Feed Your Kids

These are SOOOOOO good! My photo isn't as good as the one on Fine Cooking's website, but Fine Cooking doesn't like to share their recipes, so that's really just a tease. I did, however, find that someone else has posted the recipe to Cooking Light's online discussion forum. It can be found here, but, shhh....don't tell. I don't want that anonymous poster to get in trouble with Fine Cooking's lawyers.

I cannot TELL you how good these are. They are AMAZING. Check out some of the reviews!
If you decide to make these, here's a hint: 3 cups of blueberries is about 2 dry pint-sized containers. If you follow the recipe precisely, you'll have about 1/3 cup of blueberries leftover (I tossed them in the freezer to use in smoothies), but next time, I'll just throw the remaining ones in.

Wow! This was YUMMY!

This recipe is a little labor-intensive for a simple veggie side dish, but the outcome is worth the effort, I promise. When Boy and Girl tasted this, they actually said "Wow", and they don't even normally like zucchini. The squash takes on a nice, salty-sweet caramelized flavor, almost like roasted potates.

It all started because I was bringing dinner last night to a sweet friend (who is undergoing chemotherapy) and her family. I made a marinated, grilled London Broil (*see note below) and some pesto rice and planned to steam some broccoli to go with it. Once at the store, however, I noticed that the broccoli did NOT look good (it's not really broccoli season, after all), so I decided to switch gears and go with zucchini, instead (it looked really pretty AND it was on sale). I was worried, though, that the zucchini would turn to flavorless mush if cooked and reheated, so I decided to cut the slices thickly and give them a good browning to give them some flavor and texture.

Here's how:

1) Cut each zucchini in half lengthwise. Slice each piece crosswise into thick (about 1/2 inch thick or a little more) semi-circles.

2) Heat 1 Tbsp. butter over medium-high heat in a large, wide skillet until melted and slightly foamy.

3) Add some zucchini slices (about one zucchini's worth) to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. This is important; if there are too many in the pan, they will steam, rather than brown.

4) Sprinkle the topside of the slices with a little bit of Baby Bam.

5) Keep a close eye on the slices and turn them over with a pair of tongs as soon as they are nicely browned on the bottom.

6) Allow the slices to brown on the bottom side and remove them from the pan when they're nicely browned on both sides, but still firm. If the slices are getting too soft, then your pan isn't hot enough. If the butter is smoking or burning, your pan is too hot (the butter should turn a nice, nutty golden brown).

7) Add more butter to the pan, if necessary. Repeat with remaining slices, working in small batches until all your squash is done.

* I also sent Gorgonzola mayonnaise (1/2 cup mayo, 3 Tbsp crumbled Gorgonzola, 1 tsp fresh lemon thyme leaves, blended well) to with the leftover beef to make sandwiches the next day. This particular family happens to also love my peppermint brownies (scroll down), so I sent some of those and some Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling (which were AMAZING - see the next post for more info), as well.

I found this recipe in Cooking Light and gave it a try a couple of days ago. This was a BIG hit with all of us, especially Hubby, who thinks that we should ALWAYS have chicken thighs instead of breasts. I tend to prefer breasts, because they're aren't as "chewy" and fatty, but I have to admit that thighs are more tender and have MUCH more flavor. They are faster and easier to cook than breasts, because it's easier to tell when they're done in the middle. They are cheaper, too. I buy them in a large package (organic) from Costco and there are 12 in a package, so you can make this recipe and then have 4 left over for another night (maybe rubbed with pesto and then grilled?). This recipe made enough to feed all of us for dinner once, 3 of us for dinner another night and still have some left over for 2 of us to have lunch on another day (some of the leftovers got frozen for future use another day).

This recipe was VERY good and very, very easy. To go with it, I cooked some udon noodles and then tossed them with a little toasted sesame seed oil, lightly sauteed minced garlic and fresh ginger and sliced green onions and then sprinkled a bit of black sesame seed on top of each portion. I also sauteed some zucchini slices (see the next post for instructions - it was FABULOUS).

We will DEFINITELY be making this again.

Inspired by last night's leftover London Broil and this recipe from Cooking Light magazine, we cooked this up for lunch today:

Quality Kangaroo brand Greek style whole wheat pita flatbread
leftover steak, cut into bite-sized chunks
very thinly sliced pear
bite-sized pieces of romaine hearts
very thinly sliced red onion
crumbled blue cheese (Maytag or Gorgonzola)

drizzle with vinaigrette (below)

Whisk together:
1/4 cup vinegar (I used pear vinegar, but white balsamic would be good, too)
1/4 tsp salt
1 minced garlic clove
freshly ground pepper
then slowly pour in 1/2 cup olive oil, whisking briskly to blend

whisking briskly? there's got to be a better (and less onomatopoetic?) way to say that...

These sandwiches were quite yummy and would be a great way to re-purpose just about any kind of leftovers...

Check out Chris Garlington's funny back-to-school post. Girl actually used the "print your own graph paper" site once last year, when we were in a last-minute homework pinch and didn't have any in the house and the lunchbox recipes look really good!

Death by Children Back to School Resources

I made this recipe from Southern Living (April 2008) tonight and it was SO yummy. Not exactly South Beach-y, but it was Hubby's first night home from a business trip that required staying at a hotel with abysmal food, so I wanted to make him something nice. I sauteed some zucchini in a little butter and Baby Bam to go alongside.

That's my Mom's Salad Dressing there. Yummy. Big hit with Girl.

We love our usual pork tenderloin recipe so much, that I was hesitant to even try another one. Seriously, I just thought that it wouldn't even be possible for another recipe to come close, but this was really good! It must be the delicate simplicity of the seasoning blend and baking/broiling procedure BACON that makes it so good! I know that I'm a little late to the party, but I have just recently "discovered" McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. I know that's a little like saying that I just "discovered" you can buy butter now, instead of churning it yourself, but, hey...I had never heard of it or used it before. I bought the lower salt variety (you can always add more salt) and it's really tasty. Honestly, I think if I had NOT used the low-salt variety in this recipe, it would have been too salty. It was perfect, as is. I did use more bacon than the recipe called for (about 10 slices) because 3 slices wasn't enough for the bacon to wrap all the way around (I separate the 2 tenderloins and bacon-wrapped and baked them individually). This will definitely be a "keeper" recipe. It was really simple (3 ingredients!) to assemble and easy to cook, though it does splatter a bit of bacon grease in your oven, so be prepared to do a little clean-up afterwards.

The tenderloin was so pretty, all trussed up with the bacon. It looked like a dragon roll.

Tenderloin, wrapped with bacon before baking/broiling.

Tenderloin, after baking. This smelled great while it was cooking. The kids thought I was making "breakfast for dinner".

For dessert, I decided to spoil the kids a bit, too. We recently made the (3.5 hour) drive from Houston back to Austin (after our Alaska trip) and stopped in La Grange to pick up some "Dublin Dr. Pepper".

If you're not familiar, the Dublin bottling plant is one of the VERY few remaining in the country that still uses the "old" Dr. Pepper formula, without high-fructose corn syrup. They use pure cane sugar. In fact, the label has the little "Imperial Sugar" logo on it (made in Sugarland, Texas, where much of my family either lives or has lived, thankyouverymuch). Comparing "regular" Dr. Pepper to an old-fashioned "Dublin" Dr. Pepper is like comparing T-bone to tofu. The cane sugar sodas are just more subtle, not as overpoweringly sweet and just SO much more delicious. They are also only available in a limited distribution zone surrounding the bottling plant. Alas, they are not available in Austin, so whenever we make a pilgrimage toward Houston, we always have to stop and get some. Well, Girl has been asking for a "Dublin" float for dessert for quite some time, so tonight I made a batch of Mexican Vanilla ice cream and obliged. Those were a really big hit, too.

Overall, a good meal and a good night. Very nice to have Hubby back at home. This first week of school (one more day to go!) has been a little hectic and we're all tired and a bit cranky. We are all looking forward to an extended weekend this week.

I made these using this recipe from Cooking Light magazine (June 2008). I made a half-batch and cooked them in my mini loaf pan. If made this way, you'll need to bake the mini loaves for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I didn't try these because this sort of thing is absolutely verboten on the South Beach diet, but I put them in Boy and Girl's lunchboxes for a snack and they were a big hit.

Speaking of lunchboxes, here are some great lunch-packing ideas for you moms in the crowd:

Epicurious lunchbox recipes

Laptop Lunchbox Website (I LOVE LOVE LOVE these cute little lunchboxes, but they're really only good for elementary schoolers; once a kid gets to middle school, these cutie-pie lunchkits are a sure-fire "Kick my ass" invitation. That's OK - when your kids reach that age, you can use these cute lunch kits for yourself!)

About.com lunch ideas

a few more from about.com

Cute ideas (mostly for younger kids) from familyfun.com (Disney)

You'll want to send this to all your friends...

Steve Gibson for President

A tutorial on a classic, kid-friendly breakfast.

You'll need:
a griddle or large skillet
butter or margarine
(as much as I DETEST margarine, it's actually better for this,
because you don't have to worry about it over-browning, like you would with butter)
one and egg and one piece of bread for each person you're feeding
(we used wonderful wheat bread from Weikel's Shell station bakery in LaGrange)
a large cookie cutter (small enough to fit into your slice of bread)
large spatula

Use the cookie cutter to cut a shape out of each piece of bread. If you don't have a cookie cutter the right size, you can use a drinking glass. Save the cut-out shapes.

Generously butter the griddle. Heat it to medium-ish.

Place the bread slices and reserved cut-out shapes on the griddle (or in the skillet - use what ya got!).

Turn 'em over the get the other side cookin'. Add more butter margarine, if you need to. Turn the cut-out shapes over, too. Keep a close eye on them, because they will cook quickly and may need to be removed from the griddle.

Gently crack an egg into each bread-hole "nest".

Dot each egg with a tiny bit of nasty, yellow, oily stuff margarine.

Sprinkle each egg with salt and, if desired, pepper.

Keep watching the little cut-out shapes!

Lower the heat, if necessary, to keep the eggs from overcooking. If you like your eggs cooked into submission firm, like Boy and Girl do, turn the toast/eggs over. If you like your eggs still a bit runny, watch them carefully and remove 'em from the heat shortly after the whites of the eggs are opaque.

Serve 'em up with some fruit, topped with the little cut-out shapes, if the cook doesn't eat them first if desired.

St. Andre cheese, "champagne" grapes, Lavash hearts and wheat crackers

We recently found ourselves hungry mid-day, after a HUGE breakfast and before an impending dinner reservation. We decided to just skip lunch, but were still a little peckish. This fit the bill perfectly for the 4 of us, to tide us over before Girl's 13th birthday dinner.