Tonight the Chef competes on The Food Network’s Iron Chef America. Tune in at 10pm to cheer the Chef on!!!
Win, lose, or draw I am SO SO PROUD of the Chef. Everyday his work ethic, passion, and love for our life amazes and inspires me. Love you baby!!
#teamsawyer
After my kids menus post I received quite a few comments and emails regarding WHAT I actually cook for my family. I received so many inquiries that I have decided to do a weekly family dinner post. Once a week I will post an actual meal that I actually cook that my kids actually eat.
Let’s do this yo. This is a quicky, easy, and HEALTHY dinner that shows up on our plates frequently. We love us some lentils. Hope you enjoy our Family Dinner #1:
Carrots & Lentils
1c Lentils
4c Sliced Carrots
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
tt Salt
1 Tspn Suga’
2 Cloves of Garlic Minced
1 Half of an Onion Chopped
1/2 Tspn Coriander
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste mixed with 1 Tbsp H20
Vinegar (optional)
This recipe was adapted for my kids. The original recipe called for 4 cloves of garlic, more coriander, and a large onion. I know what the mini’s like so I modify what I cook for them. Hence less garlic and coriander. I encourage all parents to do the same with their own children!
Yesterday when my friend Mike posted this on facebook the wheels started turning…I had to write a post about ‘kid’s menus’.
I think about my children’s diet every single day of my life. I plan menus, I shop, I market, I cook. Alongside their health and happiness their diet is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to the Chef & I. We decided a long time ago that nothing bad would go into thier bodies, probably as a reaction to all the bad shit we have put in our own as well as a reaction to our son’s kidney disease.
So when Mike posted yesterday, my first thought was this: How do parents not get/care/understand that what they are allowing to go into their children’s body affects their children LIVES? How does a mother or father convince themselves that it is ok that her four year child eats this on a daily basis? HOW?
When you order off of the kids menu, you are most likely ordering the most UNHEALTHY thing you could ever order for your child. Kids menus are the antithesis of healthy. They are made up of foods that parents have programmed themselves and their children into thinking that they are good for your children. Well, guess what? They’re not good for your children, they are not got for you, they are not good for your dog, hell, they are not good for anyone.
Check out these kids menu nutritional info. I dare you not to throw up in your mouth:
There is one thing that all chef’s widows can agree on. We are attracted to excessively impassioned people. We live with artists, marry creative minds. We love visionaries, movers & shakers. Simply put, we all fell in love with a chef.
Part of falling in love with a chef is knowing that many ideas will come to the tip of your chef’s tongue. Some will be good, some great, and some not ever worth mentioning.
An idea that the Chef had way back when turned out to be one of the great ones…
During the opening months of The Greenhouse Tavern, the Chef ordered some very expensive wine, his favorite very expensive wine at that. When he opened the first bottle in heightened anticipation, he was shocked to discover that his dear bottle was corked. He moved on to the next bottle, crossing his fingers, and hoping for the best. It too was corked. And every bottle in the case opened after the first, was also corked. He had a case of corked wine.
Never one to waste he decided to try his hand at vinegar making. He had experimented years before when we lived in Brooklyn but after the birth of our second child, his acidic aspirations got put on hold. He came home one day excited and ready for a pro-biotic adventure. He cleaned out our 200 year old root cellar and proudly declared it his new vinegar cellar.
Four years and countless carboys later, the Chef’s vinegar program is not only an integral part of our restaurant but now about to be our first adventure in retail. Our full line of vinegars will be on the shelves soon and are already available for purchase at The Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat.
I am so excited that we are going into the vinegar making business that I feel like giving some away! I am going to send one of YOU amazing readers of Chef’s Widow, a chef sampler. That means you will get FOUR bottles of our brand new hasn’t hit the shelves yet Tavern Co. Vinegar!
To win, please leave a comment telling me how & what you like to use vinegar on or your favorite recipe that includes vinegar.
To double your chance at winning, show me some TwitterFacebook love. Tweet or share the link to this post on Facebook or the Twitter and then come back here and leave me a comment with your tweet or share.
Good Luck!!!
When we first found out the Chef was going to be competing on Iron Chef, my first thought was Oh Shit, I hope they don’t make him go up against Symon. For what seems like eternities, I totally convinced myself that yes, the Chef would totally be battling one of his besties on Iron Chef America. Why not? It makes complete sense for the Food Network to pit an Iron Chef against his former Sous Chef. Cleveland would go crazy and I am sure it would be a ratings mecca.
But that didn’t happen (thank god) and on January 22nd, the Chef will be going up against the winner of The Next Iron Chef, Jeffery Zakarian in a battle royale I like to call Burly vs. Delicate:
VS.
If you are in the CLE area I hope you can join us at one of our restaurants for our Iron Chef watch party/tweetup. The Greenhouse event sold out in less than a day so we opened our doors at Noodlecat for a second bash. We will have contests, Iron Chef free passed apps, and an Iron Chef menu you can order from. Hope to see you there!
If you can’t make it please watch and join our tweetup!!
Chef\'s Widow Moments
