Friday Food Fun

 

1. What time do you wake up on a normal work/school day?

Typically, I’m up around 6:30am

2. Do you eat breakfast?

Usually.

3. Do you like traditional breakfast foods? Which ones?

Yes, love bacon, ham, eggs, toast – whatever.

4. Do you prefer lunch/supper foods for breakfast? Which ones?

I will eat anything that’s easy and doesn’t make a lot of noise to make, since I’m up early. If I’ve made something for dinner the night before and there’s some leftover, I might eat that.

5. Do you ever eat breakfast for supper?

Pretty much never.

6. What are your favorite breakfast foods?
Poached eggs, ham, toast – or a bacon, tomato & cheese omelets. Yummmmmy.  Oh, and crispy homefries with all of it!

(not so) Wordless Wednesday – Apple Butter

 

Living in West Virginia, it is simply not possible to notice when apple season rolls around. There’s almost as many apple trees as corn stalks as people, I swear.

Last year, we found a great place to buy bushels of apples at a great price. So the first thing I did with them was to make apple sauce and apple butter.  I say that in that order because, according to www.pickyourown.org, that’s the order you need.  You make apple butter FROM apple sauce. 

I used their delicious recipe for the applesauce and apple butter, jarred it and finally, this weekend, popped the top on the last jar.  My only regret in this was using such big jars because we do not use it all that often and so it goes to waste.  However, you live and learn, right? So this year’s batch will go into smaller jars and get to be used up quickly!

This weekend, I baked some biscuits (not from scratch) and woke my family up to this.  IT WAS DELICIOUS!  Follow the link to pickyourown.org and make some this season.

Visit my other Wordless over at Coming to a Nursery Near You as well :)  Be sure to sign the Linky

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Tomato Basil Turkey Burgers

One of the best parts of summer is having tomatoes at the ready for whenever I feel like having something with tomato. Simple enough, no?  So when I picked up some turkey burgers to cook on the grill this Labor Day weekend, my first thought was “hmm… what do I put on them?” because well… turkey can be kind of bland.

My tomato crop in the garden has been rather lacking, but I managed to find a couple, and pulled a few basil leaves off the basil plant.  I was then ready for dinner!

I had bought the 93% lean turkey, and knew I’d have to watch them carefully because there’s not a lot of fat in there to burn off.  As soon as I put them on the grill, I sprinkled them with a McCormick’s roasted garlic and red pepper seasoning, sort of as an insurance policy.  Then I sliced my tomatoes, washed the basil and sprayed the buns with some non-stick spray.  After I flipped the burgers, I put the buns on the top level of the grill. 

After a few minutes – long enough to toast the buns a bit, I placed the basil leaves on the burger patties, and then placed the tomato slices on top of them – to keep them on there.  I closed the grill, ran in the house for the cheese.  I then topped the burgers with a slice of provolone cheese. 

On the bun, I just used some Kraft Olive Oil light mayo and this thing was TO DIE for.  Like, it was so good, I’m making them again tonight good.  Neglible amount of fat, huge on taste, and at about a buck a piece, not TOO bad on the wallet. Especially when you consider what a restaurant charges for something like this!

Yay me!

Italian Grilled Chicken & Mrs Dash

One of the toughest part of getting older is, for my husband and I at least, to cut down on the things that we've always enjoyed.   Salt, of course, is one of those things that makes EVERYTHING taste better, but does NOT do nice things for things like blood pressure – and of course, we’re both heavily cursed with family histories. So that means that we have to be especially mindful of our salt intake on a daily basis as well as educating our children about the dangers of excess so that they grow up healthier than we have.

Mrs. Dash has helped us do that.   Creating flavorful low-sodium meals for our family, without having them reaching for the salt shaker the minute the food hits their mouths, is made much easier with the variety of products that Mrs. Dash has available.  My favorite – or I should say, ONE of my favorites, is the italian medley, which I use in any manner of ways, including this one.

Grilled Italian Chicken

• 1 lb (or more) boneless chicken breast
• Mrs. Dash Italian Medley

Heat your grill up at least 5-7 minutes to be sure the grate is nice and hot.  While it’s heating, sprinkle the Mrs. Dash Italian Medley seasoning blend over the chicken breasts, both front and backside.  Once the grill is hot, place the chicken on the grill.  Leave it there for at least 5 minutes – do not mess with it.  Leave it alone!  After about 5 minutes, the chicken will have seared well on the grates and should be readily released when you grab it with your tongs.  Flip it and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165 degrees F.

Enjoy! 

I serve this with a salad and everyone just LOVES it.  You could also serve it with some nice (no salt added) pasta sauce and pasta.  Let it cool and throw it in a salad.  There’s no limit!

I know I can be assured that the Mrs. Dash seasoning blend I choose for whatever I’m cooking will be safe for us to use, and it’s one less thing I have to worry about.  Win Win!

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I wrote this blog post while participating in the Mrs. Dash and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.  Thank you!

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Flavorful, Family Meal IdeasMore Mrs. Dash Recipes

Basil Lillet Slush

You’re probably thinking “wha…?”.  I would have been too, had I heard that name before I actually HAD the drink.  Let me explain.

2 weeks ago (wow, time flies), I attended BlogHer, a big blogging conference in New York City.  About 2 weeks before the conference, I received an invitation to attend a blogger’s night out party at … get this… MARTHA STEWART’S PLACE!  Ok, not her HOUSE, but at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.  Impressive, no?

 

I was so psyched!  A roof top party in New York?  The photographer in me said HELL YEAH!

Well, the weather said hell no.  So it was held inside one of their studios, and it was packed to the gills with bloggers of all walks. For me personally, I had no idea how I’d made the invite list, as I’d never even talked about Martha before, have I?  But hey, I was there.  As I showed you previously, the food was amazing.  The swag (gifts) was amazing. The view – amazing. 

In fact, several of us were waiting outside our hotel for a taxi that evening – to go to Martha.  A man approached us and asked if we’d like a limo.  We collectively rolled our eyes and went back to sweating.  The guy was serious, and only wanted $5 per PERSON to take us to the location – which was across the city – at RUSH HOUR.  So 8-1/2  of us jumped out of the taxi line and took A LIMO to the Martha Stewart party, thankyouverymuch.

Anyway, the party was amazing (as long as you weren’t claustrophobic), and one of the DRINKS served was green.  I was dubious – especially when they said it was BASIL.

Because of the crowd, it was difficult to hear the bartender list the ingredients, but I figured hey, I love basil – vodka – ok… and it’s free,  why not try it.

THIS WAS THE BEST DECISION of that night. Ok, maybe not the whole night, but damned close. Anyone who asked me about the party that night, and the rest of the weekend – that’s the first thing I told them about – the BASIL drink. LOL

Because I don’t want to get sued by Martha, I’m just going to give the link to the drink – but seriously, go – read – make – drink.

Quickie Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

I love fast lunches.  Because we home school, we have lunch (and breakfast… and dinner) every single day.  But because we do that, the choices can get pretty boring. This was something I just sort of made up that turned out to be such a crowd pleaser, there was NONE left.  That’s a rare feat in my house.

• Suddenly Salad – Bacon & Ranch flavor
• 1/4 c low-fat sour cream
• 1/4 c Kraft olive oil mayo
• 1 c. leftover chicken, diced

Boil the pasta as directed.  While that’s cooking, mix the seasoning mix that comes with the salad with the sour cream and mayo.  (I’ve tweaked the directions that came with the salad to lower the fat content.)  Once the pasta is cooked, strain it and rinse with cold water. Be sure to drain it thoroughly.  Toss with the seasoning mix and chicken, and you’re done!  This is a great recipe that you can do in the morning and just put in the fridge for later.  15 minutes and you’re done!

It’s also great for “hiding” vegetables in plain site. Although it does come with some veggies, I always toss in more, just for the fun of it (insert evil laugh here). 

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday ~ BlogHer edition

I don’t normally post Wordless Wednesdays here, but I attended the huge blogging conference called BlogHer. One of the events I was fortunate to be invited to was the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Bloggers’ Nite Out Party. O M G.  So here’s my food edition!

 

More wordless wednesday fun here.

What’s better than a campfire?

S’MORES, of course!

When we moved to West Virginia last year, one of the first things we did was buy one of those firepit things for the back yard.  It’s our first backyard, afterall, so we wanted to enjoy it fully!

So now, every time we have a fire, my kids ask me to make s’mores.  How can I say no? 

It’s such a simple request, really.  All I need is some Hershey chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers – and they’re on their way to JOY!

LOL

My kids get to roasting their marshmallows while I prepare the crackers and chocolate.  I use one square per cracker, because I am FRUGAL and like to make things last.  They (murder) toast their marshmallows and then bring them to me when they’re still nice and hot, so it will melt the chocolate and then I squish it all together with the 2nd cracker.  They they snatch it out of my hands and gobble it up!  I maybe – MAYBE  - get one or two but they can plow through the entire bag of marshmallows in less than an hour (if I let them).  It’s a fun time and they love it!

 

Mom Bloggers Club wants to know what YOUR favorite way to make s’mores is (and this post is an entry)!    Visit them here, and of course, be sure to visit http://www.smoressmiles.com/ where you can instantly win 1 of thousands of prizes!

Zucchini Pancakes

Oh, the zucchini.  When planning and planting our garden this year, I wanted to plant the things that I frequently would purchase at the farmer’s market in New Hampshire when we lived there.  Being that there are simply NONE here that are actually held at a convenient time (i.e. weekend), I wanted and needed those homegrown veggies in my back yard.

Oh did I get them!  The plan was for zucchini, summer squash, watermelon, corn, tomatoes, green beans – and of course, the kids HAD to plant pumpkins.  Well – I planted for the size of the garden, NOT the size of our family.  So now, the squash and zucchini have come in IN SPADES and I’m struggling to find ways to use them before they go to waste.

I LOVE zucchini, but my family not so much.  I seriously underestimated just how “not so much” meant until I started trying to feed it to them EVERY.Single.Night.  Ok, so then I started looking for recipes, and this one stuck because I figured, if it doesn’t LOOK like zucchini, maybe that will work!

And it mostly did for them.  For me? TOTALLY.

I adapted this recipe from cooks.com, though.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1950,138191-232201,00.html

I used about 2 cups of grated zucchini  - which was about ONE zucchini (seriously!)

1 1/2 c. grated zucchini (absorb moisture in paper towel, if too wet)
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 egg
Optional: onion, garlic salt, parsley, cheese for flavor

 

I put the zucchini in some paper towel and squeeeeeezed all those green juices out of there.

Also, because I was making enough for 5 to go with dinner, I basically doubled the recipe, and it wound up making about 10 pancakes.

Grate the zucchini and then squeeze out the juice.

In a medium bowl, combine the egg, flour and baking powder. At this stage, if you’re going for add-ins such as what I did, add it now.  When everything else is blended, add the zucchini.  Thi consistency should resemble pancake batter.

Heat your skillet and add some sort of something so these don’t stick.  I used canola oil.

Pour the batter into the size you want – they don’t spread unless you help them – which helps them cook evenly as well.  Cook until browned on each side.

I also added about 1/4 of a small onion, and chopped it tiny, tiny, tiny – but the onion definitely added something yummy to it!  I also added about 2 tsp of minced (from the jar) garlic.  Salt and pepper, of course.  So so easy to make, and then as suggested, I served them with sour cream. I loved the addition of the sour cream – the kids, not so much – but what do THEY know? :)

Next time, I’ll add some parmesan cheese, I think – just didn’t have any that night.

Definitely worth the “effort” and simply an awesome way of disguising veggies at dinner!

Food from Home

I'm getting ready to go "home" for my 25th high school reunion.  Home, for me, is Rhode Island.  Although it's hard to believe, I haven't lived in Rhode Island in nearly 10 years. Although I've visited, there's only so much time in a weekend (which is as long as any visit typically is) to be able to do and see everything you miss about the place you called home for so many years. 

This time, though, I'll be visiting without my hubby & kids and am fully planning on hitting some of those food hotspots that I miss so much.

One of them is a bakery called D. Palmieri's, a place that makes *the best* pizza in the whole universe.  Not the pepperoni & cheese kind of pizza, just strips of dough topped with an ulcer-inducing sauce that's just .. Mmmmm... worth it.

 

As a Rhode Islander, I've also got a special place in my heart for seafood, so I WILL be going out for something fresh and caught that morning, somewhere along the water.  No definitive plans on that yet but I know it will have begun the morning with at least 6 legs. 

Also potentially on my list would be NY System hot weiners.  These are a certain kind of hot dog (not a ballpark type dog), steamed and then kept warm on a hot grill. They're thrown into a bun that's been steamed as well - and then topped with a meat sauce that's hard to duplicate, although we've tried a number of times.  It's a Rhode Island thing, truly.

Seeing as I'll only be there for 2-1/2 days, there won't be a lot of extra time to grab a bit of everything I miss about RI, but if I do nothing else, I MUST get some Del's.  Dels is sort of like frozen lemonade to all you NON Rhode Islanders, but much more nuanced and no matter how long it's been, it's always on my list. Unfortunately, that list is always too long for my short visits!

 

Dels, D. Palmieri's and weiners (weinahs) - 3 tastes of home.

What food reminds you of home?

Couponing

I *love* couponing. Now, that's not to say that I've very good at it. I'm not even going to pretend to be organized enough to do it with any sort of regularity. BUT when I DO do it, it's AWESOME. I love coming home with something that I've paid next to nothing for because I had a coupon to match up to a store sale - and even better, a store sale AND a store coupon. 

I admit, too, that remembering to buy the Sunday paper isn't one of my strong suits either.  So online coupons are what rock my world, and my bank account.  If you're a long-time reader of mine, you might even remember I used to have a banner ad over there on the sidebar for coupons.  I took it off because no one was using it - but I'm giving it another go because - seriously - stores have really changed the way they look at these "online" things, and realize that they're making money from them too - so I almost never encounter that "Oh, we don't take "THOSE" kinds of coupons" anymore.

So the next time you're getting ready to hit the grocery store or even just Wal-Mart or Target, hit me up first - check out what coupons there are. It could be something F R E E! :-)

Quick Apple Stuffed Pork Chops

2-3 lbs center cut pork chops

1 box pork flavored stuffing (Stove Top or similar)

1-2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 small shallot

1 tsp olive oil

 

This recipe was quite literally thrown together in about 15 minutes. It was delicious, and my family and visiting family loved it.

1. Mince the shallots.
2. Peel and core the apples. I used gala, and I’d suggest not using a tart apples.
3. Chop the apples into dime sized pieces.
4. Sauté the shallots and apples in a tsp of olive oil, just until the shallots are translucent.
5. Prepare the stuffing as directed on the box.  As soon as the stuffing is finished (i.e. before it “sets”), gently toss the apple & shallot mixture with the stuffing mix, cover the pan again and let it sit while you prepare the pork chops.

At this point, you can decide if you want to split the pork chops. If they’re about an inch thick, you could butterfly them (slice them down the side to create a pocket).  I did this, but my pork chops weren’t an inch thick, so it wasn’t pretty LOL

I then stuffed the pocket with 1-2 tablespoons of stuffing mix.  Once they were done, I salt & peppered the tops of the chops and put them in a 350 oven for approximately 30 minutes.  Because the chops weren’t quit thick enough, though, I

As I was making 2 batches of these, the 2nd batch, I simply layered the stuffing mix into the bottom of a glass baking dish.  I placed the pork chops on top of the stuffing, sprinkled salt and pepper and put in a 350 oven for approximately 30 minutes. 

At 30 minutes, check them with a thermometer.  You don’t want to overcook the meat!

When they’re finished, take them out and cover with foil.  Until you’re ready to serve them, this will keep everything moist.  The stuffing will cling to the pork chops, so I  stuffing side up.  As with the previous batch, delicious!

Enjoy :)

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