More and more families are spending time together watching Food Network TV, specifically the competition shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef. My kids love the Food Network challenges (Dr. Seuss Cakes, The Best Gingerbread House Cakes, etc.).
How about you? Does your family watch cooking shows together? If so, what are you watching?
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So, here's what Rob cooked. As I mentioned earlier this week, we did our meal planning for the week on Monday morning, and he signed himself up for two nights of dinner prep (didn't I marry the best guy?). Wednesday was his first night on duty and here's what he came up with - a cheesy turkey meatloaf served with broccoli and long-grain rice.
Eagerly devoured by the entire family (including our canine child), the leftovers were used to make a stir-fry for lunch the next day, so in essence he prepared not only dinner, but lunch as well (I told you I married a great guy).
We love a good meatloaf in our house. It's a little retro, which I think is part of the appeal, and you can prepare it with any kind of meat and add-ins. Sometimes I'll add grated carrot or zucchini, or even oats. It can be made loaf size or in miniature, and served with any vegetable or starch. A truly versatile dish.
He's on dinner duty again tonight, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with. Do your husbands cook and if so, what is their specialty?
Rob's Turkey Meatloaf
2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp bbq sauce
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
10 whole wheat crackers, crushed into crumbs
5 strips of bacon, cut in half
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
~ Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
~ Combine all ingredients, except bacon and cheese in a large bowl and toss until just combined.
~ Lay 6 strips of bacon on the bottom of a loaf pan and top with half the meatloaf mixture.
~ Cover the mixture with the grated cheese and remaining four strips of bacon
~ Cover with the rest of the meatloaf mixture and bake for 1 hour.
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Someone asked me recently if I collect anything. I said books, but I don't really collect them, I just have a lot of them. Then I got to thinking that maybe, subconsciously, I collect cookie cutters, because I do have quite an extensive collection. Anytime I'm out and about and I see a unique cookie cutter, be it a shape, letter or design, I pick it up. They're fairly inexpensive, usually priced somewhere from $1-$3 dollars and they can be used for so much more than just cookies. We've even traced them for art work in the past.
Today I'm lusting after these cutters. They come with three sets of alphabet letters so you can customize the words (Happy Birthday, Thank You, I Love You, personalized names etc.). What a fun way to make a thank you gift for a teacher, or a birthday gift for grandparent. Check out the video on the website..fun!
(photo via Williams Sonoma )
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What the heck is this, you're probably wondering. Don't worry, I'd be thinking the same thing if I were you. This is a delicious mistake. I have no other way to describe it, other than to say that although it looks like a pile for the compost bin, it's actually a wonderful breakfast I made yesterday. It just didn't turn out quite like I had imagined.
I was going for a baked apple stuffed with some goodness. You know, peanut butter, pecans, dried cranberries etc. In fact it was supposed to look like this:
As you can see, it didn't. I think my mistake was covering the apple so the topping wouldn't burn, which caused me to steam the apple, which in turn caused it to turn to mush. And although it is aesthetically unpleasing, it tasted like a little breakfast apple pie. I covered it with some yogurt mixed with honey and a few almonds to try and make it look a little more appealing and then sat down and devoured it.
There is no real recipe for this. I cored an apple, but left the skin on and stuffed it with a combination of 1 tbsp of each of the following: natural peanut butter, oats, chopped pecans and dried cranberries. You could use whatever you have or whatever you like but I would include some form of nut butter. I added 1 tsp. of honey and a pinch of cinnamon and mixed it all together. I then stuffed the hollowed out part of the apple and put more on the top to cover it. It was then baked it in a covered dish for about 40 minutes at 350.
So, that's my cooking faux pas for the week. How about you? Any culinary disasters lately, that actually turned out okay in the end?
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For those of you with school-aged children, I ask - how many times have your kiddies come home from school with many components of their mid-day meal still nestled nicely inside their lunch-boxes? I know, in my experience, it's often. Not every day, but often. When I ask my boys why they didn't eat their lunch, answers range from "I didn't have time" to "I didn't like it" to the most common, "I don't know".
This week, the New York Times published an interesting article on how some schools in the United States are changing their lunch hour format. Children are playing before they eat, or in other words, enjoying recess before eating lunch, and the results are quite impressive. In some areas there is less food waste, more consumption of fruits, vegetables and milk and less incidences of headaches and tummy aches. Interesting.
Your thoughts?
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Jackson is eight today. Eight! And while I can't quite believe that my youngest child is the same age as Ramona Quimby (remember her?), I celebrate that he is, as it's one of my favourite years.
It's a year of fun, as I remember from my older son, and if anyone knows how to have fun, it's this birthday boy. Dramatic, playful and enthusiastic are his most obvious personality traits, and his ability to accesorize his outfits with some sort of costume or gadget are second to none.
In celebration of his special day, we made chocolate chip bran muffins for breakfast. They were well received by the entire family, and once my skeptical Aquarian knew the muffins contained no bananas (his great fear of all baked goods), he eagerly devoured two. Ah, I love eight!
Happy Birthday Jack!
Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins, adapted from Mad Hungry
2 cups whole wheat pastry or all purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 large eggs
4 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Canola oil
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup wheat bran
~ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
~ Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
~ Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
~ In a second bowl beat the eggs, maple syrup, sugar, oil and milk until well combined. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir together.
~ Stir in the chocolate chips and wheat bran.
~ Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes.
~ Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
~ Enjoy!
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This sweet thing would be a wonderful addition to any kitchen. What a great measuring tool for children, who won't have to fear overflowing the measuring spoon as they help Mom bake a batch of cookies. If little chefs pour too out too much vanilla, you can just pour some back into the bottle, and there's no mess....brilliant!
(via Savvy Mom)
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Well, now that we know who will be facing off in the Super Bowl on February 7th (New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts), it's time to start thinking about the foods I'll be serving to accompany the big game. I live with "three hungry men", as my eight-year-old likes to reference the males in the house, and I know by now this is an event not too be missed.
If, like me, you'll be feeding some football-lovin' boys in two week's time, check out the Family Fun website for some great food ideas that will score you a touchdown with your boys!
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I'm a day late on my meal planning for the week, but I thought it might be nice to share our plans, here, with you. Below is a summary of what we're eating over the next few days and please note that when I meal plan, I only account for the weeknights, as they are typically the busiest. It's too challenging to try and plan for the weekend, when we always have something different or sometimes nothing at all to do. If we're home on a Saturday night (and we usually are), I like to make a nice, big dinner. I also like to have some flexibility and spontaneity in my week, and that happens on the weekend.
Our current family situation allows for Rob to cook two nights a week. He's a wonderful cook, and I eagerly embrace his desire to help feed our family. I've underlined his cooking days below so you can see what he'll be up to in the kitchen:
Monday - Caramelized onion, leek and mushroom frittata, French green beans and salad
Tuesday - Star Wars Birthday Party for my new eight year old! (to be shared later this week)
Wednesday - Meatloaf, rice and broccoli
Thursday - Butternut squash soup, citrus and spinach salad and homemade bread
Friday - Roast chicken, baked potatoes, green beans
So, what are you eating this week?
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January is the month of birthdays around these parts. Seventy-five percent of my own four-person family celebrates another year in January, as do many members of my extended family (sister, brother-in-law, cousins, grandparents and so on). Because we do two birthdays in three days (today's the day off!) I'm always on the lookout for different cake ideas so we're not eating the same thing all week long.
Since one of the celebrants is a child, he usually gets first pick for his choice of cake. Then I try to choose something fun for his Dad, a non-cake eater, who still needs to be celebrated. I decided to go with an ice cream cake for him this year (pictured above, recipe below), which was a good idea for it was happily devoured by everyone last night. Here are some other great ice cream cake ideas I found circulating the web:
Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream Cake, recipe here
Chocolate and Peppermint Ice Cream Cake, recipe here
My Easy Ice Cream Cake
1 litre vanilla ice cream, softened at room temperature
1 litre chocolate ice cream, softened at room temperature
Butterscotch sauce
1 cup peanuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cream
~ Line a springform pan with plastic wrap and place all of the vanilla ice cream into the pan. Spread it out evenly and smooth the top. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes or until it hardens slightly.
~ Cover the vanilla ice cream with the butterscotch sauce. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of peanuts over the top of the sauce and place in the freezer for 5 minutes, to harden slightly.
~ Remove from the freezer and top with the chocolate ice cream. Spread evenly and smooth the ice cream. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for a minimum of one hour.
~ Combine the chocolate and cream in a bowl set over a pot of lightly boiling water. Melt the chocolate and stir to combine the chocolate and the cream.
~ Remove the ice cream cake from the springform pan and invert on to a cake stand or plate. Drizzle the chocolate over the top of the cake and cover with remaining peanuts. Place back in the freezer until ready to serve.
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