Blogspot - Recipe Scratch Rusia

  I love this system for weeknight dinners.  This dinner took me 5 minutes to prepare - I sliced the potatoes and radishes in half, then I put some goat cheese under the skin of the chicken.  I drizzled everything with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt.  It went in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes (except for the asparagus, I actually took it out after the first 10 minutes so it didn't get burnt to a crisp).  While it cooked, I cleaned up the cutting board, unloaded the dishwasher, put the groceries away and set the table.  All of this started at 5:30 immediately after we'd gone to the grocery store.  By 6:00 dinner was ready, the kitchen had already been cleaned up (during the 30 min cook time) and Mike walked in the door for dinner. I used two Large Baking Sheets ($10) with Parchment Paper ($10) you can find in my store, here > This isn't the dinner anyone would request for their birthday, and it is definitely on the list of "ligh...

Chicken Piccata with Spinach, Cherry Tomatoes & Angel Hair We have this for dinner probably about once a week - one of everyone's favorites.  It is one of my very favorites because it takes 20 minutes to make (seriously - I timed myself!) and everyone in our family loves it.  It is fairly healthy with lots of spinach, chicken and tomatoes and not too much pasta.  It also feels light, but still filling and very flavorful.  I love that I can stop by the store and have this on the table so quickly and everyone is excited about dinner. I haven't done a new dinner recipe in a while - a really long time.  I think I've fallen into the same trap of most moms... feeding people every single day.  Emma's tastes are simpler than ours, and though she is a fairly good eater, she doesn't want to try something new every night and, frankly, neither do I.  We take comfort in our favorites - pasta, tacos, burgers, roasted chicken, soup, etc.  So, when I realized...

You all know that I love pasta so much.  I try to limit ourselves to just a couple of a pasta dinners per week.  One is usually a red sauce - spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parm, ragu or bolognese - and one is usually a buttery lemon sauce with chicken or shrimp.  I'm the only one in our family that goes crazy for shrimp, so usually it is chicken.  Emma absolutely loves anything with lemon and chicken, so this dinner was a big hit.  We'll do variations on this all year long, but this one felt particularly springy.   I always try to add some green veggies for dinner and being seasonal is even better.  The asparagus, mushrooms and spinach help stretch the pasta and give this so much more nutritional heft and flavor and make this feel like spring.  I used bucatini, which is a spaghetti shape but that has a hole down the center, like a tube.  It makes it sort of extra chewy and thick.  You could use any shape - bowtie, penne, angel hair or...

The biggest change at home we've experienced since Emma has started Kindergarten is that she was so exhausted when she got home that she wasn't interested in helping with dinner.  For the first couple of weeks, I was okay with it - she needed quiet downtime just playing (or watching a show...).  However, our time in the kitchen together is my favorite time, so I've been thinking of more ways to get her excited about cooking again. I know when you are 5 that new friends, learning to read, soccer, ballet, etc. all of a sudden seems much cooler and more important than helping your Mom, but I wanted to be careful that we didn't lose this special time we spend together.  So, we've been doing more fun things in the kitchen like adding mini leaf cut-outs (using the new Mini Leaf Cutters , $8 for 6 in my store) to our Chicken Pie Pies, and we've also been working on decorating cakes.  These activities have lit a new fire for her and she is eager to join me in the kitche...