Breakfast tacos

This is less of a recipe and more of a framework.  Quantities of toppings will vary based on how many tacos your family will eat at at a time and how full you stuff them.  Use this method for making the taco shells and then go wild filling them! There is no need to get dressed and leave your house for this greasy spoon breakfast.

Fast Food-Style Breakfast tacos

Preheat your oven to 450 F

Take one package of thawed toaster waffles and flatten each one with a rolling pin.  
Carefully drape flattened waffles over your oven racks to shape them into taco shells.  
Bake for around 5 minutes until browned and toasted.


Prepare your filling:  scrambled eggs are a great start.  Add some crumbled breakfast sausage, bacon, shredded cheese.....use your imagination!  I'll bet anything you can stuff into a crepe would taste good in a waffle taco.  Banana and nutella?  Fresh fruit and ricotta cheese? 


Serve with syrup (or ketchup if you are my 10 year old).

Soup Weather!

My friend Cheryl tempted me with talk of a bacon-tomato soup on her Facebook wall today.  With her permission, here is the recipe cut and pasted from a chat window so I don't lose it.
The instructions are pretty general, but hey, it's soup, not rocket science!

Cheryl's Tomato Bacon Soup

2 quarts of canned tomatoes 

 2 carrots 

2 celery stalks

 2 onions 

 2 cloves garlic 

7 cups vege or chicken stock

 6 large tomatoes*

Salt and pepper 

Sauté everything but tomatoes in olive oil. Add tomatoes and seasonings and boil. Blend in a blender.

Cook most of a pack of bacon till almost crisp and crumble into final product and let simmer a while

*The tomatoes are blanched and skin/core removed

 

I think this would be delicious with a grilled cheese sandwich alongside for dipping--I also envision chopped avocado and possibly a swirl of sour cream in your bowl to finish.

Choco Banana Buzz Smoothie

I like to go running.  I find before a run if I eat the wrong things my stomach gets upset on the road, but if I don't eat I don't have the physical or mental stamina to have a good workout.  Smoothies help. It turns out if I don't have to CHEW my breakfast I can get the fuel I need to have a good workout without upsetting my stomach.  I threw this together and it was really good.  Do you need to shake up your smoothie?

Choco Banana Buzz Smoothie
Serves 1
In the bowl of your blender (or a jug if you use a stick blender like I do) toss:

1 banana, broken up
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup plain almond milk
1 scoop Chia Seeds (1 tablespoon)
1 scoop plain protein powder
1 shot espresso (you can make it with instant espresso powder if you don't have a machine)
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder
1 dash cinnamon

Blend until smooth, pour into a large glass and drink.  (It  makes more than a demitasse full, I just did that for the picture!)  If you want a really thick smoothie, put it in the fridge for 15 minutes or so to allow the chia seeds to soften and thicken the mixture.


 According to My Fitness Pal the nutrition information is as follows (I used Blue Diamond plain almond milk and Astro French Vanilla Yogurt in this recipe)

Per serving: 375 calories, 53 gm carbs, 9 gm fat, 33 gm protein, 9 gm fiber, 28 gm sugar.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Alas, it is still soup weather here.  My friend shared this recipe with me and I can't wait to try it.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

1 shallot
1 piece of ginger
20 g of butter to saute
500 g carrots
1/2-1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 L broth
100 ml cream plus 100 g creme fraiche
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon curry
salt and pepper to taste

Peel shallot and ginger and cut into small pieces.  Melt butter in a pot and gently saute  the shallot and ginger for approx 10-15 minutes--do not brown!  Wash and peel carrots. Chop.  Add carrots and saute for   a bit, then add sugar and about 2/3 of the broth.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, until carrots are tender.  Puree soup and add broth until you are happy with the consistency of the soup.
Add cream, creme fraiche and let the soup warm through.  Add tomato paste, curry and salt and pepper. Serve.

*If you want to freeze the soup, add tomato paste and spices before freezing, but do not add the diary as it will curdle when you re-heat.*

Gord's Lemon Shrimp Pasta

I complained on Facebook this afternoon that I had no idea what to make for dinner tonight.  My buddy Gord popped this message into my inbox:

Run to the grocery store and get a $8 bag of shrimp. With kids peeled is best. I do uncooked, but cooked works too. Grab a couple lemons while you're there, and some garlic, but I suspect you have that in the house.

Defrost the shrimp in the bag in a bowl of cold water. Won't take long at all -- less than an hour. You just want them not total blocks of ice.

Put water on for pasta. Once it boils and the pasta is in, do the following:

Take a pan. Add a couple or three tablespoons of oil. Any works -- canola, olive, even butter. Actually probably butter best of all, but it's sort of gilding the lily. Cook the shrimp until they're that pink colour that says they're cooked. Add a teaspoon or so of crushed garlic. If you have whole cloves, you can take four or five of them, smash them with a knife, then before you add the shrimp cook them really well in the oil, to infuse the flavour into it, then take them out -- they'll look burnt almost. Once the shrimp and garlic is cooked, turn it to low just enough to keep it hot.

Once the pasta is cooked and drained,

Now squeeze the lemon juice into the pan and use it to deglaze, then throw the pasta in and mix the whole lot up (or put the shrimp and stuff in the pasta pot, since there's usually more room). Serve with parm cheese.

I guess it is pretty tasty since this was the post script to the recipe:

I once had a lesbian girl offer to marry me, because she thought this was so good.
LOL

Choose who you make this for wisely!!

Swedish Waffles

My friend Christiane is the breakfast Queen.  First, it was Pfannenkuchen.  Now it is Swedish Waffles.  She shared this recipe with me on a scrap of paper, written by hand.  I made them for brunch today.  They are rich and buttery with a flaky interior and crisp exterior.  If you don't make them for breakfast, they would make a fantastic base for a strawberry shortcake or as a garnish with an ice cream sundae.

Swedish Waffles

2 eggs
100 ml /approx 3 oz water
10 ml /2 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
180 gm/approx 6 oz flour
5 ml/1 tsp baking powder
125 gm/1 half cup melted butter
200 ml/approx 6 oz 35% cream

Mix eggs, water, sugar, salt, baking powder and flour in a large bowl.  Add melted butter and cream.  Mix well.  Bake in a pre-heated waffle iron per manufacturer's directions. Serve with fruit and your favourite waffle toppings!

Makes about 4 large waffles.

According to MyFitnessPal here is a nutritional breakdown:

per waffle: 590 calories, 35 gms carbs, 44 gm fat, 10 gm protein.

Weekly Ritual

We like bread.  We like really good bread.  Really good bread is really expensive around here. I go through fits and spurts where I like to bake bread from scratch when we get tired of the 10 loaves for 12 Dollars rack at the bread store.  I recently found a really great bread recipe that I keep going back to every week.  It makes 5-6 loaves, freezes well and has extra ingredients that help maintain freshness for longer than a day. You can find the recipe here, at the Home Joys blog.  I change it slightly by adding about a cup of Red River Cereal to each batch to add some texture and crunch to my loaves.  This bread rises beautifully despite my addition of extra whole grains.

EDITED TO ADD: If you click over to the recipe above you will find the dough is mixed and proofed in a giant stand mixer.  I do not own a mixer large enough to do that so I use the ingredients in the above recipe and follow the instructions below to mix and proof the dough by hand.

The following is another favourite bread recipe of mine. It makes around four loaves. This recipe has been in my binder for at least 10 years. I have no idea which website I got this from and Google was no help. 


 Christine's Multi-Grain Bread
3 cups water
6 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup sesame seeds*
1/4 cup millet seeds*
1/4 cup raw, unsalted sunflower seeds*
1/4 cup flax*
6 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Measure 1 cup of warm water into a very large bowl.  Stir in 1 tsp of sugar and the yeast.  Let stand for 10 minutes, until frothy.
2. While yeast mixture is standing, combine three cups water, butter or margarine, salt and honey in a saucepan. Heat until the liquids are warm and the margarine has melted (make it about the temperature of a hot bath.)  Add to yeast .
3. Add seeds to bowl, then flour, one cup at a time, starting with the whole wheat flour. Stir after each addition of flour. Begin kneading when dough becomes impossible to stir. (This is a messy step! Stick with it! It gets better!)
4. Continue kneading dough on a floured surface, adding small amounts of white flour until the dough is smooth and not sticky.  This could take up to 10 minutes. Your triceps will thank you.
5. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in bulk.  If it is cold where you are, turn your oven on to about 200F for one minute, then turn it off and then put your bread in there to rise. This could take an hour or so, depending on how warm it is.
6. If you have no five year old boy handy to do this step, go ahead and punch down the dough yourself.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough into loaves.   Place dough into greased pans and let rise again until doubled. 45 minutes to an hour. While the dough is rising this time, preheat your oven to 350F.
7. Place loaves in the oven (unless they are already in there rising, then just leave them!) Bake for 30-35 minutes, until nicely browned and if tapped, make a hollow sound.
8. Remove from pans and allow to cool on wire racks.

*If you don't want to stock up on seeds, 1 cup of Red River cereal is a good substitution for the seeds and grains in the recipe. 3/4 cup of Red River cereal + 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds would be really good too. If you are American Cooks info dot com says a good substitute for Red River Cereal is as follows:  1 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup bulghur wheat and 4 tablespoons flax seeds

1 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup bulghur wheat, 4 tablespoons flax seed.

Read more: http://www.cooksinfo.com/red-river-cereal#ixzz2D53EiM3Z

  Mixing up a batch of Homemade Dough Enhancer will make any of your favourite bread recipes last longer and taste a bit better. It works in your bread machine too.

Have you never stuck your hands into a gorgeous mound of bread dough? Here is a video that shows proper kneading technique and how to tell when your workout is finished.

Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Today is Wednesday. It is going to be this year's Hell Day.  Why? I lead a playgroup in the morning, have kids come home for lunch, and then have to take a little girl to her violin lesson after school.  This means I am going to aim to do my lunch prep after breakfast and my dinner prep after lunch.  This will mean the crock pot gets called in to action on many Wednesdays.

Today I was chatting online with my friend Ashlee and between the two of us we came up with a way to use up some leftover pork roast  I had in my fridge.  This pie looks so good I am jotting some notes down here so I can remember what I did.

This is a "by the seat of your pants" casserole so the measurements here are very big guesses--eyeball it. It's casserole, not souffle!

Pulled Pork Pot Pie

Peel and cube 4-5 potatoes.  Simmer on the stove or microwave until tender. Mash with buttermilk, some grated cheddar cheese and some no-salt garlic herb mix.  Set aside.

While potatoes are cooking, in a large skillet fry 1/2 of a large onion in a couple of tablespoons of butter.  When golden, sprinkle over a couple of big spoonfuls of flour.  Add in a couple of cups of chicken broth (or do what I did and add in a couple of spoonfuls of vegetable bouillon and pour water over from the kettle to cover the bottom of the skillet) Add in one grated carrot, the kernels of one ear of leftover corn, 1/4 red pepper diced and about 1 pound of leftover cooked roast pork.  Simmer, stirring constantly, until gravy thickens.  Add in a big squirt of your favourite barbecue sauce (I love President's Choice Beer and Chipotle flavour).  Pour filling into a large casserole dish.  Top with mashed potatoes. 

Heat in a 375 degree oven until filling is bubbly and topping is browned a bit.

Eat.

Pfannenkuchen

This is my friend Christiane's recipe for pancakes.  They are delicious.  They taste like an eggier version of a crepe.  I love mine with butter and jam, but applesauce is good too.

German Pancakes (Pfannenkuchen):

200g flour

5 eggs

400ml milk (or 200ml sparkling water like Perrier and 200ml milk)

a pinch of salt

a bit of sugar if you like (depends if you eat sweet or salty things with it)

Sift flour into a bowl and mix with the milk (or milk and water mixture) until smooth. Beat eggs with an whisk and add with salt and sugar to the four/milk mixture. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Depending what kind of flour you use you might have to add some more liquids to the dough. The dough should be really runny so you get nice and thin pancakes. Bake pancakes in a pan with a little bit of butter. Stack the pancakes and keep warm in the oven.

Most people eat the pancakes with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar and applesauce (unsweetened or else it will be too sweet). Jam or maple syrup is also nice. If you like salty, try a hamburger sauce, ham and cheese.....or anything that you can think of. If you have pancakes left over, you can cut them up in very thin strips and put them into a broth the next day...hmmmmm....

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday--Clipping binder edition with bonus recipe!

Hello blog! It's been a long time!  I took some time off to be sick.  I didn't feel like cooking when I was ill so the family lived on soup, sandwiches, pancakes....easy, quick and minimal cooking.

I am back, and this time I pulled one of my clipping binders off the shelf to make my menu.  There was a reason I saved all of those recipes, right???

Monday--Cheeseburger soup*, bread from my bread machine (handwritten, I have no idea where I got it)
Tuesday--Psycho Chicken (Cooking Light, June 2002), steamed vegetables, buttered noodles
Wednesday--steak. sauteed mushrooms, blue cheese crumbles, mashed potatoes and steamed green peas.
Thursday--Pork Chop Suey (cheating...Eat, Shrink and Be Merry)
Friday--Salmon Loaf (my Mom's recipe)

Saturday--Balsamic chicken with caramelized onions (Woman's Day, Feb, 1999)

You can check out more menu planning ideas at I'm an Organizing Junkie

*Cheeseburger Soup
1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup diced celery
1 tsp parsley flakes (I am subbing in fresh)
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp. basil
4 Tbs butter or margarine, divided
4 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
2 cups cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Brown beef in a large soup pot.  Drain and set beef aside.  Place pot back on heat and saute onions, carrots,  basil, and dried parsley  in 1 Tbs butter until tender.  Add broth, potatoes, ground beef and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until potatoes are tender.  Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining 3 Tbs butter.  Add flour.  Cook and stir 3-5 minutes until bubbly.  Add to soup and bring back up to a boil.  Cook and stir 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  Add cheese, milk, salt, pepper.  Stir until cheese melts.  Remove from heat, stir in sour cream and garnish with fresh parsley if you didn't use dried.

Serves 4-6,  I think.

Multigrain bread

I got this recipe from a friend. I am going to try it out this morning!

MULTIGRAIN BREAD (LARGE 1.5 lb LOAF (I have an old breadmaker)
1 cup + 2 tbsp (300 ml) water
1 and 1/2 tbsp (25 ml) butter
3 tbsp (45 ml) liquid honey
1 and 1/2 cups (375 ml) All purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups (375 ml) Whole Wheat flour
3/4 cup (175 ml) Red River cereal
1 and 1/2 tsp (7 ml) salt
2 tsp (10 ml) quick rise yeast
I really like the crunchy texture of the Red river in it & love this bread buttered right out of the bread maker!

Pancake Makeover

Pancakes are usually wasted calories. Yes, they are light and fluffy, but they are definitely not filling and I sure don't feel satisfied after eating them.

These pancakes WILL leave you feeling satisfied. They are hearty and filling and have a hefty 8 grams of protein per serving. That is twice as much as a pancake made from a regular mix. These pancakes also have all of the goodness of whole grains in them to give you lots of energy.

Just make sure to read ALL of the directions as the batter needs to sit around 40 minutes before you make the pancakes. Step 1 can even be done the night before so you are ready to roll in the morning.

I am not sure if there is an American equivalent to the main ingredient, Red River Cereal (man, you Americans have crummy Smarties, Kinder Eggs are banned and there is no Red River Cereal...how do you live??) Here is a place you can order it. Amazon has it too.

Anyhoo, without further ado, here is a really yummy recipe for pancakes in a way you probably haven't had them before

Hearty Red River and Oats Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Original Red River Cereal
• 1 1/4 cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
• 2 cups 1 % milk
• 1 cup All-purpose flour
  
• 2 tbsp sugar
  
• 2 tbsp baking powder
  
• 3/4 tsp salt
  
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup Vegetable oil
  

Directions

1. Combine Red River cereal with 3/4 cup BOILING WATER and let stand 30 minutes
2. Add oats and milk, let stand 10 minutes, until milk is absorbed
3. Combine dry ingredients in a separate mixing bowl
4. Add eggs and oil to cereal mixture. Mix well, and add to flour mixture, beating until smooth.
5. Spoon batter by 1/4cupfuls onto preheated lightly greased griddle or frying pan. Cook until bubbles break on surface and underside is golden. Turn and cook other side until golden. Serve hot with butter and syrup or honey.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Calories 229

Calories from Fat 85

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 9.3g 14%

Saturated Fat 1.9g 9%

Cholesterol 74.8mg 24%

Sodium 25%

Total Carbohydrate 27.1g 9%

Dietary Fiber 2.2g 8%

Sugars 3.6g

Protein 8.5g 17%

Fat: 37%
Carbs: 47%
Protein: 14%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Mix master.

Lately, I have developed a dislike of buying preprocessed, overpackaged convienence foods. If I want cookies, I will bake them. Pudding isn't THAT hard to stir up and sitting at the stove can be very peaceful and meditative. The only cake mix I buy is Angel Food, since I have made it from scratch, and there is really very little difference in the quality of the finished product.

I have found, from time to time, favourite recipes of mine call for premade biscuit mix. I don't make a habit of buying that, but I learned it is easily made from very common pantry ingredients. Once you know the secret, you will stop buying it too!

I used the following recipe to make dumplings for stew last night. They turned out perfectly and I didn't have to make a last-minute trip to the store!

BisQwick Baking Mix

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

This is a delicious soup that is fast to make, filling, and kid friendly. (even my two year old gobbled it up!) It calls for inexpensive pantry ingredients s o you can whip it up on the spur of the moment.

Give it a try! Don't fear the pumpkin in the soup. It adds a creamy richness and gives some sweet contrast to the spices.

My kids like it with cheese on top. I like it with cheese and a dash of hot sauce.

Sassy Salsa Pumpkin Soup
(1 serving: 160 calories, 1g fat, 1,128mg sodium, 13g carbs, 12g fiber, 6.5g sugars, 10g protein)


Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
4 cups fat-free broth (chicken or vegetable)
1 15-oz. can pure pumpkin
1 can black beans; drained and rinsed
1 cup corn
3/4 cup salsa (this is where you can add or reduce the spiciness)
*Optional toppings: shredded reduced-fat or fat-free cheese, and reduced-fat or fat-free sour cream

Directions:
Spray pot with nonstick cooking spray and set stove to medium heat. Add garlic, chili powder, and cumin; stir for one minute. Add broth to the spices, and bring to a simmer. Next, add pumpkin and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Optional: Garnish soup with a sprinkle of cheese and a little fat-free sour cream on top. Serves 4.

*Nutritionals do not include optional toppings.

Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Wait. I know what you are thinking. Jen, you are trying to shrink. How will pepperoni and pasta help that?? Bear with me. This is my slimmed-down version of a Taste of Home recipe. It makes a great make-ahead supper for a hot day. Boil the pasta first thing in the morning before the sun gets too high. Then you can rest easy knowing that you will have a filling and family friendly meal ready to go when you are ready to wilt.

The original recipe had over 500 cals per serving. By my estimate a big bowl of my version has 286 calories.

Slimmed-Down Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup part-skim mozzarella, cubed
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
5 small turkey pepperoni sticks, chopped. (I use Freybe's I think it ends up to be around a cup of pepperoni.)
1/2 cup light zesty Italian dressing.

Directions:

1. Cook pasta until just a teensy bit underdone. Rinse well with cold water and set aside.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and cooled pasta in a large bowl. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
3. Stir and serve.

Makes four big bowlfuls.

Thank you Hungry Girl!

I am a big fan of Hungry Girl. Her cookbooks and ideas are a big help in my weight loss journey. This one just showed up in my email in-box. I needed to post it so I wouldn't lose it.
Doesn't it look good??? I love crock potting!

Slow-Cookin' Pulled Chicken

PER SERVING (1/2 cup): 149 calories, 1g fat, 462mg sodium, 10g carbs, <0.5g>POINTS? value 3*

This shredded BBQ chicken is FANTASTIC over salads, piled onto light buns, stuffed inside high-fiber tortillas with (rinsed) cole slaw, or eaten all by itself. Yummmmmm!




Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breasts, halved
1 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. brown sugar (not packed)
2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. garlic powder
Optional: red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients except the chicken in the crock pot. Stir until mixed. Add chicken and coat well with the sauce.

Cover and cook on high for 3 - 4 hours OR on low for 7 - 8 hours, until chicken is fully cooked.

Remove all the chicken and place it in a bowl. Shred each piece using two forks -- one to hold the chicken in place and the other to scrape across the meat and shred it. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot, and mix well with the sauce.

If you're serving a group, keep the crock pot on its lowest setting, so the chicken stays warm. If you like, season to taste with red pepper flakes. Eat up!

MAKES 7 SERVINGS