Toddler Dinner: Ikea Swedish Meatballs & Mixed Veggies

This is super easy and fully satisfies him every time. First, get your hands on a beg of Ikea's frozen swedish meatballs.
Put 3 in a microwaveable bowl (white ramekin on left) with a splash (less than a teaspoon) of water. Zap in the microwave for a minute or two. Take a sharp pointy knife and stab them into the dinner dish. Use knife to cut them into bite size pieces (1/4ths). Test temperature and zap more if necessary.
Next, make the sauce. Assuming you are left with some meaty juice in the ramekin, add a drop of the classic toddler food, ketchup, then a nice dollop of sour cream. Stir together with a fork then microwave for ten seconds or so, to warm.
Call in your hungry one: "Dinner's ready"! (No response.)
"Meatballs!" And he came bounding in!
While meatballs were being devoured, a pang of mommy guilt struck, in that I was not offering him any vegetables. We always seem to have a bag of mixed veggies. Birds Eye Classic Mixed Vegetable are, in my opinion, the best: carrots, peas, green beans, and corn.
I used the same ramekin, rinsed, and filled with veggies, a dash of water and a pat of butter. Microwaved for a minute, stirred, then a minute more. Keep in mind this is a toddler portion so it's going to cook much more quickly. Test temperature and dump in now-consumed meatball bowl. Good stuff! On a side note, in case you are wondering, Ikea's children's toy silverware (stainless steel) is perfectly sized and we use them as actual eating utensils.
The reason I wasn't cooking dinner: too many cheese & crackers! Alex brought home cheese spread and caviar from work. An odd combination but hey- it worked! Maybe I'll come up with a better way to use up this caviar.

Sausage and Kale Soup

Bragging, once again, on "dent bin" specials: $1.49 chicken stock, $.49 for a large can of whole tomatoes..... Even better, once I was home, I saw the clerk (to whom I informed it was kale) rang up the greens as collards ($1.50/pound less). Perhaps that helps make up for the $7 celery root purchased the day before?
Though pictured, Alex removed the jarred garlic and replaced with several cloves of fresh. What was I thinking?
Something about jarred garlic is definitely "off". It has the taste of dead ants.
(I know this from experience.)
LOVE the (free) measurement app on the touch in which I could easily figure out how many quarts are in 32 oz (1!)... We added two more cans of Swanson's low-sodium chicken broth.



We sliced up last night's leftover sausage then rendered it further to brown, both sides (and in two batches to avoid overcrowding).

We had to transfer the soup to a larger pot, the dutch oven was too small!

This soup is soooooo delicious!!!

The recipe:
Sausage and Kale Soup
Serves 6

1 1/2 lb fresh sausage, sweet, hot or, in this case, Polish
1 lb fresh kale, washed and torn into small pieces (stems removed)
1 lb. all purpose potatoes, cut into cubes
1 onion, cut into thin half-moons
2 carrots, sliced on the diagonal
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2 quarts chicken broth
1 can whole tomatoes, chopped and juices added
16 oz can of rinsed kidney beans.
Black pepper, freshly ground
Pinch of salt

Boil sausage for 45 minutes. Dump out water an turn on oven broiler to preheat. Brown sausage in a cast iron skillet under the broiler for 2 minutes, flip, then 2 minutes, flip then 2 more minutes. Set sausages on a plate to cool and drain off fat.
Cut into 1/2 inch slices; fry to lightly brown both sides in the large skillet.

In a large stockpot, add the oil and butter, sauté onions, carrots, and garlic for a couple of minutes. Then add potatoes and broth, simmer, partially covered for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

Drain the can of tomatoes' juice into the stock pot (use a spatula or spoon to keep the whole tomatoes from falling in). Roughly chop them up and add to the pot.

Also add the kidney beans and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the kale and cooked sausage; simmer for an additional 5-10 minutes. Season to taste (may need pepper but probably not salt).

This is a very hearty and delicious soup. Serve with fresh bread and your favorite beverage.
I like Wachusett Brewing Companies' "Green Monsta Ale."

Parsley, Fennel and Celery Root Salad

This salad is a great palate cleanser during a heavy meal.
Think: Thanksgiving and Christmas.
And in this case, it was the only vegetable (other than mushroom contained in the koldunai and the potato kugelis).
This recipe is, perhaps, the only one I know of using parsley as a main ingredient, where you ingest copious amounts.
Green veggies are good for you and parsley is known to be high in vitamin A, K and C.

At Tevukas' Lithuanian feast, we enjoyed koldunai (dumplings), pickled herring, kugelis, desros (sausage), sauerkraut and, for dessert, Šakotis (tree shaped cake).

The recipe is on page 146 of the Gourmet Cookbook (2004).
It's so good, it has been requested more than once and I think I've made it ten times now!
A mandoline is handy and can make very thin slices. Above, fennel bulb is sliced thin as possible, then cut in quarters.
Below, celery root is peeled then sliced on the mandoline.

Once sliced, cut into matchsticks.

A large shallot is minced (2 tablespoons) and added to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 3/4 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper and 1/3 cup olive oil (use your best).

This is a tasty olive oil for only $5.99. I have been known to "splurge" and spend $20 on a great tasting olive oil.
This is probably the only time I use the hand mixer: to attach one whisk and use it to emulsify! It does a much better job than I do by hand and is easy enough.

Emulsified!

I dumped the dressing mix over the bowl of celery root & fennel to "marinate" while I hand plucked all the parsley leaves (leave out the stems) from a bunch of flat-leaf and curly-leaf parsley.
The best way to put this together is to use your hands and really toss it around to blend nicely.
I like to serve it in a special hand-turned, Vermont-made wooden bowl.

Tevukas hard at work, serving up dinner. Besides Alex, you can see 98-year-old Bobute, turned towards the food. She is the great-grandmother of six!
The empty chairs are Andrew and cousin June's, who were busy chasing each other around.

Kugelis

This is an annual tradition for us, making kugelis for Tevukas' Lithuanian Christmas Eve dinner.

Sauteed bacon & onion. Beware, bacon grease is included in the final product!

Peel, peel, peel.

A little break for some dancing!

Separating the eggs.

Grating the potatoes seemed a lot easier this year than in years past. I am guessing it is because we bought a new grater within the past year and it's edges are not yet dull!

Stir it up!
On a side note: the recipe calls for scalding the milk. A Google search concluded this is not a necessary step. We did, however, warm the milk by microwaving it.

Unbaked.

Baked.

Sources:

Chocolate Banana Bread

I will never forget how delicious this bread was, during the earliest (and most exhausting) days of early mommydom. It is best to slice and freeze it for an occasional treat or chocolate pick-me-up. The slices are delicious eaten while still frozen or microwaved so the chocolate chips inside melt.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 350 and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared pan and sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse brown sugar (optional). Bake until bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf or three smaller loafs.

Recipe:
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe bananas (approximately 1 pound), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish:
Turbinado or Demerara sugar (optional)

Easy Chicken & Rice Divan

This is a recipe from "way back", at a time when I was rather novice in the kitchen and cooked recipes "to a T".
Anyhow, it was inspiration for tonight's dinner, though I didn't end up following the recipe at all.
Easy Chicken & Rice Divan

serves 6 (good leftovers too!)
prep 15 min. total time: 50 min.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 cups Minute brown rice, uncooked
1 1/4 lb. boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed & drained (or use fresh)
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar

preheat oven to 375

Using a 3 qt. casserole or 13x9 inch baking dish,
mix together the milk, mayo, thyme and garlic powder.

Add rice, chicken and broccoli; mix well.

Bake 30 min.

Remove and sprinkle with cheese.

Let stand until cheese is melted (or turn off oven, cover
with foil and leave in oven until it’s time to eat).

What I did:
Blanch fresh chopped broccoli in boiling water for 4 minutes, run under cold water to stop the cooking.
Chop up & saute some celery, onions and mushrooms.
Chop up 1 very large chicken breast.
Cook breast with the veggies once they are softened. I turned the chicken over at this point.
Pour into a casserole, grate some cheddar on top, cook at 375º until melted.
Cook up a side of rice.
Enjoy!
Here is a BIG fan of rice: