Filling Pancake

When my daughter requested pancakes for lunch, I wondered if it was possible to make her a healthy-ish version. I came across a recipe that had eggs, oats, and cottage cheese. My reaction was "eww!" But, I had an abundance of those three things so thought I'd give it a try. My kids LOVED them and asked for more! These are filling and almost taste more like french toast. I've made some adaptations to fit our taste and needs so here it is.

Yields about 12 flapjack-size pancakes

Ingredients:
1c oats
1c cottage cheese
3 eggs
1/4c milk (or water)
1 tbs agave (or sugar)
*optional 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Start to warm your pan or griddle on medium heat.

1) Blend oats, cottage cheese, milk. I use an immersion blender and get the batter pretty smooth.

2) Add additional ingredients and blend until well incorporated.

3) Spray skillet/griddle with cooking spray

4) Cook over medium heat. I make several small pancakes at once.

5) Add any toppings you like! It's very yummy to use these for peanut butter sandwiches :)

Cook Ahead Meals - Secret Weapon No. 7

Imagine this, grocery shopping alone, 4 hours of making your favorite dishes while sipping on some wine, having 12 meals made for your family... Does it really sound that bad? Doesn't to me!

Ok, I don't really have many "secret weapons," per se. But, I do have some ways that life has adapted since having kiddos that make things a bit easier on me. I wish I were organized enough to have them numbered, but I don't. But if I had numbered my own personal tricks, this one would be granted my favorite number, number 7... I try to keep at least a few pre-prepared meals in the freezer.

I didn't start with the cook ahead craze until after I had baby number 2. For me, it was just not realistic to cook the homemade meals I wanted for my family every night. But what I've found does work for me is to take about a day per month to make several batches of meals that I can freeze and save for those weeknights when I need a lifeline. In reality, I try to double up on making meals whenever I can. However, I try to devote half a day or so each month to making a larger batch of meals to get a stockpile in my freezer.

Honestly, this is not a perfect science for me. And I look to many websites for guidance. My favorite is onceamonthmom.com. I've had my share of failures. Meals that just don't turn out that great in the long run. But really, that would happen even if I weren't making meals ahead of time. I have some staples and favorites that are definite lifesavers for me, and I'll list some below.

I once had a mommy friend say to me that she had tried one time to make meals ahead, but quickly gave up because they didn't have that fresh-made taste her family needed. My response to that is this... Are my frozen meals as great as fresh made? I don't know. But, my frozen meals can taste pretty darn good. I can play around with recipes and find out what works well for us. And, the reduced stress and extra time with my kiddos makes the pre-prepared meals all worth it to me.

Consider doubling up (or stockpiling) whenever you can. I think it's at least worth giving it a try! For me, one day of intense food-making definitely saves me some sanity in the long run.

My favorite Pre-Prepared Full Meals:
-Beef Bourgingnon
-Beef Stroganoff
-Chicken Pot Pies
-Pork Chile Verde
-English Muffin "Pizzas" (Lunch)
-Breakfast Sandwiches- English Muffins, Eggs, Cheese, Ham (Breakfast)

Time-Saving Pre-Made Recipe Items:
-Mexican-flavored ground beef
-Pre-cooked Italian meatballs
-Brown-Rice Spanish Rice
-Mashed Potatoes/Greens

Sweet potato pillows

Sweet Potato Pillows

These yummy snacks are not quite cookies, more like little tiny soft bread-like pillows. And in fact, that's what my daughter named them. They are slightly sweet and very satisfying. A great take along snack for toddlers too.

1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cups sifted flour
1/4 cup flax meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (can be ommited)

Mix together first four ingredients until well combined, add sugar. Sift together flour, flax meal, baking powder, salt and spices. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Add nuts (optional). Chill for one hour. Drop by the spoon full on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 15-20 mins. These are done when slightly springy to the touch and/or a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

The Splice of Life - Easy Video Editing

Since having kids I've become a big video and picture taker. Like so many parents, I want to document so many of their experiences. Now add I have kind of a bad memory, and that I am a very visual person, and that makes the pictures and videos that much more important to me.

The problem is that I amass all these images and they they pretty much just sit on my computer. Our pictures gallery is the screen saver to our computers, so I'll catch the snapshots that way. But the videos in particular just tend to pile up. Here and there I've tried a bit of video editing. But it's so time consuming and the software is just complicated enough that every time I do I am relearning the whole process. So we have very little videos that are actually edited and compiled in a meaningful way.

Now with child number two, my iPhone has actually become my main source of taking videos and pictures on a daily basis. I pull out our Canon Vixia for more important events, but the iPhone is my workhorse.

I recently was about to transfer over some videos onto my computer where they'd sit untouched until who-knows-when. But these were precious videos of my little guy learning to walk. I decided to do a search of video editing apps for my iPhone.

Voila! There were so many to choose from! I tried out just a couple, but literally within about 2 minutes I could figure out which were too complicated, too limited in features, or just plain not easy to work with.

I ended up using a video editing program called "Splice." It's a great little program that allows for compiling pictures and videos. It has several options for transitions, and you can add titles and text in between pics/videos. You can also add your own music and voice recordings. You can adjust the volume of music and videos individually. The app allows for editing the length of the audio and pics/videos. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles you may have when using some of the popular computer programs (you can't pick the font for your title for example). But, it offers much of what you'd need to easily put together videos on your iPhone. I was able to put together a video of him walking in under 10 minutes, nice!

I wishfully think that "someday" I'll have time to go back on my computer and put together videos into lovely, meaningful movies. But in reality, that's not likely to happen- at least not anytime soon. Spending 10 minutes quickly putting together a video with a theme while the kids are taking naps... now that's doable!

Bloggin about not bloggin

So, I've realized that my blogging has considerably slowed down and thought I'd take a moment to reflect on that. So, what's been up? Really one main reason the blogging has slowed is that I haven't been so creative in the kitchen area lately. But that's a good thing! The summer months have brought some amazing fresh produce in our weekly delivery. We've been enjoying some very simple meals, with little (or nothing) done to fresh produce. I love making simple dishes that taste fresh and pure. Of course I love my rich, creamy, saucy, savory dishes as well. But something about the summer just makes simple dishes taste that much better.

What have we been eating? Well, last night it was a simple pan-seared chicken breast with zucchini, yellow squash, fresh garlic, and new potatoes. All cooked together in a large skillet with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. Another favorite is grilled steak or tri-tip, with grilled corn. Mmmm, and seared salmon with blanched green beans. Simple, simple.

So, hence the need to not record my recipes in the usual manner. The big number 2 reason is that my baby is no longer a baby. At 14 months, little man pretty much eats what the rest of us does. He remains a good eater and shows a clear preference for fruit and vegetables. My fingers are crossed, I hope he remains the veggie lover that he is today!

And finally, I started this blog after being asked numerous times about how I make baby food for my kiddos. While starting it, I decided it would be nice to use it to catalogue some other aspects of my stay-at-home journey too- from logging my non-baby recipes, to little projects we work on. So here's to future blogs, whatever they may hold, even if I'm just bloggin' about not bloggin.'

Carrot Tomato Comfort Soup

My daughter loves tomato soup and this variation is great on days she's not feeling so great. It's filling and hearty. I make it all in the Brezza but in can easily be made by steaming the veggies and puréeing using other methods.

Yields 2 Servings

Ingredients:
-1 c baby carrots
-1 large tomato (peeled and chopped)
-2 oz heavy cream
-1 tbs parmesan cheese
-1/2 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Clean veggies. Peel and chop tomatoes. I leave seeds in because they all get pureed to oblivion.
2) Steam carrots for approximately 15 minutes until tender. Drain liquid.
3) Add tomatoes to carrots and steam all for an additional 15  minutes. You want carrots very tender to make a smooth soup.
4) Puree tomatoes and carrots. Add all remaining ingredients and puree until smooth. If needed, add a splash of water to create desired soup consistency.

Pesto

It's Wednesday, which means produce delivery at our house. This is one of those weeks when I just didn't have time to check out what was coming in our box and I was so excited to see all the goodies. Really, fresh strawberries, cherries, apriums, and peaches! Oh yes, and there were plenty of veggies too. Before I get on with one of my favorite easy recipes, here's a look at what was in my Abundant Harvest Organics box.

Ok, on with the PESTO! Included in my box were basil and green garlic, great items for pesto. To make pesto, you'll want to be able to blend all these yummy ingredients somehow (food processor, hand blender, Brezza)

Ingredients:

-1 bunch basil
-2 heads of green garlic (or 2-3 cloves)
-5 tablespoons olive oil
-1 lemon

-2 tablespoons parmigian cheese

-pinch of salt

Directions:

1) Remove basil leaves from stalks and wash them

2) Cut the ends of the green garlic so that you have just the white part of the green garlic (Confused? Check out the pic)

3) Combine all ingredients in food processor, bowl (if using a handblender), or my favorite the baby Brezza

4) Blend in pulses, add extra olive oil if consistency is more dry than paste-like

5) Serve however you like it! Over whole wheat pasta is our favorite way. My 12 month-old loved this, surprise, surprise!

Variations- Add nuts for a little crunch. If I wasn't giving this to our 12 month old, I would have added in almonds or pine nuts in the blending stage, it adds a little crunch to the texture. Sometimes I also add chopped green olives as well, but if you do so balance the saltiness with a bit more lemon juice. Wanna be sneaky, add in a cube (or two) of your pureed greens to warm pasta then toss in the pesto... trust me, know one will know.