Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leftovers. Show all posts
T.G.I.F.!!!! Eva had a field trip to the zoo today, so she's brown bagging it with a pb sandwhich, carrot sticks, grapes, and a few oreo's.  Gerald got yesterdays French Toast Cupcakes and a breakfast sausage patty for breakfast and last nights dinner for lunch.
I couldn't wait to make breakfast for the trips because I got my new egg fry pans. One is shaped like a star, one like a flower, and one like a bear with a happy face. First, I made pancakes in the pan, then I made the eggs and boy did they turn out cute (if I do say so, lol). This was the first time the kids had a fried egg with a runny yolk, so I made toast triangles and showed them how to use the triangle to mop up the yolk first. Surprisingly, they took to it quiet well.
         It was a beautiful day today and we spent as much time outside as we could. Gerald had to go over to his mom's house as the hot water heater decided to die, so he had to hurry over there and fix it (and he's still there!)  Was kind of dragging my feet on dinner since Gerald wasn't home, but I made the German Apple Pancakes anyway, since I was really hungry for them. This time, I decided to make them in the Skookie pans that I have and it turned out ok. It was the first time that I used the pans for this batter, so it was a little trial and error. We didn't sit down to eat until 7 (oops!), but I'm smarter for the next time!!
Baked Puff Pancake
Maybe you know this as a Dutch Baby or a German Pancake or as Yorkshire pudding. In our house we call it Baked Pancake, and we make it all the time. The yummiest way to eat this is to sprinkle it with lemon juice and sieved powdered sugar, but we usually eat it in big hand-held wedges, utterly plain or spread with jam.
Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 35 minutes

Ingredients
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (2% and whole both work well)
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter, cut into a few pieces

Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 425ºF, then put the pan in to heat while you prepare the batter. A 10- or 12-inch oven-proof skillet is ideal, but you could use a comparably-sized baking dish (Pyrex, say).
  2. Now use a whisk to beat the eggs in a medium-sized bowl, then beat in the milk, then the flour and salt. We tend to beat the mixture until it's just smooth.
  3. By now your pan should be very hot. Add the butter, then remove the pan from the oven and swirl it so that the butter is melted and sizzling wildly. You need to do all this quite quickly because you don't want the oven to lose its heat, you don't want the pan to cool off, and you don't want the butter to burn.
  4. Now pour the batter into the buttery pan and return it the oven. Set your timer for 15 minutes. We bake it for 20, but I think it's worth peeking at it at 15 because your oven might be different from ours: you want it to be puffed and golden and quite brown in places.
*Ingredient Tip
The only trick here is that the pan be very, very hot before you melt the butter and pour the batter in: that's what will make the pancake puff.

What I did: I tripled the recipe (to make it for 6 people). I lightly oiled my pans and placed them in the oven to preheat. I then cored, peeled, and sliced into slices, then quartered, 3 Granny Smith apples. I put 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet and when it was melted, I added the apples, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar. I cooked it on med heat until the apples were starting to get soft.  Now came the "fun" part. I took my bowl of batter, got a spoon for the apples and opened the oven door. On two of the pans, I spooned some apples onto the pan, then poured the batter over it until it came to the top of the pan. The other 4, I poured the batter into the pan until it came to the top. I VERY carefully slid the oven rack back in, closed the door, and let them cook until they smelled right - about 12 min's.

                                                                                                                                                                                        The one on the right is the one without apples, and the one on the left is the one with the apples. I sprinkled powered sugar on it and served it to the kids, but they like it with maple syrup. With the apples, it was VERY filling and VERY yummy!!             
                                                                                                                             



                                                                                                                             

Tuesday, April 27, 2010


       Eva didn't have much time to eat her snack, so I didn't pack her very much - whole wheat crackers and cheese, carrot sticks, string cheese, go-gurt, and some grapes.  For Geralds lunch, I had leftovers from last nites dinner, the Zitti Skillet. I also packed Gerald's breakfast in his Fit & Fresh - Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, some sliced strawberries, and milk. For his snack, I did some grapes, carrot sticks, and some garlic triscuits.

     Breakfast:  Breakfast Burritos
     Lunch:   Chicken Nuggets and carrot sticks
     Dinner:  Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

     The breakfast burritos were a hit with Eddie, who ate 2, and with Joey. Ella only took 3 or 4 bites and then she said she was done. I was excited to make this as I found mild chorizo at the Mercado. All I did was: brown some chorizo in a pan. While it was browing, I cracked 6 eggs and whipped them up in a bowl. When the chorizo was brown, I threw in the eggs, some cheddar cheese, and some salsa and just let it cooks until the eggs were done. I took some whole wheat flour tortilla's and put them in the microwave for 30 secs.  I then put some of the egg mixture on the tortilla and folded it up like a burrito. I made 6 of them out of this. VERY YUMMY!!
     By 11 o'clock, Eddie and Joey said they were hungry! So I microwaved some chicken nuggets for them and served it with some carrot sticks. (Ella said she wasn't hungry!)
     Joey had to bring the snack for his class, so he brought in apples and peanut butter (I included my apple corer/quarter cutter).
     Dinner was suppose to be chicken tacos, but at 5:30, I could see the chicken wasn't done, so I had to scramble. I figured that might happen because I forgot to put the chicken in after breakfast. I remembered after I put the kids on the bus, but the crock for the slow cooker was still dirty (grrrrr). So I had to soak it, then wash it, then I sterilized it with bleach water (just to be safe, especially after last week!) So by this time, it was 1:30. Oh well, we'll have it for dinner tomorrow.
     So what did we have? Well, we had Salisbury Steak dinner from our Angel Food order. I had left over mashed potatoes and corn in the freezer. So, whew! there was dinner! I only had half an hour to pull it together as Eva and dad had choir practice at 6:30. They left at 6:20, so I did good, lol!!
T.G.I.F.!!! Today was a bit cooler than yesterday, but who excepts 80's in April in WI? Eva has a makeup class for Irish Dancing tonite, but other than that, nothing else is planned. Practice is at 5:45, so I'm hoping we can eat at 5. Here's what I made today:
   Breakfast: Pancake sandwhiches with strawberries
   Lunch: Trips had school
   Dinner: Parmesan Chicken and Potatoes with green beans. Sounded yummy and looked super easy to make!!

What I packed for Eva's snack:  An Easter brownie, string cheese, Hello Kitty shaped hard boiled egg, apples, animal crackers, peanut butter for dipping. Eva LOVED the egg!!

For Gerald, I packed his Fit & Fresh breakfast container with Kashi's 7 grain flakes, milk, and sliced bananas (I used Fruit Fresh to keep the bananas from browning.)
For his lunch, I took two of the leftover italian sausages from last night and sliced them up. Then I cooked up some rigatoni. Mixed the two with some sauce and some mozzerella cheese. yummm!  I had a seperate container with grapes, carrot sticks, pretzels and fig newtons in it.


Parmesan Chicken and Potato Recipe

With four ingredients, this chicken recipe is the ultimate in easy. The potatoes add the heartiness a meal needs while the parmesan cheese and Italian dressing give it the flavor of much more complicated recipes. For a busy night or a relaxing weekend, enjoy a great meal with no hassle.

Ingredients:

4 whole chicken legs
4 large potatoes, cut into wedges
1/3 cup Italian dressing
1/3 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place potatoes and chicken into 9x13 baking pan.
3. Pour dressing over chicken and potatoes.
4. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over chicken and potatoes.
5. Bake for 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked through. Serves 4.

Note: If you cook it at this temp, you need to eat it right away as it dried out on Keep Warm. The next time, I'll cook it at 325 for 2 hours if I need it to wait.