I am happy to be working with Cabot Cheese again in promoting not only their cheese which is fabulous (I’ve been eating their 50% reduced fat cheese on nearly everything since I bought a two pound package at Sam’s a week ago!) but also promoting Chop Chop Magazine.
“ChopChopKids is an innovative non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook real food with their families. They believe that cooking and eating together as a family is a vital step in resolving the obesity and hunger epidemics. ChopChop Magazine reaches more than 2 million families each year and is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, was named publication of the year by the James Beard Foundation, and is a two-time winner of the Parent’s Choice Award.”
Cabot Cheese is giving me the opportunity to share a 1 year subscription to Chop Chop Magazine along with a $25 Cheese Pack. You all know how much I love Cabot cheese! Simply leave a comment telling me what one of your favorite dishes was that you cooked when you were little.
My Grandma used to buy us Chef Boyardee Pizza kits for when we visited her. Does anyone else remember this box? (or am I completely dating myself!)
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I worked both Friday and Saturday night and both nights were so much fun. I was on the patio on Friday night, and it was a bit nippy, but I love this weather. It was about 50 degrees out, but with the grills going, it was pretty toasty. We first had 8 people sign up, then two people canceled the day before and another two people 30 minutes before the class was to begin. We had already done all the planning for six people, so as luck would have it, the Chef and I each got to have a steak! These were cowboy ribeye steaks and I swear each steak weighed in between 14-16 ounces! I ate about 1/3 of my steak and brought the rest home for Jacob and he declared it one of the best steaks he’s ever eaten, and that was cold out of a to go box!
My Aunt Cele sent me GoVino wine glasses several years ago and I absolutely love them. They now have dishwasher safe ones as well. But they are plastic and perfect for your outdoor patio. I love The Chopping Block version though for our outdoor patio. It was really nice having such a small group and the two couples got along really well. Chef Melissa is fun to work with too and I am learning a lot from her.
Saturday both Hannah and Jacob were working doubles and it was nice having a quiet house to myself with the dogs. I’d like to tell you that I was super productive, but I wasn’t. I did a few loads of laundry, wrote some birthday cards and letters, did one load of laundry and chilled out with the dogs. I had time to hit up Hannah’s work on my way for some iced coffee. More beef was on the menu Saturday night – it was a Tuscan Harvest meal of Ribollita (which is a bean and veggie soup thickened with bread) Bistecca alla Fiorentina (red wine marinated ribeye steaks with herb sauce) rosemary potatoes and chocolate pistachio biscotti. Chef Lisa is very passionate about her job, is very loud and energetic and the flow of the whole night went really well. I also worked with another CA Emily who is super nice.
Chef Lisa takes public transportation to work and I’ve driven her home a couple times from the Lincoln Square location. I told her that if we ever worked together that I would give her a ride home. I clocked out and completely forgot to ask her if she needed a ride home and I felt super bad because she worked a double on Saturday and then had to be back for a morning class on Sunday morning. I thought about it when I was half way home 
I was off yesterday, and Sunday morning was pretty chill too. The dogs were super cuddly with me, and Roman especially which is really weird. He likes to be near me, but not touching me, while Rummy wants to literally be inside my shirt if she could!
He was cracking me up while I was trying to take selfies of us. And then he did this post and had his paw on my shoulder for about five minutes!
I did eventually take a shower and got ready to go to my Mom’s concert in Oak Park. Hannah came with me so it was nice to spend some time with her because our work paths have been crossing lately.
Their choir did movie and t.v. theme songs and it was wonderful. The church is just so beautiful, and it was nice to see my friend Laura and her Mom at the concert. My sister Jenn came too – great to see you Jenn!
Eventually I’ll add some photos here of my Mom and sister and I, but Hannah couldn’t find the chord to her camera to download them last night.
Hannah and I had a taste for Flat Top Grill for dinner, but when Hannah asked me to check to see if they take reservations, we realized they were closed. My Mom said it’s been closed for over a year! Doh!
She recommended a place not too far called Amarind’s on North Avenue in Chicago. I love Thai food so I was all in. I had to laugh at me taking a picture of Hannah’s phone taking a picture of the Amarind noodles that we shared as an appetizer.
Super flavorful and perfectly cooked spinach noodles with bean sprouts, shrimp and crab meat. This dish wasn’t spicy at all, just super flavorful, which works well because neither my Mom or Hannah likes spicy stuff.
As we were deciding what to get for dinner, a couple across from us had their dishes placed in front of them, and I quickly got up and asked this perfect stranger what dish he had ordered and he told me it was the Spicy Pork Curry. I was sold.
Holy balls of flavor! My Mom said she’s never really liked curry, but gave it a try anyway, and quickly realized that nothing has changed. This had such a depth of flavor to the sauce and the heat kind of built as I went along. If someone asked me to do shots of that sauce, I would do it!
My Mom got golden shrimp – 11 giant shrimp for $11.95! It stated that her shrimp came with “vegetable.” I never would have thought to use fresh cucumbers and tomato for a veggie, but my Mom ate every last bite. I guess I didn’t get a picture of Hannah’s dish, but she got Pad Thai and loved that as well and brought nearly a whole serving home the portion was that generous.
It was the perfect way to end the weekend.
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I am happy to share with you that my last Chopping Block blog post was the most viewed blog post they have ever had, with the most comments as well! So thank you for taking the time out to show me some love over there. I have a favor though – trying to beat my record from last month and would appreciate it if you could jump on over and check out my rosemary skillet bread – such a great bread to start out with if you are a novice because no kneading is required. I will also post the link on Facebook, so if you could share it there too, I would appreciate it!
I am working tonight at another book signing event. Eli’s Cheesecake is going to demo how to make their iconic cheese cake, and guests will be making a pumpkin cheesecake that they can take home with them, along with a copy of the cookbook. Still a few seats available for my Chicago peeps!
Good luck with the Cabot cheese giveaway – I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday. And I appreciate your love over on my blog post at The Chopping Block!
Make it a great day!
Ooh, I hope that this is still open. One of my favorite dishes to cook when I was little was pumpkin pie, second to microwaving bagels and cheese. It’s weird, but I liked how the bagel became slightly rubbery in the microwave, and the cheese was all melt-y. Not gourmet, or a recipe really, but one of my favorite things to make.
My Dad and I would make chocolate chip cookies together. He still makes the best cookies ever and sends batches in the mail to my daughters who are total cookie monsters.
I know this isn’t a “dish” but my favorite childhood thing to make was Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies with my sister.
Making chocolate cupcakes with my mom
You look SO happy, the food looks amazing, and that dog? OMG…he’s a doll! Pretty sure we Canadians aren’t eligible for the draw….but I’ll share that I made toast with baked beans on top when I was little.
I loved making rice krispie treats.
I learned to cook at my grandma’s hot dog stand, for me my favorite was a barely cooked hot dog with crispy french fries. I also remember helping make her famous mac and tuna pasta salad, yum!
My mom didn’t let us cook much but I always got the dreaded job of halving the grapes and removing the seeds. I’m old so this was before seedless grapes. I’m so old I remember having to mush around the margarine to get the yellow color distributed. I only use real butter today.
My Mom and sister did most of the cooking but when my Brother went to the Culinary Institute I would be his assistant when he came home and we made baked Alaska once. The one thing I did make all the time for friends was homemade peanut butter chocolate bars that tasted pretty close to Reese’s peanut butter cups.
One of my favorite dishes I cooked as a kid was cheese grits on cold mornings. 🙂
One dish that brings back the most memories is actually making Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza after double dating with my friend since second or third grade. Oh, the fun we had, and some weird, good pizza was made. Thanks for bringing back those memories of 50+ years ago.
I loved making Cashew Chicken and fried Won Tons for the family dinner
I loved to make pineapple upside down cake and this concoction with rice, cheese, peas and jimmy dean sausage! My mom used to call it hump day cake because she would make it on Wednesday! The rice/cheese concoction is delicious and remember adding the cheese last and just watching it melt and combine with all the ingredients! That cabot cheese would be a good addition to my fave meal to make as a kid!
Warming up Chef Boy-Ar- Dee Ravioli with bread and butter.
Not really cheese but I liked boxed macaroni & cheese. I remember the boxed pizza mix. Is that the one with the “I’ve a better idea. I’ll made you some” TV commercial.
I was very proud of my Polka Dotted Macaroni and Cheese dish, made with from-scratch mac and cheese, topped with sliced hot dogs. That recipe came from the Betty Crocker Junior cookbook. 🙂
One of the first things my grandpa taught me to make was deviled eggs! I thought they were so fancy LOL
Chicken Pot Pie! 😉
Tacos and I still love them. I could eat them everyday. Thanks for all your great Taco ideas.
Grilled cheese was probably one of the first things I made on my own.
My mom started me out with cookies. All different kinds.
I always used to like making home made pizza, because we made small pizzas and each kid got to decorate their own. It is one of the few times when I was “helping” in the kitchen, and was actually helping.
My favorite things to make as a kid were always desserts, usually different kinds of cookies.
Side note ….. could you please persuade Eli’s to do a cheesecake giveway lol ; )
At almost 10 I was “Mom” for the weekend and in charge of cooking for my 6 younger siblings. From then on I made supper as we called it most nights especially in the summer. Some of my favorites beef stew, meatballs, fried chicken, meat loaf and scalloped potatoes. There were always potatoes of some sort though and dessert was required. And yes I remember those pizzas, in fact I think I reminded you lol!
They still make the pizza kits- I bought one recently as a joke for my brother. We made them about every Friday at our house and would use raw ground beef for the meat. There were 4 and later 6 kids in the family so we needed a couple of boxes LOL. I thought the kidlets were going vegetarian for a month? Two of my kids are- my son hasn’t had meat for many years. He does eat fish though. My youngest likes veggie burgers a lot so that’s her main source of protein besides yogurt. She has never cared a lot about food!
Love your haircut Biz. You look great! OH, that Rosemary bread looks so darn good!!!!!
My Mother was a professional model and my Grandparents lived with us as she was away a lot.
My Father had very strict dietary rules for the household. Nothing white, nothing processed and meals revolved mainly around seafood/fish. However, when both parents were away, my Grams would give us $1 and send us to buy ground beef. We would always buy 2 lbs.@ 3 lbs for $1 and my sibs and I could use the change for penny candy.Walking back from the store we would be on a high from the sugar and the anticipation of the dinner we all would prepare.
We would form the patties, which Grams called hamburgs , and fry them with onions in the cast iron skillet. We had already peeled and boiled the potatoes for mashing and Grams would send us to set the table while she made pan gravy. We would open cans of corn and green beans and that would complete our secret dinner. The forbidden foods of this wonderful meal will always bring a
smile to my warm heart. I don’t think my Dad ever knew !
I cooked a lot with my Nana and my Dad. With my Nana, she made the best brown bread and would bake it whenever she knew I would be visiting. But my favorite thing to cook as a kid was waffles with my Dad. We would always make extra to freeze so I could have them later.
I also remember the pizza kit…memories 🙂
I used to love to help my mom in the kitchen. Its crazy to me that some mothers wouldn’t share this with their children. I have a 2.5 year old and she already helps by dumping and mixing. Example Egg Casserole, I crack the eggs and she dumps each one in the mixing bowl. The first dish I made on my own was my own version of chicken cacciatore.
My sister and I loved to bake when we were young. We’d pick out a new recipe every weekend and my mom would supervise, but we did most of the work. We especially liked making sweet yeast breads that were in different shapes, like braids or rings.
My mom made my brother and I make dinner once a week growing up and I always made chicken cacciatore. I bet making pizza with your grandmother is what sprung your love of it. My grandmother used to make us pizzas on english muffins when I was a kid and I loved them!
I didn’t really cook when I was little, but did a lot of baking with my mom. Amarinds is awesome! The prices are really reasonable too.
i certainly didn’t do a lot of “cooking” when i was little, but i always was proud that i could make myself a grilled cheese sandwich or scrambled eggs. I guess i liked the feeling of independence. 🙂
(and we used to use Chef Boyardee pizza kits too – the box looked different, but the same idea.)
I didn’t cook when I was a kid…..with 5 of us I guess mom liked her kitchen to herself! But I did make a mean baked spud!!!
I loved making chili with my mom. I was in charge of the spices. My mom makes her chili soupy with elbow noodles so I always make a pot that way around my birthday.
I remember making lasagna for my family when I was in high school. Of course, it was the recipe printed on the box of lasagna noodles, but we all loved it. I went on to marry a 1st generation Italian and my former mother-in-law really taught me how to cook.
My Mom didn’t let any of her kids in the kitchen when she was cooking or baking. There was 5 of us then. When I got older she taught me how to make her homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs which I have made a lot since. So I taught myself how to make things but would first call her for advice on different recipes when I got stuck.
I was good at making cornbread, but what I really liked to make were peanut butter and pickle sandwiches! I know. It sounds gross, but it’s very good.
I didn’t even know they still sold the Chef Boyardee Pizza kits! I remember me and my sister eating these.
I think my favorite thing to cook so Kraft Mac and Cheese. I think I made it several times a week.
I cooked and baked all the time when I was a kid. I still do so I guess habits do start young!
Oh my goodness, my grandma use to get me Chef Boyardee Pizza kits too! Believe it or not I actually bought one a couple of years ago just to try it and recreate the summer’s at my grandmothers. I do not remember it tasting that way. Almost had a smelly feet aroma to it. Did I it eat despite the scent? Yes, I did. I may have added some Frank’s Red Hot Sauce but my daughter and I ate the whole thing. I did most of my cooking as a kid with my grandmother except I did love me some french fries cooked in our Fry Daddy.
I really like your necklace. Is it a thrift store find or is it one that your friend sells?
One of my favorite dishes I cooked when I was young, was fried yellow squash. My great grandma taught me how to cook at a young age.
My favorite dish was tuna noodle casserole. It was the first dish my mom taught me how to cook and it was delicious! It’s still a favorite in our house.
Oh, you know I’m always in it for the cheese! I wasn’t much of a cook as a kid. I knew how to make some basics, but that was about it. I still love spaghetti with meat sauce!
But after visiting a friend in Rochester a couple of weekends ago, I was amazed at how much her eight-year-old daughter knew about cooking. While my friend attended to her three-month-old, little Miss D helped me in the kitchen! She knew where everything was, how to work the oven and even added her own little touches to the dishes. I was quite impressed. My nephew, who is the same age, knows where the chocolate is in Grandma’s house. That’s all I think he knows about cooking. 🙂 I’ll have to mention this magazine to my friend. He daughter would love it!
Chop Chop sounds awesome, I honestly cannot say I have tried Cabot’s cheeses yet, sad since I love cheese! My grandma and I used to make spaghetti together when I was little, she made an amazing spaghetti sauce.
I never really got to cook when I was a kid because my mother wasn’t really active in the kitchen LOL. But, I remember helping my grandmother with cookie baking a lot…and one of my fond memories is watching my grandfather sitting at the kitchen table peeling a TON of potatoes for my grandmother’s potato salad (which we ate a lot of). I never got to peel though…that was all my grandfather’s job!