Curing the Holiday Hangover

With the holidays behind us, so is all of the reckless eating. Cookies constantly within an arm's reach and an eggnog latte or peppermint mocha coffee break just to enjoy and savor the beloved red cup. And there always an excuse for an extra cocktail. Or five. I don't eat everything in site but I also don't spend my holidays worrying about every morsel I put in my mouth because honestly, I just enjoy it and know that we'll return to our regularly scheduled eating habits once the season comes to an end. What's fun about indulging if you have to rationalize everything you eat? This also goes for every extra dollar that has cause the grocery budget to just be completely ignored.

The cookies are gone, the red cups are no longer available at Starbucks (sigh) and it's time to focus on cleaning up a bit and getting back into our usual routine and stocking our refrigerator with healthy fuel. I have said this before, but I don't like the word diet. You can't stick to a diet. You CAN stick to a lifestyle. And that's how we do it around here.

I meal plan every week. Ashley and I did it while living in our apartment and I have never gone back. At the beginning of the week, I sit down with my laptop, cookbooks and recipe binder and plan our dinners for the entire week. I find that one trip to the grocery store a week not only saves me time, but saves me money! Shopping with a well thought out list is key. I do most of my grocery shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store and besides a select few items, I try to stay out of the aisles since that is where most of the trouble is.

If you are in need of some healthy recipes to jump start your new year, keep reading! Below is a week worth of clean and healthy dinners, plus one for good measure. With the exception of the soup, all can be made in under an hour, making them ideal for your weeknight menus. I added many of these to our dinner menu for last week. Some are new, some are from my daily web browsing and some are my own blog recipes that I cleaned up with a few simple swaps.

Salmon roasted with fresh lemon & garlic

{salmon fillet, 2 cloves garlic minced, 6 lemon slices, salt,

pepper, brush of olive oil, 20 minutes on 350*. Easy!}

Roasted Red Pepper Pistachio Pesto

Simple baby greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette

The Culinary Couple's Tortellini Soup- one of my favorite all time recipes

(Double the sausage, skip the tortellini)

Grilled Chicken Breast with Olive Tapenade

Baby spinach salad with champagne vinaigrette

Garlic & Herb Dijon Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Green Beans Salad with Pickled Red Onions and Fried Almonds

Roasted Chicken Thighs

Spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

(Use ground sirloin and swap Hoisin sauce for 2 tbsp. natural peanut butter)

Seared Marinated Flank Steak

Pan roasted brussels sprouts

(I use olive oil instead of butter)

Tomato, cucumber and red onion salad with red wine vinaigrette

Grilled chicken breast over romaine & baby greens

cucumbers, grape tomatoes, green onions and avocados

Simple Caesar Dressing

Cheers clearing out the bad, shopping smart and to a fresh start in the kitchen in 2012!

Movie Night Popcorn

I'm known to fall asleep while watching movies at home. It happens, and I don't even try to fight it. Unless it's The Holiday. I always seem to stay awake for that.

Popcorn, however, is a game changer. Give me a little treat and my battery is instantly recharged. I'm totally a kid. We were feeling nostalgic last weekend while Meghan and Scott were here visiting, and we kicked off the weekend with popcorn made the old fashioned way- on the stove. I don't know that I will ever make popcorn any other way. If you follow these instructions to a "T", your movie nights will be forever changed.

Movie Night Popcorn

3 Tbsp. Canola oil

3/4 cup popcorn kernels

Melted butter & sea salt (we also like Morton's Nature's Seasons)

Heat oil in a large, heavy bottom pot on medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. To make sure the oil is heated, place 3-4 kernels in the pot and cover. When the kernels pop, add in the rest of the popcorn in an even layer. Cover and remove from heat. Count to 30. Return to heat and shake back and forth. Once the popcorn starts to pop, create a slight opening in the lid to let the steam out. When there are more than 3-4 seconds between each kernel pop, remove from heat. Cover and let stand for one minute.

Pour into a large bowl. Top with melted butter and sea salt or other delicious seasoning of your choice.

And don't fall asleep while you watch the movie.

All That Twinkled

The Christmas season seems to come and go too quickly. Or maybe I am just getting old. In my usual style, I enjoyed every morsel of Christmas cheer to the fullest! And then some. I don't like to rush through the holiday, and I savor all of my favorite things. In fact, our tree is still up and the lights are still twinkling. Growing up, our family tree stayed up through the 12th day of Christmas and I'm continuing the tradition in our home. Our holiday season was filled with lots of love, wonderful visits with our families and new memories together as we celebrated our second Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs.!

In a surprise inspired by my favorite Folger's commercial from yesteryear, I appeared in Charlotte a few days earlier than my family expected. Special thanks to my sweet husband for suggesting I spend a little extra time in Charlotte, and to my little sister Natalie, my blonde Sister Sophie and my little Elfin nephew, Jack for conducting a top secret airport pick-up. "Operation Peter" was a success. (I have to find a way to get the video that Nat recorded on my blog. Oh yes! We have video documentation to give Folger's a run for their money).

I surprised everyone (except Nat who kept her lips sealed) and enjoyed a few extra days of uninterrupted time with my sisters and parents all under one roof! There is nothing quite like it. And no explanation for these pictures. Extra dirty martinis and steamers anyone?

Have I ever mentioned we all plan our time according to what we want to eat? Peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes from Chick-Fil-A were a non negotiable treat. I only wish I could have gotten the ordering process on video. God bless the sweet 15 year old working in the drive thru.

Mark and I enjoyed Christmas eve with his sister, brother-in-law and 4 of our sweet nieces and nephews in Columbia. We even got to go outside the kids' windows with bells and play Santa!

Before going tucking in for the night, we drank peppermint hot chocolate and left out cookies for Santa.

Santa came!

Christmas day at the Nido house was magical, as usual.

How bromantic!

LOVE.

Annual sister photo shoot in front of the tree!

Santa Bears! 1985, 1987 and 1992 editions, respectively.

The food. Oh, the food. (plenty of cocktails, too!)

Homemade pasta is a post-Christmas meal must! Thanks, Andi!

The perfect way to top off the magic? Ringing in the New Year with our dear friends who came to visit, Meghan and Scott! (just wait until I post our New Year's Eve 2011 menu! TO. DIE. FOR.)

Wishing everyone much peace, love and joy in 2012!

From Our Home to Yours...

Merry Christmas from the Moores!

Wishing you all a magical day filled with abundant blessings as you are surrounded by the ones you love most!

Dudley the Elf

Long before Elf on a Shelf, the Nido girls had an annual, magical visitor straight from the North Pole. Too shy to see us, he would appear after we were asleep, and visit with my dad over mugs of hot cocoa. His visit came after our family tree was lit with red lights and decorated from head to toe. This is a tale, as told by my dad, is near and dear to my heart. So many of my favorite memories of the magic of Christmas, all lead back to Dudley the elf.

The Tale of a North Pole Ambassador

written by: The Elf Whisperer

On a snowy winter’s evening in mid-December 1989, after locking the doors and taking a gander at the sparkle and glow of our home we created for Christmas, I reduced everything to darkness and was headed up the stairs when I was startled by a rustling noise coming from the direction of our kitchen. Frightened, I eased my way down the steps and around the corner, only to find a strange little man sitting at the kitchen table. He had a luminescent glow about him and was so short that his feet didn’t even touch the floor. He smiled, but didn’t say a word. Suddenly, I felt I was having some crazy dream, until he spoke.

“Where are the girls?” he said.

Okay, I thought that maybe I’m crazy, but I’ll play along so he won’t harm me. “They’re in bed”, I said.

“Did Nina say her prayers?” he asked.

How does he know her name, I wondered? I wasn’t sure what to do next but he seemed pleasant enough, so I answered his questions. “Yes she did” I said.

“But, before that you had to discuss what she was going to have for breakfast in the morning” he said. “Her palate is quite mature for her young age. That’s going to be trouble for you when she grows up”.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS??”

He squinted and the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile that told me he knows more than I can ever imagine. “What about Andi? Has she quit talking and gone to sleep yet?” he said.

Now I was worried. He knew too much about my precious girls for my liking. “What do you want, and who are you anyway?”

“The name’s Dudley and I come from the North Pole. I’m the Chief Elf and everything goes through me.”

“How did you get here and why did you choose us?”

“Serendipity” he said. “I was out for a ride and saw the warm red glow from your Christmas tree. I couldn’t resist.”

“Okay, so what do you want from me?”

“Just a mug of hot cocoa.”

Still wary of this funny-looking little fellow, I asked how he got here. “Olaf” he said

“Pardon me?”

“Olaf” he said again.

“Is that a foreign car I’ve never heard of?” I said.

“No. He’s a reindeer. One of the spare ones. My favorite. Let me show you.”

He led me out to the porch where to my astonishment, was a large smiling reindeer. He had a fuzzy brown rack with enough points to hang 20 stocking caps, bells around his neck and a saddle strapped to his back. Now I was convinced that this wasn’t a dream and I wasn’t on Candid Camera. We returned to the kitchen and I fixed each of us a mug of hot cocoa. We chatted about all kinds of things, but he was especially interested in Nina and Andi and their activities. He asked if I would take him up to their bedrooms so that he could give them a kiss on the cheek. We tiptoed up the stairs and went into Andi’s room first. He bent over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and of course, she didn’t stir. We proceeded to Nina’s room, and being the light sleeper, as soon as he kissed her, she grumbled and rolled over. Dudley made a beeline for the stairs and ran down to the kitchen.

I followed him and asked “what’s the matter?”

“I’m shy. Your girls can’t see me. Only you.”

“How long have you been doing this” I asked.

“I’ve been the chief since I was 348 years old.”

“How old are you?”

“572 years. I must go.”

“Why?”

“I must be back to the North Pole by daybreak.”

Before he left, he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small trinkets to leave for the girls, and promised he would be back next year and the year after that.........

He returned the following year and every year after that and still does today, always bearing three small trinkets. His arrival is always the evening after our family Christmas tree is put up. How does he know? He waits for the warm red glow. Since that first December night, we added one more daughter, Natalie to our family. As the girls got older, my kitchen table chats with Dudley changed as did our beverage of choice. We now chat over a pint of ale and discuss their boyfriends, husbands, college, careers and whatever else is on our minds. Even though he has never seen them, he knows them as well as I do. Dudley knows...........

Mike Nido, aka The Elf Whisperer, lives a quiet life with his family in Charlotte, North Carolina and still waits up every year for Dudley.

Peter!

I so wish this commercial still made its way onto our TV screens every year. This has been my favorite Christmas commercial since I was a child. And it makes me cry. Every. Single. Time. Folger's will do that to a sappy little elf like me! I always wished for a big brother, just so I could re-enact this scene in my own home.

After all, these little snippets of love and joy really are what the Christmas season is about.

Olive & Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

I could make a meal out of Olive Tapenade. Give me a spoon, and I'm a happy girl! I love the salt richness of the olives and the extra bite of garlic and herbs. If you're looking for an interesting spread to serve on crostini for pre-Christmas dinner appetizers, this is for you!

This creation was the result of not having enough roasted red peppers in my fridge to make my red pepper pesto, so I grabbed the green olives and my mini Cuisinart and mixed up my very own tapenade. The roasted red peppers cut the saltiness of the olives perfectly. Oregano and garlic add the perfect sidekick flavors and trusty extra virgin olive oil smooths it down. There are no rules when it comes to how you enjoy your tapenade. Eat this with fish, chicken, or on toasted crostini. Or just grab a spoon.

Olive & Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

1 cup green olives

1/3 cup roasted red peppers

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Place all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until you get a consistency similar to the picture above. Be careful not to over-process. One too many pulses and your tapenade will become juice!