don't need to worry about any of the above mentioned, it's a cozy day at home. While it's wet and windy outside...

 ...it's warm and dry inside. A perfect day for a pancake breakfast.

I recently came across a great, and most importantly, quick and easy recipe for delicious pancakes. It incorporates oatmeal, which makes me feel less guilty right out of the gate. These Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes from Damn Delicious blog are great in the form of pancakes or waffles. They are great with blueberries (as shown on the Damn Delicious blog) or without, as I've made them below.

The waffles are in true Belgian style...takes me back...

Fish and a Salad = Monday Night Dinner

I am often asked about the dishes I cook. We as Mommies always look for something delicious and quick to satisfy everyone's tastes. If you paid a visit to my Pinterest boards, you would have noticed that I have multiple recipe boards. I've categorized my recipes by appetizers, savory (this board includes both sides and mains), breakfast, sandwiches, salads, dips & salsas and dessert. I have also been asked to share, which recipes I end up turning into actual dishes. As such, I created another board. Specifically to identify the recipes I've actually made. On this blog I will take things one step further and add a little more color, with my own photos.

Hubby has been asking to lighten up our dinners. Skip the sides and go heavy on the salads. No better time to start than on a Monday (how stereotypical of me). If you follow my Pinterest boards, you'll will notice an increase in activity in the "Salads" board.

Getting back to Monday night's dinner. Dinner consisted of fish and a salad. I am not generally a big fan of tilapia but the recipe for Baked Parmesan Crusted Tilapia has actually proven to be quite good. I didn't get a chance to photograph my final product, so I will share directly from the source.

Photo Courtesy of: Revyourweek.com

For the salad, I went with the Ultimate Greek Chopped Salad. I decided to substitute the red bell pepper with a yellow bell pepper to give it more color.

For what seems to be a light meal, it was quite filling and tasty.