Back to school planning

 French Toast Bake- Lily

Protein Muffins- Lily

Crepes- Chloe

Pancakes- Chloe

Yoga Protein Balls- Katie

Breakfast burritos

Makes 8 burritos

Once Upon A Chef

FOR THE AVOCADO-TOMATO SALSA-

• 1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
• 1/2 cup diced seeded tomatoes, from 1 to 2 tomatoes
• 1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, from 1 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Egg Burrito- 

1 onion chopped and sauteed
8 eggs
30oz hashbrowns
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 lb spicy sausage (such as chorizo, Italian, or anything you like), removed from casings

• 1-2c (6 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

• 4 (10-in) burrito-size flour tortillas

• Vegetable oil

 Cook hashbrowns in oven 400, spray pan with oil, put frozen browns on top, drizzle oil and salt and pepper on top.  cook 40-50 min

Cook sausage on stove top.
In bowl combine- eggs, paprika, salt. 
On stove top, Cook  the egg mixture. In the middle of the flour tortilla layer sausage, hashbrowns, cooked egg mixture and salsa , top with cheese. Roll up 3 sides of the tortilla.

1. Lightly coat the pan with oil and set over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the burritos, seam side down. Cook, covered, until the bottom of the burritos are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the burritos over and continue cooking, covered, until golden, a few minutes more. Serve warm.

8/10/21

made 15 burritos- 15 eggs

Can freeze tortillas without the salsa. Fill the tortillas and roll up and wrap  individually with saran wrap. To reheat put in oven 350 for 15-20 min

Scavenger Hunts

Kindness Scavenger Hunt

Dance Scavenger Hunt version 1

Crockpot Hawaiian Haystacks

1 c sour cream
1c plain yogurt
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 of the can fill with water
chopped onion
Frozen Chicken Breasts
Garlic powder and Italian seasoning
rice

Put everything in crockpot 2-3 hours on low. Then take out all the chicken and shred it, then put it back in to cook for 1-2 hours.
After it has thoroughly cooked add 1 c of sour cream and 1 c plain yogurt

Top with sliced olives,
chopped tomatoes
chopped celery
sliced pineapple
crunchy lo mein noodles
shredded cheese
green onions
red, orange, yellow peppers

Stuffed french toast

Original recipe serves 5, DBL(double) recipe serves 10

1 loaf of bread (I've used whole wheat, and white and even cinnamon bread)
2 loaves of bread for double batch

Egg Mixture-

DBL       Original-
6            3 eggs
2t          1 t cinnamon
2           1T hemp seeds/powder
2           1 T flax
1/2        1/4c milk
2           1 banana mashed (optional, I just had one going bad so I added it)
Mix everything 


Filling-
2           1 package of cream cheese, softened
1/2c      1/4c any type of jam

This time I had extra thick slices white bread.  I cut each slice of bread, in half and spread the filling in the middle.
Then coated the outside of the bread with the egg mixture. and cooked for a few minutes on each side

Paper Mache

Paper Mache

To make one small project.

1c flour

2 c cold water (hot water makes lumps happen easier)

Thin strips of many newspaper.

Instructions

It is so messy. We went outside on our deck to  apply it. We tried to hang the pinatas from the iron railing.  NExt time Wrap the outside of the pinata with many rounds of string, yarn, or ribbon to make it stable and then apply all the newspaper.
To make this paste, simply mix together one part flour to two parts water. Pour the flour and water in a large bowl and stir it well until it's thin.

It should be kind of like the consistency of pancake batter. Keep mixing until there are very few lumps left. Use a whisk to remove the lumps. I used a whisk and it worked out just fine, no need for a blender.

This concoction dries quickly.  So make it only when you will use it, don't make it 10min before your ready to apply it. Start using it right when it is made.  It hardens in the bowl quickly.

IDEAS-

Katie wanted to make a painters palate- started with 2 flat cut outs of cardboard first. Then filled the middle with balloons to give the 3D effect

Lile wanted to make a 3D heart for katie for her birthday, Did the same with cardboard

Chloe wanted a tea pot, then a #5,  a bird and then lastly a parrot. I thought the little bird was the best/easiest idea. A regular sized ballon for the belly of the bird then a small balloon for its head. Then cardboard to make a beak and a tail.

Bread in a bag for kids HomeBasedMom

Cream Cheese Brownie

Food
Brownie
1 (20 ounce) package fudge brownie mix (13x9 size)
1⁄4 cup water (or what mix calls for)
1⁄3 cup oil (or what your mix calls for)
2 eggs (or what your mix calls for)

Cream Cheese Topping
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1⁄3 cup sugar
1 egg
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions (water, oil, eggs).
3. Pour into a greased 13x9-inch baking pan.
4. Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
5. Add sugar and mix. Add vanilla and egg; mix until well-blended.
6. Place cheese mixture in dolups over the whole pan, leaving some brownie showing in between.
7. Cut or swirl through batter several times with a knife or fork for a marbled effect. It can be tricky to get a good marble effect so be careful not to over work it.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool; cut into squares. (These will also freeze well).

Crockpot Kalua Pork

All Recipes
Original recipe 12 servings

1 (6 pound) pork butt roast (or chicken)
1 1/2 tablespoons Hawaiian sea salt
1-3 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring (depending on the strength of the flavor you want)

1 onion and celery (3 stalks) Chopped (optional)

Pierce pork all over with a carving fork. Rub salt  over meat. Place roast in a slow cooker. Add chopped celery and onion.
Cover, and cook on Low for 16 to 20 hours, turning once during cooking time. A few hours before the meat is being served I add liquid smoke.
Remove meat from slow cooker, and shred, adding drippings as needed to moisten.

Serve with rice

Serve with either Macaroni salad or green lettuce salad

To serve (20-30 people)
3 pork boneless roasts weighing about 4 lbs each
2 onions and celery (3 stalks) Chopped (optional)
salt
2 containers of liquid smoke

For our extended family we made this.  Begin cooking a whole day before the event.  Put pork, salt, onion, and celery in the crockpot on high the first 8 hours then put it on low for 8 more hours. A few hours before the meat is being served I add liquid smoke (b/c it makes our house liquid smokeyness).

 I have used butt roast or shoulder roasts before and it works out just fine.

Leftovers!!!!!  (day 1) Kalua pork, served with sticky rice & mac salad; 

(day 2) Pulled pork - add BBQ sauce & nuke, serve on buns; 

(day 3) Carnitas - crisp up the pork in a skillet with a squirt of juice from a plastic lime, sprinkle of cumin, & fresh cilantro if I have it, served with guacamole & salsa. 

Serve Macaroni Salad with this pork/chicken recipe

Manicotti

1 box (8oz) manicotti
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 chopped onion
1 garlic clove
12 oz mushrooms (I would've loved these but I knew my kids wouldn't, I left them out)
12oz cottage cheese or ricotta
salt and pepper
12 oz spinach
1 c parmesan

Preheat oven 400
Boil manicotti 7 min, when it is still a little firm
Saute onion in skillet, add garlic and mushrooms.  Chop spinach and add it to the skillet.
In a seperate bowl mix cottage cheese, salt and pepper, and 3/4c parmesan. Mix the onion & garlic mixture with the cottage cheese mixture.
In a 9x13 pan lay down foil and grease foil. Place half of spaghetti sauce on bottom of pan. In manicotti add the mixture and set in pan.  Spread the red of the sauce on top of the manicotti.
Cook 30 min

Next time we could add some ground beef or sausage to the cottage cheese mixture. Also shredded mozzarella cheese would be delicious.
Could double this next time and make two 9x13 dishes

Herb Roasted chicken

From one of my favorite cook books- Better Homes and Gardens from 2002 (12th edition)

 3 1/2lb chicken
2 T butter/oil
1 chopped onion (sauteed on stove top)
2 cloves of garlic
1 t basil
1/2t salt
1/2t ground sage
1/2t thyme (didn't have)
1/4t lemon pepper or pepper (didnt have)
1/2 t paprika

I oiled the inside of the crockpot.  Added chicken and poured the seasonings on top of the chicken.  Added 1/2c water, poured inside of the chicken.

Katie helped by washing & cutting the cauliflower, then put all the herb seasonings on top of the chicken in the crockpot and helped clean up the counters and floor.

Put on high for 3 hours
or you can roast in oven 375 for 1 & 1/4 and 1 &1/2 hours.  Let sit 10 min b4 cutting.

Served with Roasted Cauliflower and a Green Salad


I served with Potato Wedges

9/22/19   Made this again. Turned out amazing. I put the seasonings on both sides of chicken, put chicken in a oven bag. Oven at 300 degrees and left for church at 10am and roasted it in oven till 12:30. It was perfect.
I served Mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls

Lasagna

Makes 2 (9x13) baking dishes of lasagna.  Bake one and freeze one
Recipe from Western Family brand Lasagna noodles package.

16 oz lasagna noodles

Red Sauce---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 lb ground sausage
1 lb ground beef
2 chopped onions
2 T minced garlic
1 T dried basil
2 t dried oregano
3 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
3 jars of Hunts spaghetti sauce (24 oz each) (I did add some refried beans b/c I wanted some more fiber and 1 can of stewed tomatoes)

Ricotta/cottage cheese mixture-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 eggs
1/2-1c parmesan
2- 24 oz cottage cheese (one time I used the 48oz cottage cheese, another time I used half cream cheese)

2 lbs shredded mozzarella cheese or just slice it (I used only one pound and I sliced it b/c it was previously frozen cheese (which falls apart) and cutting it is easier)


On stove top- Saute onions till brown, put in crockpot. On stove cook sausage and beef, put in crockpot.  Add to the crockpot: Spaghetti sauce, garlic, basil, and oregano. Put the crockpot on high for 4 hours, to let all the flavors combine.
On stove top boil noodles.
In a bowl- Mix eggs, parsley, parmesan, and cottage cheese.

Preheat oven at 375

Spray one 9x13 pan with oil, the other pan line with aluminum foil (to make the lasagna easier to pull out of the pan when frozen) and spray with oil too.  Layer the bottom of pans with sauce., layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, spread 1/3 of ricotta mixture, top with 1/3 of mozzarella.  Repeat two additional layers.  Bake with foil for 20 min, then remove foil for 20 min till cheese is melted.

Prepare this 2-3 days before you need it and let it sit in the fridge.

I made the SAUCE in the morning and put in the crockpot.  Then I mixed the cottage, eggs, parsley and parmesan in a bowl and set in the fridge. Shredded or slice the cheese.

The girls will assemble the ingredients in a 9x13pan.

4/9/19
 after putting 2 lasagna layers down I began to run out of the ricotta cheese mixture. So there was about 1/2-1 c left. I melted a block of cream cheese and added one more egg with salt and pepper, parsley and parmesan and finished one more layer of noodle, red sauce, ricotta/cream cheese, and topped with mozzarella. Turned out great.

9/22/23

Made this and it was so ridiculously yummy. I used one jar of hunts, one jar of canned whole tomatoes and lastly one jar of prego, let it book for 1-2 hours.

This time I didnt boil the noodles, it just put them in hard. I added 1/2c water toward the lasagna edges and bubbled up aluminum foil on top (so the cheese doesnt stick to the foil). I also put a good amount of aluminum foil under the pan b/c the liquid can boil out into the oven which can make more mess to clean up. I did cook for 1 and 1/2 hour. So delicious

Whole Wheat Biscuits and Gravy

The nite before, I can mix the biscuit ingredients, roll out the biscuits and leave in the fridge.  Also brown the meat and/or make the gravy, then just reheat it in the morning.
BISCUITS
100 Days of Real Food

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat organic flour) or whole-wheat pastry flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 cup milk (any kind)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with whisk or fork.
2. Cut the ½ stick butter into little pea sized pieces and then mix the pieces into the flour mixture.
3. Using a fork, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the same pea sized pieces of butter covered with flour.
4. Then pour in the milk and mix it all together. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times and then turn out onto a counter or cutting board.
5. Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary).
6. Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds. I have also used shaped cookie cutters (like a heart or star) if you have little ones helping you!
7. Then put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 
   Enjoy!

for each of my girls to make their own biscuits in their own individual small bowl- #1 recipe makes 2 biscuits and #2 Makes about 4 biscuits
#1       #2

1/2c    1c whole wheat flour

1t        2t baking powder

dash   1/4t salt

1T       2T cold  butter

1/4c    1/2c milk

Pioneer Woman

Gravy

• finely chopped onion
• 1 pound Breakfast Sausage
• 1 can (16 Oz.) Canned Biscuits or homemade biscuits
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• Salt
• Pepper

I do like a finely chopped onion to saute while the meat is cooking, it adds so much flavor. Slice the breakfast sausage and place in a warm pan. Cook the sausage according to the instruction (thoroughly cooked inside). Remove them to a paper towel to drain.

Place your biscuits into the oven to cook according to the instructions on the can. 

Pour grease out of the skillet/pan you used for the sausage, adding back in only what you want to use to make the gravy. For one to two people, use about 2 to 3 tbsp. of grease. Over low to medium-low heat, add about 2 tbsp of flour to the grease and whisk immediately. If you add in a little more grease so it’s smooth and stirrable. You want to find a good balance between the flour and the grease.

Once you find it, just keep stirring with the whisk and allow the mixture to brown for a few minutes. As you whisk, scrape in the anything from the bottom of the pan as you go.

After 2-3 minutes, whisking constantly, pour in about a cup of milk. IF the mixture is dry, lumpy or pasty, add in more milk – again, drawing a balanced mixture. Add salt to taste. Let the gravy warm up over low heat, stirring occasionally. Cut prepared biscuits in half pour gravy atop them

Wendy's Chili

All Recipes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef
3 garlic cloves
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1(28oz) can stewed tomatoes

1-2 chopped peppers

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as RO*TEL)
1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained
1 (14 ounce) can pinto beans, undrained
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon white vinegar, or more to taste
2 (1.25 ounce) packages chili seasoning (such as McCormick® Mild Chili Seasoning  
or (2 t cumin, 2 T chili powder, 1 1/2t black pepper, 2 t salt, 1 tsp Oregano, 1 tsp basil)

Serve with Navajo Tacos

Brown the meat and onions on stovetop. Add everything to the crockpot. Cook on low for 5-8 hours or high 2-3 hours

Top with cheese, sour cream/plain yogurt, avocados, lettuce

German Pancakes

Original Recipe Taste of home

This recipe is for one 9x13 pan, but you can Double it and pour in two 9x13 pans

12     6 eggs
2      1 cup 2% milk
2      1 cup all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat flour, just made the pancake not as fluffy)
1t     1/2 teaspoon salt
4       2 tablespoons butter, melted or coconut oil

In a bowl, combine the eggs, milk, flour and salt; cover and mix until smooth.  I used solidified coconut oil and spread it on 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish; add the batter. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes.

We like fresh cut bananas, thinly sliced apples, peaches, pears, granola, plain yogurt, honey/syrup.

Goes well with Chopped Apples

Coconut Granola

Tasty Kitchen

Serves very well with Homemade Yogurt

• 3 cups Old Fashion Oats
• ¾ cups Raw Cashews, Roughly Chopped
• ¾ cups Almond, Roughly Chopped
• 1/4 c sunflower seeds
• 1/4c ground flax and chia seeds
• pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup Unsweetened or sweetened Shredded Coconut
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½-1c butter or coconut oil
• ¼ cups Agave Nectar (or Honey)
• ⅔ cups Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• ½ cups Dark Chocolate Chips ( I have left them out)
• ½ cups Dried Cranberries or raisins ( I have left them out)

Preparation Instructions

      This is a really easy one for the kids to measure out the dry ingredients, pour it into a bowl and stir it. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. 
      In a large bowl, combine the oats, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, flax/chia, salt and cinnamon and set aside.
      In a medium saucepan, melt the oil or butter, agave and brown sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine until everything is well coated.
Spread the granola mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a few large clumps.
Bake the granola for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and break up the pieces to ensure even baking. Place the baking sheet back into the oven for another 15 minutes. Bake till brown

Remove the sheet pan from the oven and give it one more toss to break up some of the pieces and place back into the oven for the last 10 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool completely. Once cooled, add the chocolate chips and the dried cranberries/raisins. Give it a quick toss with a spoon and then package into mason jars or brown paper bags to store.  

 This can be made days or weeks before you need it and freeze it until you want to use it.