Saturday Brunch

I have no idea what to call this. All I know is that it turned out so yummy. I guess that it is basically a quiche baked in a giant bread "bowl". You could do any variation of your favorite ingredients in it. I changed it a lot from the recipe that I had. also the recipe I had called for it to be baked in foccaica bread. I went with ciabatta (cam's favorite) and it worked great. Also as you may be able to tell I was on a cheese kick so I used one of my favorite cheeses in this. Cheddar would be just fine.

1 loaf crusty bread
4 oz smoked gruyere
4 oz cheddar
3 slices breakfast ham cut into cubes
half of a medium onion
1/2 tsp thyme
6 eggs
butter
parsley
olive oil

slice the top off of the bread and hollow it out making a nice bread "boat" brush the inside and top edges with the butter (melted) or olive oil would work. Then sprinkle with the parsley, place on a cookie sheet, and put into a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until toasted.

while the bread is toasting chop the onion and saute in a tbsp evoo until transparent and then add the cubed ham and thymeand contiue to cook. Shred cheeses and mix with eggs. add ham mixture and stir together. pour into the toasted bread and put back into the 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. when it is done let stand for 5ish minutes and then slice into 1 inch slices. and serve. It is tasty. There are so many fun variations you could do with this. I am going to be getting creative. I have lots of eggs to use up.

Zesty Sweet Potato Sticks

Yes, another sweet potato recipe. This one was a big hit. Lizzie couldn't get enough of them.

I found this recipe on the 3 fat chicks on a diet website. I altered I added a little olive oil to it just so the stuff would stick. The original recipe does not call for oil.

2 large sweet potatoes, cute lengthwise into 1/2 inch stick.
1 tbsp or so of olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
salt to taste

directions:
Preheat oven to 450*F. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place sweet potato sticks in a large bowl and drizzle with just enough olive oil to lightly coat. Add chili powder, Parmesan cheese, and pepper and toss to coat well. Arrange potato sticks on a baking sheet in single layer. Bake 20 minutes, turn and bake another 10 minutes until golden. Season with salt to taste.

We have some friends who just put olive oil and chili powder on them, so if you're looking for a lower fat alternative, you could leave off the cheese.

Mixed Grilled Taters

Since grilling weather is just around the corner I decided to post one of our favorite grilling recipes.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Grill Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:
2 medium-size baking potatoes (about 10 oz. each)
2 medium-size sweet potatoes (about 10 oz. each)
3 to 4 Tbsp. lemon juice (1 large lemon)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper with garlic
Cooking spray
Salt to taste (optional)
Lemon pepper with garlic to taste (optional)
Fresh lemon wedges (optional)

Pierce potatoes; microwave at HIGH 10 minutes or just until tender. Let potatoes stand at room temperature until slightly cool. Cut into 1/2 inch-thick-slices.Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, and lemon pepper in a small bowl until blended. Brush both sides of potato slices evenly with lemon juice mixture; reserve remaining lemon juice mixture.

Coat cold grill food grate with cooking spray; place on grill over medium-high heat (350º to 400º). Arrange potato slices on food grate.Grill, covered with grill lid, 4 minutes on each side or until slightly crisp and grill marks appear. Brush both sides of grilled slices with reserved lemon juice mixture. If desired, sprinkle with salt and additional lemon pepper. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Oat Poppy Seed Muffins

You all know how I like to cram all the whole grain I can into my baked goods, but I've found that whole wheat kind of overpowers the flavor of poppy seed muffins, so I use white and oat flour (made by whirling oats in the blender) for this recipe. This batter is really thick, but my poppy seed muffins always puff way up and then collapse, and thicker batter helps some to prevent this. (Mine still went kind of flat.):

1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. oat flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. poppy seeds
1/3 c. powdered milk (or just use milk instead of powd. milk & the water)
1/2 c. sugar (3/4 c. if you like sweeter)
1/4 c. canola oil
1/2 c. water
1 egg
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest or lemon extract (optional)

Mix dry ingredients together, then mix in the wet stuff. Don't over mix. Bake 15-20 min at 350 degrees.

Beef Taco Bake

1 pound ground beef(we actually use about half that much to cut back on meat)
1 can condensed tomato Soup
1 cup Salsa
1/2 cup milk
6 flour tortillas (8 inch) or corn tortillas (6 inch) cut into 1-inch pieces. (I cheat and use tortilla chips.)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. (4 ounces)

In medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef until browned and poor off fat.

Add soup, salsa, milk, tortillas and half the cheese. Spoon into 2-quart shallow baking dish and cover with tin foil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

I made Jolynn's southwest crockpot chicken the other day and made this dressing to go on top of it and I nearly cried when I ran out of leftovers. It is supposed to be similar to Cafe Rio salad dressing, but it's not quite the same. However, it is still really yummy and I can eat it on just about everything. This is a combined recipe from a few that I have found. It certainly could be made with low/fat free mayo and sour cream. But I'll leave that to all of you, my doctor is still harping me to gain a few pounds. I am going to enjoy that while it lasts :)

1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large jalapeno
1/2 of a medium onion
4 medium tomatillos (sp?)
1/2 bunch cilantro
juice of 2 limes

after giving the veggies a rough chop throw everything into a food processor or just your blender, whichever you have. just make sure it gets really mixed well. I actually doubled it when I made it and it got to be too much for my blender..... (I can't wait to get that 14 cup food processor I drool over every time I walk into the kitchen store)

Here's the Mac and Cheese that we had for dinner on Saturday:

Macaroni and Cheese Light

8 oz whole-grain elbow macaroni (yes, it really called for whole grain)
1 T all-purpose flour
1 cup fat-free milk, divided (I used 1%)
1 cup grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I found sharp cheese, but not extra sharp)
2 t. Dijon mustard
1 t. salt (the recipe called for only 1/4 t.)
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. nutmeg (sounds a little strange, I know, but I did put it in)
1/8 t. ground cayenne, ancho or other chili pepper
1 1/2 cups 2% cottage cheese
3 T unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 t. extra virgin olive oil
3 T grated Parmeson cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8" square baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water, then set aside. (It's important to cook whole grain pasta only to al dente stage.)

Meanwhile in a small bowl, whisk together flour and 2 T of the milk. In a large saucepan, heat the remaining milk over med. heat until steaming. Gradually whisk a few T of the hot milk into the milk-flour mixture, then whisk this mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constatnly, until the sauce is smooth and slightly thickened, 1 minute.

Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in cheddar cheese, mustard, salt, black pepper and nutmeg; set aside. Puree the cottage cheese until very smooth; stir into the sauce. Stir in the cooked macaroni and spoon into the baking dish.

In a small bowl, stir together breadcrumbs and olive oil until well blended. Stir in the Parmesan and sprinkle over mac and cheese. Bake for 40-45 min. or until browned on top and bubbling.

By the way, one of my favorite recipe websites is allrecipes.com. You can find recipes for just about anything there! Check it out sometime!

Honey-Oat Pan Rolls

Thanks for inviting me to join your blog! Here's my introductory recipe. :) It's a healthy-ish one. It's best if you have a bread mixer for this (I don't and I didn't really enjoy all the kneading, but my whole family liked the finished product...even the purely white bread kids).

Honey-Oat Pan Rolls

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 Tbsp yeast
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup honey
5 Tbsp butter, divided
1 egg

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oats, yeast, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the water, honey, 4 Tbsp of the butter to 120-130 degrees F (just until the butter is melted). Add to the dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add egg; beat until well combined. Stir in enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place in a greased 13x9x2" baking pan. cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 375 for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Melt remaining butter; brush over rolls. Remove from pan to cool.

Now that I've typed it out, it seems like a lot of work, but I really love homemade rolls so it was worth it!

Okay, here's a recipe that I haven't actually tried yet, but it sounds good. I watched it prepared on a "Healthy Decadence" episode on discovery health, then I found pretty much the same recipe in the newspaper food column. You can use this recipe for fish sticks, fish, chicken or pork filets as well:

Baked Popcorn Chicken (or chicken fingers, fish sticks, filets, etc.)

Olive oil cooking spray
2 large egg whites
2 T Dijon mustard
1/2 t salt
2 c panko (Japanese-style) bread crumbs
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1-inch cubes

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, mustard and salt. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, spred the panko. Add the chicken pieces to the egg white mixture and toss to coat. A few pieces at a time, transfer the chicken to the bread crumbs and toss to thoroughly coat. Transfer the breaded chicken pieces to the prepared baking sheet, arranging them close together but not touching. when all of the chicken is on the baking sheet, spritz them lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes, then use a spatula or tongs to flip the chicken pieces. Continue baking until golden brown and no longer pink at the center, another 5-10 minutes.