This weekend, after reading an article in Chicago Parent about how kid friendly Mario Batali’s new food emporium Eataly, we decided to go check it out. 

On a Saturday.

For Lunch.

Our first mistake was reading an article and thinking, hey it says kid friendly, that must apply to us. When articles say ‘kid friendly’, they mean people with one or two kids. Or maybe three older kids. Not four kids, and especially not when 3 of them are not even school aged.

We were the only people in there with that many kids, no matter what the age.

And Adam almost had a heart attack having to push the double stroller through throngs of people while I yelled at Jack to stay with us and simultaneously tried to keep ol’ octopus hand AKA Ben from grabbing everything off the shelves. I was also holding 5 winter jackets. Which actually helped cushion the snub I did over and over again – elbowing people out of the way so I could keep track of my kids.

We stopped for pizza at the La Pizza and La Pasta restaurant. For two pizzas and a plate of salami it was $60 bucks. Seemed pricey for what we got, but cheap compared to what else we purchased.

There was a waitress who wanted Ben to move his chair in so she could walk behind it. I tried my hardest not to smirk when she attempted to sit him down and push him in.

“Oh this is going to be bad,” I thought.

It ended with the chair pushed in and Ben on the floor next to it kicking and screaming. At least he was flailing out of the walk way she so desperately wanted to establish.

She sort of looked over and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize you had FOUR boys.” Yes, four boys, that’s the problem, lady!

I will say the pizza was very good. You might be able to see the gold, wood burning stoves in the background. We took the kids to get a better look and they really did just have a bunch of wood burning in there, cooking the pizza. It was very thin and gooey, just the way I like it.

We had read in the ‘kid friendly’ magazine article that they had a nutella bar. Nutella Bar! What could be more kid friendly than that? But by the time we made it downstairs we realized we needed to get it to go. There was no way to wait for a table, then find 2 high chairs from who knows where and also find somewhere to squirrel away the stroller.

We ordered 4 cookies called Bacio di Dama con Nutella. The description is ‘Literally “Lady’s Kiss”, hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with Nutella’. Adam gave me $20 and it rang up for MORE than that!

I know Nutella is expensive, which is why I will only buy it at Costco in huge containers, but just to give you some reference, if you want a simple slice of bread with nutella is $2.80.

Ugh. Freaking out about prices makes me feel like such an old person. Have I gotten so old that I’m wrong about scoffing at these prices?

Sometimes I forget that I live in a big city. I can drive to most places and find free parking. The kids still have plenty of places to run, climb and play. But today felt very big city. The hoards of people, the valet parking, the ostentatious rows and rows of food for sale.

I realize there are very few places in this big country where they could have the pork and cheese display that I posted at the top of this blog and make it profitable. And in some ways I’m proud that we are have it right in our backyard.

I guess it’s nice to know that we have it at our fingertips, but also nice to know we could completely avoid it as well. At least until the kids get a little older…

In an effort to replace all the food dyes and unnatural preservatives, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen making fresh desserts, snacks, and breakfasts.      

The last thing I wanted when I cleared the cupboards was for everyone in the house to think there was nothing to eat anymore. I hoped they would find that more nutritious and less processed is just as good and sometimes even better.

I’ve actually found a few things that are easy to make, cheaper than store bought stuff, healthier and contain no artificial anything. I also had some disasters.

This journey has taught me that there is something very gratifying about knowing all the ingredients in your food.

For Breakfast, to replace the store bought granola bars, I made Ina Garten’s Granola Bars.

I switched up the add ons, I skipped the apricots and cranberries and added chocolate and peanut butter chips. Everyone but Jack ate them like crazy. Not just for breakfast, they were begging for them for snacks as well. So much cheaper, tastier and healthier than store bought!

I also found a replacement for the Nutragrain fruit bars, Whole Grain Fruit Filled Bars.

They were sooo good. Everyone ate them. And, like the granola bars, I could use them for snacks in the afternoon as well. With 6 people, if you spend the time and effort cooking it, it does NOT get wasted!

Finally I tried a twist on a quesadilla that I saw on Pinterest, with peanut butter, sliced banana and chocolate chips. You can see the recipe in detail here from Budget Bytes.

This one didn’t go over as well, maybe because the ancient grains tortilla I used was kind of hard. Sam opened his and licked out the contents, and that was the best of all the kids efforts.

Desserts are one area I am lazy about, but I’ve been working away, trying to replace all those dyed frozen treats and artificially preserved shelf cookies.

I made Giada de Laurentiis’ recipe for Chia Seed pudding. Jack liked it enough to ask for seconds.

I added some blueberries to mine as well since I had them, but also thought it would be nice with some orange segments or raspberries.

I had a disaster trying to make my own recipe for gluten free cookies.

Guess what, people? Coconut Flour and Almond flour don’t rise, no matter how much baking powder you put in. They have no gluten in them. I still ate it all, it tasted great if you ignored the look.

And I invested in a Zoku Pop Mold. We whizzed Noosa strawberry rhubarb yogurt together with a bunch of strawberries, a few dates and a dash of agave nectar. All but Sam loved them. I had them eat them in the tub and it was, for once, a super easy clean up. Jack and Ben love the endless possibilities. The next pop was Jack concoction of lemon yogurt, strawberries and raspberries. Then Ben picked a pop – frozen homemade lemonade. 

I also tried a few things from my new China Study Cookbook like Vegan cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars.

The cookies were tasty, but because they lacked butter they were kind of muffiny, instead of the crispness I am used to in a cookie. The kids didn’t complain, though. They excitedly ate those whole grain cookies for dessert without noticing the change in texture at all.

The peanut butter chocolate bars were a huge hit…

I also had lots of new store bought options around. Because even when you up your cooking game, you still need some lazy back ups just in case. Jolly Llama pops, Kozy Shack puddings, dye free milk chocolate sunflower kernels, dark chocolate covered goji berries made for much healthier treats!

Stay tuned, as this food adventure is not over yet. Next week I’m trying black bean fudgesicles!

This week rutabaga, carrots, pea tendrils, yellow onions, red pepper, green cabbage & broccoli.

I used the red pepper, along with the left over peppers from Jack’s birthday and some green beans in a side dish, Packet Roasted Balsamic Green Beans and Peppers.

It came out great and I’ve been eating the leftovers for lunch.

The carrots, an onion, half the cabbage and rutabaga was put in soup along with leftover celery from Jack’s party, a tin of diced tomatoes, a tin of cannelloni beans, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and chicken broth.

In keeping with the theme, the soup was paired with leftover caprese sandwiches. The mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto were also from Jack’s party.

Another night I used the broccoli in a stir fry with chicken and mushrooms.

Finally I sautéed the pea tendrils in garlic and olive oil for a side dish one night. That night we had chicken parmesan and garlic rolls. And yes, the rolls were left over bread from Jack’s party!

Kingsbury Street Cafe has been on my list of restaurants to try for some time now.

Unfortunately because they only open at 9am on weekends, we have not been able to go. By 9am some of us have been up for about 4 hours and are starving.

In a stroke of good luck, Aaron had a huge lay in until 8:30 in the morning on Sunday and we quickly zipped over to Kingsbury for their opening hour.

I was very excited. My friend Tami was touting its praises. When it had an excellent Check Please review I was chomping at the bit to try it!

It is a family run business. The mother worked at Wilton for years and the daughter was the chef at Oprah’s studios.

Let me preface this blog post with the fact that Kingsbury cafe is very kid friendly. They have plenty of high chairs and a kid menu.

And there were many kids there. Mostly people with one child. One small, almost unnoticeable child in a large, loud room.

We are not that family. And I’ve noticed there is a direct, inverse correlation between how hard it is to get a reservation at a restaurant and how much the other diners appreciate sitting next to a cackle of kids.

Here is our table at the end of the meal. Notice the woman at the table next to us, who spent most of her time with her head in her hands, just like in the picture, shaking her head and muttering obscenities at our table.

She was not the only one. As we were getting up to leave I noticed another woman at a table with what looked like her son or daughter and partner, turning around again and again and staring, disgusted, then saying loud enough for even me to hear, “What a mess!”

I was upset, but Adam just laughed said to just ignore them and who cares what they think.

Secretly I wished them 12 sloppy screaming grandkids. Or that their precious dog had a bad case of diarrhea in front of a house while the owner was watching.

But if I think about it honestly, anyone who would let our kids, whose noise levels and mess were completely contained to our table, ruin an amazing dining experience has already suffered their own self made punishment.

And the food was amazing.

Here is the Chia Seed pudding that I ate a ton of before I took a picture. It was soooo good. I was so excited to eat here I actually ordered TWO breakfasts. This was my first. The second was fried eggs on top of quinoa, mushrooms and spinach with whole wheat toast.

Ben discovered bacon. He was hooked. Oh Ben, it’s the start of a torrid love affair that will torture you for a lifetime.

When you first walk in they have a gorgeous array of cookies, cupcakes and muffins. The boys were treated to the enormous raspberry topped ones in the background for dessert that evening.

If we ever sleep in again that late, I’m heading back. Everything was absolutely delicious!

This week we received Gold Potatoes, Broccoli, Yellow Onions, Carrots, Artichokes, Red Boston Lettuce, Spinach and Garlic.

I’ve been on a Pioneer Woman woman kick lately.

When I first started watching her show, I was slightly disgusted at all the cheese, butter, cream and sugar she used. Normally I cringe when adding any of those ingredients in my food.

But lately I’ve been seeing some research that is opening my eyes. My friend Jennie recently sent me an article Whole Milk vs Skim Milk essentially saying that higher fat products lead to lower weight.

Also it seems there is a growing trend saying that good old fashion butter is actually less processed and therefore much better for you than things like canola oil. Wellness Mama lays it all out for you here.

Even the formally cholesterol feared egg is coming back in vogue.

I’m still desperately searching for the article that says a high refined sugar diet is the true answer to all life’s problems.

Making Duchess Potatoes

Anyway, with my new mindset, I felt free to use two of the of the Pioneer Woman’s recipes in this week’s delivery.

The carrots and onion were used in her Homemade Chicken and Noodles. The turmeric really made it pop. All the kids liked it, and as an added bonus Sam and Aaron enjoyed throwing it all over the dining room once they were full.  Nothing like finding bits of carrot, celery, chicken and noodles everywhere. Your fireplace, your walls, your hair.

On valentines day I used up the artichokes, garlic, boston red lettuce, and potatoes.

I served Tyler Florence’s Steamed Whole Artichokes, used the potatoes in the Pioneer Woman’s Duchess Potatoes and a completely bastardized a version of Ina Garten’s Cape Cod Salad for the boston red lettuce.

Broccoli was steamed and served next to Cook’s Ilustrated’s Grown Up Grilled Cheese and a simple tomato soup.

Finally I stuck the spinach in my new Vitamix blender to make green smoothies. I’ve been debating whether or not to spend the money on one for 6 months now. Finally our old blender broke and I bit the bullet. I’m so glad I did! It’s amazing. The motor runs 4 times as fast as a regular blender so it really whips everything up smoothly. I heard you can even make soup in it!

This week, Red Beets, Sweet Potatoes, Yellow Onions, Lacinato Kale, Pinto Beans, Cilantro, Red Leaf Lettuce, and Fennel.

I immediately turned around and used two of the items for an adults only dinner for two that evening. It happened to be Adam and I’s 8th anniversary and having new and different veggies made for a great and adventurous new meal.

First I made a salad with the kale. I used a recipe from Marin Mama Cooks. It was called Lacinato Kale Salad. It was really good and now I think I’ll have to explore her blog more! My husband said it kind of tasted like a healthy caesar salad.

I paired the salad with Linguine with Sardines, Fennel, and Tomato. I didn’t have sardines so I used tuna. And I only had spaghetti, not linguine. Turned out perfect. I don’t usually cook with fennel because I’m not crazy about licorice flavor. But after fennel is cooked it mellows and sweetens quite a bit. I loved this and would definitely cook it again. Adam has already claimed the leftovers for his dinner tonight.

The next night I used up the red leaf lettuce as a side salad for the leftover pasta. I also used the beets. I roasted them along with the sweet potato for my sweet potato boats (more on that later) in the oven. Then let the beets cool, peeled them and diced them. I layered the red leaf lettuce, beets, grapefruit, sliced red onions and feta. I dressed with a vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil, dijon mustard, and minced garlic. It was wonderful!

For my newly roasted sweet potato, I topped it with some left over black beans and ripe avocado from the fridge. I sprinkled a little salt on top, because nothing is more yummy then a salted avocado. It was so filling and so delicious I was sad. Sad it took me 41 years to discover the combination. So easy, so nutritious and so tasty!

In fact, I can’t believe how many wonderful new dishes I’d gotten out of this delivery! And so pleased I didn’t have any failures this time around.

Pinto Beans were soaked over night and cooked on the stove then used in a big pot of chili for the superbowl. Also some of the onions got used in this recipe. Cliché, but I had to do it. It was easier than I thought to work with dried beans and as a bonus no possibly damaging tin cans. Made me think about changing my pantry a bit.

This week carrots, parsnips, cucumber, cabbage, fingerling potatoes, onion, and parsley.

Carrots, parsnip, cabbage and some of the parsley were used for a hearty winter vegetable soup. I also added butternut squash, leeks, celery, tinned tomatoes, cauliflower and some seasonings. I like to make a big pot of healthy vegetable soup in the fridge in the winter. I can eat it every day, it’s super healthy and filling and keeps me from grabbing something that is easy and quick to make but not as nutritious.

Cucumbers went into home made sushi rolls.

I meant to put the potatoes in the soup but forgot so I made them into a side dish, diced and roasted with garlic and rosemary. When I cut them open they were a gorgeous speckled purple. They tasted the same as regular potatoes, though.

Along with the potatoes I used the rest of the parsley turkey burgers which were grilled up on a snow covered grill one night.

Onions always get used up as a base to many dishes but I think I used these two for a sloppy joe night and a gorgeous, spicy chana masala.