CityMama™

Thanksgiving 2011—Menu and Side Dish-stravaganza Recipe Round Up!

Our weekly produce delivery, delivered today. (Not shown grapes, apples, and baby bok choy.)

This year, Thanksgiving is so nutty (in a good way), that I actually (nerd alert!) shared a google doc with the family to help with menu planning. This is an extra-special Thanksgiving here in the San Francisco Bay Area because our beloved 49ers will be playing Thanksgiving eve, about the time we usually have our dinner. Turkey and 49er football—according to many members of my family, it just doesn't get any better.

This year, for the first time in probably 20 years, I won't be making the turkey (my mom will be roasting an almost-24 lb. organic bird), but that's okay. More room in the oven for the side dishes, what Thanksgiving is all about for me! Also this year, there is no dungeness crab available due to a pricing dispute. We're having to improvise with canned crab for some recipes and won't be having our usual pre-Thanksgiving crab dinner. BOO!

Here is what we'll have on our table and who is making it:

Thanksgiving Menu 2011

Appetizers

• Crab-Artichoke Dip (my sister)
• Tuna Mousse  (my sister)
• Cheeses from Artisanal (Tata) with fruit from my CSA delivery—I had a sneak taste of the cheese and OMGYUM.
• Champagne or vodka martinis (duh!)

Dinner

• Roast turkey (Tata)
• Traditional Stuffing (Tata)
• Sausage-Oyster Dressing (me)
• Mashed Potatoes (my sister)
• Sweet Potatoes (my sister)
• Gravy (me)
• Roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta and red grapes (me, adapted from this recipe)
• Chestnut, leek, pearl onion, and fennel confit (me, adapted from the recipe included here-scroll down a bit)
• Baked butternut squash "stuffed" with rainbow chard (going to wing this with produce from the CSA)
• Fresh cranberry sauce (me)
• Canned cranberry sauce (because the kids love it, and let's face it, so does everyone else)
• Avocado Mold (Tata)
• Pinor Noir, Rosé (maybe bubbly? Okay!)

Dessert

• Pumpkin Pie with fresh whipped cream (Tata and my niece)
• Port and, okay, maybe a little more champagne

Recipes

If you are still hunting around for the perfect veggie side dish to complement your Thanksgiving or holiday meal, look no further than the recipes included here. These are two CItyMama posts from years' past that I still refer to every fall and winter.

The Great Thanksgiving Round-up

Thanksgiving Week Recipe Round-up!

 

A very Happy Thanksgiving to my (American) readers and their families, and continued gratitude and thank to all my readers no matter where you are!

 

Gobble gobble!

Stefania

 

 

Six Tips For Getting Kids to Eat Their Veggies

I'm delighted to be a new Hidden Valley "Love Your Veggies" Parent Panel Member! I grew up eating Hidden Valley Ranch (and especially Green Goddess) salad dressing that my mom made by adding milk and mayonnaise to the spice packet and shaking it all up in a Mason jar. As a result, I've always held a special place in my culinary heart for Hidden Valley (and only Hidden Valley) Ranch dressing.

As part of my "official duties" I'll be posting throughout the year about specific veggie-related initiatives. Hopefully you'll find them informative. In the interest of transparency and full-disclosure, these posts will always be clearly labeled.

My 9- and 7-year-old daughters will proudly tell anyone who will listen how much they love Brussels sprouts, spinach, lima beans, broccoli, and salad—all manner of vegetables that conventional wisdom would have us believe all kids hate.

I often wonder if kids are inadvertently taught to hate vegetables because we’ve all been conditioned to believe that that’s supposed to the case. With my own family, my children have the benefit of two parents who love all manner of veggies, and I know it’s at least partly because my husband and I were raised by parents who love veggies as well.

With a mother who has also dabbled in vegetarianism, and a father who loves one hot vegetable and a salad (he's a "meat and two veg guy") with dinner, my kids don’t have a choice but to love their veggies. It’s not that I’m doing anything consciously, I’m just raising my kids the way I was raised—to be exposed to a wide-variety of foods and cuisines, to have an appreciation of where food comes from (we visit u-pick farms and participate in a weekly CSA produce delivery), to help prep and cook our meals, and to have to try everything at least once.

Here are my tips for getting kids to eat their veggies

Be upfront—I’m not an advocate of hiding veggies in food. I love them, and want my children to appreciate them for that they are.  Start cooking vegetables as “stand alone” items from the time your kids can eat table food. Once you start disguising vegetables, or dousing them in cheesy sauces, it’s harder to go back.

Raw Deal—I have found that my own children love veggies raw—so when they ask for a taste as you are chopping that pepper, radish, fennel bulb, or bunch of broccoli, let them have one. Take advantage of their interest, and if they like it, allow them to sneak another taste—and then remind them often of how much they liked that vegetable.

It’s Hip to Dip!—A great way to let veggies stand on their own and eat them raw (or lightly cooked) is to let kids dip them into their favorite sauce or dressing. With my own children, dipping was a developmental phase. For a time it seemed like everything had to be dipped into something else. If this gets your little ones to eat their vegetables, let them have it. Our favorite dips are: a dish of fragrant, fruity extra virgin olive oil sprinkled with a little sea salt; Hidden Valley Ranch dressing made fresh from the packet—like (as I mention above) my own mom did—with our own milk and mayo; apple or pear sauce; Thai peanut sauce; sun-dried tomato pesto; rosemary-white bean hummus; and tzatziki.

Cream of Zucchini and Broccoli Soup with White Truffle Oil

Yes, it's another soup recipe, but what can I say? We're a family that loves its soup! This is one that I usually start as I'm cooking breakfast in the morning and it's done by the time the kids are off to school.

 

CREAM OF ZUCCHINI AND BROCCOLI SOUP WITH WHITE TRUFFLE OIL

White truffle oil is found pretty easily now. Check your local "gourmet" grocer, cheese shop, or places like Williams-Sonoma or Sur La Table. In a pinch, you can mail order. My favorite comes my local olive oil shop and, according to the owner, it's the same kind that is used at the French Laundry. (Take that with a grain of truffle salt!)

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 5 zucchini, scubbed and sliced
• the stems of a bunch of broccoli (I used the florets for a salad), peeled and chopped
• 1 box of low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4-1 cup of heavy cream (or half-and-half, but not milk), amount depends on how liquidy the soup is and your personal preference.
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• white truffle oil

In a soup pot, saute onion, zucchini, and broccoli in a couple glugs of olive oil over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Pour in chicken broth and simmer on medium-low until broccoli is very soft and zucchini is falling apart, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat and whiz the pot with a stick blender until pureed. While whizzing, slowly pour in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowl and add a few drops (a drizzle would be overpowering) of white truffle oil.

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 11/14!

Great news! I'm really happy with our first weekly delivery from Farm Fresh To You. Customizing helped us to avoid the dreaded persimmions and grapefruit (just not my favorite fall produce), and the quality of the produce is top-notch. Looking foward to this week's delivery.

Also we ordered our Thanksgiving turkey this weekend (organic and 24 lbs!). We'll pick it up two days before Thanksgiving. Have you ordered yours?

Monday—Whole "roasted" chicken (done in the Crock-Pot), potatoes mashed with leeks, snap peas

Tuesday—Jovial pasta (amazing gluten-free pasta!) with homemade tomato sauce, green salad

Wednesday—Grilled salmon, rice, roasted delicata squash with white truffle oil

Thursday— Homemade Cream of Broccoli and Zucchini soup; salami, cheese, and crackers

Friday Family Movie Night—Movie and take out!

Saturday—Dinner out with friends

Sunday—Family dinner (not sure yet--we'll see what the veggie delivery box holds!)

How about you?

Ridiculously Easy Pumpkin Soup

This tastes way fancier than it is. It would be a lovely Thanksgiving starter, too.

CITYMAMA'S PUMPKIN SOUP

• 1 28 oz can of pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, check the label cuz I've made that mistake!)
• 1 box of organic low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 pint of heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon each: onion powder, garlic powder, sweet/Madras curry powder (I use Penzey's spices because I like the quality)
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Combine, gently heat through (without boiling), and serve. It's ridiculously easy, and ridiculously delish! Perfect for a chilly fall evening or packed into a lunchbox for a warm surprise.

 

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 11/7!

I've been sick and not cooking much (we did a fair amount of take out last week), but I'm feeling a little better this week so it's back to cooking. We are also trying a new CSA this week, and our first delivery of produce happens tomorrow. We were so disappointed by Planet Organics that I have "realistic" expectations for this one. As usual, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Monday—The girls had leftover grilled chicken and Crock-Pot scalloped potatoes. I think J. ate a protein shake and some peanuts. I ate leftover apple pie and then I went to bed at 8:30. Not my best effort, but that's what happens when Mamma is sick!

Tuesday-Leftover Turkey Chili with fixins (bell peppers, cheese, crema, pico de gallo, and FRITOS!)

Wednesday—Shoyu chicken, rice, and my favorite kale-avocado salad

Thursday—Pumpkin Soup, green salad, cheese and bread

Friday Family Movie Night—Take out Indian!

Saturday—Not quite sure yet (we'll see what the CSA delivery holds)

Sunday—Family dinner at Hippie Church

How about you?

 

Baby (Food) Makin': Baby Dash's Favorite Chicken

Of all the things that Baby Dash likes to eat, chicken is by far his favorite. He loves it mixed with sweet potato, carrot, or poi (that my local Japanese market flys in from Hawaii every Thursday). Now that Dash can feed himself (feed meaning every second attempt makes it in or near his mouth), he turns his nose up at the really smooth purees, so I keep it relatively chunky/pasty.

I've always made baby food for all of my kids and I've never bought any special babyfood making equipment fancier than a $10 hand-crank baby food mill* (which I mostly use to grind up restaurant food when we're out to eat). This chicken is whizzed up in a mini Cuisinart food processor which I use all the time for other things.

This chicken is not plain. We don't eat plain food in this family, and the quickest way I know to adapt a baby's taste to the wide variety of flavors that his family enjoys eating is to put those flavors (minus salt and sugar) into his food. So his chicken is "seasoned" as I would season a roast chicken. (We've had good luck with most foods—so far he's only reacted to eating cheeses so we avoid that for now.) Don't be afraid of experimenting with different aromatics or herbs when making baby food! It makes it more fun to cook, I think!

BABY DASH'S FAVORITE CHICKEN BABY FOOD

• Two leg+thing chicken pieces (or two drumsticks and two thighs)
• Water
• 1 small clove garlic
• 1 piece of onion (as big or small as you like)
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot

Place the chicken in a pot and cover with cold water. Add garlic, onion, celery, carrot. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked though and no longer pink. Remove chicken from pot, but save broth and veggies.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat and skin from bones and lightly chop. Discard bones. Please meat and skin in food processor along with a little broth (as needed) and grind until you reached a chunky puree. (Or add more broth and continue processing for baby that likes a smoother puree.) If desired you can also toss the veggies in to the chicken before grinding, perhaps omitting the garlic and onion if you think your baby is sensitive to it.

Makes enough to fill about 8 ice-cube-sized containers.

 

*Don't get the Anabel Karmel one—it's crap. Get the KidCo one. It's much better quality. (It's the same one my mom used when she made her baby food.)