This Week for Dinner – Weekly Meal Plans, Dinner Ideas, Recipes and More!: fab faves

Category: fab faves

Wednesday, January 25

My New Favorite Rice: Calrose Brown

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I mentioned how much I love Calrose rice, the delicious sticky white rice that goes so well with Chinese food. Whenever we have Asian food at home, I lament the fact that my Calrose rice is white because I really like to use brown rice whenever I can. WELLLLL…I don’t know why I didn’t look sooner, but my grocery store carries brown Calrose rice. Woo-hoo!

I love it. There is a bit of a “brown” flavor to the rice, but I like that flavor and the rice is still nice and sticky. I don’t think I’ll ever cook white Calrose rice again. The brown stuff is healthier and tastes fabulous.

That’s all for today. Just a small ode to my new favorite rice.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:19 am 17 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Healthy Eats, the goods
Friday, January 6

Homemade Tiaras

Warning: there is no food to be found in this post. Sorry. But I do promise to deliver absolute and total cuteness. Hope that makes up for it!

I am not a crafty person. I rarely have any “projects” going on, despite the fact that I am a creative, artsy type. But once in a while something catches my eye that I simply must do.

A tiara for the more courtly princesses.

As you know, Anna recently hosted a “Hello Kitty Glamour Party” for her birthday. As we prepared for the party, she said to me, “Make sure everyone wears glamour stuff to my party, mama.” I decided I could help Anna’s guests out by providing them with some lovely tiaras. But lovely tiaras are surprisingly hard to come by.

One of the benefits of editing DailyBuzz Moms is I get to read oodles of fabulous blog posts about oodles of fabulous topics. One of these such posts came from Joy’s Misadventures. Joy described how she put together her daughter’s Halloween costume, complete with a homemade tiara that was the prettiest little tiara I ever did see.

A tiara for the more whimsical, pixie-like princesses.

I emailed Joy, found out where she got the stuff, and ordered the supplies straight away! With my Hobby Lobby floral wedding beads and headbands from Target at the ready, my friend Amy and I sat down and got creative. (Please note: I made two tiaras. Amy made seven. That is friendship.)

Every tiara was unique, whimsical, adorable. I couldn’t have been happier with the result. And they were EASY to put together. Just wrap the wire around the headband. Done! Thank you, Joy, for the inspiration!

Party tiaras all in a row.

You’re welcome for making all of your tiara dreams come true.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:00 am 10 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Fun Stuff, kids, the goods
Friday, December 23

My New Fave Peppermint Bark and How the Grinch Kicked Off Christmas!

If you’re still looking for a Christmas present for me , Ghirardelli peppermint bark should cover it. Seriously, it’s my new favorite peppermint bark. I tried it for the first time last weekend when we rode the cable cars around San Francisco and stopped at Ghirardelli Square for hot chocolate. They were passing out samples and I immediately fell in love. It’s nice and creamy, with the peppermint bits buried in the chocolate. YUM.

In other Christmas-y news, SHN recently invited our family to see the Broadway production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas in San Francisco. We took the kids up yesterday afternoon for the play and it was…AWESOME! If you get the chance to see this production, do it! It was such a fun way to kick off our Christmas weekend. The play is short enough that it doesn’t need an intermission, which is great for kids, the costumes and the sets were amazing, and the Grinch was really funny. Anna was scared for the first half but eventually warmed up (and she even admits that despite her reservations, she still really liked it!). Owen was mesmerized! Cate just loved it and giggled her way through the show.

We were lucky enough to meet the Grinch afterwards and he was actually quite delightful, despite his grinchy exterior. The first child he approached was Owen, who maintained a poker face throughout the entire meeting. The Grinch tried and tried, but Owen was too cool for school. Anna wouldn’t take a picture with him (surprise…you can see her far right sucking her thumb, next to my friend Gina), but Cate jumped right in for the camera. It was such a fun day!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:49 am 7 Comments
Categories: fab faves, holidays, the goods
Tuesday, December 20

Salgar ROCKS…and Recipe for Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

I am so voting for Leslie Knope because she truly is a visionary. She is the brains behind salgar after all, which is nothing short of a revelation! Plus, salgar is going to save me a lot of $$$ that otherwise would have been spent at Starbucks.

Let’s start at the beginning. I’m a little bit in love with the Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Starbucks. However, there are two things wrong with this love affair. First, it costs me too much money. Second, they only serve the stuff during the holidays. I’ve kind of sort of half-heartedly tried to replicate it at home before, but never with much success. Probably because I wasn’t trying that hard.

This year, things are different. Which brings me back to Leslie Knope. When she introduced the world to salgar last week, well, I knew that my days of whipping up salted caramel hot chocolate to rival Starbucks’ had finally arrived. And I was right.

For those of you who don’t watch Parks & Rec (p.s. you should be), salgar is simply sugar and salt mixed together. Sure, everyone thought Leslie was crazy, but I’m a believer.

Which brings us back to the quest for the perfect salted caramel hot chocolate recipe. On Sunday I pulled all my ingredients together. Yummy hot chocolate. Perfect whipped cream. Caramel sauce. Salgar.

I nailed it. And I might even be so brave as to say that it’s better than Starbucks. The best part? When the whipped cream and salgar topping are gone but you still have hot chocolate left, you can just throw a little more cream and salgar on top! For some reason Starbucks doesn’t let you go back for seconds. Who needs them?

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner
- Hot chocolate (whatever kind you like…but make sure it’s not flavored with cinnamon or peppermint or anything like that…just something pure…my favorite is melting chopped chocolate in milk)
- Salgar (see below)
- Perfect whipped cream (click through for “recipe”)
- Caramel sauce (the kind that’s made for going on/in drinks, I got mine at Starbucks, I’ve seen it at other stores, too)

Make your hot chocolate and pour in a mug. Add a pinch or two of salgar and a swirl of caramel sauce. Stir well. Top with whipped cream, another swirl of caramel sauce and salgar. Drink and get ready to thank me for transporting you to hot chocolate heaven in the comfort of your own home.

Salgar
From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner, inspired by Leslie Knope
- 1 Tablespoon turbinado sugar (i.e. sugar in the raw)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt.

Mix. Done and done.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 7:00 am 16 Comments
Categories: fab faves, featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
Wednesday, November 30

‘Make and Takes for Kids’ Book (and Giveaway!)

This giveaway is now closed. But keep reading. This book is awesome.

Marie is one of my peeps. Like sister-quality peep. We’ve worked together, run together (okay, I did the driving, she did the running, but who’s keeping track?), played together, eaten together, slept together (one of the best conference roommates ever), been pulled over for drunk driving together (no one was drunk, and the cop thought he was a real funny guy…he wasn’t…see “Incident #2″ on this post for details). You get the drift. We’ve done a lot together. And I love her to pieces. So I am SUPER excited to share some Marie-ness with you today.

On top of being a totally amazing person, Marie has an amazing blog. And now she’s taken that amazingness and put it in a book! That’s right, Marie just published her first book! I’m so happy for her! Yea Marie!!!

Make and Take for Kids published by Wiley is Marie’s new book and it’s just as great as I was expecting…and I am not just saying that because I love Marie. It really is fabulous. Case in point: after my copy came in the mail last week I set it on the coffee table. It was the first thing Cate noticed when she got home from school. She immediately picked the book up, perused her way through all the fun projects, and sat down to make a turkey. Not kidding, within five minutes of opening the book she was already in the thick of a great project, without any help from me.

Cate’s Crafty Turkeys…Thanks to Marie’s Inspiration!

The projects are perfect for kids of all ages and are organized by month, so they are seasonal as well. Everything is clear and organized well and the photography is great. There are also fun food-related projects! Yum, yum! Given that it’s the holiday season, this would be a great gift for the anyone who likes crafting with kids…parents, teachers, grandparents. In fact, I think it would even be a great gift idea for the kids themselves!

Since the holidays are all about giving, Marie is offering up a free copy for one of you lucky people! As always, simply leave a comment on this post by Midnight PT on Monday, December 5. The randomly-selected winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 6.

If you are in the thick of holiday shopping or are just dying to get your hands on the book NOW, Marie’s book should be available at all major bookstores or you can find it online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and Walmart.com.

Good luck with the giveaway!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:54 pm 117 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Giveaways, the goods
Tuesday, November 22

Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals {Book Giveaway, 3 Winners!}

This giveaway is now closed…but keep reading because you need to check this book out!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, one of the things I’ve been thinking about is how grateful I am for the friends that I’ve made through blogging. I have met some truly choice people in the blogging community and now have a group of dear, close friends scattered about the country. I could never have predicted that this supportive and loving network of friends would be one of the benefits (and the best one by far) of writing my blog. The lovely ladies of Three Many Cooks are most definitely a part of that amazing network. Pam Anderson, famed cookbook author, and her daughters Sharon and Maggy are talented, kind, gracious, supportive…I’m blessed to be able to call them friends!

Pam has published yet another wonderful book and I am so excited to share it with you. Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals is a return to Pam’s theme of cooking without a book but applied to, you guessed it, meatless meals. As you know, one of the things that I am passionate about is reducing meat consumption to help the environment. Needless to say, I was super excited about Pam’s new book!

This book is great, of course! Pam provides a “master formula” for each type of food in the book, then offers options for changing up that formula. It is very inspiring and the techniques she shares not only help you make great food but give you the tools to make great food on your own without a strict recipe. It’s a fabulous guide, for seasoned and novice cooks alike! Pam has succeeded in once again writing a super approachable yet delicious cookbook. Wait, the cookbook itself isn’t delicious. But you get my drift.

And, of course, we are giving some copies away! THREE of you randomly-selected lucky people will win a copy of Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals! As always, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post to enter for your chance to win. Comments must be submitted by Tuesday, November 29 at Midnight PT.

Pam and Maggy were in town on Sunday night to celebrate the launch of Pam’s book at a dinner with a bunch of fab food bloggers. I dragged Owen, my little trooper, up to San Francisco with me since he still wants to eat practically every two minutes. I couldn’t miss out on great food and even better company! Here I am with Pam and Maggy. I think adorable-ness runs in the Anderson family, no?

Pam may need to consider a new career…baby whisperer. She got Owen to fall asleep in her arms despite the hustle and bustle of the restauarant. And, even though this picture may say otherwise, Owen loved Maggy too. Owen was simply ready to go home by the time we took this photo!

Now get commenting and good luck on the giveaway!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:13 pm 138 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Giveaways, the goods
Tuesday, November 8

The Most Amazing Grilled Cheese Sandwich Ever Made
Unlike Andy, eating the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich ever made does not happen to be on my bucket list…although, perhaps it should be. Regardless of its bucket list status, I do love a good grilled cheese. While Nate’s mom Pat was here, we had butternut squash soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner one night and of course we couldn’t help talking about what makes a grilled cheese amazing (thanks to Andy’s inspiration).

Here’s what we came up with:
- I think the bread is key. You have to go with white bread, and the higher the quality the bread, the better. We used the La Brea Bakery Pugliese bread from Costco and our sandwiches were amazing.
- Pat said her aunt Margaret taught her a trick that she still stands by…butter the outside AND the inside of the bread. That’s right, butter, butter everywhere. As I always say, oodles of butter makes anything amazing.
- Nate and Pat both agree, American cheese is the way to go. I’m not sure if I can stand by this 100%, but I must admit that American cheese is pretty amazing for some completely inexplicable reason (can you tell I’m an American cheese snob?).
So, what do you think makes the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich ever? Can’t wait to hear your thoughts because I have a feeling this is a topic that many of us will unexpectedly have passion for! Share your tips, tricks, recipes, opinions, whatever…it’s time to discover the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich ever made!!!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 4:25 pm 43 Comments
Categories: call for recipes, fab faves
Friday, September 9

Little Man Baby Shower…and DELICIOUS Recipes

On Tuesday night my friends threw me a baby shower. Even though I told them not to. Because it’s my third child. But they insisted. Because we’re having a boy and we need boy things (which is true). And because they are great friends. And, I must admit, I’m so happy I gave into their shower entreaties. The party was beyond adorable, the food was amazing, and, most importantly, I got to spend an evening with a beautiful group of women I am so grateful to know and count as friends.

But enough with the sappy stuff. I have to show you how ridiculously cute this shower was. I actually don’t have tons of pictures because it was dark, so they do not convey the total cuteness that was the shower. But believe me, everything looked fabulous.

There were moustaches and bow ties all over the place.

And the food. Ah, the food. Again, no great photos, but believe me when I tell you it was all beautiful and tasted even better than it looked.

The inspiration for the Little Man Shower came from this blog post on ReMarkable Home. (If you click through, you can get the templates for everything and see how to put it all together!) Our friend Courtney discovered the post and shared it with my friend Natalee, who spearheaded my shower. Courtney is good at finding great stuff online. The girl has 53 boards on Pinterest, for Pete’s sake.

Thank you to my wonderful friends Wendy, Amy, Mindy, Sarah, Natalee and Ana (and Angie, not pictured, who did the flowers). You ladies orchestrated an evening I will never forget and helped welcome Baby Boy Maynard into the world with style!

Click more to see some fabulous recipes from the shower!

(more…)

Posted by Jane Maynard at 6:56 am 18 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Gearing Up for Baby, Pregnancy and Babies, Recipes, side dishes
Wednesday, September 7

Gearing Up for Baby Giveaway: Epiphanie Bags

This giveaway is now closed. However, you really still need to go check out these bags. They rock.

I am SO excited about today’s giveaway. Have you heard of Epiphanie Bags? They are camera bags that look like regular purses. Well, actually, there’s nothing “regular” about these bags. They are TOO CUTE. Really, go look.

What does a camera bag have to do with gearing up for baby, you may be wondering? Well, I am going to be getting the Ginger bag (thank you, Epiphanie!), which will be serving as my camera-slash-diaper bag. And I am seriously giddy for the day that it arrives in the mail. Because I have kids and because I am a food blogger, I LOVE having my SLR camera with me, but I hate dragging around my camera bag in addition to my purse. (Plus, my camera bag has no alibi…because it’s U-G-L-Y.) So…I usually end up throwing my beloved camera in my purse or diaper bag, which honestly is not the smartest thing in the world. I shouldn’t be allowed to have a nice camera treating it the way I do.

Ginger is going to be my solution. I only ever carry at most 1 extra lens around (if that), so I’ll have plenty of room for my wallet and diapers and other baby “schtuff,” and the adjustable velcro panels inside will be perfect for compartmentalizing. Plus the Ginger has lots of pockets. I’m a big fan of pockets in purses.

And, yes, this is a giveaway! One lucky, randomly-selected winner will get to choose their own Epiphanie bag to keep! Same drill as always…just post a comment and you’re entered to win! Comments must be added to this post by Midnight on Monday, September 12. Winner will be announced on September 13. Prize must be shipped within the U.S.

So, get commenting and good luck!!

Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:44 pm 739 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Gearing Up for Baby, Giveaways, the goods
Tuesday, September 6

Breakfast

Yeah, that’s right. I ate a chocolate cream puff for breakfast.

Anna and I happened to be driving by Cafe La Tartine in Redwood City this morning and the Chocolat Choux à la Crème was calling out my name. The car practically drove itself into the parking lot.

Anna decided to get a carrot cupcake…which just so happens to have the best cream cheese frosting I’ve ever tasted. Beginning to think maybe I should have gotten that instead of the cream puff.

I figure if there’s any time in my life I can eat cream puffs for breakfast, it’s when I’m over 38 weeks pregnant. I blame the baby for this irresponsible behavior.

Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:12 am 9 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Pregnancy and Babies, the goods