December 2015 - NY Foodie Family

Best Books of 2015

Posted on December 29, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I am linking up today with Steph and Jana for a special edition of Show Us Your Books….the best of 2015 edition! I debated whether to list the best books read each month. In the end, I decided to just post the best of the best. According to goodreads, I’ve read 82 books this year (didn’t meet my goal of 100 books). I read LOTS of 4 star books that were really good. However, the following eleven books are the ones that I rated 5 stars this year. The books are listed in the order in which they were read this year. I only commented on the lesser known books. Most of these books are or have been on best seller lists and you probably have read or are planning on reading them and know what they are about. I am looking forward to checking out everyone’s posts and adding books to my to read list on goodreads!

All books are linked to goodreads.

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The Girl You Left Behind by Jo Jo Moyes

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Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

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The Girl On the Train by Paula Hawkins

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Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichel – This was actually a re-read for me. The first I listened to it on audio book. This past year I read the book. It’s Reichel’s memoir as a food critic for the New York Times. If you like food and wonder what it’s like to be a food critic, I recommend!

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Confess by Colleen Hoover – If you have never read a Colleen Hoover book, I highly recommend. I fell in love with her books after reading Slammed.

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The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

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The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

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The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay – This is a YA book that I had heard good things about and I don’t know why I waited so long to read. Soooo, soooo good!

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The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult – This book is a few year old. Picoult is one of my favorite authors and I just got to reading this book a couple of months ago. This book deals with issues of the Holocaust in both the past and the present. It’s told in Picoult’s usual storytelling style, through the different characters’ points of view.

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One For the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt – This is actually a middle grade chapter book. However, it’s a good, tug at your heartstrings type of read that I think anyone can appreciate. Carley Connors has been sent to a foster family after an accident leaves her mom hospitalized. She meets the Murphys, a family with three boys. After a rough start, Carly feels like she’s finally found the perfect family.

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Fallout by Ellen Hopkins – This is the third and final book in the Crank series. The story, written in poetry form as all Hopkins’ books are, is told through the points of view of three of Kristina’s five children. They each have different last names, live with different guardians and depict the effects that drugs can have on a “family.”

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 23, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

We are starting our Christmas celebration a few days early here at NY Foodie Family! We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We will be back next week with lots more food, family and fun!

Family Book Review: George

Posted on December 22, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I first heard about the book George from Lisa at expandng. While we didn’t get it read in time for her monthly book club discussion about it, I wanted to share our family’s thoughts on the book now that we have finally finished it. First let me note that the last chapter book we read together as a family was Wonder by R. J. Palacio. We loved this book and enjoyed reading it together. Reading chapter books together as a family is hard though. With everyone’s busy schedules, many nights we only have time for a picture book or two before bed. Between the Weekend Chef’s work schedule, the kids activities and my tennis league, we also ran into the problem of us all not being around to read together at bedtime. After many weeks and needing to renew the book from the library, we finally finished reading it!

I will also note that I knew nothing about this book before reading it. Absolutely nothing. I found it at the library on display with the junior chapter books so assumed it would be appropriate for the kids. For those who don’t know anything about this book, it is about a boy named George who is keeping a secret. He (referred to as “she” in the book) feels like and wishes he was a girl. George’s class is putting on a production of Charlotte’s Web and she really wants to play the role of Charlotte. The story is told from George’s point of view. We get to see her struggle with identity and with the help of her best friend Kelly, creating a plan to play the part she wants and let others know who she really is.

My thoughts: I find this book to be timely and relevant in today’s world. My kids are 7 and 9 1/2. It was definitely my error in not reading the book jacket before starting this book with the kids to prepare myself and them for the subject matter that the book deals with. They now know what lesbian and gay mean in the simplest terms and seemed okay with my definition (when a girl loves a girl or a boy loves a boy). I think the transgender issue is a little trickier. I mentioned that throughout the book George referred to herself as “she” but didn’t come right out and state that she was a boy until late in the book. The first few chapters my daughter kept stating “I’m so confused! His name is George, but is he a he or a she?!” I told her we’d keep reading and see. I think this book did a great job of explaining the anxiety and feelings of transgender children. My criticism of the book is that George is in the 4th grade. However, the author makes references to “dirty magazines” and uses language like “taking a dump” that I found unnecessary and inappropriate for the targeted audience. Overall, I liked this book and believe it’s one of the only children’s books out there that deals with the topic of transgender issues targeted towards a middle grade audience.

My husband: I thought the book was perfectly appropriate for our kids except for the few unnecessary adult bits mentioned above. Nancy and I couldn’t figure out was age group the book was for. Would older kids enjoy reading about a younger boy in 4th grade? Maybe. Would kids in 4th grade really understand what’s going on without some parental help? And would those parents not mind some more mature material? Not sure. I really appreciated the first-person presentation of George’s conflict from the inside out. The character is well-developed and we always encourage learning about other people’s perspectives. It just so happens that the 4th grader in the story has conflicts like nothing else available to kids that I know of. I recommend that you read it with your 4th grader but be prepared read it yourself first and then be prepared to have some conversations the second time around.

My daughter (age 9 1/2): I liked George because even though George is a boy, she thought she was girl. Her friend Kelly believed George, when she told her she was a girl and helped her make a plan so she could be Charlotte in the play. Kelly is a true friend to George in this story. I really liked this book because it was an amazing story about problems that some people might have to deal with.

My son (age 7): People thought that George was a boy but she felt like a girl. She wanted to be Charlotte in the play. I thought it was pretty good because I liked the Charlotte’s Web play. There were some parts that were a little too girly for me, like when George and Kelly were trying on clothes.

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 24}

Posted on December 21, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Monday everyone! The countdown to Christmas has begun! I hope everyone had a great weekend. The family and I were sick for most of the weekend….blah. Hoping the coughs and runny noses are gone for the holiday. Here’s a look at what was on our menu last week. You can read more about our meal planning process if you’d like some inspiration.

Saturday: We went to a friend’s house for dinner. The kids helped make homemade pizza and enjoyed playing with their friends. Sadly, no pictures were taken.

Sunday: We went up to the Weekend Chef’s aunt’s house for a latke party. We enjoyed latkes of course as well as mushroom barley soup, turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, salad and challah bread. Yum!

Monday: I made Korean BBQ Chicken Burgers with Grilled Pineapple and Gochujang BBQ Sauce from Closet Cooking. Major adaptions were made to the recipe including using ground turkey, no bacon, onions or cilantro and not adding the spicy gochujang sauce in the romaine slaw to keep it kid-friendly. Even without all those omissions these burgers were pretty tasty. There were just a lot of steps. I served these with fries.

Tuesday: I made Stuffed Baked Potato Chili from Melanie Makes. This was super tasty and perfect for cold weather (although we haven’t really been having such cold weather here in New York recently!). I loved it because it had no beans and I’m not a big bean fan. Out of all the dishes made this week, this is the one I most recommend!

Wednesday: I made Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala Stew from Cooking & Beer which I served over egg noodles. This was easy, being made in the slow cooker. I used only chicken thighs and less mushrooms, since the kids don’t like mushrooms. If I were to make this again, I’d use less garlic as well. I found four cloves to be a bit overpowering.

Thursday: The Weekend Chef went out to dinner with a friend, so it was just me and the kids. This was the first day of me feeling sick so I went with something quick and easy. Breakfast for dinner which included scrambled eggs, a hash brown patty and a bagel. The kids loved it!

Friday: I made Penne with Sausage, Eggplant and Feta from Cooking Light. This was a recipe repeat – something I had made ages ago, but thought was worth repeating. This disappointed and wasn’t as good as I remember. The kids don’t like eggplant and didn’t like this at all.

Friday Favorites {Week 42}

Posted on December 18, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday folks! I can’t believe that we are one week away from Christmas! I’m not sure that my brain has realized this yet, since I’m relatively calm. Our daughter, who was sick last week, has gotten our son and me both sick. We both have been suffering from runny noses, sneezes, sore throats and coughs for the past two days now. This weekend looks to be relatively calm, minus the regularly scheduled activities including volunteering at the food pantry, tae kwon do and a basketball game. I’m sure last minute shopping and gift wrapping will also be done as well. Here are some of our favorites from this past week:

1. Family latke party – The Weekend Chef’s mom side of the family celebrates Hanukkah. Sunday we went up for a latke party. For the first time we had caviar available to put on our latkes as well as applesauce and sour cream. The latkes were also accompanied by a turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, a fall salad and challah bread. Needless to say, we were stuffed! And that’s not including dessert. Plus, it was nice to get to see some of his family members that we only see a couple of times a year.

2. Belt test – Wednesday night both kids tested for their next tae kwon do belt. They went from white belts with yellow stripes to yellow belts. This is the second year that they have been taking this tae kwon do class at their school. The looks of pride on their faces as they broke the boards was priceless!

3. Gingerbread houses – My daughter got this foam gingerbread house kit last year as a present. This week the kids finally sat down to make it. Made out of foam pieces that required no gluing, this was a fun alternative to candy gingerbread houses.

4. The joy of giving – We have started giving out presents and it’s so wonderful to see how excited the kids are not only to receive presents, but to give them as well. Our daughter especially, has been very thoughtful in her gift giving. When picking out the latch hook craft kit that she bought for her girl scout secret Santa, she noted that the girl is quiet and likes to do art projects. We bought a tin of hot cocoa for her piano teacher and she noted that the teacher would probably like to drink it snuggled up on the sofa with a book.

5. Favorite bookmarked recipe of the week: Every year on Christmas eve we go to my cousin’s house. She always has us bring a dessert. Since there are always lots of desserts, including cookies, I try to bring smaller bite-size desserts. Past desserts I’ve brought include mini-cheesecakes, cannoli cups and brownie bites. This year, I think I’m making this Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Dip from A Pumpkin & A Princess.

ICYMI on the blog this week:
Monday we posted our weekly meal plan with photos and reviews.
Tuesday we posted a round-up and review of recently published 2015 Christmas picture books.
Wednesday we wrote about how every ornament on our tree tells a story.
Thursday we reviewed the game Bounce-Off that we played on a recent family game night.

We hope everyone has a great weekend! Linking up with Tif @ Bright on a Budget, Andrea @ Momfessionals and Amanda from Meet @ The Barre.

Family Game Night: Bounce-Off

Posted on December 17, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

*This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for additional info.*

Family game night just got more fun when we recently played Bounce-Off. My daughter had received this as a birthday present last year and we finally got around to finding some time to play it. The game is made by Mattel and geared towards players ages 7+. The game can be played by 2-4 people. For our family game night we paired up, one child with one parent.

The concept is simple. As seen above, the directions are short and sweet. Bounce the colored balls and be the first person/team to make the pattern on the card.

If you make the pattern first, you get the card. The first player or team to win three cards wins.

Pros: This is a fun game. It’s not a quiet, sit around type of game. You are sitting or standing and strategizing on where to bounce the balls. There are two levels of difficulty. The game contains 9 challenge cards, with 5 easy (yellow cards) and 4 harder (blue cards) for different levels of play. It’s a quick game. If you are short on time, you can just play one round. If you want to make the game longer, you can play all the cards, instead of the winner being the first player to collect three cards.

Cons: The balls bounce everywhere! Be ready to catch the balls as they go bouncing off the table. If you have wooden floors, like us, expect to go chasing after the balls as they bounce and roll. The game is challenging. Although it looks easy, bouncing those balls into the patterns on the card is actually more difficult than it appears.
Expect some rounds where no one wins. Expect that some players may never win any of the cards. More cards are needed. The game only comes with 9 cards. It would be useful to have additional cards available.

Verdict: Recommend! Lots of family fun was had by all! Since we first opened the game we have played several additional times.

You may also enjoy reading:

6 fun games for a tween family game night that parents won't mind playing.

6 Fun Games for Family Game Night (Tween Edition)

3 More Games for Family Game Night

Every Ornament Tells a Story

Posted on December 16, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

When you see our Christmas tree from afar, it looks like lots of other decorated Christmas trees. However, upon closer look, each of our ornaments tells a story. Each Christmas, I get my husband and each of our kids an ornament that represents something significant that happened that year. Since the husband reads the blog, I won’t share what his ornament is this year. Our daughter started both piano and saxophone lessons this year, so we got her a music note ornament personalized with her name and the year. Our son has been obsessed with the Disney character Stitch….I mean, obsessed! So, this year, his ornament is a Stitch wearing a Santa hat.

We also have a family tradition of buying ornaments as a souvenirs from our travel and family fun. Each Christmas as we decorate the tree we reminisce about our past outings and fun.

This tradition began the Christmas of 2001, when my husband and I had first started dating.

I gave him this elf ornament to remember the time that we spent baking lots of Christmas cookies for our families for the holidays. Since then we have accumulated years of ornaments, each special in its own way. Some of this year’s new additions include:

A summer Rockland Boulders baseball game. By the way, the above ornament is actually a key chain that the Weekend Chef turned into a Christmas ornament. We’ve done this a lot since many places sell key chains but not ornaments. It’s also often cheaper too!

This is our most recently acquired ornament from our visit to the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

And of course, we can’t forget about our summer trip to Disney World!

We love decorating our tree together and looking at all the ornaments. I love that when my children become adults and eventually have their own families and Christmas trees, they will always have a collection of their childhood memories.

What kind of ornaments do you have on your tree?

2015 Christmas Picture Books

Posted on December 15, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Every year dozens of Christmas-themed pictured books are published. Fortunately, this year, we have been able to read several of these books. Here is a summary of the most recently published Christmas books that we have read. There is almost two weeks until Christmas, which leaves plenty of reading time! You can find most of these books at Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore or the library!

All books are linked to Goodreads.

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The Adventures of Bella & Harry: Christmas in New York City! by Lisa Manzione – Bella and Harry are Chihuahuas who are visiting New York City with their human family. The two wander the streets of New York City taking in all the sights at Christmas time. Since we live close to New York City we are very familiar with all of the places mentioned in the book. The book aims to be educational, but it seemed very forced to us. I didn’t realize that there’s a whole series of Bella and Harry books that describe their different travels around the world. I’m not so sure that we’re interested in checking out these other books.

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The Best Parts of Christmas by Bethanie Denney Murguia – For Fritz, the best part of Christmas is the tree. From picking out the perfect tree, decorating it and opening presents by it, Fritz loves his tree. So he is sad when Christmas is over and he needs to say goodbye to his tree. But, he comes up with a solution that makes him happy. This is a short, simple story.

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Cork & Fuzz: Merry Merry Holly Holly by Dori Chaconas – This was our first Cork & Fuzz book, but it appears that there is a series of books by Chaconas that feature the duo. Cork, the muskrat and Fuzz, the possum search for a good thinking tree. Cork knows that today is special but can’t remember why. If only he could find a “piece of quiet.” With Fuzz’s help, the two eventually find the perfect tree. This book doesn’t really place a big emphasis on Christmas, besides the “Merry Merry Holly Holly” and focuses more on friendship.

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Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein written by Amanda Peet and Andrea Troyer – This picture book is co-written by actress Amanda Peet. In this story, Rachel Rosenstein loves everything about Christmas…..except that she’s Jewish. This year, she writes a letter to Santa, leaves him latkes with chocolate chips and decorates the house in hopes that he will come to her house. Rachel eventually accepts that the fact that she is Jewish and that not everyone celebrates Christmas.

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The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray – This is the third and newest Gingerbread Man book by Murray. Told in rhyme, this book follows the Gingerbread Man and his classmates as they deliver acts of kindness to community members. When the class heads back, Gingerbread Man has one last gift to deliver. Very cute story that highlights free “gifts” that children can give at Christmas.

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How to Catch Santa by Jean Reagan – Ever wonder how to catch Santa? Well, this book give s a detailed description on how to do just that. Filled with colorful illustrations, this is a fun Christmas read.

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The Knights Before Christmas by Joan Holub – This is a fun, medieval take on the classic story The Night Before Christmas. The knights are protecting the castle from an intruder, Santa Claus. He arrives on eight dragons trying to bring presents to the castle, but will he be successful?

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Merry Christmas Mr. Mouse by Caralyn Buehner & Mark Buehner – The wife/husband author and illustrator team of this picture book are also the creators of the Snowmen at Night book. In this story told in rhyme, Mr. Mouse moves his family into a new nook where he sees a family preparing for and celebrating Christmas. When he tells Mrs. Mouse what he overhears about a holiday called Christmas, the two decide to celebrate with their family too. This was a cute story that we enjoyed.

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Miracle on 133rd Street by Sonia Manzano – Only after reading this book and the author bio did we discover that Manzano plays Maria on Sesame Street. This story takes place on Christmas eve, where the roast Jose’s mami is preparing doesn’t fit in their oven. Jose and his dad bring it down to the pizzeria to cook it in one of the ovens there. On their way, they pass many neighbors, none who seem in the Christmas spirit. On their way back, the wonderful smelling roast seems to uplift everyone’s spirits. This is a super colorful book that showcases how a diverse group of neighbors come together to celebrate the holiday.

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The Night Before Christmas: A Brick Story by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Amanda Brack – This is the classic telling of The Night Before Christmas, illustrated using LEGO bricks. While we are LEGO fans, we thought the LEGO brick illustrations were just okay.

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Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas by Rubin Pingk – It’s Christmas eve and Yukio wants to have an epic snowball fight. The other ninjas refuse, not wanting to be on Santa’s naughty list. So, Yukio schemes to get the snowball fight that he wants, but has he ruined Christmas for his friends? This was definitely a different type of Christmas book. It wasn’t one of our favorites, but will appease any ninja lovers out there.

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When Santa Was a Baby by Linda Bailey & Genevieve Godbout – This picture book describes what Santa was like as a baby and how his parents knew he was destined for great things. The illustrations have a “classic” feel to them and beware, there are several pictures of baby Santa’s behind, which of course cracked the kids up!

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 23}

Posted on December 14, 2015 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! This past weekend was all about celebrating the last few nights of Hanukkah. This week we are finishing all of our Christmas preparations….shopping, wrapping, Christmas dinner menu-planning, etc. (err, okay, maybe really starting our Christmas preparations!) Here is what was on last week’s menu. You can read about our meal planning process if you are new to meal planning.

Saturday: We had our annual Supper Club cookie exchange and dinner out. We went to a restaurant called Hopscotch, where the Weekend Chef and I shared the giant short rib as well as the braised duck breast with red cabbage. Dinner and the cookies were delicious!

Sunday: I was really craving eggplant parmesan, but I know the kids don’t like it. So, I had the Weekend Chef make chicken parmesan and pasta. Simple, but tasty!

Monday: I made Chicken Fried Steak from Every Day with Rachael Ray. I couldn’t find the exact recipe that I used online, but the linked recipe is very similar. This is a recipe repeat, that I first made back in 2013. This was as tasty as the first time I made it. I served the steaks with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus for a dinner win!

Tuesday: I made Asian Inspired Meatloaf from I Wash You Dry. I had my daughter help me mix the meatloaf since I really hate touching raw meat if I don’t have to. I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef. This meatloaf was full of flavor and we all loved it! I served with rice and edamame. Unfortunately, this is not a quick and easy meal, since the meatloaf has to cook for about an hour in the oven. If you have the time and don’t have a busy night, I recommend this recipe!

Wednesday: I made Pineapple Chorizo Rice Bowls with Avocado and Chipotle Cream from How Sweet It Is. I substituted canned pineapple for the fresh. Unfortunately, total time to make this recipe is close to an hour. There are two sauces (avocado cream and chipotle cream) which are totally worth making! The chipotle cream was too spicy for the kids. My son had seconds of this dish……and he rarely asks for seconds of anything!

Thursday: I had the kids at my daughter’s piano lesson Thursday and the Weekend Chef got home and made dinner for us! He made Creamy Lemon Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Very Culinary, that I had planned on the menu. My daughter was sick and only had some soup for dinner. For the first time in ages, my son complained and didn’t eat dinner. Don’t think that this recipe was bad though. This was just as the title of the recipe describes. The Weekend Chef and I thought this dish was tasty. However, if we were to make it again, I would make sure I had a pound of brussels sprouts. I only bought one package of brussels sprouts from the grocery store, not really noting how much was in the container. It was definitely not a pound and the dish was lacking in amount of brussels sprouts. The veggies also unfortunately lose their crispiness from roasting when mixed with the pasta and sauce.

Friday: I made homemade cheese pizza.