Tuesday, Nov 9th, 2010

Tuesday's can be hectic. Eva gets out of school at 3, has Musical Theatre from 4 to 5, and Dad has Chorale Practice from 6:30 to 8. So it's either a slow cooker and some fast cooking.
Today we're eating:
Breakfast: Pancakes with sausage links
Lunch: bean soup
Dinner: Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes with peas and left over foccacia bread
No Eva snack today. Her class was going on a field trip today. She was so excited, she woke up before me!! (a miracle if there ever was one, lol)
Tonight's dinner, what can I say but "WOW!". Not only was it good, but VERY easy to make! It took me about 30 minutes to mix it together, peel and slice my potatoes on the mandolin, mix that with the sauce and dump it into a pan. Put it in the oven, took my oldest to theatre class, which lasts an hour, came home and cooked the peas and had the table set in the last half hour it was cooking.
And who can go wrong with cream cheese, sour cream, and cheddar cheese? Pour in some chicken broth to thin it out and that was it!! Add some chopped up ham and dinner is made. The recipe wanted to add peas to it, but I knew that my kids wouldn't eat it, so I served them on the side. Still had some foccacia from yesterday, so I served it with it. Ella said to me after dinner, "mom, that was the yummiest" Awwwhh, thanks sweetie!
I've also included my pancake recipe, in case anybody is looking for a recipe. This is the recipe I usually make because I know all my kids will eat them. They are thick pancakes, so you have to cook them low and slow. Some days, I throw in mini chocolate chips to make my oldest happy.

Perfect (Healthy) Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons butter (melted) or vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together milk, eggs, butter and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring very gently until just combined.
Cook on med-low heat until golden brown (my griddle: between 300 and 350)
Serve with butter and syrup.

Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 1 hr Makes: 15 servings, 3/4 cup each

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1 cup chicken broth
3 lb. red potatoes* (about 9), thinly sliced
1 pkg. (6 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Smoked Ham, chopped
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 cup frozen peas

HEAT oven to 350°F. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and broth in large bowl until well blended. Add potatoes, ham, 1-3/4 cups of the cheese and peas; stir gently to coat all ingredients.
SPOON into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
BAKE 1 hour or until casserole is heated through and potatoes are tender.

*Note: I used russet potatoes, so I cooked them for an hour and a half. I did not add the peas, but served them separately. I also covered with tin foil so they wouldn’t get too dark and crispy.