The week after vacation hit me like a truck. After
two solid weeks of lounging around the beaches of California and huddled around
the fireplace in Massachusetts with parents around to help with the kids, reality
was brutal. All of a sudden we had to make every meal, clean sticky oatmeal off
the floor, negotiate hair washes at bath time and, hardest of all, get four
people out the door every morning with packed lunches, pumped milk, and now
pureed baby food. Aghhh!
The last few days Ryan and I have dedicated our
evenings to trying to figure out how to simplify and streamline the chaos. By
the way, don’t have this conversation without one of Ryan’s famous Palomas
(tequila, grapefruit and soda). Anyways, we came up with lots of useful
strategies which basically involved winning the lottery and then getting a
three bedroom, a cleaning lady and a consultant to toilet train Xavier. But in
all seriousness, most of our discussion centered on cooking since that’s where
I devote a lot of my time and where I feel there is little room for compromise.
But even though I love it, it becomes overwhelming at times and the addition of
food for Annecy is making me a bit crazed. It may sound minor but I asked Ryan
if he could chose more of the meals even though with the way we divide
responsibilities, I’m the one cooking them. Sometimes I just don’t have the
mental energy to come up with good ideas for dinners for the week. So all this is
just to say that he recently suggested stuffed peppers. I think he was
fantasizing about our responsibility-free honeymoon in Greece…
Uninspired by the quick google search, I made up my
own easy recipe and it was awesome. Cut off the tops and clean out 6 bell
peppers. Steam them for 10 minutes so they are soft and easier to stuff. In the
meantime, sauté one onion for as long as you have patience…the more caramelized
the better. Add a few gloves of crushed garlic and stir. Add one pound of
ground meat (lamb, beef, turkey) and cook through. From here it’s up to you. I
added chopped green olives, pine nuts, currants and a bunch of spices including
turmeric, harissa, ground coriander and fresh cilantro. I then tossed in a cup
of cooked quinoa. Let it cook a bit and then stuff those peppers to a breaking
point. I topped a few with feta. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes until the pepper gets nice and charred. They pair very well with Palomas!
But in all seriousness, I need to be spending less time braising chicken and more time relaxing. And by relaxing I mean sitting on the bathroom floor and telling Xavier stories about dragons while he pretends to use the toilet. Anyways, you can't get simpler than this sesamee soba noodle dish. Use spicy sesamee oil or red pepper flakes if you want a kick.
