Pancakes

The kiddos begged for pancakes this morning, and I have to admit - I'm a sucker for tons of warm pancakes, loaded with maple syrup and butter on a cold, snowy day. It all just seems to fit together. Instead of wimping out with my Bisquick batch, I made them from scratch - and they were delish! This made about a dozen or so.

Pancakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. 
2. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter; mix until smooth.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. 
4. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

May 23 - Crab Quiche

I finally squeezed in grocery shopping Saturday afternoon (which totally reminded me why I *never* run errands during the weekend...so packed in the store even at 2:00?!?), and then we had a family dinner out at PF Chang's later that afternoon. Yesterday my friend Meg and I ran the Victory 5K and celebrated afterwards with drinks and apps at Victory Brewing Company. I beat my previous race time by 3.5 minutes, finishing in 26:13 - the fastest I've ever done!

So today is officially the first day since actually having food that I cooked. I decided to make a crab quiche - it's been awhile since I've done a BFD (breakfast for dinner for the new followers) - and it was excellent. Last time I made it, I just did the crab and green onions, but I bought some asparagus and it gave it the perfect extra kick. Definitely putting this one back in the rotation more often!

Crab Quiche
Ingredients
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cans crab meat (or 1 cup fresh)
1.5 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
5 spears asparagus, chopped
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, mayonnaise, flour, milk, crab, cheese, asparagus and onion. Spread into pie shell.
3. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

November 16 - Crab Quiche

Today is the boy's birthday! To celebrate his 32nd, the kiddos and I made crab quiche and chocolate cupcakes with blue cream cheese icing (Linds thinks it's so cool that we can change the color of food with a few drops of food coloring lately). I had a tub of crab that I wanted to use, but wasn't in the mood to do crab cakes; when I saw this recipe, I had to give it a try. It was delicious! Unfortunately, no fun recipe for the cupcakes...thanks Betty Crocker for the help ;-) The boy really loved all of the decorations, food, and presents, so it turned out to be quite the perfect birthday celebration.

Crab Quiche
Ingredients
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
8 oz. crab meat
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup Sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, mayonnaise, flour, and milk until thoroughly blended. Stir in crab, cheese, and onion. Spread into pie shell.
3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

You can use any kind of pie crust, but I *always* use the Pillsbury frozen ones...I haven't found one that any of us like better.

September 26 - BFD

Today was a BFD - and, yes, in more ways than one! We spent the morning shopping around for home improvement stuff, bought a new TV for the basement, picked out the paint color and (most likely) the actual bar we're going to put in our remodeled dining room (it's turning into a swanky wine bar, complete with a black jack table), and managed to do all of that with only a few minor melt-downs (and I'm not mentioning ANY names of who was and was not melting down). Accomplishing that, with two kiddos in tow, early on a Sunday morning is a big f***ing deal.

The other BFD? Breakfast for dinner, of course! Since the boy isn't a big pancake/waffle person, I decided to "meat up" this dinner with bacon and sausage, did a side of cheesy hashbrowns, made some scrambled eggs, and had donut holes for dessert (they were leftover after being used this morning as a bribery tool). You can't go wrong with BFD, and although Luke refused to eat anything but bacon, it was a hit.

Yeesh...another gap in recipes

So it's been quite awhile since I've updated...again... It's been a ridiculously busy past week or two! My BFF is in town, so we've been squeezing as much time in together as possible until she returns to Florida. We went out for drinks at Firecreek and saw Eclipse last week, then we attended our 10 year high school reunion, made a trip out to Dutch Wonderland, and had an "Under the Sea" party at her parents' house, complete with decorations and a BBQ with her family and mine. It's been a blast!

I've also been trying to use up all of our leftovers and frozen stuff, so I haven't been cooking all that much lately. I did make some Wacky Mac pasta with steamed broccoli and alfredo sauce when my friend Christy and her son Logan came to visit earlier this week, and used some maple apple sausage we had from our big freezer pack purchase to make a kick ass breakfast burrito another night.

I'm going to post the recipe I used for the burritos...they were scrumptious and the boy and Linds loved them. Luke wasn't thrilled, but he threw his hot dog off the plate, too, so I guess he wasn't too hungry?


Maple Sausage Breakfast Burritos
Ingredients
10 (10-inch) flour tortillas
1 pound maple sausage
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup light cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
Salsa and sour cream to taste

Directions

1. Wrap tortillas in foil and place in 300 degree F oven to warm.
2. Crumble and cook sausage, onion and peppers in skillet over medium heat until browned. Pour in beaten eggs and onion and continue to cook. (I cooked the peppers and onion separately since I knew Linds wouldn't care for them.)
3. In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and Monterey Jack cheese.
4. On each tortilla, spread a thin layer of cheese mixture. Top with sausage and peppers mixture. Roll up and serve with salsa. 

Cinnamon Rolls

My friend, Barbara, is quite pregnant with her third boy (God bless her!) and was craving some cinnamon rolls - here's my recipe for the homemade ones I made awhile back for a Munchin' Mamas meeting. My goodness they are AMAZING! You do need a breadmaker for this recipe, although I'm sure it would be easy to adapt it.

Cinnabon Clones
Ingredients
Cinnamon Roll Dough
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Cinnamon Mixture
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

Icing
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. 
3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. 
5. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. 
6. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. 
7. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
8. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. 
9. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving

June 9 - Sausage Egg Casserole

Tonight was my first night of Zumba - and I'm already addicted to it! What an amazingly fun, but challenging work out. I can't wait for the next class! Since I wanted to leave as soon as the boy got home (stupid rain made his commute well over 2 hours long...ugh...), I decided to make a casserole that the kids and I could eat earlier and he could reheat when he came home. This one is really easy and is good for any meal really. I sometimes make it for brunch or dinner, but it reheats well for lunch, too.

Sausage Casserole
Ingredients
8 slices crustless bread
1 tube of sausage, browned
1 T vegetable oil
1 onion, sautéed
6 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Spray 9x13 glass dish. 
2. Layer in the following order: bread, cooked sausage and onion. 
3. Whisk eggs, milk and soup and pour over top. Top with cheese. 
4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. 
5. Bake 40 – 50 minutes at 350.

The prep time is only 10 minutes or so - it's really a quick meal...the cook time is the long part, but not all that bad. We just ate the casserole last night, although sometimes I do a salad to go with it, too.

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June 6 - Crockpot Chicken

I started off this morning with a delicious breakfast that I just threw together with random things that looked good from my fridge, and ended it was a scrumptious dinner and glass of wine...it was a great food day!

Before I get into dinner, here's a picture of my own healthy version of a breakfast burrito.

I scrambled 3 egg whites with a little bit of skim milk, and tossed in some diced yellow pepper and mushrooms. I have some of the Laughing Cow's french onion cheese, so I spread that on a whole wheat tortilla and added my eggs and veggies. Not only did it taste great, but it was hearty and filling, and only had about 300 calories total. YUM!

Now, onto dinner...

I had a bag of chicken parts frozen (2 breasts and 3 drumsticks), so I decided to make some crockpot chicken and used a variation of a recipe called 40-Clove Chicken. I didn't use 40 cloves of garlic, so to call it that would be a total misnomer. We grilled up the rest of the bunch of asparagus I had bought a week or two ago, and I made rosemary bread in the breadmaker (it is BY FAR the best bread I've ever had). The only issue I've been having with my bread-making is that the knead bar in the pan keeps baking into the bread. It drives me absolutely insane - I just can't figure out why it won't stick in the pan. If anyone has a solution, please let me know! Here are the recipes for the chicken and for the bread:

Garlicky Crockpot Chicken in White Wine (I think I need a new name?! haha)
Ingredients
3 lbs. chicken parts
Salt and pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
Dash red pepper flakes
12 cloves of garlic
Splash of lemon juice
1 large onion, cut into thick rings

Directions

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove to platter.
3. Combine wine, parsley, basil, oregano and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.
4. Layer onion across bottom of crockpot. Place chicken on top.
5. Cover chicken with wine and seasoning mixture, and splash a little lemon juice over top. Toss garlic on top of chicken and around crockpot.
6. Cook over low heat for approximately 8 hours.

My chicken was frozen when I put it in the crockpot, so I skipped step 2 and it still turned out fantastic. I also used my crockpot's "auto" setting so it would defrost and cook in the 6 to 8 hours I had until dinner. As for the bread, here's that recipe:


Jo's Rosemary Bread
Ingredients
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 packet of yeast

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. 
2. Select white bread cycle; press Start.

Breakfast Stuff

I woke up this morning and was starving (which is fairly unusual for me). Linds started asking for pancakes, so I figured, what the heck? Let's do some! I have a giant box of Bisquick, and my favorite pancakes are their "melt in your mouth" kind. They always turn out fluffy and perfect. Even Luke at two!

Bisquick "Melt in your Mouth" Pancakes
Ingredients
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat or electric griddle to 375°F; grease with cooking spray, vegetable oil or shortening.
2. Stir all ingredients until blended. Pour by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle.
3. Cook until mixture bubbles. Turn; cook until golden. 
4. To keep warm, place in single layer on cookie sheet. Cover with aluminum foil, and place in 200°F oven up to 10 minutes.

I also made a breakfast for tomorrow's MOMS Club event - a Bisquick bacon quiche. I don't think it's "screw up"-able, but we'll see tomorrow! Here's that recipe:

Bisquick Bacon Quiche
Ingredients
1/4 cup melted butter
1-1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
3 eggs
1/2 cup Bisquick
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup bacon (about 7 slices) -- cut or broken into small pieces.

Directions

1. Mix first 5 ingredients together and beat well (wire whisk works well). 
2. Stir in Bisquick.
3. Pour into 9 inch (deep) cake pan.
4. Put in meat and cheese on top of mixture (do not mix).
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Breakfast

I'm beginning to get tired of breakfast - I got into a groove where enjoyed it there for awhile, but now, I'm just so sick of all the breakfast foods. Cereal doesn't fill me up enough, I've done yogurt so much, waffles/pancakes/french toast/etc. are just too calorie-heavy, oatmeal isn't my favorite...yada, yada, yada. When I woke up this morning, I started searching through my cabinets and decided I was hungry for pumpernickel bread, Heidi Ann swiss cheese (my FAVORITE from Wegmans' deli!) and eggs. I decided to toast the bread, split the eggs into yolks and whites, made Luke the yolks and myself an egg white omelet, topped mine with the swiss cheese and tossed it on the pumpernickel bread. It actually was super yummy - I loved my little sandwich and Luke totally dug the yolks. Finding a new finger food that he enjoys and can feed himself is always exciting to me!

French Toast

We are getting MORE snow (already almost a foot has fallen and we've got at least 8 hours to go), and the boy was even called off work (quite possibly the first time the company has EVER closed for the winter). Since we're all snowed in, I wanted to make a hearty breakfast and decided to put the milk, eggs and bread to use! I use the basic Joy of Cooking recipe which is my absolute favorite and simple to make.

French Toast
Ingredients
2/3 cup milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
bread (original recipe calls for 6 slices, but I got a dozen out of  my egg mixture)
butter

Directions

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in pan over medium heat.
2. Whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt.
3. Dip bread in mixture until soggy, but not falling apart.
4. Once browned on one side, flip over and brown the other side.
5. If you want to keep it warm and serve all slices at once, you can put it in the oven at 200F to keep warm.

Linds loved hers (ate a slice and a half), but Luke (again) was less than thrilled with eating pieces of it. I'm wondering what his aversion to food is at the moment - he doesn't seem to like a lot of stuff we're trying. Even the boy scarfed down two slices and he isn't much of a breakfast person.

Jan. 16/17 - Leftovers & Date Day!

On Saturday, we were at my in-laws' to celebrate my MIL's birthday and spent the afternoon snacking on pizza, chips and pretzels. By the time we got home we weren't too hungry, so we skipped a big dinner and just ate some leftovers.

Today, the boy and I have our first "date day" in what seems like years (I'm probably exaggerating just a tad), so we won't be around for lunch or dinner. We've got a "lupper" reservation for 3 p.m. at El Vez (Restaurant Week in the city...so excited to eat here!) and then we're going to see Body Worlds 2 at the Franklin Institute. Since we're eating a large mid-day meal, I'm cooking up some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast.