What’s Going on Today: It’s holiday go-time! Present shopping, preparing for daughter’s holiday school activities, laundry, gift wrapping.

Naptime Goals: Finish wrapping holiday gifts before shipping them off to Cooperstown. Make up spice rub for Salmon, chop onions for herbed rice.

Tonight’s Menu: Spice Rubbed Salmon, herbed rice, eggnog cheesecake.

Parenting Lesson of the Day: It’s never too early to teach kids about giving back, my daughter and I went shopping for our December Socks-n-Undies donation today.

We’re in the holiday rush full throttle! Last weekend was spent working on and going to the great party at JMcLaughlin in Westport. It was an awesome event, many thanks to all of you who attended. Once that was over I turned to preparing for Christmas. We hung the stockings, decorated the tree and starting wrapping like crazy. I also took some time to think of others and picked up some pajamas for Socks-n-Undies and extra toys for the donation box at my husband’s office. When it comes to cooking, in the midst of the holiday chaos the best thing I can do is keep our meals simple and delicious, which is exactly where this spiced rubbed salmon comes in.

What’s Going on Today: Putting up the tree! Getting ready for the big JMcLaughlin party this weekend!

Tonight’s Menu: Take-out, Mom’s got some catering to do!

Naptime Goals: Make Christmas Pinata cookies for the JMcLaughlin party and some to give to our neighbors.

Parenting Lesson of the Day: The mood in here just keeps elevating.

I am so incredibly excited about the JMcLaughlin party I can hardly stand it. This is my first catering gig and my very first venture into packaged foods. Will there be more packaged foods and catering to come? Perhaps! (Read: I hope so!) The food I’ll be making for the party will be mainly sweet and savory bite-size nibbles. There is no kitchen at the shop and we want customers to be browsing while they eat, not juggling heavy duty hor d’oeuvres and ignoring the pretty clothes. One of the cookies I’ll be serving are these sweet Christmas Pinata cookies. My Mom ripped out the recipe from a magazine many moons ago and has made them for us every Christmas since.

Sara and her husband live in St. Paul, Minnesota with their two daughters, ages 6 and 4.  When her first daughter was born Sara traded in her days as a social worker to stay at home, and began cooking during naptime. In fact, although the girls are a little older (one of them still naps) Sara still uses this time to her benefit, tackling loads of laundry, paying bills and cleaning – in addition to cooking! We share the sentiment that sometimes naptime isn’t nearly enough time to get it all done! One of her favorite recipes to fit into family life is this amazing bread. She has worked out how to fit each step into an open window during her day. The result is perfect loaf every time!

In December of 2008, my husband gave me a gift that changed my life.  I am not referring to the birth of my daughters, then ages 3 and 1.  I am referring to a book.  A cookbook.  My husband gave me Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The discovery that revolutionizes home baking.  I had been struggling to bake homemade bread for months, with minimal success.  Once I came across this book, I became a confident baker of bread.  A whole new world was opened to me!

The bread I bake most often is the Light Whole Wheat Bread.  It is my favorite for the variety it offers.  I can use the dough to bake bread for sandwiches, pizza crust and even focaccia.

Making this bread is a two part process and requires me to plan ahead.  I typically make the dough one day, and bake it the next.  After I get my now 4 year year old down for her “quiet time” (sometimes it is not so quiet and I wonder what she is doing in her room) I mix the ingredients, which takes me 10 – 15 minutes.  I like to use King Arthur’s unbleached all-purpose flour.  I mix the yeast, flour and salt using first a wooden spoon and then my wet hands.  No kneading is required.  I use Fleischmann’s rapid rise or quick rise yeast.  The authors state that the type of yeast you use is not important, you can use whatever you have available.

Once the dough is made, it needs to sit on the counter in a non-airtight container for two hours while the dough rises and collapses.  I find the dough is easier to work with if I first refrigerate it.  It can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, though mine never last more than a week.  From the amount of dough made, I can usually make 3 loaves of bread.

I am so excited to share this terrific invitation with all of you!  On December 12th from 12 to 4pm I’ll be providing treats for a fun holiday shopping event at the newly opened JMcLaughlin store in Westport CT. Come by and pick out some fun Christmas gifts while nibbling on delicious sweets and savories. There will even be a cookie decorating station for the kids – they decorate while you shop! I am also excited to announce that at this event I’ll be introducing a limited edition line of my Peppermint Hot Fudge Sauce which will be artfully packaged to be the perfect stocking stuffer for your friends and loved ones. It is my first foray into packaged foods and I hope you’ll swing to snap some up while supplies last. If you have any questions feel free to send me a note or leave a comment.

If you can’t make it for this event you can still get a taste of The Naptime Chef at the store all season long. The JMcLaughlin cafe will be featuring one of a kind Naptime Chef sweets all month long. That’s right – stop by for a sweet nibble (no purchase necessary!) while you peruse the racks. Happy Holidays!

What’s Going on Today: Preparing for daughter’s birthday party while she naps.

Naptime Goals: Set-up the birthday cake, popcorn, spiced up chex mix, cheeses, dip, cookies, lollipops, smoked salmon and baked brie.

Today’s Menu: See above: a mix of kid food and adult food to please everyone attending. Bar stocked with Champagne, beer, wine & sodas!

Parenting Lesson of the Day: Little kids will never know if you forget to put out the cocktail napkins!

While we were in Cooperstown for Thanksgiving we celebrated my daughter’s birthday. I can’t believe how quickly time has flown, it seems like just yesterday we brought her home! Reflecting on how quickly she has grown nearly brought tears to my eyes, but just nearly. This year there was no time for crying, we had a party to throw! I filmed the whole ordeal and made it into a great webisode and while I was doing so decided to give away a camera for my holiday giveaway #4. For details on how to enter to win a Kodak Zx1 Pocket Video Camera (courtesy of moi, this is not a sponsored giveaway) see details at the end of this post.

Luckily, my parents are expert party-throwers and weren’t at all daunted at my request we throw a proper party on the actual day of her birthday. In fact, they embraced it wholeheartedly. There was coordinated decor (light blue, per my daughter’s request), a terrific menu and loads of good friends. They even commissioned a special “blue lollipop birthday cake” since that is what she so desperately wanted. My contribution to the party was the creamy baked brie with jam and almonds. It’s is my favorite go-to holiday appetizer that is an absolute snap to make. I prepared it while my daughter napped and popped it in the oven right before the party that evening!