Category: Appetizers

Working Our Mussels

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We’re sticking with Maine for just a few more weeks. Can you tell we did a lot of cooking at the cabin? It was fabulous! This particular recipe is probably the one we’ll remember the most and not because it was our favorite meal, although it was quite delicious, but because it was a truly memorable experience.

It didn’t take us long, especially with our little explorers, to realize that there were tons of mussels on our little stretch of beach. The bay was situated in an intertidal zone and the mussels were especially easy to find at low tide. 

Mike and I instantly started thinking about how we could cook some of these babies up, but we weren’t sure if they were safe or if we were allowed; and after having food poisoning from mussels on our honeymoon I wasn’t about to mess around with safety. So Mike asked the fisherman that sold us our clams if we could harvest some mussels. He explained the quantity and size regulations and gave us the number of the Maine Department of Marine Resources which would give us real-time pollution levels for our area. We were really getting excited now, so after a quick call and an all clear, we were ready for the mud. That’s when the fun began.

Miss A and I let the boys do the dirty work, and dirty it was! Mike and Mr. N really got their feet and hands grimy out in the soppy, muddy sand digging for mussels. Continue reading →

Clamming Up

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By Mike
(Kristy is recovering from sending Miss A to her first day of school. No tears from Miss A…and only a few from mom.)

I’ve never been one to kill my dinner, though as regular blog readers know, I’ve made exceptions when it comes to lobster.  However, we also tried two other live shellfish on our trek to Maine last month–steamed mussels (coming soon) and clams.

Live clams are gross.

They have these little finger-shaped things that stick out and sort of flop and leak seawater, and frankly the most accurate and vivid descriptions I can come up with for them aren’t really appropriate for a family blog.  What’s cool, though, is that if you tap the tip of these mouths, they come to life!  They stiffen up, spit water, and contract a little.  Tap them again with just a little bit of pressure and they retract back into the shell.  It took a few minutes of playing around with them to figure out exactly how they worked, but once I got the hang of it, it was fun.  Mr. N especially got a kick out of it, and liked making them squirt water.  The fun outweighs the grossness, and to our friend Kelly over at Inspired Edibles, we hope you have a chance and the fortitude to try cooking live clams on your forthcoming trip to Maine. Continue reading →

Mushroom Madness

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The kids set and ready to roll at 5 a.m.!

Today we roll back in from our big family road trip (regional recipes to come!). We’ve toured around for the past couple of weeks and had a wonderful time. That said, we’re all ready to be home. So while we get ourselves back in the groove of “real life” here’s another Portabello mushroom recipe for ya. This one is my favorite!

Our weeknights can get awfully hectic around here. Fortunately it’s a little less crazy in the summer, but not by much. And with all of this international and regional cooking it’s nice to have a meal that doesn’t pack on the calories, but still offers wonderful and savory flavors. I came across this recipe years ago in a Mayo Clinic e-health newsletter. Portabellos with Provolone is an easy dish that’s great for a meal if you’re looking for something light, but can also be served as an appetizer.

It’s very easy. Start with a few fresh portabellos, brown sugar, garlic, rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Continue reading →

A Winning Pick

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Thanks to everyone who voted for us on Babble and for all the wonderful location suggestions. This morning Miss A did the honors of picking our winner. Mr. N offered his assistance, but she was adamant that he stay far back because she was doing this one!

After giving the bowl a good shake, she drew our winner.

Continue reading →

The Recipe that Sparked an Obsession

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Several of you have asked how Miss A’s balsamic obsession began. Well, it started when I found a recipe for Strawberry Bruschetta on Annie’s Eats. I’m always on the lookout for quick, easy and healthy recipes to make for myself for lunch. I have a terrible time with this meal. I’m usually just cooking for myself, I don’t have a lot of time and I don’t want to over eat. I figured I could easily adapt Annie’s recipe to go on my little pita crackers (my current lunch obsession) for a quick lunch.

What I didn’t count on was how much Miss A would enjoy this dish as well. I mean it has goat cheese, basil and balsamic – not the type of ingredients that most little ones find palatable. Oh was I wrong on that one! She devoured her first one and kept right on going. So here’s the easy to make Strawberry Bruschetta Appetizer I adapted from Annie’s recipe, and Miss A’s favorite lunch. Continue reading →

Salsa – Almost as Much Fun to Say as Sriracha

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Miss A rollin’ in her signature laid back style – 2009

There’s a story behind this – every time we go to the grocery store and get to the Asian food aisle, Miss A starts yelling “Sri-chacha” – and I mean yelling. We can’t help but laugh every time, even while trying to shoosh her just a bit. Then she continues for the next few aisles whispering “Sri-chacha.”

While we didn’t use Sriracha tonight, it was Miss A’s pick for our stateside adventure. We asked her what state she wanted to cook from and without hesitation she said very matter of factly, “California.” Dad and I both turned and looked at each other in shock. You see she usually picks places we’ve recently talked about or visited, or even one she flips to in the atlas, but today was straight out of her own little mind. So even though we already visited California once before, we figured we’d give it another go because Miss A said so.

Every time we visit California we eat lots of fresh Mexican food – especially fresh salsa. And since we’re really full from eating desserts the past few weeks and weekends, we’re going to feature a healthy California side dish this week in its place – Pineapple Jicama Salsa. (Don’t worry…we’ll have another dessert soon. 😉 )

This recipe is courtesy of our good friend, Linda, who shared this wonderful dish with us last week after I devoured quite a bit at their house. We started by dicing some tomatoes, jicama and pineapple. Continue reading →