Podcast 93: Bring Back Sunday Dinner

by The Meal Makeover Moms on February 16th, 2010

Back in November, Janice’s mom, Carol, and Liz’s mother-in-law, Joy, joined us for a Cooking with the Moms radio podcast dedicated to kitchens of the past and present, and dream kitchens of the future (podcast #83). If you didn’t get a chance to listen to the show, we hope you’ll tune in. While Joy was visiting from England, the four of us recorded a second show all about Sunday dinners.  Our memories of sitting around the family dinner table on Sunday afternoons came flooding back, though Liz found Janice’s reminiscing about eating Welsh rarebit for supper later on Sundays a bit disturbing!

Joy and Josh about to dig into a delicious Sunday dinner of roasted chicken and vegetables and Yorkshire pudding.

These days, with families running in a million different directions, carving out the time for shared meals has become a challenge. Research shows, however, that when families eat together, kids consume a more nutritious diet, so we encourage everyone to make it a priority. To do that, during the podcast, we tossed out some simple tips for making family meals a reality more often — especially Sunday Dinner, and we  shared some fresh ideas for making mealtime more enjoyable for everyone:

> Happy Talk: Ask positive, open-ended questions to ignite conversation versus tempers at the table.
> Family Theme Nights: Theme nights such as Build-Your-Own-Pizza Night, Taco Fiesta Night, and Spaghetti & Meatballs Night add excitement to the meal and encourage kids to try new foods.
> Play Games: Try a spelling bee, GHOST, or Janice’s infamous button game (you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what it is) to keep kids at the dinner table and to foster fond memories of shared meals.
> Set an Attractive Table: Bring the family’s full attention to the table by lighting candles, using colorful napkins, or placing fresh flowers in the center.
> Dinner Date: Once a month, allow each child to invite a special friend for dinner. Your child can help you plan the menu and set the table.

Liz’s newly decorated dining room. It reminds her of Joy’s blue-and-white themed dining room back in England.

What follows are two recipes Joy and Liz cooked up together. The first is for Thyme Roasted Chicken and the second for Joy’s Yorkshire pudding, a British side dish similar to a popover. We had a tough time writing up the exact ingredients for this recipe since Joy tends to cook by feel versus using precise measurements, and Liz’s equipment and appliances didn’t exactly jive with Joy’s European ones. So, to avoid any confusion, we decided to share a few links to recipes for Yorkshire pudding instead.

 Thyme Roasted Chicken
Makes 4 Servings (with enough left over for two more meals)

  • 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 to 2 small garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • One 4 ½ – to 5-pound roasting chicken
  • Kosher salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Combine the olive oil, parsley, thyme, garlic and salt in a small bowl and mix well.

3. Place the chicken on a work surface or cutting board. Loosen the skin from the chicken breast and drumsticks by inserting your fingers and gently pushing between the skin and meat. Rub the seasoning mixture under the loosened skin. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and place breast side up on a broiler or roasting pan in the center of the oven.

4. Bake until the chicken turns golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer registers 180°F, about 1 hour and 20 minutes (18 to 20 minutes per pound). Discard the skin, slice the meat and serve, reserving leftovers for the next two nights.

Nutrition Information per Serving:  190 Calories, 6g Total Fat, 1.5g Saturated Fat, 0g Carbohydrate, 0g Fiber, 32g Protein, 220mg Sodium

Print Recipe

Yorkshire Pudding from Martha Stewart
Yorkshire Pudding with Roast from Alton Brown
Yorkshire Pudding from Tyler Florence

Do you have fond memories of Sunday dinner? What are your favorite Sunday dinner recipes? And what do you do to make family meals a priority? We’d love to hear from you.

| |
1 Comment | Filed Under Dinner, Podcast, Poultry, Sides 

Cuisinart Covered Casserole Giveaway & Piping-Hot Peanut Butter Soup Recipe

by The Meal Makeover Moms on January 21st, 2010

January is National Soup Month (no surprise there), and to celebrate we’re giving away a gorgeous Cuisinart 5 QT Round Covered Casserole, perfect for cooking savory soups and stews on cold winter days. To enter, all you have to do is post a comment here or to our Facebook Fan Page with your family’s favorite soup recipe (see below for more entry details).

We’ve also cooked up a steamy new recipe for Piping-Hot Peanut Butter Soup. This soup is a huge hit with our kids. Something magical happens when the flavors of the peanut butter and all those seasonings — cumin, curry, cinnamon — hit the taste buds. This soup has big-time kid appeal, so we hope you’ll give it a try.

Piping-Hot Peanut Butter Soup

Makes 7 Servings

The inspiration for this recipe came from Janice’s sister Lori who got the recipe from Apollo’s Pasta & Pizza restaurant in Olympia, WA. Her husband and kids absolutely love the soup which motivated us to give it a try. After a few Meal Makeover Mom tweaks, we created a soup that your family will gobble up, and that’s a promise.

  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped (about ¾ cup)
  • 1 large orange or red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch dice (about 1 ¼ cups)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • One 32-ounce container all-natural chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  • One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup chopped cooked chicken (we cut the meat into ¼-inch pieces)
  • 3/4 cup instant brown rice
  • 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • Unsalted, roasted peanuts, chopped, optional

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the peppers soften, an additional 5 minutes.

2. Stir in the broth, tomato sauce, curry powder, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, celery salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer 30 to 60 minutes.

3. Whisk in the chicken, rice, and peanut butter until the peanut butter melts into the soup. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the rice is done, about 10 minutes.

4. Serve in individual bowls and top with peanuts as desired.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 generous cup): 280 calories, 16g fat (3g saturated, 0.2 omega-3), 790 mg sodium, 22g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, 15g protein, 30% vitamin A, 70% vitamin C

Print Recipe

To Enter our Cuisinart 5 QT Round Covered Casserole Giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us about your family’s favorite soup recipe. The more details on the ingredients and preparation the better! A link to your favorite recipe would also be great.

We Will Enter You into the Giveaway Multiple Times if you do any or all of the following (just be sure to leave us a new comment every time you do one of these things):

> Tweet about our giveaway on Twitter or tell your Facebook friends about it with a link back to this blog post.

> Become a Facebook Fan.

> Add one of our buttons/widgets to your blog or website. They are located in the upper left sidebar of our blog. We have three to choose from: Our blog post widget, our Recipe badge, and our Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen badge.

Our giveaway ends on Friday, February 5, 2010 at noon. As always, we’ll use Random.org to choose the winner. Good luck!

| |
180 Comments | Filed Under Dinner, Giveaways, Grains, Lunch, Poultry, Soups/Stews, Vegetables 

Cooking with The Perfect Pantry: Turkey Cranberry Meatballs

by The Meal Makeover Moms on December 11th, 2009

Last year in Boston, we attended an all-day blogging conference sponsored by BlogHer.  We met dozens of amazing bloggers including Susan from Marketing Roadmaps, Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen, Maris from In Good Taste, and Lydia from The Perfect Pantry. Bloggers, by nature, are a warm, friendly and generous group, so when Lydia invited us down to her home in Rhode Island to cook a meal together, we jumped at the opportunity. Well, maybe “jump” is a bit of an over statement — it took us 12 months before we finally made the 2-hour trek!

The Perfect Pantry is a really cool food blog. Lydia writes about and photographs the actual things she keeps in her pantry, and each of her blog posts includes a recipe using the featured ingredient. She also provides links to interesting recipes on other food blogs.

The minute we arrived at Lydia’s home, we fell in love with her kitchen. In fact, we joked that not only does she have the “perfect” pantry, she also has the “perfect” kitchen!  Her kitchen is a cook’s dream. It’s stocked with lots of gadgets and tools, plenty of counter space, and enough elbow room to accommodate a crowd … which comes in handy when she conducts cooking classes.

During our visit, the three of us cooked asparagus soup and Turkey Cranberry Meatballs (the recipe is below), and we ate some of Lydia’s Fresh Apple Cake for dessert.  The following day we made the meatball recipe again for our families, and we added a few tweaks to accommodate our kids’ taste buds. As you can see from this picture, Janice’s daughter, Leah, and her friend Julianne were all smiles when they tried the new recipe. Leah even suggested we use golden raisins next time.

Turkey Cranberry Meatballs

Makes 5 Servings (20 meatballs)
Adapted from The Perfect Pantry

  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins
  • 1 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup plain 0% fat Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Place cranberries in a glass measuring cup, and fill with water to the 1-cup mark. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine turkey, egg, bread crumbs, yogurt, basil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Drain the cranberries, and add them to the turkey. With your hands, mix just until the ingredients are combined; do not overmix.

4. Using a medium cookie scoop with a release (we used a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop which made 1 ¾-inch balls), form the meatballs and place on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a Silpat (silicone mat) or parchment paper (we didn’t use any liner and it worked just fine).

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: we enjoyed these meatballs over a salad of greens dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Kids may prefer to eat them alongside rice or egg noodles and a veggie.

Nutrition Information per Serving:  220 calories, 9g fat (2.5g saturated), 410mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 20g protein, 10% iron

Print Recipe

Besides her blog, Lydia is also the founder of Drop in & Decorate, a nonprofit organization that supports cookies-for-donation events around the country.  Here’s how it works: The host or hostess bakes cookies and invites friends, family members, neighbors, etc to stop by and help decorate. The cookies are then donated to either a local food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, or other community agency. Some hosts sell their cookies at bake sales and donate the proceeds to a community agency.  Anyone can get involved, so check out the Drop In & Decorate website for more information.

On a final note, we’d like to thank Lydia for having us over for lunch. It was a lovely day and a nice change of scenery from The Meal Makeover Moms’ kitchen (plus, now that we think about it, we didn’t have to wash any dishes)!

| |
5 Comments | Filed Under CulinaryAdventures, Dinner, Poultry 

Podcast 82: Healthy Thanksgiving

by The Meal Makeover Moms on November 23rd, 2009

This week on Cooking with the Moms, we’re talking turkey with two family-pleasing recipes. Clearly we’re not the only ones with turkey on our minds.  According to the National Turkey Federation, every year, Americans consume an estimated 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day alone.

Our first recipe for Golden Mashed Party Potatoes calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which have a naturally creamy and buttery flavor, and sweet potatoes, packed with immune-boosting vitamin A.  The fat and calories in this simple side dish are considerably less than most traditional mashed potato recipes — typically made with beaucoup butter — because we get away with just one tablespoon.  We hope your dinner guests appreciate our slimmed down mashed potatoes. By the way, did we tell you the average American consumes between 5,000 – 6,000 calories on Thanksgiving?

Golden Mashed Party Potatoes

Makes 10 Servings

  • 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
  • 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
  • 4 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
  • ½ cup fat-free sour cream
  • ½ cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • Pinch nutmeg
  • A few cranks of freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the potatoes and sweet potatoes in a large saucepan, and add enough cold water to cover. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, covered, at a low boil until tender, about 10 minutes.

2. Drain well and return to the pan. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter, salt, nutmeg, and pepper. Use a potato masher or ricer and mash the potatoes until smooth.

3. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.  Serve out of the saucepan, or spread potato mixture into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes until heated through.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 220 calories, 5g fat (3g saturated), 350mg sodium, 36g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 7g protein, 120% vitamin A, 25% vitamin C, 20% calcium

Print Recipe

On last year’s Thanksgiving podcast (episode #30), we featured a recipe for Rosemary Roasted Turkey, so this year we decided to switch gears with a recipe using turkey leftovers. To do that, we cooked up these Barbecue Pulled-Turkey Sandwiches, adapted from the November 2009 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. The sandwiches were tasty, filling, and best of all, kid friendly!

Barbecue Pulled-Turkey Sandwiches

Makes 5 Servings

  • 3 tablespoons light canola mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
  • 3 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
  • 2 slices nitrite-free bacon
  • 1 cup tomato puree
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 ½ cups shredded cooked turkey (light and dark meat), about 10 ounces
  • 5 soft rolls (such as onion, egg, sesame, or whole wheat)

1. Whisk mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and celery seeds in small bowl to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add cabbage; toss to blend. Cover bowl and chill. Can be made 1 day ahead.

2.  Sauté bacon in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until crisp and brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from saucepan, pat with paper towel to remove excess fat, and wipe saucepan clean. Coarsely chop the bacon.

3.  Place the bacon back into the saucepan with tomato puree, apple cider vinegar, the water, dark brown sugar, chili powder, and ground cumin. Bring sauce to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4.  Add shredded cooked turkey to barbecue sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until turkey is heated through, stirring occasionally. Split and toast rolls. Divide turkey and slaw among rolls. Press tops down lightly to compress, then serve.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 390 calories, 12g fat (3g saturated), 820mg sodium, 43g carbohydrate, 6g fiber, 30g protein, 45% vitamin C, 10% calcium, 20% iron

Print Recipe

We hope all of you have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving break. Let us know what your family liked best at Thanksgiving dinner, or post photos of your feast to our Facebook Fan Page!

| |
2 Comments | Filed Under Dinner, Lunch, Poultry, Sides, Vegetables 
Next Page »