Breakfast Experiments

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which is a good thing for me because I LOVE it! I must confess that I could eat a bagel and cream cheese every day for the rest of my life and not tire of them, but pregnancy has made me reevaluate how I start my day. While bagels aren't bad for you, there are certainly better options out there. Options that give you a better "bang for your calories", if you will.

Like, for example, my friend, OATMEAL :)

My favorite oatmeal is McCann's Irish Oatmeal (quick cooking).

No other brands really compare to its taste and texture, though I recently found Country Choice Organic Oats (quick cooking) on sale at Whole Foods and have been really happy with them too.

I've been getting pretty creative about what I put in my oatmeal... because who wants to eat boring, bland oatmeal? Not me. So, here's a list of random ingredients that I've tried adding.. not all together, of course.

Fruit

Bananas (sliced)

Blueberries

Strawberries

Peaches

Apples (diced)

Additional Toppings

Sliced Almonds

Dried Fruit

Coconut

Something Sweet

Brown Sugar

Agave Nectar

Milk

1% Milk

Vanilla Soy Milk

This morning my combination included bananas, blueberries, coconut, a little agave nectar, & milk. Delicious ... and the coconut was a nice, unexpected touch. Another favorite is brown sugar and apples with milk. If you use the vanilla soy milk, you probably won't need to add any more sugar since the milk is sweetened and the fruit adds some sweetness too.

Let me know if you have any other combinations that you enjoy! The possibilities are endless.

Easy Strawberry Pie

Like strawberries? Got some to use up?

Our Whole Foods recently had organic strawberries on sale for $1.99/lb ... so after saving some for Carter's snack and then using some in a DELICIOUS spinach salad (spinach, grilled chicken, strawberries, feta cheese, & balsamic vinaigrette) for Sunday lunch... I still had a whole pound left. I decided to make this yummy and EASY Strawberry Pie. It's one of my mom's old recipes and I hope you enjoy it!

STRAWBERRY PIE

2 quarts fresh strawberries (I used 1 lb and it was plenty)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 package strawberry Jell-O

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pie crust shell

Bake pie shell as directed. Let cool.

Mix together 1 cup of the strawberries, cornstarch, water, Jell-O, sugar, & lemon juice. Boil for approximately 2 minutes or until clear. Cool. {I didn't cool it all the way.. just so that it was warm and not scalding hot from boiling} Mix this mixture with the remaining strawberries.

Pour into baked pie shell. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip if desired.

photo credit

My Favorite Pie Crust

photo credit

Having a good, reliable pie crust is SUCH a blessing in the kitchen.. especially this time of year! I have tried a lot of different recipes, but fell in love with this crust at first bite. It's buttery (no shortening) and light, but not flaky. It is originally from Melissa d'Arabian's Potato Bacon Torte recipe, which can be found here. I have used this to make everything from apple pie to chicken pot pie- and it never fails! It also freezes really well, so make a few to keep on hand. You won't regret it.

Pie Crust

(makes 2 crusts)

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

8-10 tablespoons ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan.

*At this point, you can add the pie filling and then top with the 2nd crust or just toss the 2nd crust into the freezer and save for later.

Caramel Corn

Do you love Caramel Corn as much as I do? If so, whip up a batch of this SUPER EASY and DELICIOUS recipe! I'm embarrassed to say that ours was gone in less than 24 hours... so you may want to double it. Also, make sure you only use 6 cups of popcorn (which is actually less than one bag) or you won't have enough caramel sauce to cover it.

6 cups popped corn
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine sugar, butter, salt and corn syrup in a pan and melt. Stir in vanilla and baking soda.

Pour over popped corn and bake for 10 minutes. Allow time to cool and harden before serving! ENJOY! :)

*This recipe is from tnhomeandfarm.com and can also be found here

Quick, Kid Friendly Recipe

I am always on the hunt for new recipes. I can't stand to eat the same thing over and over again- plus, it makes cooking much more exciting! I recently came across this recipe for "No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars" in an article on cooking blogs. I found it to be incredibly versatile, not to mention easy and delicious. Little Carter was even able to help!

I used what I had on-hand... but you certainly could mix this up in a million different ways! Here are the ingredients I used: 1 small banana, oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter, coconut, honey, and vanilla. They are better cold, so I just keep them in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

A Few of My Favorite Things {kitchen edition}

It's no secret that if I had a limitless shopping spree to any store it would likely be to Crate and Barrel or Williams Sonoma. Kitchen stuff makes me happy. It inspires me to be a better cook and to try new things. I've listed a few of my favorite kitchen items below.

1. All Clad Pans. I don't own many of these, but the ones I do have are noticeably different than my other pans. Don't let anyone EVER tell you that there is no difference in the quality of pans based on price. You get what you pay for.. plain and simple. And for someone like me who cooks every day, quality pans are the only way to go.

2. Shun Knife. Again, a good quality knife is not negotiable in the kitchen and there is a real difference in quality usually based on priced. This knife might look intimidating (Jeremy is too scared to touch it... much less clean it... most of the time), but it has become one of my most valuable cooking assets!

3. Kitchen Aid Mixer. I'm always amazed when I go in department stores that there are actually other mixer brands... because to me, Kitchen Aid is the only way to go when it comes to a mixer! I chose the color below for my kitchen... and resisted every urge to get the lime green or turquoise... telling myself that I would be happy 20 years from now with the silver one. I rationalized this by saying that I could change my kitchen decor 100 times and the silver would never be outdated or stick out like a "sore thumb".

4. Glass Cake Dome. I bake a lot and it isn't always easy work. For this reason, I like to display my finished products in this beautiful cake dome. If you are going to go through the effort of making something, why not show it off a little? Besides, it makes anything look prettier and more appetizing (especially compared to tupperware)!

5. Anything Emile Henry. I adore this line of bake ware. There's really nothing more to say.

6. Capresso Coffee Maker. Jeremy and I are coffee addicts. When we got married, we decided to bite the bullet and invest in a really nice coffee maker. Not a day has gone by that we've regretted that decision.

7. Kitchen Aid Food Processor. This is an item that you don't know how much you'll use it until you actually have it. I often think to myself, "How did I ever do without this thing?!" I use it to chop vegetables, make salad dressing, pie crust, pesto, hummus, and I even used it to make Carter's baby food when he was younger. Love it. Love. Love. Love.

Restless, Muffins, and a Sicky Boy

"Almighty God,

You have made us for Yourself,

so that our hearts are restless until

they rest in You."

St. Augustine

I love the quote above because it reminds me to be thankful for the times that my heart is restless. It is during these times that I need to search for God and not be satisfied until my soul rests in Him. HE is the only one who brings true peace... and rest. Why do I so easily forget this?

On a different note, I've been physically restless that past few days because this is the 5th day that Carter has been sick. He's been running a fever, but no other symptoms other than being extremely irritable. I finally took him to the doctor today and it turns out that his throat is really red, so the doctor did a strep test. The first swab came back negative, but they went ahead and sent it to a lab for the 2nd test... so we'll have those results in 24-48 hours. I'm hoping he feels better soon because a cranky boy = a cranky mommy. We have been watching lots of Sesame Street since it is about the only thing he wants to do when he's sick. I'm not sure how much more of Elmo and Big Bird I can take ;)

I have, surprisingly, been able to do some cooking over the past few days. I made these muffins today and they are delicious! I'm a huge fan of banana and chocolate together.. but most recipes I've tried are too dry or bland. This one is just about perfect. I used 3 medium bananas (instead of 2) and white flour instead of wheat (mainly because I didn't have any wheat on hand). Give them a try!

A Few More Good Ones...

While I was making our dinner tonight {pasta salad with chicken, green peppers, onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes... mmm}, I realized that I left out two delicious recipes that I meant to include in my last post. I served these two together and they complimented each other really well! Both were from the May 2010 issue of Southern Living.

Black Beans and Coconut-Lime Rice: get the recipe here

Coconut Chicken: this recipe was originally for Coconut Shrimp, but it is amazingly delicious with chicken! Also, I did not make the sauce that went with it because I already had honey-mustard dipping sauce on hand. Get the recipe here

Easy, No Fail, Crowd Pleasing Recipes!

It has felt really good to be back in the kitchen after 10 days of eating out. On Wednesday night, we had a cookout with our small group from church. I was responsible for bringing the baked beans... so I used this recipe from my mom:

Baked Beans

4 slices bacon
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 can (28oz) baked beans
1 small can lima beans
1 can kidney beans
2 T. wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 T. mustard

Fry bacon, ground beef, and chopped onion until brown. Add all other ingredients. Mix well! Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

This recipe is so easy and got rave reviews from everyone who tried it! It would be great for any cookout or just served with a side salad and cornbread. Mmmmm.

On Friday night, we grilled out with our dear friends, the Crawfords. I brought a cobb salad and Magnolia Bakery's Banana Pudding. This recipe takes a little while to prepare, but is pretty much impossible to mess up. Every single morsel will be devoured. That's a promise.

*I have found that it is easiest to start the recipe before you go to bed, then finish the rest the next morning...

Magnolia Bakery's Banana Pudding

One 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
One 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)
3 cups heavy cream
One 12 oz box Nabisco Nilla Wafers
4 cups sliced ripe bananas

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of the pudding remain.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5 quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas, then one-third of the pudding mixture. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours- or up to 8 hours, but no longer!- before serving.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to go with these recipes.. you'll just have to take my word that they are delicious! Let me know if you try them and how they turn out :)

Happy Cooking!