January 2016 - Page 2 of 2 - NY Foodie Family

December 2015 Reads

Posted on January 12, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I am happy to be joining Steph and Jana’s monthly Show Us Your Books link-up to share my December reads. With the craziness of the holidays, I got very little reading done in December. So, here in order from least to favorite are my December reads.

All book cover photos and titles are linked to goodreads.com.

2 Stars:

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Armada by Ernest Cline – I was excited to receive Armada from Blogging for Books. I had such high hopes after reading Ready Player One, which I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Oh how you have disappointed me Mr. Cline with this book! Armada was just too video-gamey/space-oriented for my tastes. In short, main character Zack, has to help fight an alien invasion of Earth…..yeah, not my type of book. My husband also had read this and we both thought it was pretty blah.

3 Stars:

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Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff – This book tells the story of the relationship of Lotto and Mathilde over the course of 24 years, with the first half told by Lotto and the second half told by Mathilde. The two meet in 1991 at the age of 22 and manage to stay married despite the doubt of some of their friends. Lots of secrets are discovered as the story unfolds. This book was a finalist for several book awards, including a nominee for the 2015 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. This book was sooo slow for me. I was almost ready to give up when Jana noted that the eventually book picks up. So I kept reading and agree that the second half is definitely better than the first. However, there are so many better books out there that I wouldn’t recommend this read.

4 Stars:

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Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter – I think prior to this book, I had only read one other of Slaughter’s books. Prior to reading this book, I knew it was disturbing. That it was, with graphic violence and disturbing scenes. This book was suspenseful and kept me wanting to read more. The story revolves around sisters Claire and Lydia. The two sisters have been estranged since the disappearance of their sister Julia more than 20 years ago but end up reuniting with the unexpected death of Claire’s husband. There are lots of twists and surprises and those who like a good psychological thriller will enjoy this book.

5 Stars:

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Fallout by Ellen Hopkins – This is the third book in the Crank series. I have owned this book for awhile now and read the first two ages ago. In trying to organize and decrease the clutter in my house, I’m trying to read more books off my own shelves. I am a big fan of Hopkins who writes YA books in poetry form. This book takes place many years after the second book. It is told through the points of view of Kristina’s three oldest children. Through their stories, we are able to see the devastating effects that their mother’s meth use has had on their lives. If you are interested in this book, start with Crank, the first book in the series.

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 26}

Posted on January 11, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

How was everyone’s weekend? Relaxing, I hope! So far, my goal of eating healthy has been pretty successful. As my husband, the Weekend Chef noted, overall, we don’t eat unhealthily. So, I realized that my meal plan hasn’t changed too drastically so far. I still am trying to choose a variety of recipes that I think our kids will enjoy. I’ve recently been going through my collection of old recipes that I’ve already made. If you’re new around here, I rarely make the same recipe twice. I’m always looking for new recipes to try out. However, in trying to clean out my recipe/cookbook collection, I’m trying to re-make some previously tried recipes, so I can document them here, and decide if they’re worth keeping! You can learn more about our meal planning process if you are new to meal planning. Last week’s menu included:

Saturday – We were in the city. After we saw the musical Finding Neverland, we made our way back to Grand Central and grabbed a quick dinner there before taking the train back home. The kids had burgers and cheese fries from Shake Shack. The Weekend Chef had a salad with steak and I had a steak sandwich from Tri Tip.

Sunday – At our daughter’s request, the Weekend Chef made spaghetti and sausage. Simple, but tasty.

Monday – I made 5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Chili from Pinch of Yum. When she first heard what I was making, my daughter noted, “You know that I don’t like sweet potatoes.” Yes, but in this recipe, the sweet potatoes get blended and help thicken the chili, while also adding some sweetness. And guess, what? Everyone liked this! I served this with some tortilla chips that we were using to eat the chili with and also crumbling some on top. This chili recipe was simple but so tasty! I highly recommend.

Tuesday – I made French Onion Pot Roast from The Little Kitchen which I served with mashed potatoes and honey carrots. My parents came over for dinner and enjoyed this with us. I can’t remember the last time I made a pot roast. And I’ve never made it in the slow cooker before. I have to note that I didn’t really taste the French onion flavor. However, it was nice to have a traditionally weekend type of dinner on a Tuesday night! So, I recommend making pot roast in the slow cooker but not necessarily using this French onion recipe.

Wednesday – I used the leftover pot roast in burritos. I just cooked some rice and put it in a tortilla with the heated up pot roast, shredded cheddar cheese, salsa and sour cream. The kids loved this! So simple and no real cooking involved! We ate this with roasted broccoli. (The pic above shows the burritos prior to rolling!)

Thursday – The Weekend Chef made Spinach Feta Crockpot Lasagna from Diethood. I’ve made lasagna in the crockpot before and am not sure why I don’t do it more often. It’s a little time consuming in the beginning, but it’s so nice to come home after work and have dinner ready. This recipe was different with the addition of feta and spinach. The feta gave the lasagna a nice tang. This dish was liked by us all.

Friday – I made Double Eggplant Pizza from Every Day with Rachael Ray. I’ve been going through my old magazine recipes that I’ve already cooked. If I’ve saved it, then it must have been pretty good. So I’m trying to recook the recipes to see if they are still as good as I remember. This eggplant pizza was one of those saved recipes. According to the date I had written on the magazine tear-out, I had made this pizza back in October 2010! Neither my husband or I remember eating this pizza. This was a tasty, vegetarian pizza. Not amazing, but good, only if you like eggplant. The kids do not like eggplant, so I mad them a cheese pizza.

Friday Favorites {Week 43} – NYC Edition

Posted on January 8, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

One week down in 2016! We had a pretty quiet New Year’s Eve playing lots of board games with the kids, who managed to make it to midnight. Saturday, January 2nd, we took a trip down to New York City. We got up early and spent almost the entire day down there. It was filled with lots of fun and was a great way to end their holiday vacation. Here are some of our favorites from the trip. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen some of these pics already!

1. Finding Neverland – Our main purpose of the trip was to take the kids to their first Broadway musical. We went to the TKTS booth in Times Square and were able to score tickets to Finding Neverland. The kids, especially my daughter, loved it. It was sooo good! Matthew Morrison (from Glee) starred in it and was amazing. After the show, we waited for the actors to leave the theater and my daughter got several autographs and even a few pics with some of the actors. We were so close to Matthew Morrison, but were unable to get an autograph or photo with him.

2. The tree in Rockefeller Center – It is tradition for us to go down and see the tree in Rockefeller Center. I feel like this year we went pretty late. It is still as spectacular as ever. When I asked the kids if they wanted to see the window displays in the stores, my son especially was like, “Christmas is over!” I kind of understood his sentiment and we ended up skipping that this year.

3. Nintendo Store – Right near Rockefeller Center is the Nintendo Store. We made a stop there last year and of course, our son wouldn’t let us leave without making a stop again. The store was surprisingly not that crowded this time and the kids got to play for a bit on these Wii U consoles that they had throughout the store.

4. m&m Store – Right near the TKTS booth in Times Square is the m&m store. We did a quick walk-through of the store admiring all of the m&m merchandise and the m&m figures, like the Elvis, pictured above. If there is anything that you would want with the m&m logo on it, you will find it here. You can even get personalized m&ms with a picture or words!

5. Lenwich – We were on a timeline, as we had a 2 PM show to see, so we were looking for a quick lunch. We found a Korean restaurant right in Rockefeller Center, but on the weekends, they only had the formal dining room open. didn’t have the time, nor did we want to spent the money, on a lunch like that. We opted to get sandwiches at Lenwich, a chain of NYC-based sandwich shops. I opted for the “Bello Melt” – Portobello mushroom, crispy onion, fresh mozzarella, basil and roasted peppers with arugula and honey balsamic in a wrap. Yes, it was really good! The kids and the Weekend chef split the “Lenwich,” hot pastrami, corned beef, swiss, cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye and the “Joes,” turkey, roast beef, swiss, lettuce, tomato, onion and horseradish.

ICYMI here’s what was on the blog this week:
Monday – our weekly meal plan
Tuesday –one little word for the year
Wednesday – our Currently January 2016
Thursday – our trip to the NYBG Holiday Train Show

I’m linking up with Tif from Bright on a Budget, Andrea from Momfessionals and Amanda from Meet @ The Barre. Have a great weekend!

NYC Family Fun: New York Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show

Posted on January 7, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Do you have a family member who loves trains? Do you live in the New York City area? If so, then I highly recommend visiting the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Holiday Train Show. You can still see the show through January 18th.

My father is a train enthusiast and collects model trains. Since we are very much into experiences, rather than things, we bought tickets for my parents as part of their Christmas present. Our family had never been to the train show and we thought it would be a fun experience for the kids to enjoy with their grandparents.

If you arrive at the NYBG by car, you must pay $15 to park on site…welcome to The Bronx! Another transportation option is the Metro North (Harlem line) train station directly across from the NYBG. Ticket prices for the train show during the weekend are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and $18 for children ages 2-12. Tickets are cheaper prior to the peak holiday week/weekends. Definitely a little pricey, but the ticket price includes access to all the gardens, including the children’s garden. However, depending on how cold it is, you many not want to wander through the outdoor gardens. In the middle of winter, there’s not really much to see.

When you purchase tickets you need to select a time to enter the exhibit, which is held in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The exhibit entry times are in 15 minute increments from 9 AM to 5:30 PM weekends and 10 AM to 5 PM weekdays. We chose an 11 AM entry time but arrived at the NYBG around 10 AM. Luckily, the weather was pretty mild and we were able to walk through the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden prior to seeing the train exhibit.

The 30 minutes we spent in the children’s garden area wasn’t enough time to enjoy everything there. There are several outside, interactive displays as well as inside activities led by educators that the kids, due to lack of time, unfortunately, didn’t get a chance to participate in.

The NYBG is very efficient in lining up visitors for the train show. A clock notes the ticket boarding time that they are admitting. We arrived on line at 10:45 for our 11 AM entry and were ushered right onto line. Strollers are not permitted in the exhibit and must be parked in the designated area. You first enter a small tent and watch a short video describing the exhibits and the work that goes into making each piece. You then enter the exhibit. I am not going to post a lot of pics of the train exhibit, because it is something that should be seen in person. G-scale model trains ride through displays of over 150 famous New York sights including historical houses, the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Each exhibit piece is made from natural materials including parts from flowers, trees and plants. Every year they add new pieces to the exhibit.

We visited the train show the day after Christmas. My only criticism is that the exhibit was super crowded, even with the staggered entry times. It was hard to get good looks at the exhibits without being pushed, jostled or cut in front of. I highly recommend not going during the week after Christmas!

After seeing the trains we walked through the rest of the conservatory to see some of the other plants and flowers on display. This is where we saw this staghorn fern, one of several different plants hanging from the ceiling!

We spent about 35 minutes in the train exhibit and another twenty minutes walking through the rest of the conservatory. By that time we were ready for lunch. Food was available at the Gingerbread Café. However, we decided to head back up to northern Westchester to get some lunch. Before leaving, we stopped at the NYBG Shop and picked up an ornament for our tree to remember our trip. Overall, we had a great time and our son has already noted that he wants to go back again next year! We will definitely be making a return trip sometime in the Spring or Summer, when the gardens are in bloom. There are 250-acres at the New York Botanical Gardens, which we only saw a fraction of. Hopefully we will report back on some lush gardens in a few months!

Currently January 2016

Posted on January 6, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Hello January! A new year starts a fresh slate with so many possibilities! I am joining Jenna and Anne for their monthly Currently linkup. Here is what I am currently:

Resolving – to be “happy” this year. This is my word of the year, which you can read about in yesterday’s post.

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Reading – I am usually reading two books at the same time, one fiction and one non-fiction. I am currently reading After You by Jojo Moyes as my fiction book and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Organizing – My kids’ closets. My goal over the holiday vacation was to get additional closet shelving for their closets. We were not using their closets efficiently and they both needed more space to store their “stuff.” My husband bought more shelving and has installed most of it. We still need to get more storage bins for my son’s closet. But we know what we want and have a plan. I am hoping that this will help the kids contain their messes, since messy rooms stress me out!

Loving – the holiday break that just ended. We spent lots of quality time together as a family and also had some relaxing days as well. This is just what we all needed. Our regular weeks are so busy that it was nice, especially for the kids to not be on a schedule. We ended the vacation with a trip to New York City to see the tree in Rockefeller Center and to see the Broadway musical Finding Neverland. So much family fun was had.

Craving – I am going to sound so shallow writing this, but I don’t care. I crave reality television. We cut our cable about a year and a half ago. I seriously miss the Real Housewives and the Bachelor/Bachelorette. As much as I love Netflix, they are severely lacking in their reality television offerings! My husband noted that I could stream the Bachelor online, however, I don’t have two hours to sit and watch it straight through. I loved having a DVR with our cable for this reason. Once we have some extra dispensary income I may have to convince the Weekend Chef to reinstall our cable!

One Little Word

Posted on January 5, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

I’ve never had a word of the year before. However, I really felt like I needed one this year. 2015 had its shares of ups and downs and I am hoping that 2016 will be better. So, for my word of the year I chose HAPPY. Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that I am or have been unhappy. I just think there’s always room to be happier and I really want to be intentional about it this year. Only five days into the new year and I’ve already seen the impact of me embracing this word. After I told my daughter about my word of the year a couple of days ago and my quest to be happy she noted, “You have been calm these past few days!” For me HAPPY includes:

not sweating the small stuff.

being content with and appreciating what I have.

eating healthier and exercising more.

not comparing myself to others.

doing more of the things that make me feel that way.

saying no.

helping my husband to build his business.

celebrating the little things.

not letting the kids stress me out.

working to achieve my goals.

getting enough sleep.

organizing and decluttering.

looking on the bright side.

doing things to make other family members happy.

This list is not all encompassing and right now seems like a lot. But I’m taking baby steps and using “happy”as a guide and motivator. I am becoming more aware of my actions and words especially around my husband and kids. The other evening, instead of me yelling at the kids when they weren’t doing what they were supposed to be, which is what I normally would do, I sent my husband to deal with it! Ha! This allowed me to be able to talk to them in a calm voice later. I told them about my word of the year and my attempt to embrace “happy.” My husband doesn’t think that I will last a week in my quest for happiness. Challenge on! But, he’s really supportive of me in my endeavor, since he and we all know the saying, “happy wife, happy life!”

I also recommended (made) my husband choose a word of the year. He chose “success.”

Weekend Chef here. “SUCCESS” is a relative word, not only for the person using it but also can be redefined for that same person through time. Success for me, for today, will look different for me next year. And the year after that. I started my own business a month ago. Initially, success means the ability to pay the regular monthly bills. Big picture stuff here. However, you can’t get to the big goal without a bunch of little actions along the way. The real goals are attainable in small bites. I read a great blog post recently over at Primer Magazine on “How to Be Awesome Every Hour of the Day“. It’s a bit of inspiration to be your best and exceed expectations for an hour. And then to do it for an hour after that. If done correctly, you just keep on doing an hour of awesome at a time nonstop. To overcome challenges for an hour, despite the couch calling to you longingly. Despite the easy way out. Despite the negativity that sometimes surrounds us. To stay motivated.

So success is taking the risk of a new business venture and giving it my all, despite the chance of failure. Sure, I strive to be the best in my field but that will come with time. I’ll take my success one hour at a time and I’ll see how things look when I turn around at the end of 2016 and look back. I know I’ve done my best to make dreams a reality.

Weekly Meal Plan {Week 25}

Posted on January 4, 2016 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Welcome to the first weekly meal plan of 2016! This meal plan was actually last week’s meal plan, the last of 2015. With the new year here I am on a mission to eat healthier. Be on the lookout for more salads and lighter fare making their appearance in our kitchen. But, I am still aiming for quick and easy but tasty recipes to feed our family. If you have any recipe recommendations that fit the bill, please share! I highly recommend meal planning to keep your grocery bill on budget and to not have to deal with the dilemma of “What are we having for dinner?!” Here’s what was on our menu last week:

Saturday: Straight-up Christmas dinner leftovers – turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc.

Sunday: After a long day of after-Christmas shopping the Weekend Chef made homemade pizza. He made one plain and one roasted broccoli and bacon….though we all wanted more of the broccoli and bacon one!

Monday: I knew we were going to have leftover turkey from Christmas dinner. Since I’m not a huge fan of leftovers myself, I purposely looked for recipes where I could use the leftover turkey up without it tasting like leftovers. The first recipe was Turkey & Cranberry Monte Cristos from Rachel Schultz. I had forgotten to buy cranberry sauce for Christmas dinner so we were happy to eat it on these sandwiches. I adapted this recipe a tiny bit, using swiss cheese instead of havarti, and omitting the nutmeg. And of course, using canned cranberry sauce instead of homemade. The kids had never had a monte cristo before and loved this sandwich! This certainly won’t be the last time we make this. This was super quick and easy to make and a tasty way to use some of the leftover turkey. We ate these sandwiches with a salad.

Tuesday: I made Turkey Pad Thai courtesy of Melissa d’Arabian via The Food Network. I didn’t have fish sauce and substituted soy sauce, so this dish definitely lost some of it’s intended flavor. We also didn’t add the sriracha sauce while cooking and opted to add it to the end to just the adult plates to make sure the wasn’t too spicy for the kids. This was really tasty and you definitely don’t feel like you’re eating leftover turkey. While the recipe says this only takes 15 minutes including prep and cook time, this probably took us more like a half hour.

Wednesday: The last of the leftover turkey was used in Turkey Tikka Masala from The Delicious Cook. This dish had a lot of flavor and didn’t remind us that we’ve been eating turkey for days! It was easy to make and super tasty! We ate this with rice and naan.

Thursday: Happy New Year! To ring in the new year we had app-as for dinner! That is appetizers/tapas for dinner including shrimp cocktail, nachos, eggrolls and dumplings. We ended the year with a caloric bang!

Friday: We were out during the day Friday and stopped at a local pizzeria and picked up some specialty pizza slices for dinner. I went with the Eggplant Parm pizza which was delicious!