Easy Like Sunday Morning

Mother's day is tomorrow if you have a mom you'd like to make breakfast for may I suggest this lovely, easy meal.

Make the pancake batter first, shake up some Bisquick or make this delicious fool proof recipe from Deep South Dish. I found some expired milk lurking in the back of the fridge. (What? Like that never happens to you? I'm not here for your judgement.) Sour (not spoiled) milk makes a great substitute for buttermilk and is perfect for baking too. Let the batter rest while you make the rest of the breakfast. That nice crispy bacon gets cooked first. Having made bacon in a variety of ways, stove top, oven, microwave, I have to say the crispiest bacon is often made on a flat cooking griddle. The greater cooking area and precise heat control means you get the best results. While the bacon is frying get out a small sauce pan and make some blueberry compote!

1.5 pints of blueberries, separated into 3 half pint measures.
3 tablespoons of water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Take a half pint of blueberries, and put it in the sauce pan with the lemon juice, water and sugar, stir and heat on medium heat for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the second half pint of blueberries, cook an additional 3 minutes and then add the last half pint of blueberries and cook for 5 more minutes. Take off of the heat and set aside until ready to serve.

The potato rosti come frozen in a box from IKEA. When the bacon is done they are simply fried in a little cooking spray on each side for two minutes, when serving top with a little bit of sour cream and a sprinkle of parsley. Keep warm, wrapped in foil and a towel until breakfast is ready.

Finally cook your pancakes, smaller cakes cook faster and are more fun to eat. Top with compote and enjoy with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Have a great weekend!

Sunday and Monday

This morning I decided to take advantage of the relatively cool temperatures in the kitchen and go ahead and make my cheese enchiladas for Meatless Monday. To make cheese enchiladas you will need the following ingredients:

Corn tortillas
1 can of preferred chili (seriously, we usually use hot dog chili but today I made chili with a can of tomatoes, chopped onion and bell pepper, chili powder and adobo, I let it all simmer on the stove until it reduced.)
Chili powder
Water
Cheese, grated colby jack, queso blanco, 4 cheese mexi blend, (Today I used colby jack and shredded mozzarella because that's what I had on hand.)
Chopped fine onion

Set up your stations like this, a wide shallow bowl with water and 2 tablespoons of chili powder in it next to that a heavy bottom pan with a half inch of oil over medium heat. A 9 x 12 baking pan. 2 small bowls, one with onion, one with shredded cheese near the baking pan. Dip a corn tortilla in the water and chili powder mixture, shake off the excess water and fry it briefly in the hot oil. Place the fried tortilla into the baking pan with tongs, add some cheese and onions to the tortilla roll it up and slide it up against the narrow edge of the baking pan. Keep adding tortillas this way till you have the pan filled. If using the hot dog chili method add some of the chili water mixture to it to thin it out, pour your chili over the top of your enchiladas and then top with cheese, you can place this in the freezer at this point or cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes. Serve with salad and black beans and rice.

I made a pot roast today as well, I chopped up 3 potatoes and 3 carrots plus a good-sized onion and place them in the bottom of a slow cooker. I seasoned the vegetables with salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Meanwhile I salted and peppered my roast and browned it on all sides in an iron skillet, when it was done I placed it on top of the veggies and then sprinkled flour over the top and then seasoned the meat further with soy sauce, liquid smoke, and worcestershire sauce. I placed the lid on top of the slow cooker and put it on AUTO which in my slow cooker means it cooks on high for 2 hours and then switches to low, it will cook for 5 hours at this rate.

My plans for the rest of the week include "rubber chicken" and maybe a slow cooker broccoli potato soup.

Menu for the week of May 23rd

Here's my menu:

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Tuesday: Meatloaf, salad, fresh corn off the cob,

Weird Wednesday: Peanut Butter Soup with Hot Pepper Jelly, Grilled chicken breasts, sauteed green beans

Thursday: Pot roast with caramelized onions and roast carrots

Fish Friday: Grilled Citrus fish with Mango Coulis, rice with pine nuts, wilted spinach

Hotel Room Dinner

With very young kids, going out to a restaurant is sometimes NOT the easiest or cheapest option so when I get the chance to stay in a place with a full kitchen I looove to do that. My in-laws got us a week at the Wyndham resort (a vacation rental) and it comes with a full kitchen! THRILLED!

We got into Alexandria today at 1 p.m. and as soon as we got into the hotel we unpacked, made a bag of popcorn (complimentary, love it!) and then we went to the grocery store. The Whole Foods in Alexandria is an experience! I loved the free samples. There was a person making samples of corn beef, onions, potatoes and carrots all slow cooked together. My whole family fell on this like ravenous dogs. I think we scared the sample guy. They were also serving samples of Guinness with it! The hubs and I really took a shine to some artisanal cheese sample we tried. It was an Italian cheese sort of like a softer parmesan, lovely nutty flavor. They were cinnamon raisin bread samples to try in the bakery and a "bake your own bagels" sample to try near the registers. I have ever really had much of an opportunity to shop at WF before so it was neat seeing all the locally grown, organic and fair trade options. But since we are only going to be here for a week (with one dinner out at a relative's house) I had to do some serious menu planning.

Today is Saturday March 12th, Got a frozen pizza and a bag of 3 hearts of romaine lettuces, so tonight was pizza and salad with lettuce and baby carrots.

Tomorrow, Sunday March 13th is dinner at our cousin's house!

Monday the 14th (Meatless Monday), a box of vegetarian sloppy joe mix (just add water, tomato sauce, and oil). I plan on using a small can of muir glen organic tomato sauce and olive oil siphoned from the top of the salad dressing bottle and this goes with some homemade baked onion rings (egg whites, dry bread crumbs from the loaf of bread we bought, salt and pepper came with the hotel room) and a box of Annie's Organics Mac and Cheese (whole wheat variety).

Tuesday the 15th Red beans sauteed with onions and garlic in a tomato sauce over homemade polenta. (Bag of dried red beans, bag of onions, 1 small garlic, 1 small can of Muir Glen organic tomato sauce, butter, bag of cornmeal, all flavored with a squirt of Italian dressing, salt and pepper)

Wednesday the 16th (Weird Wednesday) Breakfast for dinner! Everything is backwards! Up is down, black is white, franks are beans! Yeah, I know, "brinner" as I like to call it has been out of the bag for awhile now, but some people are still missing out on the fabulousness. I will not stop until everyone tries pancakes for dinner at least once. We splurged on a small bottle of real maple syrup, which I plan to use to sweeten a batch of homemade oatmeal cookies as well.

Thursday the 17th Got the world's tiniest corned beef (For St. Patrick's Day of course) for $14.28, plus a couple dollars worth of potatoes, a tiny head of cabbage ($0.94) and I can use some more of the baby carrots.

Friday the 18th (Fish Friday) Husband got a small freezer pack containing 2 Swordfish fillets, going to have a box of rice pilaf with that and some steamed broccoli!

Saturday the 19th, we fly home!

We got a dozen eggs, a 1 pound bag of flour, a small bulk bag of oatmeal (for cookies and breakfasts) and a pound of butter. We also got 2 loaves of bread, a small jar of peanut butter, small jar of strawberry jelly, and a gallon of milk, some apple juice and 2 boxes of cereal. Hopefully we can keep "eating out" to a bare minimum.

I will of course have more detailed recipes, impressions of D.C. and Virginia and tips for cooking while traveling all along the way. Do you have any good ideas for me for keeping this an economical vacation? I already told the kids about "free souveniers" e.g. colorful paper maps, brochures, any hand outs. Already they've scored extra peanuts, some Twix bars from first class and some coloring books and crayons from the front desk just for being their awesome selves. Mommy's little freebie-grabbers, (tears up) I am so proud! (sniffle)