DAY 23
Veal Scalopine with Garlicky Spinach
Grade: B or B+
Source: Loosely based on a recipe from
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, copyright 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
Pots: 1 broiling pan, 1 cookie sheet (but foil on both means no cleanup)
Planning suggestion: No planning required. Sometimes, if I know I'm going to use frozen spinach, I'll move it from the freezer to the fridge in the morning to quicken the thaw.
Notes: This was one of those don't-ask-don't-tell meals, where we just slip the veal on their plates and pretended it was pork, chicken, steak, or whatever it was they wished it to be. It worked very nicely, and we didn't have to explain what veal was, which might have been tough for my 5-year-old to hear.
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DAY 24
Vietnamese Pork Wraps
Grade: B+
Source: An outtake from Victoria Granof's story in Cookie
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: There's not a lot that can make this faster. The girls munched on cukes while I chopped, which was nice.
Notes: In my book, this was an A+ meal—it was so flavorful and easy! Unfortunately, neither of my kids would go near it, which was shocking considering that the five-spice powder and cinnamon made it almost dessert-like, and I thought the Bibb lettuce as wrap device would hook them. For only the second time in three weeks, I ended up supplementing with something from the freezer (Trader Joe's calamari).
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DAY 25
Chicken Stew with Biscuits
Grade: B+
Source:
Barefoot Contessa Family Style copyright 2002 by Ina Garten. Used by permission of Used by permission of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Pots: 3
Planning suggestion: Recipe calls for roasting your own split chicken breasts. I can't really think of any reason not to use a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead.
Notes: This was delicious—how could it not be? —but hard to pull off and one of the less healthy meals I've made. But I'm happy we did it, if only because I've wanted to ever since I saw the seductive cookbook photograph five years ago. We probably won't make it for the family again (it was hugely time-consuming), but it could be a showstopper for a casual night of entertaining in the winter.
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DAY 26
Salmon with Lentils and Caramelized Onions
Grade: B+
Source:
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittmann
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: Chop an onion before work.
Notes: I was originally planning on making Bittmann's Lentil Salad with Caramelized Onions and rice. But on the way home, I decided I didn't feel like rice, so I abandoned following the recipe by the letter. I still wanted the sweet onions but was out of olive oil. Instead, I sauteed bacon, rendering the fat in the pan, which always bodes well for a meal (if not our arteries), then used that grease to fry up the onions. When I served the lentils to the girls, they surprised me when they didn't pull complete Heismans. They actually took a spoonful willingly, and while not exactly overjoyed by the taste, they didn't express any disdain either. Which, in my warped universe of feeding toddlers, qualifies as a success.
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DAY 27
Chicken with Peanut Curry Sauce
Grade: B/B+
Source:
Gourmet Cookbook, Copyright 2004 by Condé Nast Publications
Pots: 3
Planning suggestion: Do the marinating 24 hours in advance, but still the seemingly simple meal is three pots and lots of coordinating.
Notes: We had high hopes for this, considering we were working with two ingredients that qualify as All Time Favorites: peanut butter (Abby) and curry (Phoebe). Neither liked the dipping sauce, but they were thrilled by the concept of chicken on a stick. It had me dreaming up some way to serve an egg (public enemy number one in our house) on a skewer. Hard-boiled, perhaps?
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DAY 28
Lamb Chops, Broiled Tomato, and Couscous
Grade: A-
Source: Me
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: None required
Notes: I was planning on making Day 29's sweet-potato lasagna, but I got derailed at work and needed something quicker. I went to the Grand Central market hoping inspiration would strike. It did—in the form of lamb chops. After several Treo exchanges with my husband on how to prepare them, we decided that the best plan for these prime chops—as always—was to do little: salt, pepper, a good sear. We told the girls it was "meat, like steak" and neither really questioned it. It was kind of great. They wouldn't touch the tomato or the couscous, though—had to supplement with grape tomatoes.
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DAY 29
Rory's Sweet-Potato Lasagna
Grade: A-
Source: My coworker Rory
Pots: 1
Planning suggestion: : Lots! I sliced up the potatoes on the mandoline the night before, assembled the thing after the 8:09 school bus and before my 8:43 train, and had my babysitter put it in the oven at 6:00, 20 minutes before I got home—probably not viable for a weeknight, though you could make it ahead and then freeze it.
Notes: In spite of the huge front-end effort involved, it was awesome to walk in the door and not have to do anything; I had a glass of wine and sat on the couch with the girls until the lasagna was ready, which I hadn't done on a weeknight in a month. The girls wouldn't go near the real thing all mixed up together, but it was a success in other ways. I had set aside some sweet-potato slivers (baked them with olive oil and salt), and they loved eating them like potato chips. My husband, who is always skeptical of vegetarian dinners, had been dreading this meal all week. But it converted him into a believer (he said he'd even eat it again.)
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DAY 30
Citrusy Soy Swordfish with Soba Noodles
Grade: A-
Source:
Epicurious
Pots: 2
Planning suggestion: Make all the marinades and mixes ahead of time.
Notes: I was in the mood for clean tastes on Day 30—fish and citrus. So I searched Epicurious and came up with the perfect jumping-off recipe. This one calls for mackerel but we replaced with swordfish, which we've always sold to the girls as "white salmon." It was delicious. (Of course, when you're paying $18.99 a pound, it better be.) The girls liked the Asian take, but the big news here was the soba noodles. Phoebe didn't try them, but Abby, who has never had a brown noodle in her life, had second, third, and would've had fourth helpings, even with the "sauce" (soy sauce, sesame oil, and basically anything remotely Asian-flavored I had in the refrigerator).
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