Breakfast Cooking Lesson for B

B gets up before me and makes himself a bowl of cereal in the morning.  Then when I get up, he's ready for some protein to give him go power.  I wasn't making a big breakfast for myself today, I only had a hard boiled egg, but B still wanted a big breakfast.  So, I decided it was time he expanded his breakfast repertoire.

I decided cooking one item in a pan was enough, so I had him do the turkey bacon in the microwave.  He got a paper plate, lined it with towels, added 3 pieces of bacon and covered with more towels.  He read the directions on the bacon packaging - 1 to 1.5 minutes for 2 slices and 1.5 to 2 minutes for 4 slices - and he decided 1.5 minutes wold be good for his 3 slices.  He was right because the bacon turned out exactly how he liked it and he was happy.

While the bacon was cooking, B got out the toaster and sat a slice of Wegmans Honey Apple Oat Bread (delicious!) in it but did not start toasting.  He cracked an egg into a bowl, added 1 tsp of water, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper and beat that all together.  He broke half a slice of American cheese up into small pieces, turned the heat on under our wok and added a little pat of butter.

My boy scrambled those eggs like a champ, turned the heat off before they were done cooking because we like our eggs a little wet, and mixed in his cheese bits.  He pushed the toast down to brown and then plated the bacon and eggs.  I buttered his toast because we didn't have any softened this morning, but he has been buttering and jellying his toast for a few years already.

He said this morning's breakfast was "..the best EVER!" because he made it himself.

Leftover Wednesday - Salad!

The hubs was really in the mood for a salad and I caught the fever.  Except for a BBQ, what says "Summer" more than a fresh salad?!  So, I pulled all of these ingredients out of the fridge and off the window sill to make dinner tonight:

• Cilantro
• Tomato
• Red onion
• Swiss cheese
• Iceberg Lettuce (still in the wrapper because we had such good intentions to eat salad daily when we bought it!)
• Carrots
• Celery
• Turkey lunch meat that was on day seven - use or lose
• A Ree Drummond Ranch Chicken Sandwich breast leftover from our water park picnic dinner, Monday night
• Bacon

I threw all seen above, including some shredded cheddar not pictured, into the fabulous, wooden salad bowl my MIL gave me for Christmas several years ago.  It was so delicious! Unfortunately, the avocados I wanted to include expired yesterday and did not make it in the salad.  :o(  There were leftovers for the hubs to take to work with him tomorrow for lunch, as well as for me to eat for lunch.  :oD

Bacon Pancake Muffins

I made Sausage Pancake Muffins yesterday for breakfast; they were soooooo gooooood.  B wouldn't eat them, however.  He is a bacon man and had no interest in the sausage muffins.  When I awoke this morning, I received a request from both the hubs and B to make the pancake muffins, again, but with bacon.  I did.  B liked them but the hubs and I like the sausage ones better - more flavor.

I cooked some bacon and broke up one piece into each muffin cup.

Poured my homemade pancake batter over the bacon and baked at 350 for 15 minutes.

This is one, upside-down.

Cut open.

Try them both adn tell me which ones you prefer.

Leftover Wednesday - Monterey Chicken & Dirty Rice

After I graduated from college, I went to work at a restaurant named Steak & Ale.  I loved that place - the food was awesome and my co-workers were great.  My favorite dish was Monterey Chicken.  So, when I scoured the fridge and cupboards looking for something to do with the very last 3 chicken breasts in the house, Monterey came to mind.  I wanted something more flavorful than just plain rice to go along with it so I scoured the internet for a dirty rice recipe.  They all called for fresh peppers, which I did not have.  Then I found this recipe from VeggieBelly.com.  It's a homemade dry mix in a jar for gift giving and no fresh peppers needed!  So let's get started on what I did.

Here is a pic of (almost) all the ingredients I found in the house to use.  I had no green onions for the Monterey Chicken so I sautéed a Walla Walla Sweet because I just love them.  After taking this picture and then chopping all that needed chopping, I found 2 ears of cooked corn leftover from the weekend.  So I sliced the kernels off of one cob to add to the chicken and heated the other one up for B to eat with his dinner.

I roasted the corn kernels in a dry pan,

cooked the bacon,

and sautéed half an onion in the bacon drippings.

Salted and peppered both sides of the 3 chicken breasts and cooked in the bacon drippings for 2 minutes a side.  Drained them on paper towels and let the chix ingredients sit until dinner time.

Then I made the rice.  Brought 2 1/4 cups of water to boil and added 1 chicken bouillon cube.  I didn't even remember I had chicken bouillon cubes!  I bought them years ago when I was going to make a Paula Deen recipe and then decided not to make anything with a bouillon cube b/c of the ingredients.  However, I did not have any chicken stock on hand yesterday, so I decided to give it a try.  It worked out great.  After the cube dissolved, I added paprika, garlic powder, 3 times as much fresh oregano and thyme than the dry amount the recipe called for and 1 cup brown rice.  Brought back to a boil, stirred, covered and cooked on low for 55 minutes.

When it was time to eat, I turned on the broiler, rubbed one side of the chicken breasts with some BBQ sauce and put under the broiler for a few minutes.

Took the breasts out of the oven, turned them over and covered 2nd side with BBQ sauce.  Then topped with roasted corn, onions, chopped tomatoes, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese.  Put back under broiler for a few more minutes to heat up.  The broiler really crunched up the cheese.  Next time, I won't put the cheese on that early.  The heat of the chicken and toppings will be enough to melt the cheese if sprinkled on top immediately after coming out of the broiler.

All three of us completely enjoyed this dinner!  I hope you do, too, if you give it a try!

California Club Sandwiches

Doesn't that look delicious?  I didn't feel like cooking anything for dinner last night so I made sammies. This was the hubs sandwich, a California Club.  I toasted my new favorite sandwich bread, Arnold's Oatnut, followed by:

• Mayo
• Cheese
• Lettuce 
• Locally grown heirloom tomatoes (makes all the difference in the world!) 
• Thick-cut applewood smoked bacon 
• Wegman's honey smoked turkey
• Avocado

When I dress up a plain ole turkey and cheese sandwich into a gourmet one that you can get in a restaurant, you have something dinner-worthy, delicious and filling.  Enjoy!

Leftover Wednesday - Impossible Bacon Cheese Pie & Salad

We have 2 trash pickups per week - Mondays and Thursdays.  On Wednesday nights, we clean out the fridge.  We used to toss any leftovers that had not been eaten by Wednesday, but I am getting better and better at using them up.  So, I am challenging myself to start a new series - Leftover Wednesday - where I will post what I made for dinner that night, using up leftovers in the fridge.  Tonight, we had Impossible Bacon Cheese Pie and Salad.

Have you ever had one of Bisquick's Impossible Pies?  If not, than I am happy to introduce you to them!  And if you don't eat gluten, there are GF baking mixes out there you can substitute for the Bisquick, store brand or homemade baking mix of your choice.  I know what your thinking - what is an "impossible" pie?!  It's crustless.  You are making a "pie", or more accurately a quiche, without a bottom crust.  You put your pie "filling" into your dish and then pour over it a mixture of beaten egg, milk and Bisquick.  It's the addition of the Bisquick that allows your pie to stay together.