Wedding Recipe #3: Eclair Cake

Unfortunately, I haven't tracked down the photo my husband took of this dessert. Its appearance isn't its main appeal anyway - the taste is what makes this recipe a keeper. This isn't something fancy and intricate or healthy and natural, but everyone at the picnic I made it for enjoyed it.

Here is the recipe:

The only notes I have to make on this recipe are:
1. the regular Cool Whip container is 8oz (not 9oz) and that's what I used
2. I used a can of chocolate fudge frosting that I melted in the microwave and poured over the top of the final layer of graham crackers
3. definitely make it and let it rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours before serving. This allows the graham crackers to get a little softer so that they taste more like cake than cracker.

I didn't forget

Between our two cameras I can't seen to track down the photos of this week's wedding recipes. I'm going to post them in the next 24 hours whether I find the photos or not!

To keep your interest, the recipes to shortly be unveiled are: Cajun Chicken Pasta and Eclair Cake!

Wedding Recipe #2: Filled Cookies

This was a recipe given to me by a member of my husband's family. She is very sweet and very talented in the kitchen if this recipe is any indication.

I've been anxious to make this recipe since I first received it, but wanted to give it the time and attention it deserved. As anyone on my mother's side of the family will profess, my Nanny made THE BEST filled sugar cookies. Since she passed away almost 6 years ago I've longed for the comfort of her homemade cookies. In my mind, tasting one her sugar cookies would be almost like having her arms around me again telling me she loved me.

So there, I revealed my hidden agenda. Making these cookies was a whole new experience for me, but at the same time it felt comfortable and right. It was almost as if my hands were guided by my grandmother as I stirred the filling, rolled the dough, and pulled the cookies out of the oven at the precise moment that they went from uncooked to barely browned.

In the end, the cookies were not quite as sweet as Nanny's used to be, but they were by far the closest I've tasted since she's been gone. So, thank you Kathi for the recipe and thank you Nanny for teaching me a love of baking that continues to grow each day.

The recipe. The only thing I changed was that I left out the lemon and used vanilla extract instead. Nanny's cookies didn't have lemon in them and I was trying to replicate her flavor.


My fingers are just covered where it says that the recipe makes two dozen.
I doubled it. I made half with the raisin and date filling and half filled with cherry preserves.

And here they are! Delicious!
*Any members of the Parker family that happen to be reading, I'll make these for the next family get together and you can all see what you think!*

Old

That's right, I feel really, really, REALLY old right now. I was home visiting with a friend/cousin and her adorable baby girl when I realized I needed some fresh Parmesan cheese for the recipe I was intending to make for dinner. I decided to head down the road to Roma's and get the cheese, as well as some ground beef for meatballs I need to make tomorrow. As I was unloading my purchases at the checkout counter, I had the following exchange with the cashier:

Him: "That's not your blue Mazda out there is it?"
Me: "Yes" (with a note of panic in my voice as visions of my failure to engage the emergency break resulting in the car rolling into the street and being smashed to bits by a large truck)
Him: "You like Phish?"
Me: "Yes" (trying to figure out what my music preferences have to do with the fact that my car is in pieces all over the road)
Him: "Cool. Are you going to the shows next month?"
Me: "What? Is there something wrong with my car?" (NOW I realize that I am driving Matt's old car with the "phishead" license plate) "Oh...I mean...yeah, I'm going..."
Him: "Cool. I saw them back in November at the Times Union Center. I can't wait to see them again. I just saw my first show last summer"

I did some quick math and realized this kid saw his first show TEN YEARS after I saw my first show. Wow.

Redemption

Or at least I'm telling myself that. My delicious, healthy lunch after cookies for breakfast.

Whole wheat sandwich thins
Fresh slivered basil
Baby spinach
Thinly sliced tomato
Thinly sliced cucumber
Fresh mozzarella
Low sodium, low fat deli ham
Yum!

Confession

I can not be trusted home alone making a power point presentation with a bin full of cookies. Yes, I know it's only 9am. If they weren't meant to be breakfast, they shouldn't taste so good with a cup of coffee. Welcome to the party in my tummy cookie #2, let's hope it stops there...

These are the tempting culprits.
Recipe coming soon as Wedding Recipe #2: Filled Cookies...

Wedding Recipe #1: Penne with Roasted Marsala Mushrooms

Although this recipe did not have a name on it, I am quite confident it came from a good friend of mine from high school and medical school. We have both been married for less than five years, have one year old babies at home, and are halfway through residency programs. It is nice to have someone like her in my life to understand exactly what the struggles are that I'm going through balancing a busy career and a family. In addition to being a very good friend, she's apparently a great cook as I LOVE this recipe.

I made a few teeny changes to the recipe:
First, I added an extra splash of the Marsala wine to make more sauce.
Second, I added a little bit less butter because it was all I had left!
Finally, I forgot to buy fresh parsley so I just added a sprinkling of dried parsley.

Even my picky one-year-old gobbled it up! We all loved it so much I'm planning to make it again this weekend for a family gathering.

Here is the recipe:

Blog Project #1: Wedding Recipes

As tradition holds, prior to getting married my wonderful bridesmaids, mom, and mother-in- law threw a bridal shower for me. One of the special requests they made of the attendees was that they bring a favorite recipe with them to share with me. In many instances, this is done for a bride who doesn't know how to cook, but for me it was more about trying to gather some family favorites. After an initial burst of excitement when I made a handful of the recipes, the small, unassuming photo album my mom used to contain the recipe cards got pushed behind my favorite cookbooks, How to Cook Everything and Baking From My Home to Yours.

When cleaning this weekend I rediscovered it and decided to make it a project (ala Julie and Julia) to make all 39 recipes. My plan is make at least 2 recipes a week and post them on here. The book contains everything from classic comfort food (peanut butter fudge and mac and cheese), some fancier fare (crab and cheddar soup and oreo truffles), and even some lighter entrees (whole wheat pasta with broccolini and feta and vegetarian jambalaya).

The recipes will begin later tonight or tomorrow with: Penne with Roasted Marsala Mushrooms

Parenting Advice

As a budding pediatrician, I spend every Monday in my clinic and many weeknights on the phone talking to parents. Usually, they ask me medical questions: "How much tylenol can I give my one year old for a fever of 102?", "What should I do if my five year old has been vomiting all day and can't drink anything?", "What should I do about my son's constipation?". These are the easy questions because I can use tried and true evidence based medicine, facts, and formulas to come up with a plan.

But then come the questions that have a million answers: "How do I wean my baby from her pacifier?", "How do I deal with temper tantrums?", "Why won't my baby sleep through the night?", and so on. These questions have so many different possible answers for different kids that it's completely reasonable that if I give a family only one answer, it's going to fail. This is why I usually offer at least two tactics to any given question. Still, this may not be enough. And many parents, myself included, might find themselves searching the internet for another answer.

And this is why I am advocating today for parents looking for easy advice at their fingertips to make sure the sources they are reading are GOOD QUALITY and written by people with real credentials. Some sites look professional, but actually have some bogus advice hidden within some good articles. My favorite sites for parent advice are put out there by true medical professionals. Without further ado, here they are:

Healthy Children by the American Academy of Pediatrics
Family Doctor by the American Academy of Family Physicians

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms among my readers.

Hope everyone out there got to spend some time doing something they love with the special women in their life today. My bug and I enjoyed some time together in the kitchen - something I hope we will always be able to share and cherish.

Saying thanks

Last year the super sweet nursing team from my outpatient clinic put together a special "Doctor's Day" celebration for all of the residents and attending doctors. Beyond that, they are just great people who have supported me and helped me learn since the day I started my residency. I was on maternity leave last May and never got to pay them back on Nurse's Day/Nurse's Week. I didn't want to let another year go by without formally saying "thanks," so I made a big batch of cookies to bring to clinic with me tomorrow.

I used my favorite cookbook as usual (Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan). I followed the recipe for "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" (check out the recipe here). I used the variation to make Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies suggested in the "Playing Around" column. I also decided to use 6oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 6oz of butterscotch chips instead of all chocolate.

I love reading blogs with photo captures of each step of the process, but I usually don't have the dedication to stick it out. Today I did. Enjoy!

Start with some butter...

Then add some sugar...

Mix until well blended.

Mix in a few eggs and some vanilla

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda

Just about done...

Lastly, stir in the chips!

Finally, the dough is all ready to bake.

Ignore the old cookie pan, I need new ones


Done! Dark chocolately, crispy on the edges, and soft in the middle. Delicious!

She's Bananas!

My daughter has an issue. A food issue. Her favorite food changes on a constant basis. One day she smashes handfuls of the "flavor of the day" into her toothy little mouth and grins ear-to-ear. The next day, the very same food will be expelled the moment it touches her tongue and she will wail until something else is offered. As an avid food lover, this bothers me more than anything else I've yet encountered in motherhood. How can she get so much joy out of a food one day and absolutely despise it the next?!

Then, one glorious day, I thought I had broken the cycle. Not for two days, or three days, but for a whole WEEK she gobbled up bananas. She ate them on a mat, she ate them with a cat. She ate them here, she ate them there. She ate them EVERYWHERE. Thrilled, I went straight to Sam's Club and purchased a large stem of bananas. She might have eaten one of them before deciding she was wrong and she actually hates bananas too. She hates them so much she waves her hands wildly if they even touch the tray of her highchair until every last piece is out of her sight. Day after day I tried reintroducing them, but was met with the same manic squeal and flurry of hands and arms scattering banana bits across the kitchen each time.

Tired of scrubbing the floor, I decided the remainder of the bananas would meet a different fate. I had so many left still, I dedicated half to a loaf of banana bread and the other half to Banana Bundt cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Oddly enough, the baby LOVES the banana bread.

Follow-up: Lemon Mint Chicken

I made my lemon chicken again this evening for dinner. I served it for myself the same way I originally posted (over salad), but I adapted it and turned it into a pasta dish for my husband. Here is a picture of my salad:


For my husband, I made some thin spaghetti. Then, I added the drippings from the baked chicken dish to a large saute pan and tossed it with the spaghetti. I added half of the broiled tomatoes, a handful of sliced black olives, and some feta cheese before topping it with slices of the baked chicken.

Lemon Mint Baked Chicken with Grape Tomatoes

Disclaimer: I rarely follow exact recipes - I add an extra pinch of this and a dash of that while leaving out something else. All of my measurements are gross approximations.

This recipe is the brainchild of my desire for fresher foods that I can throw together FAST.

First, I whipped up a really simple marinade - olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice, mint, garlic, and pepper. After whisking the ingredients into a fresh Spring-y olfactory delight, I added boneless, skinless chicken breast and some grape tomatoes to the party. The oven preheated to 400 and I prepared the baby's dinner while the chicken and tomatoes marinated for ~20 minutes (maybe less, I was in a hurry to get it on the table!). Then, I baked the chicken and tomatoes. For the last 2 minutes of baking I pumped the oven up to broil to get a little blister to the skin on the tomatoes.

I let the chicken and tomatoes cool a smidge while I prepped myself a big plate of organic spring mix. I diced up one chicken breast and scattered it over the bed of greens. Following the chicken was a scoop of the roasted tomatoes topped with a generous sprinkling of feta cheese.

My husband ate his portion with store-brought Balsamic Vinegarette, but I felt the chicken and tomatoes had so much flavor this salad was perfect naked.

I plan to make this again, soon. I'll add a picture then.

Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic minced
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp fresh mint chopped

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
2 handfuls of grape tomatoes (a few dozen)

1/3 cup feta cheese, divided
organic spring mix (you choose how much you want!)

Directions
Whisk the marinade and add the chicken and tomatoes as described above. Marinade for 20 minutes (or more, if you have the time).

Bake for 25 minutes at 400. Broil for the last 2 minutes.

Serve chicken and tomatoes over greens topped with feta.

Enjoy!

This recipe will make 4 side portions or 2 big main course portions

Eat Your Veggies!

My month of working nights in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has led precipitously into an absolutely atrocious diet. With the obligations of residency keeping me up from 7pm-8am watching over the tiniest of babies, the emotional pull of motherhood preventing me from sleeping more than 3-4 hours before rushing to daycare to cuddle my baby girl for as long as possible, and my burning desire to be a good wife (read: not wanting to be a worse wife that I already am for seeing my husband for 1 hour a day) hustling me to tidy the house and prepare a homemade dinner during the baby's naps, there was no time left to worry about what I should be eating.

My daytime (8am-8pm) food intake looked something like this: a big old coffee accompanying an egg and cheese muffin sandwich with ham or - I shield my eyes in shame as I admit it - bacon before leaving the hospital, handfuls of whatever I could find in the fridge/pantry (dry cereal, crackers, graham crackers, carrot sticks, or cheese wedges) and an iced coffee on my way to daycare, and then as much as I could stuff in my face for dinner (usually at least a well prepared meal) before having to rush out the door - sometimes this was not enough, others it was WAY too much. I'd usually bring another coffee with me or grab one on my way up to the NICU.

So, by that point, I'd already eaten 2 1/2 meals and was starting my 13 hour shift. I'd bring healthy things like carrot sticks and yogurts with me to eat, but - let's be honest - they usually made their way into the trash after being transported back and forth from home to hospital three or four times. It would be an understatement to say I've made a few trips to the all-night Dunkin Donuts in the hospital with a longing nothing but more caffeine and lots of disgusting processed carbs could abate.

Finally, last weekend I hit a breaking point. Not only was I intellectually stressed by the vast expanse of medical knowledge I needed to acquire to be a good resident in the NICU and emotionally stressed to the point of tears each night when I left my baby and husband, but my body was stressed and angry. Too much caffeine, not enough water. Too many complex carbs, not enough produce. Too many processed meals, not enough fresh ingredients. All of my goals for healthy, clean, organic eating had dissipated and I was merely in survival mode scurrying about the corriders of the hospital by night nibbling on highly processed egg and cheese wraps and raiding the pantry without conscious by day.

Enough is (was) enough. I've been on an extremely low-carb and high vegetable diet (a modified South Beach diet of my own creation) for the past 5 days and I feel like a whole new person. So there it is people, take the time and EAT YOUR VEGGIES to feel your best.

Yummy recipes I've stumbled upon or created soon to follow.

Breast Feeding News

As part of my membership to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) I get daily e-mails with links to pediatric health issues in the news. I thought it might be worthwhile to repost some of them for any of the interested moms reading my blog. Here's a throwback to some of my early posts on breast feeding...

New Study: Breast Feeding Saves Lives

Tomato Mint Bites

When I came home I was excited to come up with something as a light lunch using the fresh tomatoes and mint I picked up at the Farmer's Market. I looked around on the Bon Appetit website for some inspiration and found this recipe. I didn't have all the right ingredients, so this was what I came up with after playing around:

Homemade bread with Feta spread, Tomatoes, and Mint

Ingredients

Homemade Bread (recipe I used can be found here)

1/4 cup feta

1/4-1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

1/2 of a fresh squeezed lemon

Black Pepper, to taste

1 small thinly sliced tomato

3 chopped mint leaves

To make my own "spreadable cheese", I mixed the feta, sour cream, lemon juice, and black pepper in my mini food processor.

I only let it blend for about ten seconds because I wanted the texture to still be a bit chunky.

My homemade bread, cheese spread, mint, and tomatoes

I cut slices of bread into quarters, spread with cheese, and sprinkled with pepper. Then I topped with sliced tomato and chopped mint.









Yum!

Farmer's Market

Last night I discovered that the Troy Farmer's Market I've visited during the summer runs an indoor winter market as well. Apparently my husband has been aware of this, but kept it from me because he was afraid it would "cost us too much money."

To digress for a minute - I haven't gone into this aspect of my new food concerns yet, but I might just as well put it out there because it's going to play a large part in how I shop and cook. As a young family just starting out we need to live "conservatively." This means each week I try to budget myself $50-75 dollars at the grocery store - I am rarely successful at sticking to the lower end of the budget. So, the struggle to replace all of our old processed foods with better, more sustainable products is complicated by the fact that I have to be as thrifty as I can.

In the end, I convinced my husband that we should at least check out the market this morning when I got home from work. We slowly lapped the atrium trying an occasional sample of organic cheese or produce while I carefully calculated which products I'd like to try for $15 or less. In the end, I ended up with a jar of homemade Strawberry Pear jam ($4), three hydroponic tomatoes ($2), a few organic mint springs ($2), and a quarter pound of mild mesculin mix ($3.50).

When I got home I couldn't wait to come up with something yummy to make for lunch with the tomatoes and mint. The simple recipe I came up with will follow shortly

My Food Revolution

I love food. If I were to estimate, I'd say greater than 50% of my day is spent thinking about, preparing, and eating food. In all the hours that I spend thinking about what my family will be eating, I spend mere minutes a week thinking about where our food is coming from. I fear I've been going about this all wrong.

Maybe this will make me sound like an idiot. Or a yuppie. Or a yuppie idiot. I don't know, but here's the truth - I watched the movie Food, Inc. I'm smart enough to know that the filmmakers had an agenda in producing the film and that there is clearly a bias; but still. I feel like this movie forced me to acknowledge the things I already knew in the back of my head. The big food companies are out there producing mass quantities of sub-standard food under less than ideal conditions because the consumer is too tired, too busy, too poor, and too lazy to think enough about it to raise their voices in protest.

Especially now, with a beautiful little girl dependent on my choices to fuel her little body and brain, I need to think about food in a whole new way. I want our food to be the best it can be, produced in an honest way, and supportive of a greater cause.

And so, this begins my journey away from Little Debbie Snack Cakes and the drive-thru at Taco Bell towards the greener pastures of organic farmers and the warmth of my own oven.

Birthday Party!

This is the first in a series of posts on my planning process for my daughter's first birthday party. I am so excited to finally have a little one to plan things for. As my friends and family know, I LOVE to plan parties. The theme for my little bug's party is Sesame Street and Elmo. I've spent a lot of time prowling Target, Walmart, AC Moore, Michael's, Joann's and assorted party supply stores trying to find as many personalized details as I can at a reasonable price.

My first project was making the perfect invites to set the stage for the party. As I made all the invitations for my wedding and various other events, I did have many of the supplies already which made making these very inexpensive. I also watched the ads and waited until the cards and paper were all on sale for 40% off. I think it cost roughly $10 for the paper and card supplies and $15 to add the circle cutter and template to my collection of supplies.

Here are the photos:

All of the supplies:

packs of flat cards and envelopes
8x11 paper in primary colors
12x12 paper (only black used)
scissors
Fiskars shape cutter
two sizes of circle punches
BIG glue stick














The red and orange paper with the shape cutter and template for Elmo's head and nose














The white and black paper with the punches and circle cutter that I used to make the eyeballs and Elmo's mouth (I cut out an oval and then used a slice from either end to make Elmo's smile)














All of the pieces ready to be assembled!














Elmo comes together!

(Not pictured here, but seen in the final product are the small circles I thought of as an additional decoration which were punched using the smaller circle punch from the scraps of the paper used to make the colorful invitation wording.)
















The front of the invitation

(The colors are muted because my husband used a scanner to put this image into the computer and it washed them out a bit)
















The back of the invitation with (personal information blurred.)

I was really excited with how these came out. I knew the Elmo was a good representation when I saw the huge smile on my little girl's face the first time she saw them.

More party planning to come in the next few weeks...