Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.
Nicole's meal plan for this week features Moroccan meatballs with couscous, pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, beef stir-fry with snow peas, penne with sausage and peppers, and this grilled chicken with bruschetta—perfect for an early summer barbecue.
Mujaddara is tasty, easy to make, and my kids love it. This dish is a mix of lentils, rice, and caramelized onions and is a popular comfort food for everyone from Israelis to Palestinians to Egyptians to Jordanians. It's perfect for a vegetarian or vegan main dish (and gluten free, too!), and fantastic as a hearty side dish for kebabs or roast chicken. Mujaddara is also versatile: it's hearty enough for a chilly evening, but also great served at room temperature as part of a summer lunch. With its subtle spices, mujaddara is an exotic change of pace, but not so much so that your kids won't eat it.
Not only is mujaddara tasty, but it's healthy, too. Lentils are considered one of the super foods—high in fiber, protein, vitamin B, and iron, and when combined with rice make for a complete protein dish. Olive oil and onions have plenty of health benefits, too. We usually accompany mujaddara with one or two different fresh Mediterranean-inspired salads, such as cucumbers and yogurt, or tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions.
While the traditional version can be a little time consuming to make, we've managed to simplify the recipe considerably using the pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joe's. (You'll find them in the refrigerator in the produce section, near the salad.) Feel free to make this dish even more >healthy by substituting brown rice for the more traditional white rice—since brown rice takes so long to cook we usually make things super easy by using Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice, which is a staple in our freezer.
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.
Nicole's meal plan for this week features tacos and tostadas al pastor, chicken meatball soup, rocket pesto with linguini, and this grilled eggplant, red pepper, and tomato focaccia sandwich.
What I love about grilling are the endless combinations of vegetables that can be grilled. Grilling imparts a smoky and more complex flavor to each type of vegetable that you just can’t get from any other cooking method. The key is low temperature grilling using marinades and fruity oils so that the vegetables don’t stick. In this recipe, I use herbed goat cheese to round out the flavors of the sandwich. If you can’t find focaccia, use a good fresh loaf of bread. Serve with a side salad or tomato salad.
This guest article is by my friend and Marin mom Nancy Grossi, author of the award-winning blog The Wife of a Dairyman. Nancy started her blog at the beginning of 2010, and offers a look into life on one of Marin's many dairy farms. One of her loves is cooking, and her recipe for healthy grilled teriyaki chicken skewers is perfect for a Memorial Day BBQ. Thanks, Nancy!
Can you believe I've never tried grilling skewers? I was in the mood for something light, fresh and easy. Plus I just bought 20 pounds of chicken and wanted to use some of it.
I used skinless chicken breast and boneless, skinless thighs. Red onion, pineapple, zucchini, summer squash and red bell pepper for the veggies. I cut everything into chunks and skewered them. I marinated the skewers in a Pyrex for a few hours with my favorite marinade Soy Vay Teriyaki. Oh, and before skewering, I soaked the wooden skewers in water for a while so they wouldn't burn (hopefully).
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.
Nicole's meal plan for this week features roasted chicken and potatoes española; farfalle with artichokes, fennel, and sweet sausage; lamb and beef burgers with chipotle aïoli; asparagus and lemon tortellini; and these convenient rotisserie chicken fajitas.
I am in a constant search for ways to convert leftovers into something interesting for the next night’s dinner. Here is a solution for leftover chicken or the rotisserie chicken you bought for last night’s dinner. With a few simple ingredients, plain old chicken becomes smoky and complex in tonight’s rotisserie chicken fajitas.
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.
Nicole's meal plan for this week features her usual delicious dishes, but today she shares with us this tasty recipe for campfire pizzas—just in time for summer camping season!
We spent a glorious weekend camping under a canopy of Redwood trees. Just North of Boonville all the way up into Anderson Valley, the next up and coming Wine Country of Northern California, is a special little campground that lies along the Navarro River. As we do with all our camping trips, and we do A LOT of them, each family takes on a meal so that all the meals are shared. Our good friends surprised us with Campfire Pizzas. I had no idea how this was going to workout. I envisioned pizza dough dripping through the rusty grates left over the campfire, but our friend Bill had a trick up his sleeve. Campfire Pie Irons! Who knew? He had an antique I think, but it worked just fine and we ate warm oozy, goosy pizzas around the campfire with all the trimmings.
Finding good camping recipes is not always the easiest but this recipe is foolproof and simple. Each pizza pie is made individually so it is easy to set up for everyone to make their own pizza with their favorite toppings. This recipe can be easily adjusted for the amount of pizzas you need.
As an extra bonus, you can add your favorite canned pie filling to the bread and for dessert, make Campfire Pies! So easy!
Our friend Chef Scott Howard, of Brick & Bottle restaurant in Corte Madera, offered us this great healthy, delicious, and family-friendly recipe. It's something that kids can help prepare, and would make a great addition to a Mother's Day brunch or dinner. The kids helped me make this recipe the other day and it was a big hit in our home.
If cooking (and cleaning up the kitchen) on Mother's Day is not your style, Brick & Bottle is offering a fantastic Mother's Day brunch buffet on Sunday from 11:30 am to 3 pm, featuring treats like smoked salmon, beet salad, eggs benedict, duck confit hash, rotisserie lamb, smoked pork shoulder, and of course Scott's famous rum cake.
Call Brick & Bottle at (415) 924-3366 for information and reservations, or visit www.brickandbottle.com. Brick & Bottle is located at 55 Tamal Vista Boulevard, in the Marketplace shopping center, in Corte Madera.
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.
Nicole's meal plan for this week features quick roasted chicken thighs with fresh shelled peas and saffrom couscous, a caprese sandwich, Asian lettuce cups, smokey tomato bacon soup with grilled cheese, and this pesto and chicken fettucini alfredo.
Imagine a creamy sauce filled with all the flavor of pesto. This is it! Using left over chicken and a creamy pesto sauce, dinner is made in a flash.
This Saturday we finally got a chance to stop by the new Farm Girl Nursery in Novato's Indian Valley neighborhood. This charming little nursery and farm is the perfect place to visit with the kids. You can meet some animals, including pigs, chickens, rabbits, horses, and a baby goat; shop for heirloom seeds and seedlings, produce, and gardening tools; and see exactly where your food comes from.
A trip to Farm Girl Nursery is a fun outing. The kids had a great time meeing the animals, seeing all the different types of vegetables, fruits, and flowers growing, and even got to snack on carrots pulled right out of the ground.
Owner Lisa Marvier is delightful and takes pleasure in showing visitors around the small farm. She introduced us her heritage chickens and pot-bellied pigs, and even dug some carrots out of the ground that she gave to our kids to eat. She also has numerous educational activities for kids planned at the nursery, including upcoming classes and a summer day camp that sounds like it's going to be a blast (for updates, sign up for their email list at the nursery or follow Farm Girl Nursery on Facebook).
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog 
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog 
This guest article is by my friend and Marin mom Nancy Grossi, author of the award-winning blog 
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog 
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog 
Our friend Chef Scott Howard, of 
Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog 
