After attending the Food Nanny cooking workshop last weekend, I made a point to cook dinner for my family this week (not every night, mind you, but about four nights out of seven) and for our family to sit and eat together at the table each of those nights.

I’m using the Food Nanny’s cookbook as my helper.

It’s truly fantastic. Last Saturday I wrote out my menu plan for one week (nothing too ambitious) and went grocery shopping. The plan involves picking a theme for each night and using recipes to fit that theme. I took all my recipes this week from the cookbook.

Sunday (Family Traditions): Slow-Cooked Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade egg noodles, salad on the side
Monday (Comfort Food): Homestyle Mac and Cheese, green beans and bacon on the side, apple pie for dessert
Tuesday (Breakfast for Dinner): French Toast (made with homemade French baguettes), strawberries on the side
Wednesday (Mexican): Navajo Tacos with homemade Three-Bean Chili with Sausage

Success! It was intensely satisfying to cook food for my family and have us sit together to eat each night. The kids at least tried most things, and some things they really liked.

The chicken soup on Sunday turned out pretty good, although I think I made the egg noodles too floury, and they turned out a little tough.

On Monday the mac n’ cheese was good, but homestyle isn’t my favorite way to eat it. I’ll try a different style next time.

On Monday I also made an apple pie, maybe my first ever? The Food Nanny demonstrated making pie crust at her class, and it looked and tasted amazing. When I made my own I got interrupted about a zillion times and it took me about three hours with all the breaks. By the time I put the top crust on, the dough was too warm and fell apart. It’s not a lovely pie, but it tasted good. Next time I’ll use a less tart apple than Granny Smith.

On Tuesday I made homemade French baguettes. The Food Nanny demonstrated these as well at her class. The bread is quick, taking only about an hour from start to finish. And it turned out delicious. I used the bread at night to make french toast, and Wes LOVED this. He ate them with his fingers and dipped them in maple syrup. My next goal is to buy a baguette pan, which will shape the loaves so they don’t spread and flatten as they rise.

Wednesday was Navajo Tacos, which I’ve never made before. I fried thawed Rhodes white Texas rolls in hot oil to make scones (or Navajo fried bread). The Food Nanny suggests in her book using her Three Bean Chili with Sausage on the tacos (although you could use canned chili). Since I don’t love canned chili, I made her suggested recipe. And it was delicious! It really made the tacos extra tasty. Wes really liked this dish, but I think it was mostly the fried bread he liked, since he ate a couple extra.

We had leftover chili on Thursday for lunch, and later in the week I made the Food Nanny’s Buttermilk Corn Bread with honey butter. Delish. Her honey butter is the best I’ve had. It’s equal parts butter and honey, with a half-teaspoon of vanilla.

In addition, for breakfast yesterday I made her German Pancakes with Strawberries. It’s an oven pancake that you eat with sweetened sour cream and strawberries. I never would have thought of sweetening sour cream with brown sugar, but it was delicious with the pancake and strawberries.

All in all–a successful first week. I have my menu ready for this week. We’re having roast chicken tomorrow, chicken pot pie on Monday, Fettuccine Alfredo Tuesday, French toast Wednesday, and taco salad on Thursday if I make it that far. We’ll see how it goes.

My sister told me about a cooking class she was going to hosted by the Food Nanny (a.k.a. Liz Edmunds). She’s a local chef who has a TV show on the BYU channel (“The Food Nanny”; you can watch full episodes here) where she helps families establish family dinnertime as a regular and important part of their routine. My sister said there was a discount deal for the class, so I signed up too and we went together.

The cooking class I took with John a few weeks ago was fun and educational. But this cooking class with the Food Nanny was not only fun and educational, it was also kind of life changing.

Cooking for my family has never been my strength. My usual routine: pull open the cupboard and pantry around the time we’re hungry and stand in stupor, wishing dinner was already made, and by somebody else. We’ve never had a regular mealtime at night, but I know it’s important. At our house, where John works from home, we’re essentially all home together all day long, every day. We have a lot less structure than other families who expect dad to come home from work around mealtime, and then it’s time to eat! We just kind of do our own thing. Since we haven’t had structured dinner time, I would let Wes snack whenever, and John and I would eat whenever.

After taking Liz’s class I decided I wanted to make dinnertime an important, established part of our daily family routine. And going to her class (and getting her cookbook, which was included) made me believe I could do it.

Wow. That’s miracle #1, believing I could plan and prepare dinner for my family.

Meeting Liz, the Food Nanny, in person was awesome. I’ve seen her show, and she’s just as likeable and adorable in person as she is on TV. We drove through some gorgeous (although treacherous) snow on the way to her house.

(Bridal Veil Falls on the left.)

This is Liz’s house. Isn’t it gorgeous? It was a family cabin that they eventually built onto to make their home.

Liz made us feel so welcome, like we were part of her (very large) family. She let us roam around her house and take pictures. We felt right at home.

This is the kitchen where all the magic happened.

To give you an idea of what kind of hostess she is, when you went to dry your hands in the guest bathroom, this is the surprise you get when you reach for the hand towel.

Liz spent some time explaining why family dinnertime is so important. She also told us about her background, and how family mealtime really kept her and her family grounded while her husband was a pilot and gone a lot. She’s been following the basic guidelines shared in her cookbook for nearly 40 years. I think it’s a good measure of her success that her grown kids’ families all have routine family dinnertimes, too.

She had a lot of good points, and she truly is right: family dinnertime is a lost art and really important to establish and maintain in your family.

Liz’s rule of thumb is to plan your meals one to two weeks in advance (two is better), and to aim to prepare meals at least five days a week (everyone deserves a night or two off, she says). She suggests having a theme for each night, and that makes it easy to pick food to prepare. Her basic guideline is:

Sunday: Family Traditions
Monday: Comfort Food
Tuesday: Italian
Wednesday: Meatless or Breakfast for Dinner
Thursday: Mexican
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Grill Night

I think it’s kind of brilliant, simple as it is. It makes it easy. And even easier is that you can go to her website and use this tool to create your themed menu for up to two weeks. And you can even print your grocery list from it.

Liz made an ambitious amount of food for us. It was so helpful to watch her demonstrate and share tips and information as she worked. It was a great experience, in part because she made it look so easy, like even I could do it!

First up, pie crust.

She made apple pie, apple crisp, and then used the leftover pie crust to make jelly rolls. The pie actually burned, but it was still delicious.

In the first picture, the apple crisp is on the bottom, pie on top.

Next was french baguettes. They’re simple to make (surprise!). Liz calls them her go-to bread because they only take about an hour from start to finish, including rising.

Liz is holding up a double baguette pan, which I am definitely investing in. Because now I, too, am One Who Bakes Baguettes.

She used some of the baguettes to make fried bruschetta. It was actually the first thing we were given to taste. It was delicious. A little heavy on oil, but great in small quantities.

Then it was pizza. She uses a pizza peel to make the pizza on, and then she bakes it on ceramic tiles in her oven (bottom picture). She used to use a pizza stone a lot (which I use at home), but in her more recent travels to Italy she’s discovered that they used tiles in their ovens. She bakes the pizza directly on them.

She made us arugula and tomato pizza. She said she got the idea for it when she was in Italy and asked a chef to bring her his healthiest pizza, and this was it. She didn’t even know what arugula was at the time. It’s a very strong-tasting, almost bitter, lettuce. The pizza was good, but definitely for grown-up palates.

Lastly, she made us two pasta dishes: chicken marsala and spaghetti carbonara.

The chicken marsala was AMAZING, and I hope to recreate it in my own kitchen sometime. The carbonara was the only dish she made that I wouldn’t try making at home. It was too spicy for me. She said some chefs make carbonara with cream, and others with water. She uses water, but I think I would prefer cream.

By the time we finished, the weather had cleared into a beautiful day.

So, miracle #1 was that I believed I could do this for my family. Miracle #2 is that I actually am!

On Friday we had a date night that involved going to a cooking school and taking a class.

I have grouched on here before numerous times about my lack of cooking finesse (most recently here). When I saw Groupon offering a cooking class for 50% off I went for it and bought one for both me and John so we could go together.

It was a bit of a time commitment when you consider the cost of babysitters, but it was worth it. It took us an hour and a half just to get there, when it should have been an hour or less, so we were late. But the other students were just chilling, eating chips and homemade dip and drinking wine. We were in the minority for once; there were more wine-drinkers than not.

After we got our aprons on and introduced ourselves we got up and went to work. The class is three hours (actually, it went late and was four), and in that time you work in teams to make, and then eat, a four-course meal. We signed up for “Classic Steakhouse.” (Come on. You’re not surprised “steak” is in the title, are you?)

The menu was:

mushroom caps stuffed with crab imperial
iceberg wedge salad with homemade bleu cheese dressing
oven roasted asparagus
twice-baked tall potatoes
bacon-wrapped filet Mignon with Bearnaise sauce
bananas foster

This type of cooking was fantastic because all the ingredients you needed were already set out on neat little trays in the appropriate measurements. Oh, and someone else was there to clean up after you. So wish I had that at home. I’d cook all the time.

We were in a team of five. First up was the appetizer of crab-stuffed mushrooms.

Let me just say now that John hates both crab and mushrooms.

But here he is so diligently stirring the crab meat mixture anyway. Because he is a team player.

As we prepared the food our instructor, Shaun (female), guided us and occasionally I’d learn something new. Like about how you should clean mushrooms with a mushroom brush instead of in water. Huh. We didn’t believe there was such a thing as a mushroom brush until she whipped one out and showed us.

After preparing the appetizer we made homemade bleu cheese dressing. I don’t have pictures of it, but it was easy and I think I’d be silly to ever buy the stuff in a bottle again because this tasted so much better.

Next up was asparagus. We learned how to snap off the bottom third, and how if you want to keep asparagus fresher longer in the fridge, put the ends in a bowl of water. (Hear that, Mom?) We tossed the asparagus in olive oil with salt and pepper and arranged it on a tray (actually, a rack on top of a tray) to bake.

Then we made the steak. Which was pretty much the reason most people signed up for the class. We are all great steak lovers (or married to one).

Shaun said that the only grocery store she will buy fresh meat from is Harmons, but that mostly she gets it from CostCo.

We wrapped our filet in bacon (easy) and secured it with a toothpick. Then we heated olive oil in a skillet until it was smokin’ hot before adding the fillets. We seared them on each side and seared the bacon around the sides. Then the skillet went in the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking.

Then, The Beast: Bearnaise sauce. It’s one of those tricky sauces that can go wrong easily, like hollandaise sauce (which I’ve made twice–and I only had to do it twice because it failed the first time).

Bearnaise sauce has delicious fresh tarragon in it, which I’d never used before but it smells so good. It uses shallots, too, which was also new to me.

However. We completely goofed up the sauce the first time around. You have to whisk the base constantly while slowly adding melted butter, and if you add the butter too fast or too low or breathe wrong, the sauce will break–meaning it falls apart into a grainy mess instead of getting thicker and more beautiful. I don’t know what our problem was, but we flunked. Only one team out of three made their sauce right the first time around.

By the time we finished the sauce (twice), it was close to 9 pm (which is when the class was supposed to end). We hadn’t eaten anything except the chips and dip when we first came, and we were ready to dig in!

So we did. We sat around the table and talked and ate while the kitchen staff served up the food we made.

First up: mushroom caps stuffed with crab. John tasted it and then gladly gave up his serving to seafood-loving team members. I thought the crab mixture was good and would be really tasty on a toasted baguette, but I didn’t love the mushroom. (I really don’t like mushrooms in general.)

Our salad was good. The bleu cheese dressing was a little heavy on the lemon, but it was still miles ahead of the store-bought stuff.

Then the entree. We had our oven roasted asparagus, which was crispy and so tasty with the oil and salt and pepper. The twice-baked tall potatoes were good and creamy (although we realized we forgot the salt and pepper, and we all agreed next time we’d add more cheese). And, the steak! Crispy, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Yum.

Last up was the bananas foster. We basically made a caramel sauce with bananas in the skillet, and then set the whole thing on fire. Except the flame was totally unimpressive. I didn’t get a picture of the piddly flame, or of the final product, but we ate the bananas with Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

It was such a wonderful night. We enjoyed the food, the company, and the experience. I have heard people say that they love getting together and cooking for friends, which I never really understood. But this was really fun, relaxed, and now I understand what it means to get together to break bread with friends.

Today we celebrated Wesley’s 4th birthday with his first-ever party with friends.

This would also be my first-ever experience planning a birthday party for little kids.

Lesson Learned #1: Simple is best!

When I started planning I was kind of extravagant, but I simplified and things were a lot easier to pull together with less time. Plus, the kids are three, four, and five. They don’t care about extravagant. They just want to play and eat cake.

We held it in our backyard. The kids liked to play, but they wanted a little structure, too. Once the thrill of just playing wore off (about ten minutes) we brought out snacks.

I bought some pointed wooden sticks from a cake supply store and mounted fresh fruit on them, ala Edible Arrangements style, only with less style and for a lot less money.

I included strawberries and grapes stacked in three as well as marshmallows and half-bananas that I dipped in melted chocolate/peanut butter (recipe below).

The pictures above were taken after the fruit had been out a few minutes and already attacked by the kids. I think they especially liked the chocolate-peanut butter marshmallows and bananas.

But Wesley’s favorite was the strawberries. I think he may have eaten them all.

Carissa liked the banana.

When snacks were done we pulled out a pinata. This was a smashing success. And, it was the most orderly I’d seen the kids all hour. They lined up and patiently waited their turn to swing at the ball.

We gave each kid a couple swings, and then after a few rounds we just told them to whack at it. That pinata was industrial strength!

Wes needed a little help to realize he was supposed to be hitting the pinata and not the tree, the clouds, etc.

At last it fell and the kids were on that candy like piranhas.

We had cake and ice cream.

When all was said and done and eaten, guests left with a goody bag because I like to say thanks to everyone who came.

The goody bag included bubbles and a chocolate-peanut butter marshmallow that I made myself.

It was easy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dipped Marshmallows (and Bananas)

Melt 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp. peanut butter in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes at 50% power, stirring now and again. Dip the marshmallow (I used a lollipop stick I got at a cake/candy supply store), top with sprinkles, and put in the fridge to harden. Since I used sticks, I stuck them in a piece of Styrofoam to keep the chocolate looking pretty as it hardened.

You can also do this with banana halves and freeze them for a nice alternative to an ice cream bar.

I actually just read about how you can mash bananas and freeze them and it tastes a lot like ice cream, except better-for-you, and now I can see how that’s true.

Last of all, because every mom deserves a little something, they all got a goody bag, too, with cake bites from my favorite place.

Lesson Learned #2: Birthday parties are best with lots of help! So glad a couple moms stayed to help me out!

And now I am One Who Throws Successful Birthday Parties for Little Kids.

Phew. No more until next year.

My Christmas wish list has a new entry on top: “Personal chef.” Right under it is still “Once-a-week maid service” and “Personal masseuse” and “Shopping time without children whining.”

But tonight “Personal chef” is number one.

I sometimes use this space to vent about my self-perceived lack of cooking skills. But, as John always reminds me, it’s not that I lack talent; I lack practice. Talents can be developed.

So I guess tonight I was practicing again.

I should point out that my two least favorite parts about cooking are 1) the huge amount of time and prep work it takes, and 2) after all that amount of time and prep work (and blood and sweat and tears), finding that my family doesn’t actually enjoy what I spent 20% of my day working on. Which, it seems, happens often.

But tonight I really thought I would hit a home run. Last week we went grocery shopping together (rare) and John picked out two fine pieces of ribeye steak. I looked up a cooking method for the steak online provided on FoodNetwork.com by Alton Brown, a super swanky star chef.

I made rolls from a Lion House mix, which I’d never done before. I was super excited to sort of make from scratch rolls that might actually taste really good.

And then I made sweet potato chips by slicing a sweet potato thin, brushing the slices with oil, sprinkling with salt, and baking for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

I thought with steak John picked out himself and a recipe from a TV star chef to cook it with, and rolls with the brand name “Lion House” on them, I couldn’t go wrong. I knew the sweet potato chips were a wild card, but I knew I, at least, would like them.

After three-and-a-half hours of cooking, it was a total flop. Everything. Nobody, except for me, liked anything.

A Groupon came out recently with a discount on cooking classes in Salt Lake City. It’s far away, and still costs a bit, but I paid for two of them. Talents can be developed. This is my mantra. I might start chanting it for encouragement the next time I attempt dinner.

And now on to some things that actually make me happy…

Carissa greeting me after a night’s sleep.

Carissa showing how tall she is under the table.

And Wesley’s latest love:

This is his Uncle Jon pitching:

And his dad helping him out:

I stumbled on this article by the NY Times from a few years ago about the secrets behind the best chocolate chip cookies. They interviewed big-time bakers and learned what they did.

The #1 secret revealed was to let the cookie dough rest in the refrigerator for 36 hours prior to baking. It lets the ingredients soak together better, and you end up with a drier, more crumbly dough with richer flavor. They even did a test batch at 12, 24, and 36 hours, and the 36-hour cookies earned top marks.

They also talk about the use of salt and how it works to contrast and enhance the sweet flavors.

So I tried their recipe. I followed it as closely as possible, but I didn’t have bread flour (although I did have cake flour). I didn’t have bittersweet chocolate so I used regular ol’ semi-sweet chocolate chips. And then I stored the dough in the fridge and waited patiently for 36 hours. I felt a little like a pioneer girl waiting for her seeds to sprout and grow into a bounteous harvest.

At just about the 36-hour mark I pulled out the dough and formed it into balls “the size of generous golf balls” as the recipe directs. Good thing the recipe specifies that this is about 3.5 ounces of dough, because apparently I don’t know how big a golf ball is and would’ve made them much smaller. I topped each cookie dough ball with a sprinkling of fine sea salt.

I baked my four test cookies at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.

The result?

I so agree with the article, which stated that cookies baked at the 36-hour mark had “richer, more sophisticated taste, with stronger toffee hints and a definite brown sugar presence.” I definitely tasted the toffee (caramel) and brown sugar flavor. These cookies are heavy on salt. Probably the saltiest cookies I’ve made. But I like it. The taste lingers in your mouth longer, and it complements the sweet toffee flavor. Then again, my favorite chocolate bar is Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt, so I already knew I liked the contrast of sweet and salty.

You should try it. See what you think.

Here’s a link to the recipe, and the recipe in its entirety.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Jacques Torres
Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.