Happy New Year! 2015 is off to a good start so far: kids got up and got to school on time! This is short of a miracle after a 2-week break of going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 9am. I'm also back to sticking to a weekly meal plan which includes lots of healthier recipes. Because you know, it's not the start of the new year without some resolutions to eat healthier and to exercise more. And wouldn't you know it - got in a workout and cooked up this delicious winter pasta dish. 2015, let's do this!

Monday: Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes - inspired by this Everday Food recipe, I make this dish by roasting chopped eggplant, red onions, garlic and tomatoes in the oven with oil, salt and pepper until they're golden and the vegetables are almost crisp around the edges. I toss this mixture with some cooked pasta, leftover pasta water and chopped basil.

Tuesday: Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup - okay, this dish from Gourmet may not be super healthy but there's kale! My family goes crazy for this and it's even better the next day.

Wednesday: Curried Shrimp and Cauliflower - need something that comes together quickly? Rice with this curried shrimp and cauliflower from Martha Stewart is our go-to recipe. Plus some Trader Joe's Naan hot from the oven.

Thursday: Chicken and Chickpea Tagine - I love making tagines in the winter. The wonderful smells while it cooks plus this hearty meal will warm you up on a particular cold day.

Friday: umdaddy special - I'm leaving Friday's dinner up to the big guy. I suggest delegating one meal to your partner too!

Have a good week!

It has been a crazy few weeks around here (thus the lack of blog posts - gah!). Between work, special projects, school commitments, after-school activities, birthdays, holidays, vacations... I'm afraid I haven't had the time to blog as much as I would like. But that doesn't mean we haven't been testing new recipes, plus going back to some tried-and-true ones.

So on a particular busy weeknight, I like whipping this up. It takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Plus it's a perfect recipe to involve your kids. Read on to see why!

Shrimp, Tomato, and Basil Pasta
Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pounds of medium , peeled and deveined uncooked shrimp
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced fire-roasted tomatoes (plain diced tomatoes works too)
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 3/4-1 lb spaghetti 
• 1 1/2 cups packed fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

kids love tearing the basil into small pieces

It's a new year, which usually means recycling the same New Year's Resolutions for me. And as always, one of my resolutions is to be a better cook. And like all resolutions, I have good intentions to make them, but often end up ignoring them. Oops - there goes my "Don't Procrastinate" resolution.

Until I saw that Jenny from Dinner: A Love Story had threw the gauntlet. She was challenging herself and her readers to make seven new meals in seven days. And to make it a little easier, she suggested doing this challenge over 14 days. Seven new meals in two weeks?  Not only would it challenge me to be a better cook, but get my kids to try new things and be adventurous. Actually, that goes for all of us.  Yeah, I'm game.

So how is it going so far?

Monday, January 7th:

DALS Tuscan Minestrone

Wednesday, January 9th:

DALS Greek-Style Shrimp with Feta

Friday, January 11th:

Bon Appetit Orange Beef w/Broccoli & Mushrooms

Sunday, January 13th:

Jamie Oliver's One-Tray Bake

Tuesday, January 15th:

DALS Weeknight Bolognese

We made a Wild-Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash for dinner tonight (but forgot to snap a picture). So that leaves one more new recipe before Sunday. What to make, what to make...

I can always count on the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living for simple yet delicious recipes that my whole family will love. So when it comes to meal planning tools, I knew I had to try "Grocery Bag" meal plans by Everyday Food.

In each month of Everyday Food and online at www.marthastewart.com, there is a feature called Grocery Bag. Grocery Bag is a set of five weeknight menus with a ready to print or tear grocery list. The Grocery Bag meal plan promises one trip to the grocery store at the start of the week resulting in a week's worth of dinners. I've seen meal plans like this before, but never have I followed one so faithfully as I done had last week. I decided I would follow the meal plan exactly as it appeared, using the shopping list and recipes to help me "sail through dinner from Monday all the way to Friday with our editors' time-tested strategies for ease." So was it smooth sailing?

From one of my all-time favorite The Simpsons episodes. "Lisa the Vegetarian" is about Lisa becoming a vegetarian after bonding with a lamb at a petting zoo. However, she gets ridiculed by her schoolmates and family (of course) for her beliefs. But after meeting Paul and Linda McCartney via a secret passage to the roof of Apu's Kwik-E Mart, she vows to vegetarianism. I'm smiling just thinking about how absurd this storyline is. But it is oh so funny.

[Homer fills the grill with lighter fluid and prepares to grill]
Lisa: Wait Dad! Good news, everyone! You don't have to eat meat! I've got enough gazpacho for everyone.
[Crowd murmurs]
Lisa: It's tomato soup, served ice cold!
[Crowd laughs out loud as Lisa growls and stomps off]
Barney Gumble: Go back to Russia!

If Lisa can enjoy gazpacho, my boys surely can, right? It was worth a try. It's been too damn hot to cook, and great way to get some veggies in.

Shrimp Gazpacho
Adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast from The Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living

INGREDIENTS:


The Good: Quick and easy to prepare. The boys loved the shrimp.

The Bad: Shrimp with gazpacho flavor combo had me thinking I was eating shrimp cocktail. Not necessarily a bad thing I guess!

Grade: B+. Totally refreshing, clean dish for the summer. The boys tolerated the shrimp but wanted nothing to do with ice cold tomato soup.

I confess - I am a messy cook! The boys' play kitchen is in better condition than what our kitchen looks like after I tackle dinner. I read once the secret to a happy kitchen is to clean and put away as you cook. I don't know about you, but I can barely hold it together with several pots bubbling away on the stove while reading a recipe and pushing the littlest one away from open flame all at the same time.

That is why I gravitate toward one-pot meals for everyday dinners. Not only is there less to clean-up, but the stress-level comes down a notch when I only have to worry about one cooking vessel and not having to be in the kitchen the whole time. Chili, soup, and tagines are wonderful one-pot meals in my book. Then I came across a paella recipe in Mark Bittman's Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating. Make this and you will want to trade all your sauce pans, stock pots, roasting pans for a paella pan.



Paella
Adapted from Mark Bittman's Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed
Pinch saffron threads
1 lbs ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into thick wedges
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbs tomato paste
2 tsp paprika
3 oz chorizo, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 cups white rice
6 large peeled shrimp
2 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Warm the broth and the saffron in a small sauce pan. Put tomatoes in a medium bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle them with 1 tbs olive oil. Toss to coat.

2. Put the remaining oil in a 12-inch oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook stirring occasionally until it softens (3-5 minutes). Stir in tomato paste, paprika and chorizo and cook for a minute more.

spicy chorizo gave the dish some heat but not too much

3. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally until shiny (1-2 minutes). Add the warm broth and stir until just combined, then stir in the shrimp, chicken and corn.

Tomato wedges made this dish extra meaty

4. Put the tomato wedges on top of the rice and drizzle with juices that accumulated in the bottom of the bowl. Put the pan in the oven and bake, undisturbed, for 15-20 minutes. Check to see if the rice is nearly dry and just tender. When rice is ready, turn off oven and let it sit 5-15 minutes.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle with parsley. Optional: put the pan over high heat for a few minutes to develop a bit of a bottom crust before serving.

The Good: Quick and easy. Did I mention this is made in one pot?

The Bad: Not an authentic paella, but we still loved it.

Grade: A. A rice dish packed with delicious veggies and protein. The boys asked for seconds!

This week's recipe is inspired by GOOP -- Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website and weekly newsletter. For those not familiar with GOOP, it is Gwyneth's outlet to share advice and tips on travel, food, fashion and self-care. I subscribe to GOOP mainly for the entertainment factor. Ahh... if only I could stay at five-star resorts when traveling to Spain or dine and share recipes with celebrity chefs! I probably get more enjoyment reading Angry Black Lady Chronicle's posts about the impracticality of GOOP.



Okay, I should stop picking on Gwyn. After all, it was her Mexican Style Family Dinner edition that inspired me to make Shrimp Tacos. Hey, if Gwyneth can make these (in her fabulous kitchen), then I can too!


Southwestern Shrimp Soft Tacos
Inspired by GOOP and Adapted from Epicurious


INGREDIENTS: