Beef Daube

Growing up Sunday dinners were a family tradition. Often my Dad would spend all day slaving in
the kitchen over some savory meal. I find about once a month I am carrying on this tradition. I recently stumble over a great cookbook called “Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes” by Food and Wine. It captures “the best recipes from the 25 best cookbooks of the year”. What a great concept! Now I don’t have to spend major coin on a handful of books that I will only use 2 or 3 recipes out of. Some of the featured chefs are Giada De Laurentiis, Rick Bayless, Alice Waters, Ming Tsai, and Jamie Oliver, to name a few. I recently tried out the “My Go-to Beef Duabe” recipe by Dorie Greenspan. It was delicious! Here is my rendition of it:

4 slices of bacon - cut into 1 inch-wide pieces
3 ½ lb beef chuck roast – trim off fat and cut into 2-3 inch cubes
2 tbs Canola or grapeseed oil (I used Canola)
Salt and Pepper
2 yellow onions - thinly sliced
6 shallots - thinly sliced
1 garlic
head – halved horizontally (loose paper peel removed)
1 ½ lb of carrots – peeled, quartered lengthwise and halved
½ lb parsnips – peeled, halved and quartered lengthwise
¼ cup of cognac or brandy (we used brandy)
One 750-ml of fruity red wine
Bouquet of thyme sprigs, parsley, rosemary and the leaves from a celery stalked, tied together.
Egg noodles – prepare in the last 20 minutes making the meal

Heat oven to 350. In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook bacon until brown. Transfer to bowl. Add 1 tbs of oil to bacon fat and heat over medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides in batches. Transfer beef to bowl with bacon. Pour off fat and oil. Add remaining oil and heat to medium
heat. Add onions and shallots. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir often until onions soften, approx. 8 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, and parsnips. Make sure everything has been covered with the oil in the pot. Pour in brandy. Increase heat and stir to loosen up brown bits off the bottom of the pots. Bring brandy to a boil for one minute. Add bacon and beef. Pour in wine and add bouquet of herbs. Stir. Once wine begins to boil cover pot with a piece of aluminum foil and the
lid. Put into oven for 1 hour. Remove pot and stir. If liquid is reducing by a large amount, add
enough water to cover ingredients. Re-cover pot with foil and lid, put back into oven for another 1 ½ hours. If not tender put back in for another 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to your liking. Remove herbs and garlic. Serve over egg noodles.

Spaghetti with Asparagus, Shiitake Mushrooms, Lemon, and Chives

I'm really excited to share this recipe with the 703 Mommy and Me family. I discovered it 6 years ago in Bon Appetit magazine, while on a quest to find recipes that I could easily turn dairy free. There are several aspects that excite me about this recipe. First, mushrooms! And not just regular old mushrooms but the buttery flavor of shiitake mushrooms which are also a great source of iron. Second, it is a refreshing take on a pasta dish. And third, it incorporates my requirement of having a green vegetable with each dinner with asparagus in the pasta. The original recipe requires butter, I use the non-dairy version of butter called Earth Balance. I find that it cooks and tastes the closest to butter. I also omitted the last step of putting shaved Asiago cheese on the pasta prior to serving.


12 ounces spaghetti
4 tbs earth balance butter substitute
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 lb shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
6 tbs lemon juice
1 3/4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbs grated lemon peel
1 lb asparagus, ends snapped and cut crosswise into thirds
1/4 chopped fresh chives


Cook spaghetti in pot. Drain when tender. Meanwhile, melt 2 tbs of earth balance in large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and saute for 1 minute. Add shiitake mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute until mixture is soft, approx 6 minutes. Add lemon juice and cook 1 minute. Add vegetable broth and lemon peel and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Add asparagus to shiitake mixture until asparagus turns bright green. Add chives and remaining earth balance. Stir until butter is melted. Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to coat.

Memorial Day Salad

Summer is almost here and I for one am super excited. I can’t wait to hit the beach for the first time this summer with little B. So much has changed since our final trip last fall… he is not just walking, he’s running full speed ahead so I am anxiously awaiting all the fun (and danger) we have in store.

I stole this recipe from my dear friend Carrie who I have mentioned before of the blog (because she is a fabulous cook) she probably calls it the Memorial Day salad because it is the perfect summer salad but lets face it, Memorial day is the official kick off to summer fun and this salad perfectly accentuates one of my summer favorites… fresh strawberries! Strawberries around here are finally in season and I had big plans to do some strawberry picking yesterday but unfortunately the remnants of that crazy stomach bug I had last week still had me stuck around the house. No worries though, the farmers market had plenty of fresh berries to choose from!  So behold… Carrie’s Memorial Day Salad

Dressing:

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon grated onion

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bit sized pieces

2 cups (8 oz) grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1 cup cubed or shredded, cooked chicken breast (optional)

1/2 cup crumbled, cooked bacon (optional)

1-2 cups croutons (optional)

In a blender combine dressing ingredients. Process at medium speed until thickened.  In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients.  Stir dressing and pour desired amount over salad mixture, tossing to coat evenly.  Top with croutons and serve immediately.  8-10 servings

Cinco de Mayo Baby Shower Reveal

My dear friends Shannon and Jerry are expecting their first baby next month and when they told me last fall that they were pregnant I just knew I had to throw them a baby shower. Little did I know that I would be in the middle of a move but lucky for me they are the sweetest, most chill couple ever so they didn’t mind at all that our house was a bit of a storage unit. Since most of our décor had been boxed up I decided to festive the place up with some disposable decorations that went with our theme. I made a couple of Mexican flag style table clothes, the star centerpiece I previously posted about and then my dear friend Holly (my co-host) also made some super cute confetti streamer flags. We tried to get a variety of colors in our decorations to make sure the party was both festive and gender neutral for their surprise baby!

Outdoor seating area

We kept things simple for food as well, serving up a MYO taco bar with chicken and pork options as well as a host of other fiesta favorites including JJ’s famous taco dip, Susan’s awesome taquitos and a series of other dips and sides. To wash it down we served virgin pomegranate margaritas, sangria and coronas which were a hit with the men.

"Mexican Flag" table cloth and the It's a Small World book for guests to leave a message to the baby in . 

One of my favorite elements of the shower was the copy of Its a Small World that we placed on a table with the desserts for guests to leave messages to the new baby. Hopefully one day he/she will read it and know just how much he/she is loved. I know it is a bit late but I thought I would post a couple of pictures of our cute décor so that you can think up some ideas for your next big fiesta!

Chicken with Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Potatoes

When I first got married I went on a quest to find easy meals to make during the work week, in hopes that I would find a few staples to last through the years. This is a super easy dish that I found in Real Simple magazine a few years ago, with a few minor adjustments. We love mushrooms so we double the amount in the recipe. Original recipe calls for one package. We also eat a reduced sodium diet, so I’ve included the amount that we use.

1 whole chicken cut in parts
3 tbs of olive oil
1 ¼ tsp of salt
3/4 tsp of pepper
1 ½ lbs of new or red potatoes – quartered (even sizes)
1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
3 sprigs of Rosemary
2 packages of mushrooms (sliced or whole - then quartered)

Heat oven to 400. Put potatoes, rosemary, mushrooms, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Cover with 2 tbs of olive oil, 1 tsp of salt, and ¼ tsp of pepper. Toss to cover. Scatter mixture into roasting pan. Drizzle remaining olive oil, salt and pepper onto chicken. Place chicken over the tomatoes/potatoes/mushroom mixture. Roast for approximately 45 minutes or until 180 degrees.

Boil and Broil Sweet Potato Fries

I have been playing around with homemade sweet potato fries for a while now. Somehow they always end up burned or not quite cooked enough for my tasting so when I read about pre-boiling hash browns in a recent issue of Cooks Illustrated I decided that I should give the technique a try for my fries. The result was a super soft interior and a perfectly crispy exterior which my husband raved about. I will say the process is a bit more daunting but the taste certainly is super delicious. Since I like my sweet potato fries with a kick I mixed up an extra special “marinade” to cook them off in.

Boil and Broil Sweet Potato Fries

3 sweet potatoes, skinned and cut into fry sized pieces

¼ C EVOO

4 tbs brown sugar

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tsp salt

Boil the cut potatoes for 5-10 minutes or until you are able to easily poke through them with a fork (cooking time may vary based on the thickness of your fries.) Strain and place in a ziplock bag with the marinade mixture. Evenly coat the potatoes and the place on a baking sheet to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes, checking to make sure the potatoes are not burning. The outsides should end up perfectly crispy with only a slight bit of char on them. Perfectly delicious! 

Bananas About Smoothies

The temperature has been rising and with a couple of days in the upper 80s little B and I have been in need of a cool summertime treat. Lucky for us, mama has been freezing almost turned bananas on a regular basis. It never fails, the last banana (no matter how few I get) always seems to get a little too brown for my liking before we can finish it. On top of that, little B rarely finishes a whole one so I often pop the uneaten half in a ziplock bag in the freezer for a later use.

Since we are not quite beach bound (or Annies Bananies bound) yet, I decided to give my own banana “icecream” a try. The result was a super tasty, all natural and dairy free treat that the whole family enjoyed. I even froze the leftovers for “milkshakes” at a later date.

3-4 Frozen bananas (freeze with peels off)
2 C frozen blueberries
2 C frozen peaches
1 C All natural, no sugar added apple juice
*fruit and juice choices can be changed to fit your personal preferences

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, pushing down on the mixture with a wooden spoon every couple of minutes to make sure you get all the big chunks incorporated. Serve when it has reached a smooth consistency. Place the remainder in ice cube trays and freeze for later. Shake 2 cubes with 1 cup of milk in a sippy cup when your little one is ready for more!

Egg Salad with Fennel

I've been trying to mix up my lunch time sandwiches. Just plain tired of lunch meat five different ways. So I was pretty excited when I stumbled on this egg salad recipe on Epicurious. It is really a quick meal to make and yields about 3 cups. The fennel gives it a sweet unexpected crunch.

8 large boiled eggs
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1tsp dijon mustard
1/2 fennel bulb, finely chopped, plus 1 tbs finely chopped fronds (the green top of the fennel)

Mince and mash the garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt. Whisk together with mayo, lemon juice and zest, mustard, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Peel and chop eggs. Stir in dressing with fennel and fronds.

Win a Custom Mommy and Me Accessory Set from Scarlett & Co.

I am super excited for this weeks Mommy and Me giveaway sponsored by Scarlett and Company, a unique vintage inspired hair accessory line by Desiree Ortman available on etsy.com. As a former brand manager and self professed accessory junkie Desi was destine to become a momtrepreneur from the moment she became a stay at home mom. Constantly on the lookout for cute, high quality, affordable products she began creating her own custom designs shortly after her daughter Scarlett was born. With her line now branching out into adult accessories we thought it would be a perfect time to showcase her talents on our site. After all, every mama deserves a couple of fun pieces to spice up her wardrobe. So I am excited to offer one custom "Mommy and Me" accessory set in the style pictured to one of my lovely readers.

If like me, you don't have a mini me of your own to go matchies with I am just going to say that this set would make a SUPER cute baby shower gift. I mean how sweet would these be for a newborn shoot! Option C: you could just keep it for yourself and attach the small one to your trusty cabbage patch doll.

Prize Deets

One custom "Mommy and Me" hair accessory set courtesy of Scarlett and Company. The set received will be in a similar style to the ones pictured on this post. The winner will have the ability to choose from a selection of colors and styles offered by the designer including hair clips and headbands. Custom set will be available to ship two weeks after the design has been determined and will be shipped directly to the address provided by the winner. Custom set valued at $18.75

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Photography Credit: http://www.reflectionsbyamandalee.com/

Peasant Stew - Crockpot

I was pleasantly surprised with this crockpot meal. It was super easy and very good tasting. This one is definitely going to be a repeat meal for our family. The meal packs some slight heat, but nothing that my toddler son wasn't able to handle. The original recipe in the Cooking Light Slow Cooker cookbook calls for sour cream (to apply with each serving). I omitted this to make the meal dairy free. Also I used boneless chicken thighs, whereas the recipe called for bone in. The chicken broke up easily and mixed nicely in the stew and I felt better that there wasn't pieces of bone that my son could potentially choke on.

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

6 chicken thighs (approx 1 1/2 lb) skinned and boneless

canola oil

1 cup of chopped onion

1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican style stewed tomatoes with jalapeno peppers and spices, undrained

1 (14.5 oz) can chopped green chiles, undrained

1 (16 oz) can pinto beans rinsed and drained

1 (16 oz) can kidney beans rinsed and drained

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Combine cumin, salt, and black pepper, sprinkle over chicken. Heat over a large skillet over medium-high heat, coat with oil. Add chicken to pan and cook 4-5 minutes or until browned on all sides.

Place chicken in a slow cooker. Stir in onion, tomatoes, and chiles. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Stir in beans. Cover and cook for 1 more hour. Once ladled into bowls sprinkle cilantro over stew.

Moving Day!

Team 703 Mommy and Me is super busy this week moving locations.... not internet locations, actual physical location. That's right, the hubs and I have purchased our first single family home and are super excited and stressed about the move so while I might be silent for a couple of days I promise good things will come to those who wait.

Good things in the form of exciting giveaways!! That's right, I have a super exciting Mother's day giveaway lined up for Friday so please stay tuned!

Turkey Meatloaf

Let me just start off by saying prior to this posting I despised ground turkey. The only time I would ever eat it was if someone else prepared it and I would be nice, suck it up and eat it. My husband, however, would like for me to cook more often with it. So begrudgingly I purchased some at the grocery store. I found this recipe online from Epicurious and gave it a go. It was so EASY to make and my husband texted me four times to tell me how much he loved it (I threw it in the oven and ran out to an appointment). So let me officially announce I am a believer! And with fresh herbs starting to grow in the garden, this meal becomes a winner. The only adjustment that I made to the recipe was to use Panko bread crumbs in place of the crustless day-old pain rustique that the recipe called for. In general, whenever a recipe calls for some type of bread crumb I always substitute using Panko since it is usually diary free.

2 tbs olive oil

2 cups Panko bread crumbs

1 cup of low-sodium chicken broth

8 oz of slice button mushrooms

2 large eggs

1/4 cup minced shallots

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 tbs chopped fresh thyme

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 lb ground turkey (15% fat)

1 lb ground turkey breast

Heat oven to 350. Brush loaf pan with olive oil. Toss bread and broth in large bowl, combining until absorbed. Mix in mushrooms, eggs, shallots, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add turkey and mix until blended. Transfer to pan. Bake in center of oven (I put down foil underneath the pan to catch drippings). Bake for approx 1 hour and 25 minutes, until thermometer registers 170.

Star Struck: Cinco de Mayo craft and decor

Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner and I am a sucker for a holiday themed party so I am super excited to be preparing for a fiesta themed co-ed baby shower Ill be hosting that day! While I usually hate giving away surprises before the big reveal I decided to relax a bit and share the love. 

Festive DIY Star Centerpiece

I love event planning, choosing the menu, decor and all the details that go into giving each event that personal touch. A cute table arrangement is one of the easiest ways to jazz things up a bit and while the traditional route is to go with flowers I decided to go another way this time. I came across this super cute paper star tutorial while on Pinterest and thought they would make a perfect fiesta centerpiece. There is still more to come so stay tuned... but was super excited how they turned out so I had to give you a sneak peek.


I made several stars out of craft paper and glued them each to an extra long kabob skewer and stuck them all in a terracotta pot to bring in a natural southwestern feel to the whole thing. Each star took about 20 minutes to assemble so it is definitely a time consuming project but I do think I got faster and better as I figured the process out. I think they turned out super cute... hopefully everyone else does too!