Mamma's Cooking

Gluten free fresh pasta, really?

Yes really. I used to love making pasta from scratch and eating fresh pasta. There is just something so comforting about it. I had just gotten the handle on a good recipe when our house went gluten free. My challenge now is to find the right gluten free recipe (and get a pasta machine!). I am determined!

I knocked one item off my 2015 Cooking Bucket list and made a brown rice pasta last week. It was really good, but I don’t have a pasta machine or the attachment for my Kitchen Aid, so I tried to hand roll it, like I used to with fresh gluten filled pasta. This did not work as well. I rolled it until it was almost transparent, but it was still a little too thick and gummy when I cooked it. Taste was there, but consistency was not. This was the recipe I used: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/05/gluten-free-fresh-pasta-recipe.html. I may try a couple of other recipes to see if hand rolling can work with them. If they don’t, you know what my next investment will be!

I didn’t have any sauce in the house, so used some tomatoes, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and sauteed together for a about 10-15 minutes.

I served it with some steamed peas and sockeye salmon I cooked in a foil packet in the oven with salt, pepper, lemon slices.

This weekend I may try to make Julia Child’s coq au vin! Not the most appropriate football or tailgating food, but hopefully it will be good 🙂 Here is a link to some old blogs that have more gameday appropriate food.

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Rethinking my cooking bucket list and looking forward to 2015

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! We made it through the holidays with only slight cross-contamination issues. Paul had minor reactions, but fortunately nothing too bad. One instance was completely my fault. I was so excited that he wanted to try a pickle because he usually won’t touch them, that I didn’t even think to look until after he ate a couple of bites whether or not it was gluten free. Sure enough, he woke up with stomach pains that night.

I managed to cook a completely gluten free Christmas dinner with grilled pork roast (started on grill and finished in oven) with a blueberry balsamic brown sugar gravy, mashed potatoes with marscapone, goat cheese, gruyere and of course butter. I roasted brussel sprouts with bacon (fresh from the pig of a co-worker of Tim’s) and we had a salad.

Dessert was a chocolate trifle with chocolate pudding, GF brownies and fresh whipped cream. Then people could choose to top it with crushed heath bar or GF oreos.

I even made most of the same treats I usually do at Christmas, just gave them a gluten free spin! I used Snyder’s gluten free pretzels and Hershey kisses to make a salty-sweet treat and I used the sugar cookie recipe on the back of the GF King Arthur Flour box to make sugar cookies that were a big hit!

My mom also helped the kids decorate gingerbread houses. I used plastic houses that you just put the frosting on and stick the candies on. Great for gluten free eating! No one really eats the gingerbread anyway 🙂

Earlier my dad and I made gluten free boerwors, which is becoming a yearly tradition 🙂 We had it the day after Christmas for another family party with the traditional pap (kind of like polenta) and a tomato and onion sauce.

Now it is time for school vacation. I am also taking the week off work to be with the kids. Hopefully I’ll get some cooking done to make the craziness of school/work weeks a little easier until February vacation. I’m also taking some time to reflect, as I usually do about my cooking bucket list of the past year and what to add for this year. I had to put my cooking bucket list last year on hold to make room for a new way of cooking, eating and feeding my family, due to my son’s Celiac diagnosis. I would like to revisit some of my favorites, making them gluten free and add some new goals as we continue on this journey.

This was my 2014 list, I actually finished 4 items :

Cooking bucket list for 2014:

1. Rusks (think South African biscotti)

2. Macaroons – COMPLETED!

3. Scones – COMPLETED

4. Brussel Sprouts (I’ve never cooked them. My husband loves them, so I’m taking one for the team so my kids won’t inherit my food prejudices 🙂 ) – COMPLETED

5. Pretzels

6. Poached Salmon

7. Beef Wellington

8. Coq au Vin

9. Khachapuri (a Georgian cheesy bread)

10. Duck (not necessarily a whole duck, we’ll see how adventurous I feel)

11. Tortillas – COMPLETED! AND THEY WERE GLUTEN FREE!

12. Chilaquiles (My favorite Mexican breakfast!!)

So for 2015, here are my gluten free goals and cooking bucket list:

1. Gluten free Pretzels or pretzel rolls
2. Poached Salmon (can easily be done naturally gluten free)
3. Gluten free Puff pastry
4. Gluten free Beef Wellington (need to do #3 1st!)
5. Coq au Vin (can easily be done naturally gluten free)
6. Duck (can easily be done naturally gluten free)
7. Chilaquiles (can easily be done naturally gluten free)
8. Find my own blend of GFflours that make best all purpose flour
9. Gluten free pasta from scratch
10. Gluten free gnocchi from scratch
11. Gluten free bread from scratch that is good enough for anyone to eat!
12. Gluten free pizza dough that is good enough for anyone to eat!

Well, looks like I have some cooking to do! I am also going to try as much as possible to cook one recipe from my cookbooks each week. I have many, many new gluten free cookbooks to explore and recipes in old cookbooks to make gluten free! I’ll need more than a year to do that 🙂 I will keep you all posted, probably through Facebook when I have time. I’m always here to answer questions and chat about food though! Feel free to email me at mammascooking@gmail.com or post a question on my Facebook page. Wishing you all the best in 2015!

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Back to reality, work and school…

I finally feel like I am coming out of the storm that was in my head after my son’s celiac diagnosis. I have my cooking groove back. We even made a trip out to the midwest and hosted friends at our house without any incident. I feel more grounded, more myself. I grilled pizza for the first time in a long time! One gluten free and one not. No cross contamination! Yay! Now I just need to figure out who to make my own gluten free pizza dough and how to make my gluten filled pizza dough without feeling like I have to scrub down the entire kitchen so no flour cross contaminates anything! We also met with my son’s nutritionist at Children’s, who made me feel good, like we are on the right track. Woo hoo! Let’s just hope his blood tests in the fall come back showing that the diet is working! Fingers crossed.

Anyway, back to the food! End of summer and early fall still leaves plenty of time to grill. I love to grill pizza, sausages, steak, chicken, pork, salmon, shrimp, corn, green beans, zucchini and I could keep going. To make our grill gluten free, I scrubbed it down and then turned all the burners on and let everything just cook off for about 30 minutes. When I grill something with gluten, like pizza, I usually cover that section of the grill with foil and go through the heating process before the next time I grill. I’m probably going a little overboard, but better safe than sorry!

I’m starting to see my favorite fall foods in the grocery stores…butternut squash, acorn squash, I can’t wait! That however means its also back to school and for me back to work! My kids will all be in school full day so that means three lunches to make, everyday. I have to also send a snack for my 1st grader and donate bulk for the class for the twins and make sure Paul has a selection of gluten free snacks at school. My entire Friday was basically spent at 2 different grocery stores and I still didn’t get everything! Luckily the 2nd store (Big Y) has a Kid’s club, where the kids are happy to play the Wii while I shop, but of course make the sitter buzz me while I’m in the middle of checking out because they have to the go the bathroom 🙂

Here is what my menu plan looks like for back to school week, starting with tomorrow, Tuesday (the first day of school!):

Tuesday

Breakfast – oatmeal and fruit (if I find the energy tomorrow I will make THIS one in the crock pot over night, if not it is Chex gluten free oatmeal packets. (Oats are inherently gluten free, but are often grown and/or processed with wheat, so you have to make sure it is gluten free if you need that).

Lunch – Leftover asian noodles (used rice noodles and gf soy sauce with leftover grilled chicken for dinner on Monday night), hummus with carrots and fruit

Dinner – Grilled cheese and french onion soup in the crock pot. I have adapted the recipe linked from my earlier blog post and just throw everything in the crockpot (substitute white balsamic for the beer) for 6-8 hours on low.

Snacks – yogurt, grapes

Wednesday

Breakfast – hard boiled eggs with fruit

Lunch – ham and cheese or sun butter (hopefully the kids like it! I have never used it before) and jelly sandwiches with fruit. (I use Udi’s bread for Paul)

Dinner – pancakes [King Arthur Flour’s GF pancake mix or Bisquik’s GF pancake mix are the best I’ve found so far, until I make my own blend :)] and sausage with fruit

Snacks – cheese and crackers, bananas

Thursday

Breakfast – cereal and fruit

Lunch – turkey and cream cheese roll ups, celery, sunbutter and craisin “ants on a log” and pretzels

Dinner – Pasta with meatballs (going to try ronzoni gluten free) and the meatballs are Mama Mancini’s Gluten Free from the fridge section in Shaw’s. I add some fresh ricotta and basil. Yum.

Snacks – yogurt, plums

Friday

Breakfast – Toast with peanut butter and honey and fruit

Lunch – ham and cheese or sunbutter and jelly sandwiches with fruit OR Leftovers

Dinner – Pizza (I usually use Udi’s GF crust for the kids and whole foods or trader joe’s pizza dough for Tim and I) served with salad or carrots and hummus and fruit.

Snacks – celery, cream cheese and craisin “ants on a snow covered log”, pirates booty

Coming up…if the cold weather starts to set in, chili with zucchini cheddar corn bread and my butternut squash soup! all in the crock pot 🙂 Stay tuned! I’m writing down my ingredients now so will actually have measurements for recipes!

Good luck with the new school year everyone! You can always ask Mamma if you need any new ideas or have a question about what to make! Just email me at mammascooking@gmail.com.

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Gluten Free Grilling….it’s really good. Really!

I know, I know, some of you still think gluten free is a fad and many think it doesn’t taste good. For us that is definitely not the truth. It has not changed my menus as much as I thought it would. It just changes the preparation and how I shop. I don’t use the same ketchup for example or hot dogs or soy sauce, but I still use all those items. They just have a gluten free version. Some gluten free versions of things are the same but some are not. By process of elimination and good advice 🙂 we are figuring out what works for us. Betty Crocker’s gluten free brownie mix…Goooood! Bob’s Red Mill pancake mix…not so good.

Tonight we had some delicious (if I say so myself) grilled chicken, green beans and potato salad. I marinated the chicken (drumsticks and thighs) in one part olive oil, one and a half part balsamic vinegar (Trader Joe’s told me that theirs is gluten free), one garlic clove (minced), teaspoon onion powder, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary from our garden or a 2 tablespoons of dry. Throw them on a hot grill to sear on both sides then move to top rack of grill to cook on indirect heat. Use a meat thermometer to make sure its cooked through to 170-180. Takes about 20-30 minutes.

For the green beans Karina, Tim and I cleaned them by snapping off the ends. I tossed them with 2 Tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, 1/4 tsp onion powder and a dash of garlic powder. Made an envelope out of foil and enclosed the green beans in them and put them on the grill. On direct heat for first 3-4 minutes then turn burners off and grill for another 5-6 minutes.

The potato salad was leftover from the 4th of July party we went to a friend’s house yesterday. Hannaford’s cleverly put the bags of small potatoes next to each other. One was yukon gold (white), other was red potatoes (red) and lastly purple potatoes (or blue). Of course I fell for that marketing ploy and bought a bag of each 🙂 I boiled them in salt water and then tossed with one 4 oz Fage plain greek yogurt (GF) with a couple of squirts of Stop and Shop Honey mustard (GF) and a couple of chopped sprigs of dill from our garden. Even better today. I kept a small bowl of the potatoes without dressing aside, because my kids don’t like it.

Nice way to end a beautiful day. Sunny and low 80s with a nice breeze. Wish everyday could feel like this. Summertime 🙂

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A New Food Adventure…Gluten-free not just trendy but necessary

This has been my longest hiatus from posting since I started Mamma’s Cooking over 6 years ago. This blog has morphed along with the changes in our family. Initially, I blogged about making food for my first baby. Then it went through her toddler years with the addition of her twin brothers and my back and forth working outside of the house, working from home and periods of hard work as a stay-at-home mom. That boomerang has continued for the past 4 years as I strive, like many, to find that balance between career, home and self.

If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen some of the recent changes to our family diet. Our weekly pasta nights, quesadilla nights, pizza nights and pancake Sundays have been turned upside down. My son, Paul, was diagnosed with Celiac disease. This is an autoimmune disorder that effects the stomach and esophagus. He had stomach issues for a while, we tried cutting out dairy to no avail and I asked his doctor to test him. Autoimmune disorders, including Celiac, run in my family. Today there is a simple blood test that can tell you if you are likely to have celiac. An endoscopy can confirm it. Let me tell you how fun that was with a 3 year old stubborn boy who hates being told what to do! The Celiac diagnosis is a blessing in disguise. Yes, I’d rather he did not have it, but if he gets “glutened” once it is not going to require an epi pen or hospitalization for an allergic reaction. Rather, if he is continually “glutened” it will have severe consequences for his health and growth.

I thought gluten-free was just a trend. Everyone is going gluten-free. There are people, like Paul, who need to be completely gluten-free and others who do it to help them eat less processed food and live a healthier lifestyle. It has made us eat healthier. It also costs a lot more but we wouldn’t think twice about paying for a medication, so why not pay more for gluten free foods to keep up health?

It has been overwhelming, but will be manageable. We eat lots of the same items, just healthier versions. Sure, Paul asks sometimes for Goldfish or cake, but there are so many alternatives these days that he is easily appeased and distracted. Visiting other people’s houses and eating out are a challenge, but nothing that we cannot overcome.

This is a copy of the email we sent to family when we discovered the diagnosis,

“Hope you all are well. We are settling in back at home after a whirlwind trip to Disney World last week. The kids had a blast! Fortunately and unfortunately, just before we left we got an official diagnosis of Celiac disease for Paul. He has had stomach issues for months and we have tried various things, but knowing that celiac and autoimmune diseases run in the our family, Marie pushed to have him tested and there is something to be said for a mother’s intuition 🙂

We just wanted to give you all a little information on Celiac if you are interested in learning more. We do not expect when we visit your homes for you to be fully prepared for gluten free meals. We will have a travel kit so we make sure to keep Paul safe. Unfortunately even a crumb can set off a flare up once gluten has been fully removed. We even had to buy a separate toaster, utensils, plates, tupperware, cutting boards, etc for our kitchen! Gluten is in things you wouldn’t even think of like ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, some candies,some ice cream and more. He can’t even have things made on equipment that may have wheat. Oats are a good example of something that is naturally gluten free but is often grown in the same fields and processed in the same factories as wheat, so it must say gluten free on the box/bag or else it is not safe.

We are trying to teach Paul not to accept food offered without asking first if it is gluten free, but for now are just not letting him accept offered food. He doesn’t fully understand yet, but with the help of our GI and nutritionist at Children’s and his teachers and nurse at his pre-school he will adapt 🙂

Here is a link to some great information from Children’s:http://www.childrenshospital.org/centers-and-services/programs/a-_-e/celiac-disease-program/support-group

If you have any questions, let us know.”

We have been grilling a lot and eating brown rice pasta and taco shells that are gluten free. We found a great gluten free pizza crust (Udi’s) that works really well until I figure out my own recipe. We still have pizza night, taco Tuesday and pancake Sunday, just modified. There are so many wonderful foods that are naturally gluten free, we just need to make sure that they are not processed with any wheat, rye, barley or related products.

Paul is now feeling better, smiling, potty trained!!!!, and enjoying life as a healthy 4 year old. My new bucket list and food challenges will come, but this year keeping everyone healthy is first on our minds. I hope you’ll stay with me as I document this journey.

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Bucket list completed and new goals for 2014!

Fourth day into the new year and we are sitting in the house with piles of snow outside warming up after the final round of shoveling. Feels like deja vu from all the storms we had last February. While my kids play bowling on the Wii and my husband is working from home, I am taking a few minutes to give you an update on my cooking bucket list of 2013…oh wait, Neil wants milk and Karina already wants a snack…So back to the bucket list…What’s that Paul? You want some juice?…and this is why I haven’t written a blog in a few months. If I get a chance before complete meltdowns from cabin fever occur, I also want to write my goals for my 2014 cooking bucket list and some new projects.

2013 Cooking Bucket list – COMPLETE!* (and I did 5 of them in December again)

1. Boerevors sausage (South African farmer’s sausage)

I made 5 batches of this sausage tweaking the recipe each time. Over the holidays my dad and I made the best batch so far! That recipe will be a family secret for now 🙂

2. Souffle

I made a chocolate souffle using Martha Stewart’s recipe as a guide. Didn’t rise as much as I wanted it to, but it was gone in 10 minutes!

3. Melk tert (a South African milk tart)

I used my mother’s recipe and it was delicious. Instead of making a crust, I used the mini phyllo shells, which got a little soggy in the fridge overnight. Next time I would either serve them immediately or use the crust in the recipe if making ahead.

4. Pasta

I ended up make canneloni and filling it with ricotta and spinach and serving with tomato sauce. Delicious! Not as thin as they would be had a I used a pasta machine, but thin enough. Karina and I rolled and rolled and rolled until thin. I made a version of a dish I had last year when I went to Mario Batali’s Eatly in NYC.

5. Carbonara

This was delicious! The whole family loved it. I mean, bacon, eggs, cheese, peas and pasta. You really can’t go wrong. Traditional is with spaghetti or linguine noodles but the kids chose the orecchiette.

6. Filet a whole fish

I cleaned and filleted a red snapper. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it and turned it into the most delicious ceviche!

7. Ceviche

This was my favorite. “Cooked” the snapper in lime juice for 4 hours and tossed it with avocado, tomatoes, a little red onion, olive oil and cilantro and ate it with tortilla chips. LOVED IT! Karina even loved it. Now that I’ve done it once though, I will definitely ask the fish monger to clean and filet it for me. Make sure you tell the fishmonger that you are making ceviche and want a fish that was brought in that morning. Call ahead. It is worth it!

8. Paella

This was also a family favorite. I made some spanish chorizo from scratch, brined the chicken using smoked paprika and cumin. Everything came out great, except the mussels. I didn’t time those right and some didn’t open enough. I will definitely make this again!

9. Octopus* – Did not do this the Octopus that were available were on the “Avoid” list of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch.

10. Jam

So I may have copped out a little on this one, but I never said I would do canning 🙂 I just simmered a bunch of berries over the summer that were on the verge of going bad. Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries cooked with a little bit of water, balsamic vinegar and sugar. It was delicious on ice cream and on toast for breakfast.

11. Yorkshire pudding

This was delicious! I will definitely be making this again. It is super easy. So much easier than I thought it would be. I looked at a couple of recipes and used this one from allrecipes.com. I didn’t make a roast that night, so I replaced the beef drippings with beef stock and served it with some leftover sausage and squash.

12. Cream puffs

I used one of my South African cookbooks for this and it was fairly successful. The best discovery was the “mock” pastry cream recipe from the de Villiers, Cook it and Enjoy It. You just whip together a little butter with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Amazing!

For 2014 I have created a bucket list for the year and I’m starting on an ambitious project of cooking a recipe from one of my cookbooks each week, that I have not made before. I have 50 cookbooks, so that gives me 2 weeks off 🙂 Hopefully I will have time to blog about it. If not visit my Facebook page to get updates!

Cooking bucket list for 2014:

1. Rusks (think South African biscotti)

2. Macaroons

3. Scones

4. Brussel Sprouts (I’ve never cooked them. My husband loves them, so I’m taking one for the team so my kids won’t inherit my food prejudices 🙂 )

5. Pretzels

6. Poached Salmon

7. Beef Wellington

8. Coq au Vin

9. Khachapuri (a Georgian cheesy bread)

10. Duck (not necessarily a whole duck, we’ll see how adventurous I feel)

11. Tortillas

12. Chilaquiles (My favorite Mexican breakfast!!)

Happy New Year everyone!

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I’m still here and still cooking

Hello everyone! I am still here, grilling, spending time with the family and working. I’m hoping to kick the blog up again this fall!

As we head in to the end of summer, I pledge to write again. I have been cooking and taking photos, so watch for fun school lunches, easy dinners, easy entertaining meals, breakfasts and more! I will finish my cooking bucket list, even though I haven’t started it yet! I will enter new worlds (for me) of technology like instagram and ramp up my presence on Facebook and Twitter. So stay with me! If there is anything you would like me to write about or try to cook for you all, send me a an email, mammascooking@gmail.com or like me on Facebook and tell me there!

The picture above is a pork sirloin roast marinated in an Asian-style sauce and basted each time I turned it on the grill. I served it with cooked spaghetti, extra sauce (not used to marinade) and steamed broccoli. The Asian-style sauce is a version of one of my go to sauces, but with a minced garlic clove added and a little extra brown sugar to caramelize on the outside. Make sure you keep some of the marinade aside to use for basting and for tossing with the noodles.

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Getting kids into the kitchen

Finding time to blog is proving to be harder than finding time to cook lately. Whether its dealing with sick kids, sick Mamma or Daddy, long mornings playing outside, working and getting all of our chores done, there always seems to be something more to do. I am trying more and more to get the kids involved in the kitchen, so I can have time to be in there myself. Here are some ideas for how to get your kids to help you cook when you don’t want to kick them out of the kitchen and be on your own 🙂 I tell my kids there is one rule to cooking with Mamma in the kitchen and if they don’t follow it, they don’t get to help – “Listen and do exactly what I say.” This has been surprisingly effective. Karina was kicked out of the kitchen on 2 different occasions and now does exactly what I say, in the kitchen at least.

1. Let them stand next to you and watch. This way while you are cooking, as you are about to do something think about whether or not they can try it and let them try. Even my 2 and half year olds can add a pinch of salt or sprinkle a seasoning that comes out slowly. Break an egg into a dish and let them pour it in. If you need to add water, let them fill the cup and pour it in. It does take a little longer but gives them a great sense of accomplishment.

2. Let them mix. Slowly, slowly, slowly 🙂 Then Mamma has a turn and goes fast, fast, fast. Then its their turn, slowly, slowly, slowly. Mamma’s turn, fast, fast, fast. You get the idea.

3. Let them shake. If you need to coat something, like chicken or vegetables with seasoning, put it in a plastic bag, close it and let them shake it.

4. Let them have a task all to themselves. This can be as easy as have them get their plates (non breakable ones), cutlery, napkins, cups, etc. ready. If they can use the sink without flooding the room, have them wash the vegetables, scrub potatoes or just press the spinner on the salad spinner.

5. Let them press buttons. When using the coffee grinder, blender or food processor let them press the button. Whenever I make smoothies, they know as soon as the mini food processor comes out and clamor all over me to get to press the button. Hold them up and tell them what numbers to press on the microwave.

Use your imagination or just think of things you don’t like doing and realize that now you have someone who will probably love doing it 🙂 Its not always foolproof but, if they have a hand in making it, they are more likely to eat it.

Here is a recipe for my kids’ new favorite lunch or easy dinner:

Corn pancakes, hot dogs and broccoli with peas:

Ingredients
1 package Jiffy cornbread mix
1 Egg
2 Tbsp of shortening, melted (I used melted butter, since that was all I had in the house)
3/4 cup Milk
Handful of Shredded carrot (or zucchini or broccoli, whatever vegetable you like or just leave it out)
Hot dogs (I use all beef hot dogs, use whatever you like)
Broccoli florets (fresh or frozen, whatever you have. Use any vegetable you like or think your kids might eat)
Peas

Make pancake mix on side according to box (or use your own favorite corn pancake recipe). You can let the kids mix it. Then add in the shredded vegetables if you are using them. Turn your griddle on or whatever you use to make pancakes and spray with cooking spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of mix for each pancake onto the griddle once its hot. Cook the hot dogs however you like to, on the grill, boiled in water, sauteed in pan. Steam vegetables or roast in oven. I like to roast the broccoli for 10-15 minutes after its been tossed in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. This even works with frozen broccoli.

I have been working on some cooking contests, trying to cook some of my Pinterest pins and fine tuning my meal planning. I’ll post more about those in the next couple of months and hopefully will get further along on my bucket list. Enjoy the start of spring!

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Dinner in a hurry

With our new winter schedule, like many of you, I am once again trying to get back into a menu planning groove. Dinner more often than not is a rushed affair complicated by potty training two toddlers and a 5 year old who just wants to help in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great things, but when you are trying to get dinner on the table in under 30 minutes, spending 10 minutes in the bathroom every 10-15 minutes while trying to figure out what you can delegate to a 5 year old without putting her in danger of burning her hands or cutting off a finger, is a challenge.

One of the twins also wants to help in the kitchen, so it is taking even more planning on my part to figure out what tasks I can give them, because I really want them to be involved and interested in their food. Many nights however, I politely shoo them out of the kitchen and turn on the TV or some music and that gives me about 10 minutes to get myself organized. Why is it that they can entertain themselves fine earlier in the afternoon, but if I really need to get food on the table, they can’t do without Mamma 🙂

My lofty goal is to take 15 minutes to plan our meals for the week on Monday nights while my husband is giving the kids a bath, since I mostly go shopping on Tuesdays. I have been writing it directly into my planner (yes, I know I’m old school and inefficient and still carry a hard copy of a day planner even though most items are on my Iphone calendar too, but I like to see it writing).

Here is an example of a week:

Tuesday: Roast chicken with potatoes, carrots and onions and spaghetti squash. I based mine on this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis but used what I had on hand for the vegetables. I roasted the spaghetti squash separately.

Wednesday: Pinterest recipe that is simple, few ingredients and tastes amazing!! Pad Thai. You can keep it vegetarian like the recipe or use leftover chicken, shrimp, steak, whatever you have. I used the rest of the roast chicken and rice vinegar instead of lime juice because I forgot to add limes to my grocery list. Still tasted great.

Thursday: What Karina calls “Eggy Pie” aka Quiche. You can make your own crust (don’t be afraid! Its easy with the food processor and this recipe from Gourmet) or store bought is perfectly fine. Whip up about 5-6 eggs with about 1/4 cup milk or cream, salt, pepper, 1 minced garlic clove. I added in the leftover potatoes, carrots and onions from Tuesday night’s dinner and a couple of handfuls of spinach, a diced tomato, some bacon and feta. If you don’t have any leftovers to throw in, chop a jar of artichokes and you have a delicious spinach and artichoke quiche. I cook or heat up the filling (bacon, spinach, artichokes, onions, etc) first while the crust is baking. Then I take the crust out of the oven, pile the filling in it and then pour in the the egg and milk mixture. Drop some feta around the whole pie and sprinkle with mozzarella on top and bake. I can never get the timing right. It took about 40 minutes to cook. I had some hungry, grumpy kids on my hands, so fended them off with oranges 🙂

Friday: Take out Chinese food 🙂

Saturday: Shepherd’s pie. Made this ahead for Tim and the kids because I had a fun girls weekend in NYC 🙂 I made mashed potatoes with half sweet potatoes and half russet potatoes. The meat I ground myself and was a mixture of pork and beef. I LOVE my new KitchenAid grinder attachment! Ground meat just tastes so much better, more fresh when you grind it yourself, not to mention you know exactly what’s in it. Take’s 10 minutes and is worth it!

Sunday: Pumpkin pasta bake. I also made this before I left for my trip, since I knew I would be home just in time for dinner. I just boiled some curly q noodles according to the package, drained them. In the same pot, I added about a jar of sauce (Bertoli Tomato and Basil), 1/3 cup of chive cottage cheese, 1/2 small can of pumpkin puree (make sure its not pumpkin pie filling! just plain pumpkin. Trust me. I’ve made that mistake before), salt and pepper. Mix it all together and heat for about 5 minutes. Put in casserole dish, cover with shredded mozzarella.

Pastas, rice pilaf in the rice cooker, fresh fish, frozen cooked shrimp, kielbasa, frozen Trader Joe’s meatballs, store bought mashed potatoes, zucchini, steak and squash that can be made in under 30 minutes are what I tend to make dinners from when I’m in a pinch.

Keep safe New Englanders! Here is a link to food safety guidelines if your power goes out. I have both crock pots going right now to cook a roast and sausage and potatoes so we will have some cooked food to eat, which I can store in my garage since it will stay below 40 degrees and I don’t want to lose my last batch of boerewors!

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100th post! Sausage done!

I have spent some time thinking about how monumental this 100th post is and thanks to all of you it follows the most successful post I’ve had so far! If you have been reading this blog from the beginning or just started now, you can see that I love to entertain and cook comfort food, food from my childhood and newly discovered recipes (thank you Pinterest and other bloggers!). This is why I started the bucket list last year and have a new one this year.

I love to learn new techniques and recreate (or attempt to recreate) food from my past. My family is from South Africa, so I occasionally try traditional South African foods. My husband’s family is Swedish and we lived in the Scandinavian area of Seattle (Ya sure Ya Betcha Ballard!) for 8 years, so I try Scandinavian dishes from time to time. We live in Boston, so I try to add traditional New England dishes in. My family LOVES Asian food, so I also work that into our weekly repertoire. My husband lived in Mexico for a time, I have visited and certain Mexican inspired dishes are easy go to meals, so I cook them too. We are an international family, living in a world that is increasingly influenced by global trends and luckily foods! I don’t shop at specialty stores, because I don’t have the time. I shop at our local Hannafords (mostly) and Trader Joe’s, until the convenient farmer’s markets show up again 🙂 And yes, I do occasionally shop at Target when I’m there for other things because its convenient (for those in the Seattle area, I miss Fred Meyer!).

Here is where, if you don’t like meat, look away 🙂 I’ll write you a great post next week! There is a good polenta recipe below that is worth it though!

One of the first items on my bucket list for the year is making my own sausage. I can proudly say I did it!! I based mine on the recipe my Dad used to make boerwors, a South African farmer’s sausage. I used to enjoy making it with him. I did not enjoy the hand crank grinder and sausage maker, so my Kitchen Aid attachments made the work seem much lighter.

I went to Roxie’s in Quincy, MA (where my dad and I used to go) and got the natural casings and the meat. That place is no joke! I got there a couple minutes before it opened one Sunday morning and the line was already out the door! The meat prices are great and it is good quality, but wow! I would have thought a rock star was inside.

Ingredients
natural casings (hog casings work best)
ground beef (I ground my own chuck)
ground pork (I ground my own tenderloin)
lard (I couldn’t find lard, so used beef fat)
ground coriander
ground cloves
red wine vinegar
salt

I cut the meat up into 1 inch pieces and added all the spices and vinegar and then put it through the grinder.

I cooked a small patty of the sausage to check the flavor and it was good. Then I put the sausage maker attachment on the KitchenAid and put the casings on and started putting the meat through. It was much easier than I thought! Karina even helped.

I let it rest for 24 hours and we had a feast the next night! Next time I would use lard or pork fat which is softer and more of all the spices.

If you want more details on the amounts and process, feel free to email me, mammascooking@gmail.com.

The traditional boerwors sausage is grilled and served with “pap en sous” (corn porridge and a tomato and onion sauce). I made the rest of the meal easy and made polenta in the slow cooker (this is a good recipe, just add more salt and cheese as its a little bland) and served it some sauteed peppers, zucchini and onions, since I was out of tomatoes (canned or fresh).