Pumpkin Quinoa Porridge

• I like the idea of oatmeal but in all honesty, I'm not much of an oatmeal person. There's just something about the texture that I find kind of gloppy and unappealing. But curling up with a warm bowl on a cool morning is, and so I'm always on the lookout for breakfast cereal substitutions that will give that cozy effect. In the past, we've really enjoyed a hot cereal made from almond meal, but lately, our go-to is a kind of quinoa porridge that we adapted from this recipe. The texture is amazing, it doesn't get soggy or mushy, and it's packed with protein which is a nice start to your day. 

• Quinoa is also very adaptable to all different kinds of flavors, so we've been experimenting with peanut butter porridge and a version with apples, but with fall in the air, it's all about pumpkin so that's what we've been using most frequently. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1 Tbsp butter

1.5 cups water

1/2 cup pumpkin (or up to 2/3 cup, if you want a little more oomph)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cups milk (we used soy)

• Directions: 

Soak the quinoa in a bowl of water for 5-10 minutes, rinse, and drain. Transfer the quinoa to a saucepan with 1.5 cups cold water. Bring to a boil for one minute, cover, reduce heat and simmer until the quinoa is done (about 10 minutes, or when a little "tail" appears on the quinoa). 

Remove from heat, add the butter, pumpkin, spices, vanilla, and sugar. Stir in milk until you reach your desired level of creaminess. Serve warm, with caramelized apples and more cinnamon on the top or a drizzle of maple syrup. Yum. 

When people have dinner at our house, they always wonder why there's no salt or pepper in our shakers. This is why. 

Happy Monday!

Watermelon Cookies

Last week, during one of those long afternoons of rain that we endured, I suggested to A. that we make sugar cookies. However, upon closer inspection, it became apparent that we lacked several key ingredients necessary for this process (little things like flour, butter AND SUGAR). As a tantrum built, I quickly scanned the shelves for something, anything, that would produce a cookie-like effect on my toddler. When my eyes fell on the watermelon, waiting patiently for Fourth of July festivities, I had an idea.

After a little experimenting, we decided we could make watermelon cookies -- use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the watermelon, frost them with coconut whipped cream (Cool Whip would also work), and decorate them (with berries, kiwi, sliced almonds, mint). We had just as much fun making these watermelon cookies as we would have ordinary sugar cookies and they were just as tasty (and far healthier), too.

We made sure to gently pat the watermelon dry before applying the whipped cream (if the fruit is too wet, the cream will slide right off). By the time we finished decorating the last cookies, the first ones were looking a little melty, so we slid the whole tray into the freezer for 10 minutes to let everything firm up. Then we took our nice chilled watermelon cookies outside and ate them on the deck (in the one fifteen minute period of sunshine we had in those gloomy four days).

Anouk couldn't bear to eat her snail cookie. "I don't wanna eat him, I love him!" I waited until she forgot about him and then I ate him. (He was delicious).

Eat more flax

This blueberry flaxseed smoothie has been mine and Anouk's go-to breakfast pretty much every day for the past few weeks. If you had told me a while ago that one day soon my preferred breakfast would have included something like flax, I would have made this face at you. But it turns out flax is delicious! And also one of the best things you can eat, healthfully speaking.

Studies have shown that flaxseed can lower bad cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease and diabetes, and even inhibit tumor growth. Most things I've read recommend stirring it into things like oatmeal or yogurt, but A. doesn't eat either of those things, and while it's fun to bake with, I don't always have time to devote to baking on a regular basis. After some tinkering, we devised a smoothie recipe that gives us our daily dose of flax and is addictingly delicious to boot.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
1 scoop of vanilla whey protein (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Pour into glass. Serve with a straw (it's better that way).

This is a really dense smoothie, so you might want to add more water or coconut milk if you find it's too thick.

The taste really is a lot like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and who doesn't like that? We've subbed almond butter for the peanut, and while it's fine, it just doesn't have the same deliciousness. I'm not going to lie, this smoothie is so good that it gets me out of bed in the morning faster than the thought of a cup of coffee.

For Anouk's part, at first, she balked at the grittiness of the flaxseed, but then we upped the amount of berries, which helps mask it, and now it goes down fine. A whole smoothie is a lot for a little kid to drink at once, so I usually give Anouk just half, with a hardboiled egg or two, and then she's set until snacktime.

Happy Monday!

80/20 Burger Bar

James's birthday was at the end of December. Because our birthdays fall near Christmas (mine was the 26th), neither of us have the traditional birthday party experience, but we do like to go out for a nice dinner together. But finding a sitter during the week after the holidays is a little bit of a feat, and we'd been abusing the familial babysitting privileges, so we knew this year that we would have to bring Anne along with us. With that in mind, we wanted to find someplace where a toddler wouldn't be too disruptive -- but a place that was still festive enough for a birthday meal.

When we look for a kid-friendly restaurant, we tend to keep three things in mind: a toddler-friendly ambience, but with dishes that will also appeal to more sophisticated grownup palates; bonus points if the food is reasonably healthy. Usually, we can get two out of three, and when we do, we mark it to go back to. 80/20 Burger Bar on 21st Street in Norfolk was the rare place that offered us everything on our list.

The restaurant is warm and inviting (I read somewhere that the owners built everything in the restaurant themselves, which is super cool), with a bustling atmosphere that covers up baby chattiness. There is a full-service bar, but it's separated from the eating area, which avoids that whole Sweet Home Alabama "you have a baby? in a BAR?" dilemma. The kids' menu offers darling slider burgers and some other options to accomodate a little pickiness. And the rest of the menu was novel and fun and delicious enough to get us parents excited, too. (James had the Alamo Burger and I had the redneck Wellington...a burger wrapped in pastry, with mushroom duxelles and goat cheese. How cool is that?)

Here is Anouk eating every. single. thing. on her plate

Our favorite thing about 80/20 is their commitment to serving grass-fed, grass-finished, locally sourced beef. We try to avoid unpastured meats for our family whenever possible, but especially for Anne, since she can't make decisions about what type of food she eats for herself. It makes eating out a little tricky at times, so it was nice not to have to worry about it. Everything on the menu was fair game.

Some other highlights: The extensive selection of french fries (bay spices! rosemary and parmesan! fire-hot-pepper blend!), house-made flavored sodas (alcohol-spiked available for the adults), and some really refreshingly creative sides (order some smack and cheese for the kids -- and for yourself).

And now, some things to keep in mind if you decide to visit: 80/20 opened just a few weeks ago and is getting a lot of (well-deserved) buzz, which does mean that wait times can be a little long, especially on the weekends. We were told 20 to 25 minutes, which was just long enough for us to pop over to Carolina Cupcakery for some birthday treats, but friends and family who have gone have been told to plan for an hour or more. It might be a good idea to call ahead to suss out wait times, especially if you plan on bringing the kidlets. Also, there have been rumors that chef Joe Pavey is planning on paring down the menu after a month or so, so make sure you order everything you want this go around in case it doesn't make the cut (Pimento cheese. You've got to order the appetizer cheese plate!)

We had a great time. It was a wonderful birthday dinner for a wonderful dad.

Cheers to you, Jamesy! Bottoms up!

Have you been to 80/20 Burger Bar? Are you planning to go? What did/would you order?

Happy weekend, everybody!

New Earth Farm

One of the reasons I'm glad we joined the CSA at New Earth Farm this fall is that we now have an excuse to visit the farm every weekend, come rain or shine. Over the past few months, it has become one of my favorite places. Not only is it the place where we get most of our food, not only is it all delicious (and 100% organic), but every person we've met there is warm and welcoming (almost suspiciously so) and the farm itself is beautiful. I especially love the old tumbledown house that greets us when we arrive.

The past few weeks we've gotten a ton of eggplant in our New Earth CSA boxes, so I thought I would share one of my favorite eggplant recipes, modeled off of a Middle Eastern dish my grandmother used to make, called Batinjan. It's heavenly on chilly nights.

Beef and eggplant stew

2-3 cloves garlic
1 small onion

2 tablespoons cumin

2 lbs ground beef

4 small eggplants (I used the skinny purple and green ones)
3 cups tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

2 large potatoes

Brown the onion and garlic in olive oil in a saucepan, add the meat, sprinkle cumin on top. Cook meat until almost done, and add the chopped eggplant and saute a bit longer. When eggplant has just started to brown and meat is cooked, add the can of tomato sauce. Add enough water to just cover all the meat and veggies in the pot. Bring to a boil, and then turn down heat and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Microwave the potatoes for five minutes and let cool. About halfway through the stew cooking time, cut the potatoes into chunks and add to the stew. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Serve over rice or in a bowl with flatbread.

Happy Monday! What did you get in your CSA box this week?

Breakfast at the Get Fresh Cafe

We take brunch very seriously in our family and a lot of discussion goes into each week's choice. For this past week's rainy Sunday, we decided that the Get Fresh Cafe at the Five Points Community Market would be just right.

Get Fresh, like the name implies, serves fresh local produce sourced right from the market (you can get breakfast from 9-1 and 11-1 on Saturdays and Sundays, respectfully). After we placed our orders, we browsed the other vendors and took a look at some of the market's other offerings, while Baby A. amused herself with a handful of Legos in the play area.

James ordered an omelet with a side of sausage, and I splurged for a very un-Paleo French toast made from challah from the Sugar Plum Bakery. Baby A. sampled liberally from both of our plates, and was an especial fan of the home fries. 

I just spent five minutes trying to write a sentence about how good it all was, but you know what? I'm going to let the evidence speak for itself: 

Yum.