Pancakes + Muffins = Puffins (?)

Hello!  I've missed blogging!  It was such  a pleasure to make breakfast at a leisurely pace today!  I'm so happy it's summer!!!!!

As I've told you before, I love Bakerella.  I visit her site at least 5 times a week and I follow her on Twitter.  I wish I could make those cute little cake pops as fancy as she does.  Maybe someday. With practice... and other people to eat them!  Anyway... about two weeks ago I noticed a side bar that said, "Sweet of the Day".  That particular day it was muffins.  I clicked to check them out.  They weren't any ordinary muffin, they were pancake muffins!  I haven't been able to stop thinking about them.  I KNEW my kids would like them.  However, I was out of baking soda AND baking powder, so I had to wait.  I hit the grocery store the other night, so now I'm fully stocked.  Today is the first day of summer vacation.  What better way to start the summer than with an awesome breakfast!
I followed Bakerella's recipe with just a few changes.  I substituted whole wheat flour for the white flour.  I also used regular milk, instead of buttermilk and I eliminated the sugar.  A pancake that has 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and chocolate chips is plenty sweet!  I also didn't use as many chips.  I used mini, probably about 2-3 Tablespoons and I sprinkled them on top.

*Chocolate Chip Puffins*

Each of the kids got 4 muffins and fruit, with a little maple syrup for dipping.  They were all full when they were done.

They only took about 10 minutes to whip up and 10 minutes to bake.  The recipe says 24, but my mini muffin pan must be a little bigger.  Mine made 15.  I'll definitely double the recipe next time.  I'll also butter the pan, since the spray didn't keep them from sticking a little.  

Yes, I took the time out to make sure each of my kids got a smiling puffin.  Puffins made my kids smile.  Try them out, you won't be sorry!

When life gives me snow... I make breakfast!

Today is a snow day.  I know I know, it's spring, you only got rain, blah blah blah.  We have snow.  School is closed.  I COULD catch up on laundry, mop the floor and do all that fun stuff, but instead I made breakfast!

First I made this loaf of bread in the bread maker.  I only made the following changes:

1. I used buttermilk instead of the oj concentrate.
2. I used old fashioned oats, because it's what I had. 

It came out really good.  I guess I should have taken a picture of it, but I cut it up already!  The kids loved it.  I made it into french toast.  All ready for tomorrow morning!

Another  French Toast  recipe I REALLY want to try!  This may have to wait, since I'll have to bake the bread :)  

While I have the griddle out, I'm going to attempt to make this pancake recipe using whole wheat flour and and this chocolate pancake recipe.

My kids have been asking to eat the french toast all day, so I guess that's a good sign :)

***UPDATE**** The first round of the chobani pancakes came out GREAT!  Using the whole wheat flour worked fine, just needed to up the liquid a little bit.  The kids LOVE them! WOOHOO

Thinking of trying some new things....

Yesterday I made a quadruple batch of waffles.  That will feed my kids three days of breakfast.   I was thinking back to the days of Eggo's and Aunt Jemima, I felt bad that they don't have as much variety.  Then it hit me, I'm making this stuff FROM SCRATCH I can be as creative as I please.  I was in the shower, that's where I do my best thinking, and it hit me, apple raisin, apple cinnamon, plain cinnamon, cocoa,  pear, banana, cranberry, the list goes on and on... I can make pancakes AND waffles.  Then as if a giant light bulb was switched on over my freshly shampooed hair I though of cinnamon bread french toast!  I'm hitting the food store so I'm definitely going to buy extra eggs and a GINORMOUS container of cinnamon!   I found a recipe for whole wheat cinnamon bread to put in the bread machine.  Once I try it, I'll post it here.

Speaking of bread machines, I've been using a borrowed bread machine.  I feel it's time I return it to it's rightful owner.  My rock star of a friend, Eileen (HI EILEEN!)  I definitely need to purchase one for myself.

Another lunch idea...

I think I may have mentioned last week the lunch idea cook book I took out of the library...  I'm finally getting around to checking it out.  Definitely some great ideas.  Here's another:

Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas

2 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast - about 1 pound
1/2 cup matchstick-cut carrots
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup light mayo
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I would use greek)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce - I may leave this out - trying to be kid friendly ;-)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder - I will just use a little bit of fresh garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 8oz. can crushed pineapple, in juice - drained
4 whole wheat pitas, cut in half
8 romaine lettuce leaves.

1. Combine all ingredients, except pita and lettuce in a large bowl, stir well.  Line each pita 1/2 with 1 lettuce leaf; fill with 1/3 cup of the chicken salad.  Yields 4 servings, 2 stuffed pita halves, each.

Lunch idea!

My kids love love love the Chinese meatballs and spaghetti, I'm sure they will love this lunch.


Asian Green Bean Salad

3 ounces uncooked linguine - I'm sure you can use any sort of spaghetti - I plan on using whole wheat.
1 pound green beans, trimmed - I bet substituting sugar snap peas or snow pea pods would be delicious!
2 cups diagonally sliced celery
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/2 cup (1/2") slices green onions
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing:
1/4 cup rice ine vinegar
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly gournd black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced

1. Cook pasta according to directions.  Add beans during last 3 minutes of cooking.  Drain and rinse with cold water; drain.
Place in bowl stirring in celery, peppers, onions and cilantro.
2. to prepare dressing, combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, whisk until blended.  Add to salad and toss well.  Serve chilled.

Yields 8 1 cup servings.

Chinese Spaghetti & Meatballs

My cousin posted a status on FB the other day about making this.  I was intrigued and asked her to forward me the recipe.  You can certainly leave out the chicken or use shrimp in it's place to make it a vegetarian dish.  I also left out the five-spice powder, my Shop Rite was out of it.  I used the ground chicken.  I also left out the spinach, because my kids don't like spinach.  AND I forgot to add the sesame seeds. 
It was a HUGE success around here!  The kids have asked for it every day since.  Another note, I cooked the meatballs until they were crisp, which was closer to 30 minutes.  


Salt 
1 pound whole-wheat spaghetti 
1 pound ground pork or chicken 
1 egg 
2 cups puffed rice cereal 
Black pepper 
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder, 1/3 palm full 
8 scallions, 2 finely chopped, 6 cut into 2-inch lengths 
2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup tamari dark soy, divided 
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 
2 cups snow peas, thinly sliced on an angle 
1 red bell pepper, very thinly sliced 
2 inches ginger root, grated 
4 cloves garlic, grated 
1 pound triple washed spinach, leaves stripped of larger stems, coarsely chopped 
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, available on Asian foods aisle of market 
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, available on Asian foods aisle of market 


Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Place a pot of water on to boil for spaghetti. When it comes to a boil, salt the water and add pasta to cook to al dente. Heads up: reserve 1/2 cup cooking water just before draining.
• Place pork in a mixing bowl. Add the egg to the bowl. Place rice cereal in food processor and pulse into a bread crumb like consistency. Add cereal crumbs to bowl.
• Add salt, pepper, five-spice powder, 2 chopped scallions and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Mix the meat balls thoroughly. Form 1 1/2-inch balls and coat with 1 tablespoon oil, scatter onto a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes.
• When the meatballs are close to done and the pasta is in, heat a large skillet over high heat with enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the skillet, a couple of tablespoons. Add the snow peas, red pepper, remaining cut scallions, ginger and garlic, stir-fry 2 minutes add spinach and wilt, 1 minute. Add the remaining soy sauce, about 1/3 cup, and the sesame oil.   Then drain the pasta, add in pasta cooking water and toss to combine so pasta can soak up sauce, about 1 minute. Garnish with sesame seeds and top with lots of meatballs.

Monday & Tuesday Lunch Boxes

I didn't get a chance to post lunch from yesterday.  It was a very busy day! I also apologize for the photos, my camera is not cooperating, so I used my cell.
Here's Monday:

*Peanut Butter and Jelly on fresh baked bread

*Hot Chocolate with Snowman Marshmallows

*Grapes

*Apple

Waste: ZERO

AND Tuesday:

L:

*Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with peppers, broccoli, yellow tomatoes and shredded mozzarella with an oil and vinegar dressing.

*Yogurt Tube

*Apple

*2 chocolate sandwich cookies for dessert

(I don't usually give dessert, but today at school is breakfast for lunch.  She really wanted to order this, but I know it will make her sick, so I told her no.  The cookies are my guilt gift!)

R:

*Fruit Salad

J:

Yogurt Tube - not pictured

All Three - Water in their respective water bottles.

Waste: 2 Yogurt Tubes

Took a lunch idea book out of the library... hoping to find some new, fun and healthy options!

Today's Lunch Box

L's Lunch Today:

*Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls - again, she loves those!

*Cantaloupe - cut up and in her thermos

*Carrots

*Triscuits

*Cheese Stick

*Water

J & R still need to decide their snacks, I'm guessing R - Cantaloupe & J - either yogurt or a granola bar.

I'll be bringing yogurt!  

Waste: For L - 1 cheese stick wrapper

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!!

Dr. Seuss is a big deal in our house.  Our kids LOVE to read all of his books.  So, in honor of his birthday, we had a Seuss inspired breakfast and Seuss filled lunch boxes!

First up, Breakfast!  Green Eggs & Ham!

Just scrambled up some eggs and added some green food coloring.

Served it with some lean canadian bacon!

The kids LOVED it!

L's Lunchbox:

The "Menu"

"Poodles of Noodles" - Whole wheat pasta, cucumbers and tomatoes with an oil and vinegar dressing.

"Pink Ink Yink Drink" - Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie - Strawberry Yogurt, Strawberries and Milk

This Cat In The Hat cookie didn't photograph too well.  I took apart 3 Vanilla Sandwich cookies and put a small dot of red frosting in between each layer of the vanilla cream (which came off the cookie surprisingly easy!)

Cat AND a Hat cookie!  

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss - And Happy Birthday to Jon Bon Jovi, too... what kind of Jersey Girl would I be if I forgot to mention that!!!!!

Waste: Just the paper the menu was written on :)  

Today's Lunch Box

Only one lunch box today.
After her junk filled weekend, it has to be a great lunch and snack!

*Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls - PB&J on a whole wheat flat bread, rolled and sliced 

*Salad with oil and vinegar dressing, kept cold in her thermos

*Carrot sticks

*Cheese Stick

*Water

Waste: 1 cheese stick wrapper

Today's Lunch Box

Today, only L is in school.  Only one lunch and snack to pack.  

*Peanut Butter and Jelly Rolls - PB&J on a whole wheat flat bread, rolled and sliced

*Mangoes, cut up and kept cold in her thermos

*Apple

*Vanilla Yogurt

Waste: 1 recyclable yogurt container.  

Wonderful Whole Wheat Waffles!

This recipe comes from my sister in pioneering, Kelly.  She's hard core pioneer, canning and stuff!  I'm about 1/2 the pioneer girl that she is... and I wear more leopard print.

This recipe is a great starting point.  You can start with all the flour whole wheat or use some white flour and gradually add more whole wheat with each batch, to get your kids used to it.  I've even replaced 1/2 cup of the flour with oats!  You can certainly add berries, chocolate chips, bananas, pumpkin etc.  

You will need a waffle maker in order to make these!!!

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of honey - you could use sugar or even an agave nectar or an artificial sweetener, I always use honey.

1 ½ cup milk 

2 eggs

Mix your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix the eggs into 1 cup of the milk and the honey.  Blend it all together, adding the butter.  Add more of the milk if your batter is too dry.  Your batter should be some what thin.  After your batter is all mixed, you can add your fruit, chocolate, etc.  **CAUTION - If you are using frozen berries, gently fold them in or your waffles will turn a purplish-gray.  I speak from experience!**

Follow your waffle makers directions for cooking.  Mine has me spray w/non-stick spray and cook until the steam stops. 

Serve with your favorite toppings!!!

I always at least DOUBLE this recipe.  I add 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of old fashioned oats. They come out so good!  Once they are cooled, you can freeze them.  I've also stored them in the refrigerator for a day or 2. Toast in the toaster or the oven to reheat!

Enjoy!

P.S.  I'm thinking pumpkin waffles with some pumpkin pie spice for this weekend!!!  YUM!  What do you think?

Maybe I'll make pancakes today, maybe I won't....

There is no other way to word it my kids LOVE pancakes.  Before the big diet change, they ate those mini pancakes like they were never going to eat another meal again!  When my husband and I talked about making this switch, this was a big part of the discussion.  I said, "I'll just MAKE mini pancakes!"  (I imagine myself wearing a super hero cape and swishing it at this point, while aiming my mighty spatula to the sky).  So began the search for a 100% whole wheat pancake.  There are several frozen ones out there.  To me, they just had too many ingredients in them.  Also, why should I pay $4.00 for 8 frozen pancakes, when I can just make them for pennies!
I found a few recipes that I thought would work.  *Sidenote - most of my recipes start from a recipe found at All Recipes.*  I did some modifications on them, and this is what I came up with:

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon of honey or sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 ½ - 2 cups of milk
1 tablespoon of baking powder
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons of oil

You can add SO much to these, fruit, chocolate, bananas, pumpkin, food coloring.  We've tried it all and the kids still love them.  The banana and pumpkin do thicken up the batter, so you may need to add more milk.

(these are our Valentine's Day Pink Pancakes, just added some food coloring and shaped them into hearts)

(Some of our Halloween pancakes - Pumpkin shaped pumpkin whole wheat, with chocolate chips)

Combine your dry ingredients together.   Mix 1 ½ cups of the milk, with the eggs, oil and honey if you are using, together.  Pour into the dry ingredients and stir... adding more of the milk if mixture is too thick.  Thinner batter makes thinner pancakes.  I use an ice cream scoop, a small one for silver dollar size and a larger one for, as my kids call them "Big Pancakes".  Pour into a heated, greased griddle, (I found my electric grill w/the flat top on it cooks them perfect!) cook until bubbles form on top and the edges are dry, flip, cook until lightly browned.
Serve with your favorite topping!

The diet switch happened over night, there are a few items we let the kids "keep".... Log Cabin is one.  Honey Nut Cheerios and Frosted Flakes (only on weekends) are some others.

We use Log Cabin for 2 reasons.  1- It's the one Costco sells and 2- No High Fructose Corn Syrup.  That stuff is EVERYWHERE!!!!  I try REALLY hard to not buy products, except the HNCheeros and FF, with it in them.  It's in your bread, read the labels!  It's in PICKLES!  It's in Salad dressing!  The reason I converted the recipe to only have 1 T of sweetneer, is because the pancakes don't need to be super sweet, just sweet enough, because they ARE putting SUGAR on it!

Back to the pancakes...  Make a double or a triple batch - put them in the freezer (just let them cool first)...  Pop them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and viola, instant breakfast!

So, maybe I'll make pancakes today, or maybe I won't... but now that you have my recipe, you certainly can!

Biscuits and Eggs

My first thought upon waking up this morning was, "UGH... it's too damn early."  My second was, "What should I make the kids for breakfast?"  Ok, maybe my second was, "I need coffee"... but it was close after that I started thinking about breakfast.  I definitely wanted them to have eggs.  They had been asking for scrambled eggs.  What to serve with them?  I didn't put any bread in the machine, so we don't have bread.  I have 50 lbs. of whole wheat flour... DROP BISCUITS!!!!
Here's what I did:
Preheat oven to 450°.

2 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon of sugar - I think these would also be awesome with honey instead of the sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of butter - you could totally replace this with another oil, but REAL butter, makes them taste oh so good.  And it's only a 1/4 cup!
1 cup milk.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix well.
Cut in the butter, using a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add milk and stir until moistened.

I used an ice cream scoop and scooped out 12 biscuits.  I cooked them on my very seasoned Pampered Chef stone for about 12-14 minutes.

They were delicious!  Not too heavy, like you would expect a whole wheat to be and very buttery!!!

My kids asked the name, I told them Drop Biscuits... they renamed them Rock Biscuits because they LOOK like rocks, they don't taste like rocks though!

A little background information...

This past spring, my daughter (8), started having panic attacks and complaining of severe stomach pain.  We thought the two were related.  Turns out, they weren't.  After our doctor asked us a few questions, we realized L was completely backed up and definitely not eliminating as much as she should be.  What to do?  We had to switch her diet completely... which meant, the entire family's diet got an over haul.  Out went the frozen waffles and pancakes, in came the whole wheat flour.  I started making my own waffles and pancakes and guess what... they were delicious!  The kids loved them!  Even my husband, Mr. Meat & Potato, has eaten them, and approved!  We've always been a "brown bread" type of family.  However, we ate white rice, white pasta, white flour, white flour, white flour.  We tried a bunch of different brands of whole wheat pasta, which the box tasted better than the actual macaroni.  Then came my AHA moment... those Big Brands... they are a blend, only about 50% whole wheat.  I continued my search.  I found delicious 100% whole wheat pasta at Trader Joe's. (The store that holds my heart, second to Costco).

We recently found that our Shop Rite also carries a delicious 100% whole wheat, for about the same cost as the TJ's.  

Thank you Luigi Vitelli!!!!!!

I started to make my own bread.  I borrowed a bread machine and I love it!  The bread has 7 ingredients in it.  It takes no time to put together and my kids love it.  It does however use 3 cups of flour. Whole Wheat flour can get pricey.  It's about $1/pound at my Shop Rite.  I can go through a 5 lb. bag in 2 weeks, easily.  That makes about 2 loaves of bread and a double batch of each pancakes and waffles - don't worry, I'll post these recipes soon.  Enter Restaurant Depot!  My Dad & I went there around Christmas.  It's the coolest place!  Next time you are in a restaurant, look around, everything you see can be purchased at Restaurant Depot.  Including, whole wheat flour... a 50 lb. bag for $18.88 (which now has a happy home in my laundry room!).