What's for Breakfast This Weekend, Mom??!!

Since it's Thursday and there's a weekend coming up, you are going to need eat breakfast.
Right?
Everyone should be eating a well-balanced breakfast every day so that you start your day out right and have enough energy to tackle it.
Are you with me on this one?

So, in preparation for the weekend, I thought I'd give you a few of the recipes we've featured here on 365.

Hmmm...I could really go for some breakfast right now even though it's 8:12 pm.  Breakfast is my FAVORITE meal of the day!

Why not treat your loved ones to some Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers.  Probably not to be eaten alone because they certainly wouldn't satisfy that well-balanced breakfast theory, but they are easy, delicious, fun to eat and will cost you less than buying them at your local bakery. And if you don't have a local bakery, you'll be sure to score some big points when you surprise them with these!  Serve them with some fresh fruit on the side and perhaps with what's below.

These Sage and Ham Baked Eggs would be a perfect accompaniment to the Palmiers instead of just loading up on just sugar and carbs for breakfast.  The flavors blended well and everyone in the family liked them a lot.  They were perfect for individual servings.

Maybe you'd like to have a quick bread with your morning tea, such as this Blueberry Lemon Bread.  It would be perfect to serve for guests who are visiting for the weekend or would make a nice addition to your Easter brunch because it is both yummy and so very pretty with the blueberries floating in it.  Just remember to warm those berries and toss them in a bit of flour before folding them into the batter, so that they will be suspended instead of sinking to the bottom like mine did.

How about some Baked Cinnamon French Toast?!  Both delicious and wonderfully easy to put together, this dish is made the night before giving you plenty of time in the morning to enjoy your cup of coffee after you pop it into the oven waiting for the rest of the house to arise from their slumber.

Another fantastic dish I made the night before was the Baked Strawberry Waffles.  This dish was UN. BE. LIEVABLE!  It was so incredibly good that I wanted to just keep eating it even after I was full.  The strawberries, the cream cheese and that brown sugar/butter sauce.  *sigh*  It was just truly too good to be true.
The French Toast and the Waffles are great, too because if you prepare them before you go out to celebrate with your girlfriends and tend to celebrate a little too much, you can just pop these into the oven in the morning even if you DO have a hangover.  Because you know darn well that those kids are not going to give one iota if mom is not feeling well - they're still going to be wanting breakfast! And before they go and try to make it themselves, you'll already have this in the oven. But making either of these is NOT an excuse to do yourself in.  I want you to have fun, AND be responsible!

Muffins are easy and they're quick, too, unless they're the Banana Monkey Muffins.  These may take you a little longer to make, but the kids will LOVE the way they can pull them apart like the typical Monkey Bread (I'll have to make that one day soon, too).  The banana adds great flavor and the icing just puts a great finishing touch on them.

One of the favorites here at the 365 home for breakfast is the Baked Blueberry Oatmeal.  I'm thinking this may be on our menu for Saturday morning before our son heads out the door to run in a track invitational.   We love the blueberries in it and I love that I don't have to stand over the stove and burn my hand while I stir it!

Enjoy your breakfast this weekend.  If you try any of the recipes, be sure to leave me a comment letting me know what you thought of it!

Next Friday I'm doing my first guest post and will be sharing our family's most FAVORITE thing to eat in the whole wide world.  And it is a breakfast / brunch recipe!  Be sure to keep your eyes out for my announcement of when and which blog it will be appearing on.  SO exciting!!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Pesto, Pesto, PESTO!!!

Yes, it's Pesto!

I have to be honest, up until I saw this post on the Brown Eyed Baker last year and made it for dinner, I had never had pesto.
Can you believe that?
Yeah, me neither.  But there's a reason.
I avoided it mainly because I thought I'd have the same kind of reaction to it as I do Caesar Salad dressing.  I'm not allergic to it, but I get wicked indigestion.  Aren't ya just so thrilled that I shared that with ya?  ;-)
Oh, that dressing and sun dried tomatoes.  Yeah, those little red things do it to me, too.

Makes you want to go out with me to lunch, hunh?

Anyway, I have avoided pesto up until this point (or rather, the night I made it last year) thinking that it would reek some sort of havoc on my body, but I am happy to report that I can eat pesto without ANY problems!

Are you still reading or have I totally lost you with my discussion of my intestinal issues.
Ok, I'm done.
Enjoy this recipe.  It's good and I made more than we needed, so I stuck it in the freezer to save for a later date.  Not sure what I'll do with it, but I do have some thoughts.

And did you know there are nuts in pesto??!!  I didn't!  Usually it's made with pine nuts, but I have to admit I love Michelle's recipe because it's made with walnuts which is much less expensive than pine nuts.  Those babies are good, but they're just so darned pricey!  They make really awesome Pignoli Cookies though!!

Oh, and I just have to share...KC from Chat n' Dish gave and extremely nice shout out to 365 today!  She talked about the blog and my baking adventure and said she really enjoyed the Blueberry Lemon Bread.  Check out the video here on FoodChannel.com and you can see her make Italian Lolli-Burgers, as well!  Thanks, KC!

Adapted from the Brown Eyed Baker's Basic Pesto Recipe.
Basic Pesto - makes 1 1/2 cups

3 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup Romano cheese
3/4 cup olive oil

Combine the basil, walnuts, and garlic in a food processor or blender and pulse 5-7 times.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while the machine is still running.  Scrape down the sides of the blender or processor and add the cheese.  Mix a few more time by pulsing to completely blend.

Ok, I didn't make it this way.   I messed up and shoved everything into the blender except for the oil which made for great difficulty (I'm not sure that even made sense) when it came to blending everything together.  Follow the directions.  It will make you life much easier, believe me.
I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Basic Pesto earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
It is so delicious over the plain pasta we had and has a "kick" to it.
I'm interested now to see what the difference is in taste when using the pine nuts.

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

A Review of ParchmentBake from Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's

As member of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was selected to do a review of this new product that Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's has released (BIG BOOMING VOICE) into a store near you!

I grew up on Van de Kamp's.  Mom was always buying the fish sticks.  I loved them!

On occasional nights, especially in the summer, dad would put some swordfish on the grill.
Nuh-unh.  I'm not going to eat that stuff.
Mom knew what to give me (I'm an only child) so that the whole family would be eating fish for dinner - fish sticks!

Since I've started my own family, we have a tendency to eat more fresh fish than the boxed frozen items that are available.
However, as a quick dinner when the kids were little, I did occasionally buy those wonderful fish sticks.

Now, because we are all loving, (yeah, can you say TYPO?) or rather living, in a more health conscious world, counting calories, watching what we eat, and putting forth effort to make healthier food choices, Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's, have come up with a new 100% whole-fillet Tilapia product.
Tilapia is probably the fish we eat most often here in the 365 home because it is relatively inexpensive compared to some other white fish and doesn't have a very fishy taste.
I am NOT going to eat a fish that tastes fishy.
You know what I mean, and don't be pretending that you don't!  Some fish just taste like they're, well, fish.  Not that I want a fish that tastes like chicken, but too fishy is not floating my boat.
Like that reference there to a boat since we're on the subject of fish?  Nice tie-in, hunh?
Anywho.

In Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's Parchment Bake, the secret is "the unique parchment paper bag".  Pretty ingenious, hunh?
The parchment paper bag "delicately bakes the pre-grilled, 100% whole-fillet tilapia in a sauce locking in the fish's natural moisture and flavors.  Cooking in parchment is a classic technique used in restaurants and by professional chefs.  With four flavor options (Classic Grilled, Roasted Garlic, Garlic Butter and Lemon Pepper) each ParchmentBake fillet has less than 80 calories and can be found in your grocer's freezer."
You can go here to see a video of the ParchmentBake in action.

I purchased the Classic Grilled Tilapia and the Roasted Garlic for dinner one night.  Those were the only two flavors available at my local grocery store.
Each package contained two parchment bags each filled with one fillet, so it fed our family of 4 (our eldest being away at college).

There was no mess and it was extremely easy to just plop those babies down onto a baking sheet and put them into the oven for about 22-24 minutes while I prepared the rest of the dinner.

It doesn't get much easier than that!

I debated whether or not to just put the parchment bags on the plates to make sure they stayed warm, but decided to remove the fish from them.  They stayed warm anyway.
I liked the way they cooked.  The use of the parchment kept the fish moist and really did seal in the flavor.

Pictured is the Classic Grilled Tilapia

In terms of taste, I have to be honest because that is what I have been every post here on my blog and I'm not going to compromise it just for the sake of a review.
I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 and even though I didn't "make" these ParchmentBake fillets, I still need to give them a rating.  They earned 1 1/2 rolling pins.
I tasted both of them and like the Roasted Garlic much better than the Classic Grilled.  I didn't like the spices used to season the Classic Grilled at all.  I don't know what it was, I just couldn't pinpoint it. I think the Roasted Garlic could have had more flavor, but then that probably would have compromised the 80 calories.
I would have liked to have tried the Lemon Pepper because I'm partial to lemon on my fish, but alas, it wasn't available at our grocery store.
The rest of the family wasn't nuts about either flavor either, but they ate them.  Unfortunately, I won't be serving this to my family again.
This is my opinion and everyone's tastes are different.  Just because my family didn't like it, doesn't mean that you won't.  You can go here to receive a coupon to try it out for yourself!

*I was supplied with free product for my review, but all opinions are my own.*
I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Smoothie Saturday - Pineapple Mango Smoothie

It's Smoothie Saturday!!

I think I'm going to like drinking these things!

They're yummy, filling and good for you.

I don't need dinner now that today's smoothie filled my tummy up.

And I felt like I was in the tropics while I was drinking it.

Ok, not really, but the flavors kind of reminded me of it...

It would have been nice to have been swaying in a hammock on a beautiful beach, a tropical breeze caressing my fair skin, sand in between my toes, an appointment with the handsome Amadeo for a hot stone massage at 1 pm, followed by a mani / pedi, dinner reservations on the porch of a 5 star restaurant at 6 pm with a gorgeous view of the sunset over the water, a walk hand in hand with my wonderful husband down the beach under a full moon, ended with a peaceful night of sleeping in our over-the-water bungalow while the waves lap gently below us.

*shaking her head and coming back to reality*

Oh, oh, sorry.  I started daydreaming a bit there and really lost it with the thought of that handsome tall, dark man giving me a massage.  Yes, I know I'm married, and quite happily, too.

I'm still human though!  

Don't worry, there's NO way I'd jeopardize my marriage and my family.  I am COMPLETELY blessed and I know it.

Besides, that sand between the toes thing really made my skin crawl anyway.

*shudders*

I can't STAND the feeling of sand between my toes!!!!!

And I was raised on a beach.

Ok, not on necessarily, but like, on the edge.

Reminds me of the movie Shrek, "I'm a donkey on the edge!"

I digress.

As usual.

At least I'm entertaining, right?

Maybe.

Kinda?

Sorta?

Hunh?

Pineapple Mango Smoothie - serves 1

1 mango, peeled and diced

1 cup pineapple, diced (I used canned)

2/3 cup crushed ice

1/2 cup pineapple juice (yes, from that can)

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix on high until smooth.

Pour into a glass (or if you want you can drink it from the blender.  I won't tell.)

It actually made more than is in this glass, I just did this for photo purposes.  It probably amounted to 2 1/2 of these glasses.

I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 and this Pineapple Mango Smoothie earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.

Sounds weird giving a smoothie rolling pins.

I think it should be a straw rating.

I don't know if that would confuse people. 

What do you think, rolling pins or straws for Smoothie Saturdays?

Alright, I'm off.

I'm playing my son in a mean game of Words with Friends and I'm in it to win it, man!

He's dogmeat!

I'm kidding.  That's a mean thing for a mother to say.

I should be encouraging and loving and building my child's self-esteem.

C-H-A-I-N-S for triple word, boy!!  BOO YAH!!

Oh, sorry...

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Cake Batter Krispie Bars

It's a PARTY!!!!!

No, I'm just kidding.
It feels like a party whenever you have something with Funfetti cake mix in it though, doesn't it?
Kind of like those White Chocolate Cake Batter Cookies that I used with the Funfetti.
So, if you're looking for something to use that leftover cake batter for after you make those cookies (even though they didn't earn a very high rolling pin rating) or vice versa, then these might be the thing.
Don't worry, these bars fared MUCH better than those cookies.  So much so that there are only 3 1/2 left!

Ok, make that 2...

Ooh, that's a funky picture angle!  I think maybe I had one too many of these bars.

AND these are SSOOOO FREAKIN' easy to make!!  No OVEN to turn on (gotta love that, right?), and they're done just as the vultures become aware that you're making them.
I swear, both my girls showed up at the kitchen counter waiting for a handout.  They looked like two little baby birds waiting to be fed, for crying out loud.  They're 18 and two weeks shy of 20 YEARS OLD!!!!

Cake Batter Krispie Bars - makes on 9 X 13-inch pan

12 teaspoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 10 oz. bag marshmallows
1 1/2 cup Funfetti cake mix
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
2 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

Prepare a 9 X 13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
In a large saucepan, melt butter and marshmallows over medium heat.
Reduce heat to low and stir in cake mix until just combined.
Add half of the Rice Krispies and 1 tablespoon sprinkles. Mix well.
Add remaining cereal and stir until thoroughly combined.
Pour contents into prepared baking dish and spread evenly in the pan.
Sprinkle remaining tablespoon of sprinkles (sounds sort of redundant, don't cha think?) or as we New Englanders call 'em, jimmies over the top and press them lightly into the bars.

I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these Cake Batter Krispie Bars earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
They were quite delicious, but not nearly as good as another Rice Krispie bar that I make.
Don't worry, I'll be sharing that recipe at a later date.
You really could taste the cake batter in these and I added the extra sprinkles for color and a little additional flavor.

I'm thinking your kids are really going to like these!  Mine did!
How do I know?
Because now...
they're completely gone.

And yes, I had my fair share of sneaking slivers here and there which altogether probably amounted to a total of...ahem...5 or 6.
Shhhhh!!!
Don't tell the kids!
It'll be OUR secret!!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!

Tuesdays with Dorie: BWJ - Irish Soda Bread

Today is my Tuesday with Dorie post!
The recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking with Julia, we were assigned this week was the Irish Soda Bread.
You can find the recipe here at Carla's blog, Chocolate Moosey, and at Cathy's, My Culinary Mission.
Here are a few pictures of the process.

It was a very easy bread to make with only four ingredients, no rising time and baking time of only 50 minutes.

I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Irish Soda Bread earned 3 rolling pins.
The bread had a great dense texture and a really good taste.
It was wonderful to have a bread taste so good that only contained flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk!
And actually, I didn't even use buttermilk because apparently there was a run on buttermilk at the grocery store and they were O.U.T!
Since when the heck does THAT happen?
Oh yeah, maybe because it was St. Patrick's Day and a whole bunch of other people had made Irish Soda Bread.
In place of the 2 cups buttermilk I used 2 tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with 2 cups milk and let it sit for 15 minutes.
Gotta love the ability to go with the flow and make adjustments.

You can go here to see versions of the bread my fellow bloggers have made; some added cheeses and others added fruit!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Berry Blast Green Smoothie and the Secret Recipe Club

Yes, it is that time for the March reveal of the Secret Recipe Club!!

The Secret Recipe Club is the brain-child of Amanda from Amanda's Cookin.  It is based on the idea of Secret Santa where every blogger is assigned a different blog every month.  We are to "secretly" stalk them (wait isn't that what you do when you stalk someone anyway, do it secretly?  Ok, a little redundant, I guess.).  We search for a recipe that we are interested in and then reveal the results of what we have chosen to make on a certain day of the month.  My group is lead by Angela of Big Bear's Wife and we usually have our post on the third Monday of the month.  The Secret Recipe Club has gotten so large that now there are 4 groups and it's still growing.  It is so much fun to do and I can't WAIT every month to see what my blog assignment will be for the following month!

This month I was given...

We Heart Vegan

This blog was created by Brittany and Julie, who are both full-time college students.  I give them lots of credit going to school, blogging and eating much better than most college students I know usually do.

Although we don't have any vegan family members here at the 365 home, there are plenty of recipes that can be adapted and some I'd definitely like to try in the future like the Sweet Potato Risotto.

For today's reveal though I chose something that I didn't have to BAKE.  I was SO VERY excited that this month I would be able to choose ANY recipe!!!!  WOO HOO!

I picked something easy and healthy and also something that I would have shared on Smoothie Saturday, but decided this would be our first Smoothie post.  I did make some adaptations which I will go over after the recipe.

I present to you the Berry Blast Green Smoothie.

Berry Blast Green Smoothie - serves 2

1 handful of kale, washed and torn

1 large handful of fresh spinach, washed and torn

3/4 cup frozen blueberries

10 large frozen strawberries

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup white grape juice

1/2-3/4 cup water

1 heaping tablespoon flaxseed meal

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until well mixed and smooth.

Pour into serving glasses.

Could this be ANY easier and be healthy for you, too?

I admit using the white grape juice may not have been the best choice because of the sugar content and I could have just used 1/2 cup water in place of it, but I wanted to add that little bit of extra flavor.

As I stated before, there were some things that I changed in We Heart Vegan's recipe.  I deleted the frozen cherries and added 4 more strawberries than they called for.  I didn't have any almond milk, but now I'm thinking I may go get me some for future smoothie recipes.  In place of the milk, I used the white grape juice, water and Greek yogurt.  I also substituted the flax meal for the meal powder and omitted the ice since I added the extra strawberries and yogurt.

I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Berry Blast Green Smoothie earned 3 rolling pins.
My daughters and I really liked the flavor, but we agreed that I may have added too much yogurt.  I think 1/3 cup would have been sufficient.  It just made it a tad bit more tart than we would have liked.
I have to say that I really enjoyed seeing all those little specks of color at the bottom of my glass as I slurped that last little bit through my straw.  The combination of blue, green and red  made me feel really happy that I was treating my body well with this drink.
It may not be the prettiest looking drink, but it tasted really good.
I'll be making this again, but I will be omitting the white grape juice and using the almond milk.  I'll also cut the yogurt back to 1/3 cup.

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Our First Panini - Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil

Yes, those grilled sandwiches have become QUITE popular mainly because they're so very delicious and because I don't have a panini maker at home, I didn't think I'd be able to make one.
BUT...
enter my trusty George Foreman Grill!
No, this is not a plug for that wonderful kitchen appliance, but I have to tell you that I really do love that thing.
My mother-in-law gave it to me a few years ago for Christmas after I saw the girls at my old job using it and decided I had to have one.
That thing is probably one of the best appliances I have in my kitchen AND I've really only been using it to cook chicken because it cooks it in like, ready for this, 5-7 minutes!!!!
SSSOOOO wonderful when you need a healthy dinner made quickly.
Yesterday while searching for a Pasta Fagioli recipe, I had the craving for a tomato, basil, and mozzarella panini.  So, skip the soup for now, we're going with the sangwitch!

I adapted this from Epicurious.com.

Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil Panini - serves 4

8 slices Italian bread
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 large clove garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 very thin slices of prosciutto
12 slices of tomato
16 thin slices of red onion
10 ounces whole-milk mozzarella, sliced thin  (get the good stuff!)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, divided equally among the 4 sandwiches

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
In a small bowl, mix together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Brush two slices of Italian bread with the dressing on the inside.  On one slice with the dressing side up, place the prosciutto, red onions, and tomato.
Season the tomatoes with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Place the mozzarella over the tomatoes and then top with the basil leaves.
Place the second piece of Italian bread, dressing side down on top of the assembled sandwich.
Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Place on grill and cook until bread is golden brown and cheese has melted.
If not using a panini maker or George Foreman grill, carefully flip sandwich using a large spatula and press down to compact.

I rate everything I make on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Prosciutto, Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Panini earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
I liked everything except the prosciutto.  I'm not a big fan of it to begin with and at times it was difficult to eat because it was rather stringy.
My husband loved it, but next time I'll be leaving it off of mine.
However, I loved, loved, LOVED the flavors of the onion, tomato, Mozzarella, and basil.
AND the grilled Italian bread with the dressing seeping through...
MAGNIFICO!!!
There may seem to be a lot of the dressing, but make sure you brush the pieces of bread generously with it so there isn't any left over because it is a great compliment to the sandwich!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Homemade Cupcake Liners

A few weeks ago after I had made the batter for the Oreo Cupcakes, I discovered that I was not going to have enough cupcake liners.
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
When one is making cupcakes, that is NOT a good time to discover that you're short on a necessary baking equipment, and I was in no mood to make a "quick run" to the store.
And I know I have neighbors who would gladly give me the shirt off their back or their cupcake liners in exchange for a cupcake, but I wanted to be resourceful and see what I could do.

So, I Googled to see if there was a way to make my own.
Of course, somebody's done it and it can be found here on eHow Food.

Here's my tutorial.

Homemade Cupcake Liners  - I made 6

large piece of clean, white parchment paper (free of dyes or chemicals)
1 cup with a rim at least 4-inches wide
pen
1/4 cup measurer
a small glass or jar that will fit snugly (isn't there two g's in that word? Spell check doesn't seem to think so.) into the 1/4 cup measurer

Take the piece of parchment and place it on the counter or a flat surface.
Position the mouth of the cup onto the parchment and using the pen, trace around it creating a circle.
Make 6 separate circles or more if needed.

Using the item in the picture above, cut out the circles.

Place them together in one stack and center them over the 1/4 measuring cup.

Put the item that will be fitting snugly into the cup on top of the circles.  Press everything down forcing the circles and jar into the measuring cup.  You may need to add or remove some circles so that everything fits, but the more circles you have, the more pleats you will have and the more attractive the liners will be.

Allow them to sit while you make the batter.  That should be plenty of time for the liners to form.

 

They don't fit securely into the muffin tin now, but don't worry they will once you fill them with batter.

TA DA!!!

And they worked like a charm, too!

This will be a fun project for you to do with the kids!  

They'll be very proud that they made the WHOLE cupcake!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!