Naptime Simple Tips: Fun & Essential Tips for Your Kitchen

I love drinking good wine, but personally find it daunting to select a good wine on my own. In fact, I usually find myself chatting up the sommelier or wine store owner to find something I think I might like before I make a commitment to buying anything. Today I am invited my friend Sasha of Spin the Bottle NY to share her tips for buying wine. Specifically, I wanted her to share suggestions for buying wine at restaurants and getting the most of out a bottle for Valentine’s Day. After all, I firmly believe us parents deserve a great bottle of wine and if we are going to splurge, let’s do it right!

I am a huge fan of homemade gift giving, even for Valentine’s Day. Today I’ve rounded up some of my favorite chocolate recipes that are perfect for gift giving. There is something here for everyone. Whether you are looking for a sexy chocolate sauce for your sweetie, or a more cheerful cookie for a friend, all they require is a little naptime baking, a clear plastic bag tied with a ribbon, and your gift is ready!

As evidenced by the extensive family breakfast recipe list I’ve accumulated we take breakfast very seriously in this house. I got this from my parents, we always ate big breakfasts each morning growing up. My mother, a teacher, rightfully acknowledged that a healthy breakfast is a great way for both children and adults to start the day. I’ve carried on this tradition with my daughter, we eat breakfast together every morning. Of course, just because we consider breakfast a necessity – we all wake up with growling tummies – it doesn’t mean it has to be boring or difficult to make. Here are eight of our favorite hot breakfasts. I make a lot of these after my daughter is asleep. Or, they are classic powernap recipes and come together in a moment’s notice. Here is to wishing you a warm, cozy winter morning full of hot breakfasts!

Welcome to The Naptime Chef & Small Kitchen College Slow Cooker Challenge! This week Phoebe, Cara, Lily and I are joining forces to talk all things slow-cooker. You might ask: what do college cooks and moms have in common? Answer: they’re BUSY. Do you use your slow-cooker a lot in the winter? What do you make? I hope are excited because we are going to chat slow-cooking with you all week long! I know I, for one, am a big fan of slow-cooking during naptime and this week I am going to explore all the interesting family foods can be slow-cooked. I’ll give you a hint: it is about much more than soups and stews. We’ll be partnering with Big Kitchen and offering up two great slow cookers, one on each of our sites! See below for how to take home the Breville model. If you visit Small Kitchen College you can also enter to win a great Delonghi version.

I am all about baking bread, especially in the winter. Sure, I still buy a good loaf of country bread for sandwiches now and then, but I mostly bake it from scratch. It really is a cinch to make no-knead bread during naptime (an actual webisode of that to come later this week!) and a large loaf lasts us for at least a week. Denser sweet breads are easy too, and they are great for breakfast, school snack or even dessert. Most the loaf batters below can be made with a simple bowl and spoon and take less than ten minutes to pull together. They are perfect for naptime baking!

Christmas is literally around the corner and there is one little girl in my household who is beyond excited. (Does the phrase “pinging off the walls” mean anything to you?! ) We’ve been cooking and baking up a storm and I thought I would share some of the favorite things we’ve been making. These are all things that you still have plenty of time to make and will impress all of your household guests. Let the holiday naptime cooking crunch-time begin!

I am wrapping up holiday dinner week with a new favorite “adults-only” ice cream. I have to admit, I saw the title Boozy Eggnog Ice Cream on the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams site, but couldn’t find the recipe anywhere. Thankfully I have her awesome book and was able to use it to riff on her base flavor formula and dream up my own recipe. Maybe sometime I’ll actually get to taste her version to make a comparison. Mine is creamy and boozy with just a hint of spices. My husband and I loved it, as will you.