If you had asked 8-year-old me if I wanted turnips for dinner, something like “eww, no” or  “grossssss” would have been the answer. Sadly, the same question posed to “adult” me would probably get the same response. But if the turnips were tucked into macaroni and cheese? Well, that’s a much more interesting proposition.  I imagine there are plenty of parents that are looking for clever ways to slip a few extra veggies into their kids’ (or their own) diet, so check out this recipe from Andrea Chesman’s Recipes From The Root Cellar…you won’t be hearing words of protest when this dish hits the table.

Cheesy Mac With Root Vegetables

In this dish, any of the root vegetables you happen to have in the house will work well, though turnips and rutabagas are favorites. If you have a pasta pot with a colander insert, you can easily cook the vegetables in the same boiling water as the macaroni.

Serves: 6

1 pound elbow macaroni
4 cups peeled and diced mixed root vegetables (carrots, celery root, golden beets, parsnips, rutabagas, salisfy, and/or turnips) or winter squashes
6 tablespoons butter
1 shallot minced
2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
6 tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour
3 cups milk
2 cups lightly packed grated sharp cheddar (8 ounces)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lightly butter a large casserole dish.

2. Bring two large pots of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni to one pot and cook until al dente. Drain well. Transfer to the casserole dish.

3. In the second pot of boiling water, cook the vegetables until fork-tender, about 10 minutes; the vegetables should still hold their shape. Drain well. Transfer to the casserole dish.

4. To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic, if using, and sauté until limp, about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour to form a smooth paste. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring to prevent lumps. When the sauce thickens, add the cheese, stirring until melted. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

5. Stir the sauce into the macaroni and vegetables. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumbs are browned. Serve hot.

Kitchen Notes: You can vary the vegetables as you please. A sliced leek or one-quarter of a yellow onion can replace the shallot. If you only have carrots on hand, you can simply grate a couple of them and add to the cheese sauce with the milk. Or you can add 2 cups shredded root vegetables (any type) to the cheese sauce and add 2 cups frozen vegetables (any type) to the pasta, 1 to 3 minutes before the pasta will be done.

Take a look inside the Workman studio as they create all things Papertoy Monsters. They’ve got big monsters, small monsters, and airborne monsters in display mobiles. These monsters are taking over!

Sorry, Lady Gaga — you’re not the only one in town with an army of little monsters! The crew over here at Workman has quite a posse, too. Last week in the office a team of expert folders (read: editorial assistants, sales associates, designers, and interns) folded and tested each little monster to ready them for publication this winter. These 50 little monsters are from Papertoy Monsters, a curated collection by Brian Castleforte from 25 of the world’s best papertoy designers.

Fold up Icy Huggy, our friendly bearded cover model who hails from the Himalayan mountains. According to his bio, Icy Huggy can run really fast, leap over an entire canyon in a single bound, and drink an entire lake in one gulp! And perhaps most endearing, his favorite pastime is sliding down mountains while singing. Okay, I totally want him to be my friend.

“If you keep a green tree in your heart,
the singing bird will come”

–Chinese Proverb

Indestructibles–the baby-proof book. Crush them, eat them, wash them, tug them. Just don’t light them on fire.

Do you ever feel like a short-order cook as you prepare school lunches?  Requests coming from every direction, and no one likes the same thing?  Well, here’s a recipe from Be Thrifty via Storey’s Kathleen Cannata Hanna that kids, teens and grownups will all appreciate. In this build-a-lunch model, he who hates olives can simply leave them out.  Lunch nirvana….

Make-Your-Own Pasta Salad
This pasta-salad recipe functions like a deli counter, a blank slate that will please the vegetarian and salami lover alike. Just prepare the pasta, present the ingredient options, and let everyone go to town. (Serves 4-6)

1 pound short pasta, such as corkscrews or farfalle
Salt
Italian, Caesar, or Greek salad dressing

1. Bring salted water to a boil for the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, choose desired topping ingredients (see below) and toss gently in individual-size to-go containers.
3. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente. Drain and rinse briefly under cool water; drain well. Add to the individual containers with chosen ingredients; drizzle with enough dressing to coat everything well.
4. Serve warm or chilled.

Possible toppings:

Marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
Roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
Thinly sliced salami
Thinly sliced deli ham
Canned tuna in vegetable oil, drained and flaked
Thinly sliced red onion
Chopped tomato
Broccoli florets
Pitted green or black olives
Cubed provolone cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese

For more money-saving school lunch tips, check out yesterday’s post–”Cheap Lunch 101“

It’s that time of year…fall is almost here and the kids are back to school, which will prompt the inevitable push and pull of what goes in the proverbial brown bag for lunch.  You want to give them a piece of fruit….and they want the tiny bag of cookies with their favorite cartoon character emblazoned across the package.  But maybe both sides can have their way, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Courtesy of Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross, Be Thrifty offers up kid-tested tricks  for packing economical school lunches that will be the envy of the cafeteria.

Cheap Lunch 101

• Create a budget target, and do the math. First determine what you think is a reasonable per-day amount to spend on a school lunch. Use the shelf labels in the supermarket to help you compute the per-unit cost of prepackaged foods and snacks. Figure out how much meat, cheese, fruit, bread and peanut butter you’ll use in a given week, then divide the total by five to see what each day’s lunch costs.

• Invest in an insulated thermos. They are perfect for keeping soup and leftovers hot and yogurt, Jell-O, and fruit salad cold.

• Ask for feedback about what your kids are and aren’t eating in lunches packed from home. There’s no reason to send apples at 50 to 60 cents each if they’ll be thrown out.

• Kids love small cups and tubes of food, but unfortunately, these items are the most expensive way to buy food. Take small, reusable plastic snack cups and fill with applesauce, peaches, pineapple and raisins.

• Look for reusable drink cups that don’t leak and are sold with a built-in straw. Add juice from a large bottle to the cute cup for an individual serving that costs pennies.

• If you need to send plastic spoons and forks to school, buy heavy-duty utensils and ask your kids not to throw them away. They can go through the dishwasher and then be reused.

Check back tomorrow–we’ll be posting recipes for a build-a-lunch system that will satisfy all your picky eaters, and work for grown-up lunches too!

I’d never even heard of panzanella salad until it was served at a wedding a few years back, where I proceeded to eat an embarrassingly (perhaps alarmingly) large quantity of the tomatoey, bready deliciousness.  Ever since, I’ll order it without question on any menu, and try to eat it in greater moderation…”Try” being the operative word. But for some reason I’ve never attempted to make it at home, and I’m not really sure why.  Now that I’ve seen Myra Goodman’s easy-to-follow recipe from The Earthbound Cook, that’s about to change….

Panzanella Salad

Panzanella is a traditional Italian bread salad that probably originated as a thrifty way to use up the bread that was no longer fresh. This is a salad that lets you be creative: Capers, olives, or anchovies are also delicious additions. The bread can be toasted if you want more crunch.  (Serves 6)

12 ounces day-old country bread, with crusts, cut into 1-in. cubes (8 cups)
4 large tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped, juices reserved
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 in. dice
2 medium red, yellow, or green peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/4 in. dice (about 2 cups)
1 small red onion, cut into 1/4 in. dice (1 cup)
3/4 to 1 cup Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
20 fresh basil leaves, cut into very thin ribbons

1. Place the bread in a large bowl, and add the tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, and red onion.

2. Add 3/4 cup of the Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette to the mixture, and toss to coat all the ingredients evenly. Taste, and add more vinaigrette if the salad is dry.

3. Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with the basil. The salad should be served within an hour or two of making. If made too far in advance, the bread will soak up all the dressing and you will need to add more.

Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted in hot water if not soft and pliable, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced peeled garlic
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and both vinegars in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl once during processing, about 1 minute.

2.  With the machine running, add the canola and olive oils in a slow, steady stream. The dressing will be thick. Add salt and pepper to taste. (The vinaigrette can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 2 months. For the best flavor serve at room temperature.)

Click here to visit the official Potato Chip Science website

It’s the perfect union of snacks and science! Potato Chip Science by A. Kurzweil is a “book & stuff” with 29 amazing experiments–using potatoes, potato chips, potato chip bags, tubes, and lids–all packaged in a potato chip bag! See what’s inside the bag and get a peek at the experiments in the video below.

I read enough food blogs to know the routine: The writer, faced with x, y, z ingredients, whips up something spectacular in no time at all. Said writer then describes how beautifully it turned out and links to photographic proof of same.

Well, last week when I went to the Farmer’s Market and saw a “tower of berries” (that’s what they were calling it)—four pints of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries—for $10, I had no thoughts of food blogs. I was too busy dreaming of Myra Goodman’s Summer Berry Crisp from her first cookbook, Food to Live By. My daughter had made it for a picnic once and I had gotten to try only a spoonful, but I remembered the citrus kick it delivered. (Thank you orange and lemon zest, and bless you Mr. Cointreau.) I definitely wanted more.

Just like the experienced foodie that I’m not, I whipped it up in no time at all. And, as planned, it was spectacular. But I forgot to take the photo. (Yes, I was distracted by my creation.) That’s why I’m offering up this: evidence of a dessert well loved and much eaten.

To add to my tableau, I also offer up this empty pitcher. My daughter had used my leftover berries to make Myra’s Farm Stand Raspberry Lemonade. Obviously she whipped it up in no time at all. Of course it looked and tasted spectacular. But whoops! One more picture we forgot to take.

Maybe we’ll get it right next time …