Bacon Fun

Make bacon.  Not the floppy kind, but crunchy and firm.  Dip in melted chocolate.  All together now...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.



We didn't have enough bacon left for each kid to get their own piece, so I added it to chocolate chip cookie dough.  Ummm: Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



Experiment and Enjoy.

No pictures, these didn't last long enough!

EASY baked omelet

*for my family I'll have to at least double this, everyone devoured and enjoyed!

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

• Place eggs and milk in a blender. Add the flour, salt and pepper; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set.
• Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up omelet in pan, starting with a short side. Place with seam side down on a serving platter. Cut into 3/4-in. slices. Yield: 6 servings.

*Can add sprinkled ham, mushrooms, other omelet stuff AFTER rolling and serving. It doesn't roll so great with extra toppings.

Nutritional Analysis:2 slices equals 204 calories, 12 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 238 mg cholesterol, 393 mg sodium, 11 g

carbohydrate, trace fiber, 13 g protein.

Strawberry Soup

I was driving home from work yesterday and thought - what about making a fruit- based soup? Tomato is a fruit, and I love tomato soup. What about strawberries? So last night I looked on the internet for recipes, but I found "strawberry soup" recipes that are basically fruit smoothies in a bowl- not exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to try something hot- like a traditional soup, not a gazpacho or a chilled smoothie. So I made up my own recipe and it was wonderful. I am thinking of trying more fruit soups inthe future. So far this one is my favorite. . . out of the one I have tried.

Strawberry Soup:

-----------------------

*10 fresh (or frozen-thawed) strawberries

*2C skim milk

*1C water

*1/4C Parmesan cheese

*2T lemon juice

1tsp salt

*3T sour cream

1/8C Finely shredded extra sharp cheddar

3T olive oil

2 tsp honey

Finely blend ingredients with *

Place over low-medium heat (do not boil). Add remaining ingredients and stir often. Let soup barely simmer-not boil- for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and enjoy!

It was a big hit in the Bush household! Gone fast! Yum!

Quick Brazilian Cheese Rolls {Pao de Queijo} - Gluten Free!

Quick Brazilian Cheese Rolls {Pao de Queijo} - Gluten Free!

Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup canola oil

orunsweetened applesauce

1 cup tapioca flour (sometimes labeled tapioca starch) no substitutions

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 C grated cheddar cheese* (preferably medium or sharp)

1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

*you can play around with the cheese.Monterey Jack, low-moisture mozarella, swiss, and even gruyere in place of the cheddar.

Optional: extra cheese to sprinkle on top and any herbs/flavorings you'd like to add

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place egg, milk, oil, tapioca flour, and salt in blender and blend until smooth. Add cheeses and pulse 2 times. Immediately pour batter into a mini muffin tin (if your muffin tin isn't non-stick, spray lightly with non-stick spray first), filling each well about 3/4 full, or just slightly less.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes before removing rolls from pan. Serve warm. These actually don't re-heat well so I recommend making and eating fresh. Yield: 16-24

Homemade tortillas

Yesterday the kids wanted to have a tortilla lunch... but we didn't have any more tortillas. It was a difficult week to get to the store! (I went after lunch instead.)

These were easy and according to the kids, yummier than store bought. I agree.

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

Combine all the flour, salt, vegetable oil, and water until it forms a dough.

Roll the dough into a big ball and take about an 1 to 2 inch pieces off. Pat the dough flat with your hands or take a rolling pin and roll into circles. (The kids helped, and we didn't get perfect circles, but that was kind of fun too!)

Put the dough on a flat pan on the stove and let the sides cook until there are little brown specks on both sides like you would see on other tortillas.

The kids then loaded up their tortillas with whatever toppings their heart desired. This is one of their favorite lunches/snacks. Everyone eats happily.

Slow-cooker Lasagna and Cookie Milkshake

This was a hit tonight, so much so that I have to write it down for history's sake. Evelyn had thirds! AND wanted more, but there was no more to be had.

Crockpot Pesto Lasagna

Layer the following ingredients until you run out of ingredients:

Pasta sauce (about 1/4 cup at a time) - I used my homemade chunky tomato soup and it worked great.

Uncooked lasagna noodles, and you can break them to fit your pot.

Pesto sauce (you'll use an 8 oz jar easy)

Cottage or ricotta cheese

Handful of baby spinach

Parmesan/mozarella cheese

Start again with the pasta sauce (and end with it on top too)

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6.

Delish.

The crockpot has saved me this month. Because of our new baby, I thought ahead in January and planned out all our dinners to be crockpot dinners that I could start pre-fussy evening time. It worked out great... especially with the unexpected surgery! I also chose really easy dump and leave dinners. This lasagna took me about 7 minutes to dump in the crockpot before a busy busy afternoon.

And now, dessert. This was too good. I enjoyed it too much. Yum.

Cookie Milkshake

About 1/2 a blender of ice cream.

Crush up some old valentine cookies that still have their frosting on them and add to the blender.

Add milk to desired consistency.

Blend. I served these in the tiny shot glasses I got for Christmas. Everyone had seconds. I got to scrape out the blender.

The PERFECT boiled egg!! (works every time)

OK, so maybe this post reveals more about my anal-retentiveness than I really want, but who cares. One of things that really bothers me is boiled eggs that are difficult to peel. I have spent way too much time online searching how to make the perfect boiled egg- you know, the kind that always peel perfectly. Well, every method I have heard about always seemed to give minimal results- vinegar, boiling twice, putting in ice water as soon as they are boiled, making sure they are at least 2 weeks old before boiling, etc, etc, etc. Well, today I discovered the true- and very simple- way to a perfect boiled egg- the secret is to NOT boil it at all! Simply steam the eggs. It is so easy, and works so well, I couldn't believe it!

You just need a steamer or steam basket- make sure the eggs are room temperature before steaming- just get them out and set them on the counter while I do something else. Then when they are room temperature, put enough water in the pan to come up to the steam basket without touching the eggs- then steam them for 20-25 minutes (less time for a softer yolk, more time for a harder yolk). And viola! The yummiest and easiest to peel hard boiled egg ever (I guess it is not technically a hard-boiled egg, but a hard. . . cooked egg?)!

They are so easy, you don't even have to peel them- you can just take off a little bit of shell on each end and hold the egg tightly, then blow on one end- the egg pops right out! It is very fun and cool.

-Bob/Joel