Baked Chicken with Apricot and Mustard

Have you read Dinner, A Love Story yet? It's a great cookbook that follows the fantastic journey of Jenny Rosenstrach's family dinners over the course of many years. After reading this, Jenny and her clan felt like neighbors to me. I understood her struggles and also her desire to feed her family and to feed it well. I appreciated the anecdotes that she provided -- they made her recipes tangible in an empowering way. Mostly I felt great when I read "I don't even recommend attempting a sit-down meal with your kids until your youngest is at least three." PHEW. It feels impossible to sit down for a regular dinner with all of us in my house on any day other than Sunday. My youngest is 4 months old so reading Jenny's book just enabled me to cut myself some slack. I remember eating family dinner every night as a kid. But I haven't a clue when that started.

I also love that the book includes some tips and strategies for feeding picky eaters as well as some easy recipes to help your wee ones develop a broader palate. Anyway, back to the issue at hand - this awesome apricot mustard chicken... I made this dish the night of the Nemo storm and it was met with *rave* reviews. There was hardly a calorie left on the table! My 2 year old asked for it again last night - and he fondly refers to it as "Jam Chicken" but alas, I didn't have fresh thyme in the house so I used dried. I also modified the recipe slightly, as noted below. Special thanks to Jenny for a delightful read and an entertaining, informative blog.

Here's my modified recipe of Jenny's Apricot-Mustard Baked Chicken

Apricot-Mustard Baked Chicken, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story

Apricot-Mustard Baked Chicken, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story

6 skin-on chicken pieces (we used thighs and drumsticks) rinsed and patted dry
Salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup apricot jam
1/3 cup grainy mustard 
1/4 cup water
1 T dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken skin-side up in an oven-proof dish lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes. 
Meanwhile, mix the jam with the mustard, thyme and water into a small sauce pan and cook over low heat on the stove for about 3-5 minutes. Pour over the chicken after the first ten minutes are done and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Then (awesome Jenny suggestion) place the chicken under the broiler to get a crispy-looking skin top (note: we didn't do that because my son hates anything with "crust"). 

Enjoy!

Peeled Snacks - A Delicious New Addition to the LaLa Lunchbox Food Library!

LaLa Lunchbox has partnered with Peeled Snacks and now, you and your hungry little monsters can easily add their delicious, wholesome products into your lunchboxes every week!

I've been singing the praises of Peeled Snacks since I discovered them. And here's something to sing about: Peeled Snacks makes "gently dried fruit" with no refined sugars, no preservatives, no added oils -- TOTALLY up my alley. My kids are crazy for these too and we have bags stashed in the car and the pantry all the time. 

Peeled Snacks products are now part of the LaLa Lunchbox Food Library!

Peeled Snacks products are now part of the LaLa Lunchbox Food Library!

The products quickly became a staple in my home. Then I started seeing them everywhere I looked - at all of my favorite grocery stores, at Starbucks and even at Duane Reade. There's one in particular, Much Ado About Mango (dried mango) that we have to buy in bulk from Amazon because everyone in my family (everyone with teeth, that is), gobbles it up. We manually added it to our LaLa Lunchbox food library many months ago and Peeled Snacks became a regular feature in my daughter's lunchbox.

Today I am thrilled to announce our partnership with Peeled Snacks so that families can now choose their products as part of a healthy lunch using LaLa Lunchbox. Noha Waibsnaider, Founder and CEO of Peeled Snacks says she "founded the company to fill a critical void in the snack market and offer organic fruit snacks that are delicious, naturally nutritious and healthy. I believe people should have healthy options that are made of real food and are available within their lifestyle.” That's something we can all get behind.

I'm proud to welcome Peeled Snacks into the LaLa Lunchbox family to help raise a generation of informed, empowered, healthy kids.

* Current LaLa Lunchbox users can access these new Food Library products by updating the app on the App Store. 

Why Organic?

My daughter and I were at the grocery store the other day when she told me "Mommy, all of the kids bring (that brand) of yogurt drink to school with their lunch. Can we get it too?" You know the type... it has some famous cartoon character and about six pounds of added sugar in forms that are unpronounceable. "I know it's not organic, Mom. But can we just try it?" 

img courtesy of fanpop

img courtesy of fanpop

The thing is, at that moment I wasn't thinking about how I didn't want her consuming non-organic dairy. I wasn't thinking about how I didn't feel comfortable with all of that processed sugar. I was thinking about how we fill our fridge and pantry with mostly healthy fare, and how our produce, our dairy and our meat is pretty much always organic but I've missed great opportunities to explain why. What good are principles without understanding? What good are values without explanation? 

And so right there in the dairy aisle, my daughter and I paused to chat about cows and farmers, hormones, chemicals and antibiotics. I told her that in our family, we think cows should be able to be cows. They don't need anything artificial, they don't need to grow at a faster pace than they were meant to grow. We didn't want those antibiotics or hormones in our bodies, as a result of drinking that milk. And so on. "But Mom," she asked, "Why would the farmer want to give the cows something just to grow faster? And why would the farmer take away the cow's favorite food (grass)?" She concluded that she didn't want those things in her body and so "we should keep buying the organic farmer milk." But despite the conclusion, there was a sadness to her answer -- she really wanted to try that yogurt drink. Friends are a powerful thing. And so I bought it. I knew she understood it was a one-off and I didn't want to be rigid. It's all part of the lunch drama that families deal with. Mine is no exception. 

You know what? This is tough stuff. I really had no idea what to say and so, as with all things parenting, I just did my best.  I'm certain that much of it went over her head. But I'm also certain that it won't be the last time we speak of this. Today I came across this eye-opening article about the meat industry's antibiotic consumption. I welcome any tips and suggestions for talking to kids about these important issues...

Carrot Dill Frittata

Hello Meatless Monday! After the hoopla about Nemo, and the sledding fun we had this weekend, I'm tired! I was left scratching my head for dinner ideas tonight. My daughter complained last night -- apparently we've had chicken too often for her liking lately. Ugh. 

Hmm. What to do? We always have eggs in the house. I *love* eggs. And I was pretty excited to read this in Greatist recently about the egg news. Bottom line, and to quote Shana Lebowitz: "It turns out, for non-diabetic people, there was no association between eating up to one egg a day and CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) or stroke." 

Awesome.

Carrot Dill Frittata

Carrot Dill Frittata

Frittata for dinner? Well yes, don't mind if I do! I don't have time to shop for the week until tomorrow so dinner will have to be something cobbled together from the fridge. Behold! Carrot Dill Fritatta. This was so easy, I almost feel guilty about it. Actually, no. I don't feel guilty at all. It's mid afternoon and a big part of dinner is already done. Ready to whip this up? Here's how:

Carrot Dill Frittata (serves 4-6) 

8 organic carrots
2 onions, sliced
1/3 c fresh dill, chopped
12 eggs
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Slice the carrots into shreds using a slicer. Put aside. Slice the onions and saute in a pan with olive oil until caramelized. This may take a while - for me it took 45 mins. In a bowl, crack the eggs and add the dill and carrot ribbons to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread the caramelized onions on the bottom of the pan you'll use to cook the frittata. Pour in the egg/carrot/dill mixture. 
Bake at 375 for approximately 40 minutes or until egg is cooked through (but not so much that it's rubbery). 

Enjoy!