Someone was excited to check out the contents of our kit.

Large portion sizes. Nice heat to avocado sauce. Veggies were a hit.

Coq au Vin ingredients included pre measured red wine.

Ta-da - Coq au Vin. Rich and complex flavors. A tad too salty tho.

Tex-Mex Mac & Cheese (before)

The boys loved this. I didn't think I would like it, but it was really tasty.

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. So what does that mean? Well, according to Chinese astrologists, it could mean a whole lot depending on what animal you are in the Chinese zodiac. I guess if your business has anything to do with wood or fire, it will be a good year for you! Oh, and beware of volcanoes this year according to a recent article in The Independent.

Well, in our house it means giving the boys red envelopes with money, setting out a pair of mandarin oranges with red envelopes in each room, visiting family and friends and making a New Year's feast. The Chinese believe it is important to serve food symbolizing prosperity and good fortune. So on this year's menu, I plan on making:

• Scallion Pancakes: roundness = togetherness, gold = wealth
• Pork Dumplings: the shape of the dumplings resembles old ingot-shaped coins = wealth
• Chinese Broccoli: blossoming flowers = life
• Longevity Noodles: long noodles = long life
• Tea Eggs: Gold-colored eggs resemble gold nuggets = prosperity

Happy New Year and Gong Hay Fat Choy!

Busy week ahead along with some cold nights (what else is new) so this week's meal plan includes lots of easy and fast meals, soups and one-pot dinners. As I often try to do, I asked the boys to each pick one dish to be included in the week's menu. So it comes to no surprise pasta and meatballs and fish tacos made it on the meal plan. Recipe links below:

Monday: Pasta & Meatballs picked by the little one. For a picky eater, he hasn't found a meatball he doesn't like. For me, I'm especially found of Great Grandma Turano's Meatballs from Dinner: A Love Story.

Tuesday: Portuguese Kale + Potato Soup can be made quickly with very just a few humble ingredients. Plus it tastes that much better the next day.

Wednesday: Barefoot Contessa Jambalaya because I will have leftover sausage from Tuesday plus I love one-pot dinners.

Thursday: Fish Tacos, Rice & Beans plus Avocado and Mango Salsa from ChopChop. My oldest requested this knowing it is our "vacation" dish, but hopes it will make him think of summer!

Friday: Beef & Broccoli was a unanimous request from both my boys. I often have to double the recipe because they can not get enough of this stuff.

Have a great week!

The weather forecast for the week looks like there will be many cold nights, so looking to make some warm and hearty meals. This week's meal plan includes a bunch of recipes from Flour, Too: Indispensable Recipes from the Cafe's Most Loved Sweets and Savories as I cook my way through it (loving it so far). The week ends with International Night at school, so I'm looking forward to making scallion pancakes for the first time (!), and sampling some ethnic dishes from the diverse school community. Recipe links below.

Monday: Chicken and Orzo Soup with Veggies from Flour, Too. I was going to make this last week but an impromptu dinner at a friend's house has us trying it this week instead.

Tuesday: Pork Tenderloin and Asian Celery, Fennel and Edamame Salad with Candied Lemon from Flour, Too

Wednesday: Spicy Turkey Burgers with Tomato-Onion Jam from Flour, Too too!

Thursday: Weeknight Bolognese and salad from Ina Garten

Friday: Scallion Pancakes with Soy Dipping Sauce from Flour, Too!

Have a great week!

Menu pad by 1-canoe-2.myshopify.com

2014 is in full swing, which means keeping to my resolution to cook more healthy foods. Here's this week's menu plan at our house and some links to recipes I'll be making/testing/tweaking: 

Winter Minestrone Soup

I have one amazingly adventurous eater (8 year old) and one extremely stubborn one (5 year old). My oldest will gladly try tripe or a raw oyster (but probably will never again). My youngest will avoid any protein (except for nut butter, eggs, or bacon) or most veggies (except for carrots, celery, or tomatoes in tomato sauce). He is the epitome of a picky eater. Or as he puts it, "just scared."

Maybe veggies and other non-carb foods are truly scary to him. Or maybe it's his sneaky way of getting out of something. But I've found a way to get him to try - and even like - veggies. I get him to help me make Ina Garten's Winter Minestrone Soup.

Experts suggest (and my own experience has proven) when you get your kids involved in cooking a meal, they will most likely taste it, then proclaim they are the greatest chef the world has ever seen (as my kids have done). Another way to get kids to try something new is to mix new ingredients with something tried and true. In my case, pasta + bacon + cheese. The kid was scarfing up the stuff so fast, he forgot he's throwing down spinach, carrots, celery, tomatoes and other veggies he proclaimed to be so scary in the past.

Plus this soup is so good. Especially during a polar vortex. Make this. You won't be sorry.

Click here for the recipe.

credit: 90+ cellars

90+ Cellars Wine Club
90+ Cellars is a limited collection of wine sourced from elite vineyards from all over the world with a history of producing wines with 90-point ratings, gold medals, and best buy awards. A bottle would be a pretty nice gift. A membership to the 90+ Cellars Wine Club is even better. Members receive a box of 6 or 12 different bottles four times a year. Click here to learn more.



BabbaCo Activity Box
Parents all over the world will be asking themselves this holiday break (and every break until the end of time), “what are we going to do with the kids today?” That’s why Jessica Kim created BabbaBox – an activity box for kids 3-7 delivered to your door once a month. It comes will ALL materials, easy-to-follow instructions and a book to go with that month’s theme. My boys were especially enamored with the Kitchen Science box. Check BabbaCo out here.

credit: fast company

Modernist Cuisine App
Most foodies know and bow to the Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet. Dubbed the “cookbook to end all cookbooks,” this 6-volume tome has created a revolution in kitchens all over the world. But for $500 (eek!), most home cooks would be very happy with the more approachable and shorter version – Modernist Cuisine at Home. And now, food geeks are putting down their immersion circulators for the newly released app. Described as your personal sous chef, word is the app is even better than the book. And for $80 on iTunes, it seems like a better deal too. Click here to download a free sample.

Credit: Forbes

Tonx Coffee Subscription
Every coffee connoisseur knows that the secret to really great coffee is in the beans (and the grind too from what I’ve been told). Why not get them a membership to Tonx – a subscription service that delivers fresh, high-quality beans to your door about twice a month. Tonx carefully sources the finest coffees and roasts them hours before shipping to you. Your coffee addicts will thank you. Click here to send a subscription.



ChopChop Subscription
I’m a big fan of magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts. Want to get the kid on your list in the kitchen? Give them a subscription to ChopChop Magazine – the cooking magazine for kids 5-12. Full disclosure, I work for ChopChop. That said, I really believe this magazine is truly special. If you don’t believe me, how about from the folks that know a thing or two about great cooking publications - The James Beard Foundation named ChopChop the Publication of the Year. Boom. Click here to subscribe.

credit: Formaggio Kitchen

Formaggio Kitchen Cheese Share
There are farm shares, meat shares and even seafood shares. How about a cheese share? If your giftee lives in the Boston/Cambridge area and is into cheese (who isn’t really?), sign them up for a cheese share from Formaggio Kitchen. From local producers, each installment of a Local Cheese share will contain four varieties of cheese selected at the height of ripeness and flavor. I love that each cheese comes with information about the artisans and farms that produced it. A three-month share is $99. Click here to learn more.

credit: gear hungry

Mantry
Know someone with a Man-cave who would totally dig artisanal foods such as bison jerky from Montana to BBQ sauce from Alabama? Outfit the cave with some goodies from Mantry – the modern man’s pantry. Each themed box comes with 5-6 curated foods in wooden box handmade in Brooklyn. It doesn’t get more hipster (and admittedly) cooler than this. To order a gift card, click here.

credit: Heifer International

Give Different - Give a Goat
Last but not least, give a gift that really, truly keeps on giving. Help those in need by making a donation to Heifer International and help families become self-reliant. For example, you can purchase a full goat or a share of a goat to provide a family in need with a gift of a goat. A goat can provide milk, cheese and butter for nourishment, boosts income through sales of extra milk and encourages better crop yields through fertilization and clearing of land. Give a life-changing gift this season here.

Warmest holiday wishes from our family to yours!

Disclosure: I was provided samples of 90+ wines and a BabbaBox to try their products. I am an employee of ChopChop magazine. As always, all opinions are my own.

(credit: Greater Boston Food Bank)

Thanksgiving is considered the Super bowl for foodies – they have their game face on as they prepare for the biggest feast of the year. Sadly no one is shouting “I’m going to Disney World” when the day is done.

So you may have heard some crickets over here at umommy over the past few weeks. I've been busy juggling my time here and here, in addition to chauffeuring the boys to all their never-ending after school activities, room parent duties, and making sure our house does not completely deteriorate. The one thing that is keeping my sanity is meal planning. Without it, I fear we'd be living off of cereal and takeout.

The one dish that consistently is rotation is a variation of Todd English's Couscous Carbonara with Country Ham. It sounds fancier than it really is. It's essentially any small-shaped pasta tossed in a spinach puree and diced ham. Not only do the boys cheer when we make it (I'm now doubling the recipe so they can have leftovers for lunch), but it takes less than 20 minutes to whip up. So when we're getting home after Karate and the boys are famished, I can whip this up and feel good that they are getting their veggies, some protein and whole grains.

Pasta Carbonara with Country Ham
Adapted from Todd English and Sally Sampson's The Figs Table 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound baby spinach
• 1/3 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups diced baked ham (we love Applegate Farms ham steak)
• 1 pound orzo 
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan

If you're like me, you want to like tofu and promised to cook more of it for the family. But when it comes to a weeknight meal, that poor block of tofu you bought at the store sits alone and going bad in the back of the fridge.