Breakfast for Dinner

Since Ryan's been away this week for work, I tried to come up with a meal plan for just Owen and me that would save some time and money, and attempt to make dinners that I wouldn't normally make if he were here. For instance, Ryan is not a big fan of BFD (breakfast for dinner), but I kind of love it once in a while. Anyway, here are two that turned out particularly well.

Quiche
I have never made a quiche before. I think I was intimidated by them, assuming that they were very complicated. Quite the contrary, I found...at least the version I made. I found a recipe online and tweaked it for what I had on hand and liked. The recipe was for a bacon and cheese quiche and I ended up with a broccoli, ham, and cheese version instead. I happened to have a frozen pie crust leftover from last Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it worked out well.

Owen ate an entire slice of this! He actually loves ham and broccoli, so that's part of why I chose the ingredients I did. I served it with hash browns and fresh fruit. Very simple.

Here's how I did it...

Ingredients
3 oz. (approx.) deli ham (I used Hillshire Farms honey ham)
1 cup (approx.) frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 oz. shredded Italian blend cheese
9-in. deep dish frozen pie crust
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup half & half

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix ham, broccoli, onion, and cheese. Dump into unthawed pie crust. Mix eggs and half & half in a bowl. Pour egg mixture over cheese mixture in pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 35 minutes, until top begins to turn brown.

Really simple to put together and pretty tasty! I've been enjoying the leftovers for breakfast, too.

And tonight, another BFD...

Pumpkin Pancakes
I found this recipe in a MOPS magazine last Fall and thought it sounded good, so when I considered making pancakes this week, I decided to forgo my usual Bisquick recipe and give this one a try. I am glad I did! It was a little more effort than I anticipated and it made a HUGE mess of my kitchen (pancakes always do, though), but they were really, really tasty!

I added chocolate chips to a few of them because I was worried that Owen might not like the pumpkin flavor and figured that adding chocolate could up the ante. But the melty chips ended up making such a mess that I abandoned that move after a couple batches. He ended up eating two pancakes total, one with chips and one without, and he didn't even seem to notice that they were in there anyway.

One thing to note is that this batter was way thicker than any pancake batter I'm used to, so I had to do some strategic flipping and smooshing with the spatula. (That's a technical term, by the way...smooshing.) And if you don't love pumpkin flavor, you probably won't care for these. It called for almost an entire can of pumpkin (which I also had leftover from the holidays). Oh, and it made a TON! 28 pancakes in all, so there were lots of leftovers. I like to freeze leftover pancakes anyway between small sheets of wax paper and have them for a quick and easy lunch in the future.

Here's how it went down...

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour (cake or all-purpose)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp melted butter
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 egg whites

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add to dry ingredients and blend. Let batter stand for five minutes before pouring the pancakes onto the griddle.

I served these with real maple syrup (which I recommend over regular pancake syrup) and chopped nectarine on top. It kind of felt like we ate dessert for dinner, but it was fun and delicious!

And while I'm on the topic of food...if I can remember to get a few pictures tomorrow, I'll try to share two new cookie recipes I tried this week for my dad's retirement. Both turned out really pretty and yummy. I'm batting four for four (is that even the correct use of that baseball term?) on my cooking/baking skills this week! Yay, me!

Happy birthday to you, Daddy...

Owen loves to sing the Happy Birthday song. He really got into it a few weeks ago for his cousin Brody's first birthday. Ever since then, whenever he sings Happy Birthday, it's always to Brody. Until yesterday, when I had to inform him that it was no longer Brody's birthday; in fact, it was Daddy's birthday! He was so excited to get to sing to his Daddy, we sang it all day long.

Here he is "helping" me mix up the birthday cake.

And, of course, licking the spatula. Notice the batter dribbling down the front of his Buzz Lightyear PJs.

He even picked out little Cars candies to decorate with, though he was more interested in eating those than placing them on the cake. And that smudge on the "D" is, of course, from him poking his finger in it when I wasn't looking.

And no, I didn't go all fancy on Ryan's cake this year. Just a plain 'ol yellow box cake with canned frosting. But, I did make him his favorite meal for dinner.

Tater-tot casserole. Recipe found here. It was ok. Not sure that the addition of red pepper flakes was quite as worth it as the author of this recipe suggested, but it wasn't bad.

Happy birthday, Ryan/Daddy! We love you!!!

Banana Pops

Lately, I have been having some trouble getting Owen to eat foods that he used to gobble up. He will hardly touch a vegetable anymore, which I suppose is pretty typical for a toddler. But now even fruit, which he used to love, is receiving the cold shoulder from him, too, including bananas. There was a time when he was consuming an entire banana a day. I had to start buying bigger bunches just to keep up with him, in fact.

These days, however, I am typically stuck with at least one — often more — banana from the bunch at the end of every week. Never one to throw away perfectly (albeit a bit brown) food, I usually just pop them in my freezer for some rainy day down the road when I'm in the mood to bake a batch of banana bread.

But since my freezer stock is getting a little outrageous, I've started trying something new. Something I'm calling, banana pops. I was first inspired to try them after seeing them in a Parents magazine.

I guess this is pretty much the same recipe that I've been following, but I've also seen some others recently, like here and here. Anyway, here's how I did it.

What you need:

• Bananas
• Popsicle sticks (or I used candy sticks that I had leftover from the Peeps Pops I made at Easter)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

First, you cut your bananas in half (I actually cut them in thirds this time because half a banana was too much for me the first time I tried it) with the peel still intact. 

Stick the popsicle sticks in the center of each one and peel away the peel.

Place in the freezer for at least an hour, until hardened.

Next, combine chocolate chips and oil in a bowl (I used a glass measuring cup) and microwave for 10-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted. Place whatever coating you prefer (I happened to have on hand some Rice Krispies and granola) on a dish.

Remove bananas from freezer and quickly dunk in melted chocolate, and then roll in coating. Place back on the dish and return to the freezer just until completely hardened (which should only take a minute or two).

Enjoy!

I would love to say that this is how I've managed to get Owen to eat bananas again, but sadly, despite calling it "ice cream" in his presence, he's figured out how to munch on all the chocolate and cereal and, once that's gone, he abandons the frozen banana on a stick. Stinker.

Oh well, more for me I guess!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Oh. My. Word! Before leaving for my afore-mentioned retreat (in t-minus-15 minutes and counting), I cut the dessert I volunteered to bring into bars and I just have to tell you how amazing they are.

Feast your eyes on this!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars. Um-hmmm. YUM! Found via Pinterest (a re-pin from my pal, Rebecca), here is the full recipe. These were surprisingly easy to make — I actually did it while Owen was awake (which I try never to do). I die! And I highly recommend.

Derailed by biscotti

I have been having trouble mustering up the motivation to tackle the numerous little things that need to be done before O's 2nd birthday party this Saturday. Yes, that's two days from now, and I have a HUGE list of projects, including, but not limited to:

• Cleaning the bathroom (and yes, I will likely only clean the one that will be used by party guests, NOT all four [!!!!] that now exist is this house)
• Baking at least two (which is down from the original plan for three) more batches of cookies (and I do mean, "more," because I already have four batches in my freezer)
• Decluttering the entire house
• Baking and decorating cupcakes
• Wrapping (and in at least one case, assembling) O's presents
• Grocery shopping (for the items that the store didn't have and those that I forgot during my FIRST grocery trip this morning!)
• Dusting, vacuuming, and washing the kitchen floor

Ugh! Some people thrive on the pressure of putting things off until the last minute, but I shut down. I just don't want to do any of it, so here I sit.

I did, however, attempt to make one of those batches of cookies just moments ago. I feared that the recipe (found here) for "Traditional Italian Almond Biscotti" might be a little challenging, considering it included the word "persevere" in the instructions! Huh?

But I thought I was up for the challenge anyway. I toasted my almonds (all 3 cups of them!) and mixed all the other ingredients with no problem. But then I got to this part: "Work the batter together with lightly floured hands. The mixture will be sticky, but persevere. Keep squeezing the batter with your hands until a dough starts to form. Once the dough is firm, form a ball."

Ummmmm, yeah. I kneaded and squeezed that runny, sticky dough for just under 10 minutes and the consistency did not appear to be changing at all. Instead, my shoulders were getting tired. So, I tried dumping it all into my handy dandy KitchenAid mixer, using the bread hook. I've never used the bread hook before, but it's supposed to make dough balls, right? (I honestly don't know what the bread hook is supposed to do. Someone please tell me!) Anyway, I let that do its thing for 12 minutes (or something like that — at some point I lost track while furiously trying to read if there were any comments on the recipe link that might have indicated that others had experienced the same kind of problem. There weren't any such comments.) I was afraid the motor on my beloved mixer was going to burn out, so since there was very little progress in the way of runny batter turning firm dough ball, I decided to call it quits.

Here's where I started taking photos to document this process, while simultaneously muttering curse words at the realization that I had just wasted a ton of time and ingredients (although, I was mostly upset about the lost time). Few things tick me off like wasting precious "me time" during Owen's nap.

Notice the batter dripping from the mixer hook. Not exactly "firm dough."

My first instinct was to just dump the batter in the trash and clean up the mess I'd made. But instead, I figured it was worth one last shot at creating something edible (although not likely anything I'd bother to put out at this party, which you'll recall, was the whole reason for starting this little project today.)

I tried putting them on the cookie sheets using a scoop, as you would any

normal cookie.

When they first came out of the scoop, they almost looked like they might
hold that firm, ball shape...

...but seconds later, they looked like this.

I had no idea how long to bake them. The original recipe said 40 minutes, but that was assuming they were in little dough logs. I just kinda kept an eye on them as I typed this post and they ended up spending about 30 minutes in a 350 oven.

Um, here's how they turned out.

Don't let this almost-appetizing photo fool you...

...they were gross.

Hollow, crispy, and burnt-tasting. I may have left them in a little too long — that doughy looking top part threw me, appearing to be mushy, but actually getting quite crispy. Regardless, I'm not trying another batch. Into the garbage it all goes.

So, here I sit, stewing over the time lost messing with these darn biscotti, and feeling even more lack of motivation to get all my other projects completed. It's frustrating how one relatively small set-back can just derail my whole afternoon. Owen is now up from his nap and what do I have to show for those precious one-and-a-half hours of free time? Um, this blog post. Period.

Bleh!

I will be back soon with more (upbeat) details on Owen's party, which I'm sure will turn out lovely. In the meantime, I have a mess to clean up.

Persnickety persimmon, perchance?

Has anyone outside of my immediate family ever heard of the fruit called, persimmon? Ever tasted one?

Source

I remember as a child watching my mom and her father (my Papa) enjoy these squishy, drippy, gooey fruits every summer and they always urged me to have a taste. As a kid, I found their slimy texture rather disgusting and didn't understand the appeal. And then, I never seemed to hear about them or see them again.

Until about two or three years ago, I discovered them at my local grocery store. We were living in the Seattle area at the time, so I thought that maybe it was such an extravagant (and unusual) fruit that you could only find it in larger market areas. I purchased one right away and was excited to call home to tell my mom about my find! She warned me that you have to wait a while for it to fully ripen before you eat it, so I dutifully let it sit on my kitchen windowsill for weeks...waiting. I waited, and waited, and waited, but it never seemed to get much riper than the day I brought it home. Eventually, I grew tired of waiting and figured it had been long enough so it was probably plenty ripe for the eating. Oh.my.word. I am here to tell you, it was NOT! I cut into the small, tomato-like fruit, took a bite expecting the sweet, somewhat spicy flavor I remembered as a child, and was immediately disappointed by the horrid taste in my mouth! YUCK! I can't even tell you how gross it was. Not like, "oh, it's not ripe enough and a little firm, but still decent." It was disgusting! The flavor was not at all how I remembered it.

So, I spent a little time Googling persimmons and discovered that they contain high levels of soluble tannins and are "unpalatable" if eaten before softening (source). Another site put it this way: "Unripe persimmons taste very bitter and will suck all the moisture from your mouth—not very pleasant." Um, no, not pleasant at all. But apparently that bitterness goes away as they ripen.

Fast forward to about two weeks ago. I was at our local grocery store and saw a small display in the produce section that featured exotic fruits and, low and behold...they had several persimmons! Determined to recreate that cinnamon/sweet taste from my childhood (which I didn't much care for at the time, mind you), I snatched up two of them. One went to my mom and—until today—the other sat on my kitchen windowsill (you can see it in this photo). Noticing that it was very squishy indeed, I decided today was the day to cut into the darn thing and give it another try.

P.S. I'm not much of a photographer and my camera has been dropped one too many times to be worth much, so please pardon the terrible photos below.

Washed and ready to be eaten...

Giving it a quick poke to check the ripeness.

Uh, yeah, I'd say that sucker is pretty ripe. Check out the finger indentation!

And this is what happened as soon as knife hit flesh...

Ummmm, not exactly what I remember as a child. It kind of just squished out all over the plate in an oozy, gooey mess. I definitely remember them being messy to eat, but not like this. This was just persimmon soup. Upon further Google research (which is the best kind of research, I say!), I read the following: "Be sure to eat the fruit as soon as possible because overripe persimmons quickly turn into a mushy texture." (Source) Man, this is one high maintenance fruit!

Anyway, strike 2. There were a few small chunks that I managed to salvage and they tasted pretty sweet. But overall, this second attempt with persimmons was another failure. Remind me next year not to bother!

Easter goodness

Ok, so it's been almost a week since Easter and I'm just getting around to posting about all our fun Easter activities. What can I say – it's been Busy (with a capital B!) around here with basement stuff this week. More on that to come...

Anyway, without further ado, here's what we were up to in the days and weeks leading up to Easter.

Fun with Peeps!
I personally don't like Peeps – those sugary marshmallow treats you see everywhere each Easter season – but they are awfully cute and I happened to come across a couple of fun, crafty ideas for them, so I couldn't resist.

I found the idea for these "Peeps Pops" here. We brought a bunch over to the first of several Easter Egg hunts with Owen and they were a big hit.

A basket of Peeps Pops!

Ryan tied all those ribbons. (He wanted to be sure that I mentioned that.)

And I found this printable Peeps Treat Topper here. I gave these out as small gifts to a few of my favorite "peeps!"

In case you can't read it, it says, "A little something special for one of my
favorite PEEPS."

Jelly Bean Bark
I found this super easy and fast recipe for a new, fun snack here. It was a big hit at the Peterson family Easter meal.

Crafty Cards
I bought Owen his first set of finger paints and we had so much fun coloring, gluing, and painting these cards for all his grandparents.

Easter Egg Hunts
Owen enjoyed four(!) different Easter egg hunts this year. And once he discovered that there was candy inside those eggs, he was stoked!

Chocolate Chip Scones

Yum! I love them!

Despite the major sugar spill while making them, it was definitely worth it!

Oops. Thank goodness for ShopVacs!!!

Anything with this much heavy cream HAS to be good!

Kneading dough is so much fun!

Pre-oven...

...and post-oven. YUM!