Friday Sub Ins

 Lenten Fridays mean one thing - no meat of any kind. years ago this was a hard fix with families winding up with either pizza or a veggie and egg dish for their supper. Nowadays it's an entirely diffrent ball game. This is where plant based products easily can step in.

Of course Lenten dishes will always have some kind of fresh vegetable at their core. For any easy beginning of the weekend supper think ratatouille.  The good thing about this is that if you make enough it can well go into a Saturday lunch or dinner. It's a simple cook of tomatoes eggplants, red and yellow peppers and white onions sauteed or baked with oliv oil and a variety of spices and herbs. You could easily make in on the stove as you saute the veggies in a mix of olive oil and butter or plant butter. Serve with sliced baguette for a filling meal. Vega lasagna can also work here if you have the time. Buy the lasagna sheets already cooked to save more time on arranging and layering the veggies in them. Keep in mind that you can add in plant based beef crumbles or meatballs for more protein and substance. Any pasta dish is worth trying on a Friday  and again the leftovers make for a tasty weekend lunch. Make the kids a big bowl of spaghetti to celebrate the start of the weekned. Have a nice sald and a loaf of fresh, hot garlic bread to found it out.

Plant based meats will definitely sub in for the real thing until Lent is over. Gardein  offers some excellent choices . Their chick'n nuuggets and tenders taste like the real thing. Serve them with dipping sauces and fries for a fun Friday  night meal. There's also chicken filets which like the other too can be easily air fried . Turn those into Popeye style sandwiches with a slice of tomato and lettuce on a bun. Gardein also has Mandarin style chicken with a tangy sweet and sour sace that can be made ina skillet. Serve with  homemade veggie fried rice. Their ultimate plant based burger is pretty tasty too and it's a easy fry up on a grill or in the air fryer. The company also has microwaveable meal bowls as well as soups and chili for a lighter fare.Morningstar Farms is another brand that offers a wide range of meat sub ins. They too have chicken tenders and nuggets as well as a variety of bean burgers. Their bacon and sausage patties are excellent , especially if you want to make breakfast for dinner.

You don;t have to resort to pizza and fish every Friday during this time. Try some other alternatives for a filling meal. You'll be amazed at the wide assortment out there.

Those I Don't Want To Cook Days

 Even the most diligent and food loving home chefs have them. Those I don't want to cook days.It' looking in your kitchen and thinking what can I throw together to make a meal? Surprisingly there are some good combos that make for memorable meals.

An easy way out is take out , yet why bother?It takes time and nowadays  money to have a full meal delivered. A quick dinner can easily be prepared in the time it takes to run out and grab a Happy Meal or have a pizza or Chinese delivered. Pasta and sauce are one of the easiest put togethers.I just discovered Rao's sauce, from the famed Manhattan eatery. This was a quick three minutes in the microwave while I boiled DeCecco's penne.Any prepared sauce will do and you can easily doctor it to fit your family's tastes. Add a glug or two of olive oil or a sprinkle of oregano for more flavor. For a more homemade taste, add a cup or two of pasta water to thicken the sauce and give the flavor some oomph. Keep in mind that pasta also is very good with a simple melted butter sauce or one made with just oil and garlic - aglia e olio. Serve it with a ready made salad and you have a filling and satisfying meal. Pasta salad is the perfect warm weather I don;t want to cook meal. Add some julienned mortadella and ham to it along with a chopped assortment of veggies.

An air fryer can greatly assist in those days when you jut are too tired to make an elaborate or labor intensive meal. Use it regularly. You can easily cook up real and plant protein based chicken nuggets and tenders in it. These make for a tasty meal that the kids will love. You can also fry up steaks in it as well. The end result is a strip with a crispy exterior and a tender , melt in your mouth inside. You can brush the meat with garlic or melted butter and then sprinkled with herbs or just sea salt and freshly ground pepper. If you;re really having a bad or lazy day think air fried Tater Tots. This is a quick cook that only takes about fifteen minutes or less to crisp up. serve it with bacon bits and melted cheese. One of the easiest full meals is breakfast for dinner. You can easily scramble up a few eggs or make an omelet. Vegans and vegetarians can rely on Just Egg,a mung bean based egg substitute. Add some sliced peppers, tomatoes and spinach to make it more filling or some mushrooms for protein.Microwave either pork, turkey or soy bacon for a tasty side.This is also the time to toast some Eggo waffles and serve them with butter and maple syrup.

Every home chef has those "I don't want to cook days". Don;t worry. There are plenty of easy recipes that can give you a no fuss, no trouble meal.

A Solution For Holiday Picky Eaters

Holidays can be crazy especially for kids. There's candy and cookies  and more candy and more cookies. Nutritious foods may be picked at or given to the cat or dog.Luckily a new book can help parents deal with the kids who just won't eat or eat only snacks and sweets.It's a must have in any parent's library.

Chef Gigi Gagerro wrote this combination advice  and recipe book, Food Fight (Koehler Books 2018). Chef Gaggero specializes in nutritional awareness surrounding children and families to help take some of the stress out of being a busy aware parent.She was also the former academic director of the famed French culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu.. She also launched Kids Culinary Adventures educating kids about food's nutritional values.This is a keeper because she handles toddlers to teens and it's a book that is always needed - and even handed down.Some of her advice will cause a few raised eyebrows. She suggest going to the pet supply store and buying little ones cat or dogs bowls to eat from. The reasoning is they can imitate their favorite animals and eat foods that are only put in the bowls. Another , time honored method is letting little ones feel and play with their food. Eventually the crumbs do get into their mouths.Chef Gaggero is a big fan of Bento boxes,those compartmentalized  lunch boxes from Japan. These are excellent for making lunch fun. It introduces kids to different textures and colors as well as introducing them to portion control.Another good point is having dinner togethers even though kids may not be hungry and engaging them in family conversations.

The big question is will Chef Gaggero 's recipes get those picking eaters eating? The answer is yes! She has some fun and tasty recipes that I want to try out on the fussy adult eaters in my life. The banana rich Bananarama Munkie Bread is a fun group bake , perfect for holiday breakfasts and brunches. There is even a sammie or sandwich involving it, stuffed with whipped cream cheese and honey or maple syrup. A fun breakfast is an ice cream cone (!) filled with yogurts that's been frozen and fruit. Cinnamon and any kind of healthy crunchy topping complete it. Snack time is full of tasty recipes such as the mouth watering Parmesan zucchini fritters that combine the squash with chopped onions and cheese to give it zing.Lunch takes on an international flavor with the Vietnamese turkey pho ga, a zesty soup full of different flavors and  textures.This is a great way of showing kids world cuisines as well as introducing them to new spices and herbs.It may even get the older ones interested in making it for their friends.For dinner she chooses the kid favorite breakfast for dinner with a blueberry pancake casserole along with another kid favorite baked mac. Cayenne and nutmeg spice it up.  There are desserts, healthy ones, such as avocado chocolate mousse along with homemade cake flour  for making cupcakes.Her daughters, Gabrielle and Dakota have also contributed to the book as well.

Food Fight  is the must have book for parents this holiday season. It will help navigate those tricky days of picking around the plate. The end result is a kid who will like food and look forward to  eating

it.