Chocolate french toast

I recently modified a recipe I found in a library cookbook. It was such a hit with the kids, and I thought it would be fabulous for a holiday brunch, although we'll only make this on occasions that the hubby misses a meal due to work. Chocolate French Toast 3 T butter 3/4 c. milk 2 T sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c. chocolate chips 2 eggs 6 slices bread Melt butter and chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Add milk, sugar, and vanilla. It's okay if the mixture looks chunky, just mix it as best you can. Whisk in eggs. Cut bread into triangles, then push into buttered loaf pan (9x5). Pour chocolate mixture over the bread, making sure to cover all the bread. Feel free to push the bread down to submerge it - just make sure there's no naked bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours (or 30 minutes, if that's all the time you have before the minions demand food). Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until custard is set and edges are golden. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

peanut butter snack

You know when you get to the bottom of a peanut butter jar and you feel guilty for throwing away that last tbsp that you you know you could scrape up but you're too lazy to bother? It makes a quick easy snack for kids. Simply tear up a piece of bread into bite-size pieces, stuffing them into the nearly empty pb jar. Get a spoon and stir it around, then drizzle about 1 tsp dark chocolate syrup into the jar. This ensures the kids dig around for every last bit and only adds about 3 grams of sugar to the snack. As soon as picky E. finished her snack, she asked when we could have it again! Try different varieties, like Sunbutter and oat bread. You could throw in some raisins to make it more like a pb&j. It bet it would be really awesome with banana bread!

Dairy-free Egg-free Jam Bars

For Mother's Day, I was looking for an easy light dessert, and ended up heavily adapting one from a cookbook. The result was still quite delicious, like a cross between a fruit crisp and a jelly doughnut. 1 c. oats 1 c. flour 2/3 c. brown sugar 1/4 t. baking soda 1/4 t. salt 1/4 c. sunflower oil 3 T. apple juice (give the rest of the juice box to the child watching you bake) 10 ounces tart jam (I used a lingonberry jam) Mix together all dry ingredients. Add oil and juice. Set aside 1/2 c. of this mixture. Press remaining mixture into a greased 9x9 pan. Spread jam over the top. Top with sprinkles of the reserved mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

chicken and rice soup

I made a pretty good soup today:

3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot
garlic, to taste
onion, to taste
french herb mix, to taste (savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, lavender flowers)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 qt chicken stock (or 4 c. water and 2 chicken bullion cubes), divided
1 cup rice
1 cup milk
4 T butter
4 T flour
1 cup cooked chicken, cubed or shredded (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)

Add celery, carrot, garlic, onion, salt, french herb mix, and 1/4 cup chicken stock to large pot. Saute veggies until soft. Add rice and 2 1/4 cups chicken stock, then cook for 20 minutes, until rice has absorbed liquid.

In a smaller pot, melt butter and add flour. Slowly mix in milk. Add this creamy mixture and the chicken to the rice. At this point, the "soup" will be pretty thick, so I dumped the rest of my container of chicken stock into the pot, and it was like eating soup in a bread bowl. But if you prefer a thinner soup, you can add more water or milk.

I think I probably got the french herb mix at Whole Foods. It brings out the sweetness in the milk.

Egg-free brownies

To make egg-free brownies, mix a dry brownie mix with a can of pumpkin (yes, you're omitting the oil and water as well as the egg). The texture is thicker than normal, but trust me, it will work out. Cook 5 minutes longer than the box directs for standard brownies. Ice with cream cheese frosting. If you can't make/buy icing, a bit of cream cheese to dip the forkfuls into also works well.
Yum! If it turns out V is allergic to eggs (we're still too chicken to test her), this might be her standard "birthday cake." She dug into the brownie with glee. My husband thought it tasted like a Hostess dessert. It reminded me of pumpkin bread with chocolate chips.

Calzones

Somewhere in my recipe browsing, I ran into Sandra's blog and her photos of Pizza Cheese Breadsticks inspired me for lunch today. I love that the dough doesn't require any time to rise, and my husband prefers calzones over pizza, so he can control the amount of marinara (a lot!) on his slice. Rather than buy or make a marinara, I was lazy and served it with a jar of spaghetti sauce. lol Even V enjoyed her tiny pieces, and ate the equivalent of 2 pizza slices!
The only problem with making the dough from scratch is that it wrecks out the kitchen. But I'll clean up a mess if it means both my girls chow down.

Organic Valley marinated chops

Organic Valley sent out a newsletter with this recipe for pork chops, and I thought I'd give pork chops one more try tonight. I haven't been a fan of chops in the past, but I keep hoping to find a recipe that helps me appreciate whatever my husband sees in them.

We're serving it with grilled potatoes and broccoli (by E's request).

pizza

Since Thursday is our last day before payday, we're going to have another cheap meal: frozen pizza. Publix has Tombstone BOGO this week, so I'll be nabbing a couple of those for the price of a single cheese pizza from a delivery place. I'll dress up the simple meal with a 2-liter of Publix's Lemon Lime carbonated water (tastes like 7up without any sugar or other sweetener).

$5.79 for 2 pizzas
$0.69 for soda water
=
$6.48 for the meal <--not bad, considering how low effort, and my husband will take leftovers to work for lunch for the price he'd pay to eat out!

Cinnamon chicken

For Wednesday, we'll be trying another recipe from IheartPublix's chicken challenge:

Honey Lemon Cinnamon Chicken

1/2 C. Flour
2 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Turmeric
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 Egg
2 Tbsp. Milk
1/3 cup Dried bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. Oil
Chicken cut in strips
Sauce:
1/4 C. melted Butter
1/4 C. Honey
1 Tbsp. fresh Lemon Juice
I personally put the lemon, honey, and butter in a sauce pan. I put it on low low low. So while I work on the chicken, the sauce is going. Heat oil in a separate pan
Next, combine flour with all spices. I then coat all the chicken in the flour coating (I find a ziploc bag easiest.) Then next part is the messy part. Beat egg and milk. Combine breadcrumbs with egg mixture to form a soft moist mixture. Roll floured chicken pieces in moist crumb mixture. I generally put the bread coating on and throw it immediately in the pan. When the pan is full, I flip over the strips until fully cooked. Cook all chicken, plate it, and then make sure the sauce is hot and melted.
It goes AMAZINGLY well with a sweet potatoes.

We'll be trying it out with sweet potatoes and green beans.

Split Pea Soup

For Tuesday, we're making our favorite low-budget meal: split pea soup. This time I'll be substituting a pound of ham for the smoked sausage as it works well with any meat I've tried. Be sure to reduce the cups of water if you prefer a thicker pea soup. I personally prefer 6-7 cups of water for this recipe. You can omit the potatoes, if chopping them sounds like too much work. I might try adding mashed potato flakes this time instead. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Back in the saddle

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. With V. increasingly mobile, I've been so busy chasing her that I'm drained by the end of the day. Like go to bed at 7pm drained.

At any rate, to catch y'all up, here's what we're serving tomorrow:

Monday: Tangy Ranch Chicken, mashed potatoes, canned corn

(from IheartPublix's chicken challenge)
Tangy Ranch Chicken

2/3 C ranch dressing
1/3 C French's yellow mustard
1/4 C brown sugar
4 boneless chicken breasts
Mix dressing, mustard, and sugar (I threw it all into a zippy bag) add chicken, allow to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour. Grill or broil chicken for about 15 minutes or until done or bake at 350 for 25 minutes,we grilled ours…..soooo good and moist!

I plan to use a ranch dressing mix and omit the mayonnaise to avoid egg.

Fruit Smoothies

Smoothies

1 c. milk
1/2 c. yogurt (we prefer Stonyfield Farm Plain whole milk yogurt)
1 c. frozen berries of your choice, divided
1/2 - 1 c. Breyers Extra Creamy Vanilla ice cream (depending on how sweet you prefer)
1 banana (optional)

Place milk, yogurt, and half the berries in a blender and puree. Add ice cream, banana (if desired), and the rest of the berries. Mix until blended, then serve with straws.

I usually make 2 batches, and put the banana in the second batch.

Weekend menu

Saturday lunch: avocado burgers, fruit smoothies

Saturday dinner: Sunflower chicken salad (my hubby requested it AGAIN!) with Publix 5-grain Italian bread

Sunday lunch: chicken in mesquite lime marinade (or whatever you have on hand), rice, veggie (Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers are on sale at Publix this week)

Sunday dinner: Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Finally went shopping

I spent $43 at Publix today, for a total savings of 40%. $11.56 of that was 8 boxes of cereal, since we were getting low on breakfast supplies.
From my stockpile, I'll be using this week:
hotdogs
baked beans
canned green beans
box of macaroni and cheese
McCormick steak seasoning
2 lb boneless skinless chicken (frozen)
taco seasoning
jar of spaghetti sauce
spaghetti

That's still only about $3.50/person/day, if you add the cost of those items to today's receipt.

Egg allergy

It occurred to me that since I introduce this blog as an allergenic menu, I should clarify my husband's allergy to egg. When he was a little boy, he couldn't have anything with any egg in it. In fact, smelling it cooking could trigger an allergic reaction. Since then, his allergy has lessened. He still cannot eat large amounts of egg, but he can have small amounts (i.e. <1/16 of an egg) when it is cooked in certain ways. He can eat meatloaf or cookies when they are made with a single egg, but he has to limit the quantity he can eat. Other food combinations seem to always trigger an allergic reaction.
So that is way I sometimes serve dishes with egg in it, despite my husband's allergy.

Stockpile menu

I looked at this month's budget over the weekend, and realized I need spend less in groceries over the next few weeks because I need to buy school supplies. E. is starting kindergarten August 5th!

So this week's menu draws heavily from my stockpile.

Monday: beef tips, macaroni and cheese, salad
Tuesday: chicken fajitas with carmelized onion
Wednesday: the creamy tomato soup and grilled cheese I was craving
Thursday: hotdogs, baked beans, french-cut green beans
Friday: chicken parmesan

I'll post my Publix savings when I get back from the store.

Chicken Breasts in Tomato Cream Sauce

For Sunday's dinner, we'll be trying another recipe from IHeartPublix's chicken challenge.

Chicken Breasts in Tomato Cream Sauce
Prep: 5 min, Cook: 20 min.
* 4 boneless chicken breast halves
* salt and pepper (to taste)
* 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
* foil
* 1 shallot, chopped
* 2/3 cup sweet vermouth
* 1-2/3 cups Italian style peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped
* 2 chopped tomatoes
* 1-1/2 cup heavy cream
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Melt butter in a heavy nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Sauté chicken 3-5 minutes per side, or until tender and cooked throughout. Remove to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Add shallots to pan and cook 1-2 minutes until soft. Add vermouth and tomatoes and simmer about 7-10 minutes stirring frequently, until sauce reduces by half. If you prefer a creamier sauce, you can pour sauce into a food processor or blender and purée until smooth, but I prefer it chunky. Return to pan. Add cream and simmer 2 minutes. Do not boil. Serve sauce over chicken.

I used grape juice instead of vermouth. I thought it was ok, about 3/5 stars, but my husband had to force himself to eat it, and little V. actually rejected the whole meal! It was pretty easy to make, but high fat, considering how unimpressive it was. It just made me crave cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Brunch

I'm in the mood for pancakes, and this one reminds me of IHOP, so that's my choice for Sunday's "lunch":

Whole Grain Pancakes

I like to double the brown sugar and add pumpkin pie spice. We also enjoy substituting grits for the cornmeal. Whichever you have on hand will work. We'll be serving it with sausage and bacon, and eggs for those who can have them.

And if you have any leftovers (make a double batch!), they taste really yummy cold or warm. When it gets hectic during the week, I love being able to quickly grab a couple out of the fridge and eat them plain and cold as I rush around.

Potato soup in a bread bowl

Saturday's dinner is a craving of my husband's. He hasn't been to a Panera or Atlanta Bread Company for awhile, since the one in our town closed. We always used to get their potato soup in a bread bowl, so I'm going to try my hand at making my own version.

Potato Soup
Bear Creek Creamy Potato soup mix
6 c. Milk OR (6 c. water + 1 c. sour cream)
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Make soup per mix directions. Add cheese and sour cream and stir long enough for cheese to melt, then serve in the bread bowls.

Bread Bowl
round loaves from a bakery OR
frozen bread dough OR
if all else fails, from scratch bread bowls

I am cheating and buying the soup mix, just in case I have to make the bread bowls from scratch. I don't want to spend the entire weekend peeling potatoes AND baking bread from scratch. Lazy, I know. :P

Well, Publix did not have any fresh sourdough in the bakery when I went shopping and their frozen bread dough was full of trans fats (the soup mix already has plenty!), so I tried out the from scratch recipe. While not as yummy as sourdough, it certainly did the job. I added 1 T. sugar to the yeast proofing, and skipped the first eggwash, and only used water for the second washing, so that way little V. could enjoy the fresh bread. She gobbled up the bread, but the soup had too much onion/garlic for her taste (although just fine for an adult), so she only ate about 1/4 cup. E. was very excited about the bread bowls, but also abandoned her soup partway through, so I guess I have to say the soup mix is not kid-friendly. My husband and I both went back for seconds though (since the bread bowl doesn't hold much soup).

Sauteed Chicken and Veggies with Orzo Pasta

This dish comes from IHeartPublix's chicken challenge:

Sauteed Chicken and Veggies with Orzo Pasta
4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup matchstick-style carrots
1 cup asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil (+ 2 teaspoons for sauteing)
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
3/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
1 pound box orzo pasta
-Saute chicken, garlic, and scallions in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until chicken cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool. While chicken cools, saute the remainder of vegetables (broccoli, bell pepper, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus) in 1 teaspoon olive oil for approximately 5-7 minutes (I prefer the veggies to be a little crunchy rather that cooked through). Allow vegetables to cool for 15 minutes and mix with chicken.
-Cook orzo pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
-Mix remaining olive oil and rice wine vinegar, pour over chicken and vegetable mixture, and toss to combine.
-Add cooked orzo pasta to chicken and vegetable mixture and toss to combine.
-When ready to serve, add almonds and bleu cheese, stir, and enjoy!
This dish is easy to store in the refrigerator, and is great for left-overs since the flavors keep developing. I have also found myself substituting other types of pasta, if it’s on sale (like this past week!), or changing up the veggies to what I have on hand.

I used asparagus, colored pepper, and carrots for my veggies. Since I don't like blue cheese, I served mine with parmesan cheese. My husband tried it both ways and assures me that it tasted MUCH better with the blue cheese. "The vinegar shows off the sweetness of the blue cheese." If I make this again, I'll try using half as much vinegar. I think it's a very flexible recipe and would work well with whichever veggies you like/are on sale. Certainly if you have leftover raw veggies from something else or your garden, this would be a great way to use them up with stockpile foods.

We'll see how my husband likes the leftovers later this week when the flavors have "developed".