Archive for the 'family dinner' Category

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Christmas Eve, A Backwards Glance

January 6th, 2009

by Lisa
I’m not sure how or why our tradition of fish on Christmas Eve began, but its roots stretch back to my childhood, when we celebrated with close friends. When it was my mother’s turn to host, she very often made a really delicious shrimp and rigatoni dish, accented with tomatoes and feta cheese.  Those [...]

Dinner Everybody Eats: Pasta with Chickpeas and Almonds

December 17th, 2008

by Caroline
I spotted this in a magazine and thought it had a chance. Ben didn’t care for the chickpeas, but everyone else thought it was delicious. Bonus: this is an easy pantry supper that comes together really quickly.
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
7 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1 pound angel hair pasta (we used spaghetti)
1 15.5-ounce can [...]

The Great Pumpkin

December 9th, 2008

by Lisa
Halloween and Thanksgiving are long past, but today, some beast grabbed me and urged me to cut into the Galeux d’Eysines pumpkin I purchased in October. It was a gorgeous pale pink, and covered in sugar warts. It was gnarly, ugly and completely fascinating.

It was easy to cut, as far as pumpkins go but [...]

Pasta Puttanesca, 2 Ways

November 25th, 2008

by Caroline
Thanksgiving prep is starting early this year as preliminary reports from my brother-in-law indicate that the rental house has an Inadequate Kitchen. So Tony and I have each made one kind of cranberry sauce, my mom’s brown and serve wheat germ rolls are rising, and the wild rice is cooking for the vegetarian entree. [...]

Dollars and Sense, one mother’s manifesto

November 21st, 2008

By Lisa
With the economy in freefall, and no real end in sight, many of us are thinking about money and our weekly budgets, and how to save where we can.  I’ve heard people talking about bundling phone, internet, cable, getting rid of their landlines, adjusting their car & homeowners insurance–all in an attempt to get [...]

Peppers, The Prequel

November 7th, 2008

By Lisa

The padrone-eating incident (now updated with pictures) was not without precedent.
One of our family staples, especially when it’s high pepper season, is dish of roasted red peppers bathed in olive oil, with capers, garlic, and anchovies.
Before you stop reading at “anchovy,” please consider this: a mysterious alchemy occurs when the peppers meet anchovies and [...]

Some Like ‘em Hot, a Pepper Conundrum

November 6th, 2008

By Lisa
Most of the time, we want our kids to eat what we eat, right? And most of the time, we work really hard to get them to eat what we put on the table, right?
It’s been our general philosophy that the kids eat what we eat. End of story. In our home, this has [...]

Feeding 3 Generations

November 5th, 2008

by Caroline
My parents are visiting from Connecticut this week, and for me it’s a good excuse to slow down and spend a bit more time in the kitchen. I won’t spend every free minute writing or editing; instead, I’ll go through the binders full of torn-out magazine and newspaper recipes, page through the dozens of [...]

Chez Nous

November 3rd, 2008

by Lisa
For as long as I can remember I have wanted a chalkboard wall.
I have suggested: the back of the front door, the interior kitchen doors, the children’s exterior hallway doors, the outdoor fence.
It has all come to naught.
No one in my family has understood this deep longing.
Until now.
A few weeks ago, driven by one [...]

Dinners Everybody Eats: An Optimistic Series

October 14th, 2008

posted by Caroline
I realize that just by writing that title, I run the risk of losing once-happy eaters from our dinner table; somehow they will sense that I consider this meal a winner, and they’ll cringe and complain next time it appears on the table. Eli, using the phrase he adopted from our winter-long reading [...]

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