I hope everyone had a lovely father’s day!

Monday night will be our first dinner home together in 8 days – that’s a long time! I have a surprise up my sleeve for M. Homemade chicken pot stickers. Our good friend Catherine made these for us a few months ago and he hasn’t stopped talking about them since.

I’m still cooking my way through Curtis Stone’s cookbook and loving each and every recipe I try. Tuesday we will dine on this recipe, yet again. Have you tried this one? Perfect summer dish.

Wednesday is time for a summer corn pasta dish. Curtis has one that involves bow ties (love), thyme, and parmesan. You can’t go wrong with those ingredients. Simple and fresh – can’t wait to try this one out.

Thursday let’s go with chicken facile, it’s been a few weeks since we’ve had it and frankly that is just too long.

That brings us to Friday and to grilled ribeye steaks and green beans with roasted tomato vinaigrette and chili-gorgonzola buttter. I KNOW. Thank you yet again, Curtis.

Saturday I have my fingers crossed for Lou’s pizza in as I will be packing for SOUTH CAROLINA! We leave Sunday am and could not be more excited. A full fried chicken dinner complete with apple pies will be awaiting our arrival Sunday night. This is the just part of the crew I am lucky enough to spend the week with:

What’s cooking in your kitchen this week?
C

This ones for you, dad.

I’m not typically one to toot my own horn but I generally am one confident gal when it comes to my role in the kitchen. I can chop at lighting fast speed. I season to taste, which I believe to be a fine art, and I use recipes as guidelines, not hard rules. Yes I have to say the kitchen is where I happen to feel my most confident.

That all came to a screeching halt yesterday. Enter nervous, unconfident, full of questions, C.

Father’s day was suddenly upon us this year. Not wanting to simply pass by the day that was meant to honor the head of our family my darling sister and I came up with the brilliant plan of making him a russian feast. (My dad is russian by the way, this isn’t totally random). Once decided, the frantic text trail began from there as my sister ran around in the city and I waited for B to wake up from his am nap:

A: I was thinking it would be cute to do like a nice russian meal – borscht, pierogis, sausage…what do you think?
C: That’s awesome. We can bring it by during the day for them to eat when they can.
A: Perfect! I was hoping you’d say that.
A: Found a hole in the wall deli in ukrainian ullage and bought like 5 tons of pierogis.
C: Amazing!!! Sausage update?
C: What else do we need, heading out with B soon. Are we doing this homemade borscht?
A: Well, I wanted to save the sausage for this yuppy deli by us that’s won all sorts of awards, but I get there and they don’t have anything polish. So I got 2 that they guy said are most like kielbasa. Might want to get a couple more
C: Because we won’t have enough food, ha
A: The borscht does take a really long time…maybe you can get the beets going today?
C: Ok, let me look over the recipe now….
C: Ok, do you have the recipe? Ugh, I am so disorganized, I know mom gave it to me and of course I can’t find it and don’t want to bother her….
C: Never mind…!!! Found it. Woo hoo.
A: Yes!!
C: This is going to be a FEAST.
A: Toooooooooootally.
C: I love how you are essentially bringing a grocery store to mom and dads today.
A: I mean…I have cheese, bread, bacon wrapped dates, sausage, hummus, pierogis….
C: That’s just awesome.

At this point I was standing in Fresh Market looking at the stacks of dirty beets. Huh, I’ve never actually cooked a beet. Do I boil it or roast it? Peel it first or leave it be? I whipped out the recipe, a term I use lightly here. Oh my goodness it is pretty much a rambling of my mom’s and grandmother’s thoughts spilled onto a piece of paper. In regards to the beets, it says ‘cook them.’ Helpful. There were ingredients listed at the top and as I read my way through the directions new ingredients popped up here and there. Huh. I will be cooking with beef bones (comfortable) and ox tails (not comfortable). How long do I cook them? ‘Awhile.’ It called for a can of tomatoes…..well, diced? Whole? Crushed? 14 oz or 28 oz? I began to sweat.

B sensed my anxiety and wanted ‘up’ so I meandered my way through the market with my 24 pound bowling ball on my hip trying to decipher the code on that thin sheet of paper that was the key to taking father’s day to the next level.

Once I was confident I had all the necessary ingredients to get this going I made my way to the check out. A kind lady, who I have chatted with many times before, asked if I was making anything special for Father’s day. I replied ‘well, yes…borscht soup, but I am a little nervous about it.’

She smiled huge and said ‘oh you’ll be fine! Start with the beets – it’s just like cooking a potato.’

I breathed a sigh of relief. Potatoes! Well, I can handle those. I can do this!

And the recipe unfolded from there. I had to feel my way through most of it and questioned myself once or twice but I think, after all that, I pretty much nailed it. There was no other option. It was going to a pretty special guy.

And hey mom if that’s not the case, feel free to season away. Sugar and all.

Happy Father’s Day dad!

Tim’s Borscht Soup
Recipe from 3 generations: My grandma, my mom, and myself

Ingredients:

- 1 qt beef stock
- 1 package beef short ribs
- 1 package oxtails
- salt & pepper
- bay leaf
- 4 to 5 larger sized beets
- onion, diced
- 1 28 ounce can tomatoes, diced
- 2 tsp garlic salt
- 3 carrots, grated
- smallish head of cabbage, roughly chopped
- 3 small red potatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- handful fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Cover beef bones and oxtails with water. Add in bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer, until meat is tender. Roughly 1 hour or so.

Place beats in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for roughly an hour, until fork tender. Peel skin off and roughly chop.

To the meat pot add onion, tomatoes, garlic salt, and carrots. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add in cooked beets, cabbage, and potatoes and simmer for another 15 minutes or so.

Last in goes your lemon juice, dill, and sugar. Taste at this point! You will need to adjust the salt and pepper.

Eat up,
C

A creamy and slightly thick dressing that is easy on the waistline? Hello new fav summer dressing. Thank you for entering my life.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook you knew my dear friend, Mary Beth, just happened to make an awesome southwestern salad for me the other night. Along the side was a mini plastic cup filled with this flavorful and super cool homemade dressing.

Packed with cilantro, lime, and greek yogurt – it’s good as gold. I used it on my salad and then later to snack with carrots….crackers….a spoon.

I kid.

Not really.

Cilantro Lime Dressing
Recipe adapted from The Garden Grazer

Ingredients:

1 cup loosely packed cilantro, stems removed and finely chopped
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about 1/2 lime)
1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients up until the olive oil. Whisk in the olive oil slowly until combined.

Chill and serve!

Eat up,
C

It’s wwww time - yippee! I loved teaming up with Toronto Mama and seeing what everyone has to share. Such cute outfits all around. Thank you so much for participating and I hope you can link up again this week!

Our photos this week are from a low key Saturday. Low key meaning we didn’t have anything planned aside from a noon baseball game. Before and after we fit in a trip to the market, fishing, golf, and a looooong date at the pool. Here is what we wore.

L: Since fishing was involved, he was rocking some crewcut play clothes today. Green shorts, and a ‘hot dog eating champion’ tee. Striped orange and navy crewcut flip flops complete the ensemble.

B: This was his first day sporting J Crew! I was so excited to dress him. Polka dot crew cut onesie and H&M plaid pants (or old man golf pants as we call them). After the photo was taken M fed him strawberries, WITHOUT A BIB. Sigh.

C: I scored this navy and white striped dress for $32 from J Crew! It has a cute zipper on the back side. Target camel colored flats with a gold buckle. I wanted to include a photo of my staple jewelry as I wear these items every single day. They include a rose gold MK watch, vintage gold bracelet, and my Helen Ficalora initial necklace. I love that thing. M got it for me the day B was born.

Alright – let’s see those cute photos. If you have a blog, you know what to do – link up below! If you don’t, join us on Facebook as we must see the cuteness!
C

So, these are actually originally named ‘crash’ hot potatoes but for some reason in my mind whenever I wanted to make them I’d google ‘crack’ hot potatoes to find the recipe. Somehow it just seemed more fitting to me…so it stuck.

These potatoes are adapted from the Pioneer Woman. Like the name change, I’ve mixed up a few things here and there and so can you. Also like the name insinuates these are crazy addictive. They get all crackly and crispy in some parts, soft in other parts, and are brightened by the flavor of fresh herbs and cracked sea salt.

They are the perfect sidekick to your grilled to perfection ribeye.

Seriously, make these. This week. I’m kind of already twitching for another batch.

Crack Hot Potatoes
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

- bag of Yukon gold baby potatoes
- olive oil
- fresh herbs, I love using rosemary or chives
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Boil your potatoes. My sure fire way is to put the potatoes in cold water with 2 TBS salt. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Drain potatoes into a colander and put the colander over the pot you used to cook them. Place a clean kitchen towel over the potatoes and let steam for 15-20 minutes until tender.

Grease a baking sheet with olive oil and place your potatoes on it like you are making cookies. Using a potato smasher (or the bottom of a glass) smash the potato down. Rotate the masher 90 degrees, and smash again. They will now look like potato cookies!

Brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh herbs, sea salt, and pepper.

Bake for 25 minutes in a 450 degree oven.

Eat up!
C

I wanted to share with you an email I wrote to Jenny. She is the author of the most wonderful blog, Dinner A Love Story. She has also written a book, which I highly recommend. I think it’s important to let bloggers know the influence they have on you. I can’t tell you what it means to me to read each and every comment or email. They are all so important and really change my day for the better!

Here we go…

Hi Jenny ~

Anyway, my 6 year old who has an obsession with my iPhone captured us on the warm night. I wanted to send it your way to show what your lemon pepper chicken has done to us.


Keep writing – you rock!
C

P.S. Oh – you probably want the recipe, right? You can find it here. I can’t write about it better.

That’s a lot of W’s, isn’t it? For those of you who missed it you can catch up here. Welcome to ‘what we wore Wednesdays.’ If you’re visiting from The Pleated Poppy (thank you!), please feel free to link up here, too.

I have to say, getting the photos are a bit tricker than I thought. I was hoping to do one of all three of us together but I know those photos are rare and hard to come by. We attempted but the odds of me looking decent, L looking content (as opposed to annoyed) B being still, and M not losing his patience…well, we are at about a .1% chance of that happening.

God bless the photo collage.

The pictures took place on our front porch. It was a normal day for us. Play date, Target, errands, lunch, bus, school, bus, baseball. Here is what we wore:

L: I’ve seen those shorts all over this season – J Crew, Mini Boden, but I found them for the best price at H&M. They were $12. His tee shirt is J Crew and sports a puppy on the front and a ‘run like the wind’ phrase on the back. Shoes varied from sneakers to barefoot to cleats.

B: Love his little ensemble today! He is rocking the mixed patterned look, which is so in right now. Old Navy shorts (heart the lime green belt!) and Zara striped top. Those thighs you just can’t buy. Sorry.

C: I feel like this was vintage Gap day. I had a handful of people ask me where I got my dress and I felt bad saying the Gap…but like 6 years ago! Don’t you love pieces like that? It’s made of linen and so comfortable. Shoes were also Gap circa years ago. That gold bracelet….well, there is a story I will tell one day. It’s vintage to keep it short for now.

I can’t WAIT to see pictures of you and your little(s)!
C

                                                Farmer’s market dates with L – love them.

Another week – let’s do this!

Last week’s plan got a little off course, which happens. I was spoiled with an impromptu dinner by the pool one night (it felt like vacation) and then with two back to back 6PM baseball games, well, things got a little derailed. I planned accordingly but still have a lot from last week to work with this week, which helps.

Sunday night was special. We had a date night in, which I love to do. L was gone so we had a quiet house once B passed out at 7:00. On the menu? These soft shell crabs, from Shredded Sprout. This was a HUGE step outside my comfort zone and I am SO glad I took it. To die for.

I’m on my own a good chunk of this week again. I’ll be dining on this and this. Lots of fresh spinach from the market to use up!

M will return home to chipotle marinated pork tacos because well, there isn’t much else better to come home to than those. Aside from B’s smile, of course.

Thursday we will dine on some lemon pepper marinated chicken, grilled veggies (these never get old!), and brown rice.

Friday will be a fresh summer pasta full of shrimp, fettuccine, and tomatoes. I never got around to making it last week and it looks way too good to skip over. I’ll keep you posted, as always.

Well there is our kitchen line up for the week. What’s cooking in yours? I’d so love to hear!

Eat up,
C

It’s been for quite some time here on ALFS that I wanted to incorporate fashion a bit, yet I just never could find the right way to do it. I wanted to keep it primarily a food blog, but throw in some fun outfit ideas here and there. Thanks to the Pleated Poppy for getting my mind churning a bit. I think I finally found a great way to work it in – woohoo!

Look, if you’re a mom – you get it. Most days I attempt to get myself dressed and ready to go and within 10 minutes something is spilled on me. I constantly have soaking wet shoulders from drool and there are countless times I’ve sat in some unknown substance. I can’t tell you how many times ‘why do I even bother?’ goes through my head as I’m attempting to clean myself with B’s wipes.

Yet it does make a difference. Throwing on something with a bit of thought in it even though the yoga pants are sooooo much easier just, well, matters. For you, for your significant other, and for your bebe! Believe me they pick up on everything and taking care of yourself is a wonderful example, for them. So here is my challenge to YOU. I’m teaming up with Toronto Mama - have you seen her blog? I highly recommend it. Crafts, food, fashion – this mama has it going on! Together we want to get us moms OUT of the black yoga pants! Here’s how it’s going to work:

Every Wednesday Pleated Poppy has a gig going called ‘What I wore Wednesdays.’ She showcases her outfits throughout the week in various photographs. Cute, right? Well, we are going to change it up a bit and go with ‘What WE wore Wednesdays.’ We want to see pictures of all you moms (or moms to be) and your little(s). So fun to show them off!

Here is how it’s going to work:

Take a photograph sometime during the week. It doesn’t have to be on Wednesday, as my dear VA assistant patiently explained to me. This gives you a ton of flexibility and time! Just one picture. You and your bebe(s). You can so do this! And it doesn’t have to be fancy, promise. All styles are welcome.

On Wednesday, check back in here at ALFS and/or Toronto Mama. We’d love for you to visit both! I will post what the boys and I wore and if you have your own blog you can link it and share with us what you wore. You only have to post on one of our blogs and you’ll show up on both as we have them linked together. Fun, right?

If you don’t have a blog I still so want to see you and your little(s) so head on over to my FB page and/or Toronto Mama’s FB page and we are going to be checking in weekly every Wednesday. You can show off your photograph there! We are even going to create an album titled ‘what we wore Wednesdays’ that you will be placed in.

I think this will be a great change up here on ALFS and will give us fun new style ideas for each other and our best little accessory.

Happy shopping my friends – Hint, J Crew has 30% off all swim styles right now!
C

I have to say, I’ve marinaded a lot of things – but, cheese? Not so much.

This lovely idea was brought to us by my neighbor who writes Shredded Sprout. I followed her recipe to a tee aside from one thing – fresh buffalo mozzarella. It was Memorial Day. I had run to Fresh Market, Heinens (closed), a local Italian restaurant (closed) and finally in a desperate attempt, Jewel. At that point I gave up and bought the freshest (regular) mozzarella I could find.

And you know what?

It worked. Really really well.

So if you are balancing baseball schedules and playdates and nap schedules and just don’t have the time to run around to find a (sometimes) more difficult ingredient it’s ok. I promise. My version was gobbled up! I had to cut myself off after 4 (large) pieces to save room for dinner.

It’s also good to know that this one will only get better as this season goes on. Freshly picked summer tomatoes and if you get lucky that friendly cheese guy at the market might just carry exactly what we’re looking for.

Want the recipe? Of course you do. Head on over here. She walks you through it well.

Eat up!
C