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Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Date: April 2nd, 2013

Recipe: http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/03/roasted-brussels-sprout-carbonara.html

Modifications: None

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Notes: We had this after the kids went to bed for a stay-at-home date dinner. We’re nothing if not consistent, since the last time we had pasta carbonara was almost exactly a year ago……….for another date night :)

We liked the addition of the brussel sprouts quite a bit, but this recipe was not as saucy as the previous recipe we used. Maybe next April we can combine the best of both worlds and have an awesome carbonara.

Roasted brussel sprout carbonara

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Date: December 26th, 2012

Quinoa cakes recipe: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/12/05/quinoa-cakes-with-poached-eggs/

Poached eggs recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/08/how-to-poach-an-egg-smitten-kitchen-style/

Modifications:  None

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: These cakes were totally awesome. I made the first two a little too big, so Erin made the last 4 smaller, which worked out well for Annie. The poached egg instructions from smitten kitchen are linked to in the original recipe post, but I wanted to call it out here, as it delivered the absolute best poached eggs I’ve ever made. I can’t wait to have these for lunch today, in about 10 minutes :)

Quinoa Cakes with Poached Eggs

Looks like frosting
Annie with her "dinner cake"

Cake for dinner?!?

Broccoli Nuggets

Broccoli Nuggets

Recipe: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/babyfingerfood.htm#.UJqx3G_A_5w (scroll down a bit to get to this particular recipe)

 

1 16-oz  Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup whole wheat plain breadcrumbs
1 ½ cups Shredded cheddar cheese
3  Large eggs

Preheat oven to 375
1. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
2. Combine all remaining ingredients and mix well.

*I made some for Annie and added seasonings as well, I kept Luke’s plain

3. Shape mixture into nuggets (I used my small cookie scoop) or fun shapes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes. Serve warm. Be sure to crumble these if your baby needs.

Modifications: None

Time to table: 5 minutes prep, 25 minutes bake time

Servings: This made quite a bit – I froze a big bag of them.

Annie: Love – and she especially loved that I made an “A for Annie” :) Weirdly, broccoli is probably her favorite vegetable.

Luke: Love (but he’s at the age where he basically loves anything he can pick up and shove in his mouth)

Notes: Check the original link for suggestions to avoid eggs if that’s something you’re doing. I have made baby food for both Annie and Luke and REALLY love it. I didn’t make a ton for either kid and pretty quickly went to just giving them what we were eating (or in Annie’s case early on, just gave her leftovers since we used to eat after she went to bed). Luke is not a fan of purees, so these are great for him if we don’t want to give him what we’re eating that night for whatever reason.

Big A broccoli "nugget"

Annie with her big A

She did not eat all this :) I just froze the parts she didn’t eat for later.

Luke enjoying veggie nuggets

 

Chicken Tamale Pie

Chicken tamale pie
My mom was over, and she is not a cilantro fan :)

Date: October 8, 2012

Recipe: http://pinchofyum.com/chicken-tamale-pie

Modifications:  Used regular milk, an egg (not egg substitute) and a can of regular (not creamed) corn. May have used slightly more than 8oz of corn muffin mix since I eyeballed it. Used chicken thighs instead of breasts. Used cheddar cheese. Forgot to add taco seasoning to the chicken. Did I even make this recipe?? :) Ha, I still think it was pretty similar at least!

Time to table: About an hour in total, would go faster if you had the chicken ready in advance. 20 minutes is to bake the corn mix.

Servings: Exactly served 4 adults and 1 toddler.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: Probably due to my “modifications”, the corn crust was a little more done than she indicates in the original post, but I liked it that way.

Chicken tamale pie

Pumpkin Waffles

Pumpkin Waffles

Date: October 3, 2012

Recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/11/pumpkin-waffles/

Modifications:  A little bit of my egg yolk got in with my whites, so I had to throw a few away (they don’t beat up if any part of the yolk is in there) so I only had 3 egg whites. We never have buttermilk, so as usual I used milk with about a tablespoon of vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes.

Time to table: In total, it felt like nearly an hour. Much like these pancakes, these dirty up 3 separate bowls, and you have to beat egg whites. It does make for a great finished product, though! The waffles are much fluffier with a bit of a crisp exterior when the egg whites are beaten separately.

Servings: Served 3 of us and we had a few to put in the freezer.

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Luke: Love!

Notes: I added Luke as a rater for this one :) He has had a few pieces of these to chew on straight from the freezer, which bought us an ENTIRE DINNER of silence – AMAZING. I will for sure be making many more waffles for him now :)

Making pumpkin waffles!  (this is what I have to do when I open a can of pumpkin!) recipe from @thesmitten and WAY better than others I've tried!
Annie loves watching the light change

Luke eating a waffle

Egg Muffins

Egg, bacon toast muffins

Date: September 25, 2012

Recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/330179/bacon-egg-and-toast-cups

Modifications:  I chopped the bacon up, rather than use whole strips, we also threw in some slightly sauteed spinach to add some veggies. Also, not wanting to waste pieces of bread, I used a half slice of bread in each muffin tin, rather than cutting a circle out of 6 pieces.

Time to table: 20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cook time

Servings: 6 eggs worth

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This was a great way to use up some eggs and bacon that we had leftover from other recipes. I was surprised how little spinach and bacon fit inside the muffin tin, so I chopped up a bit too much spinach. Annie flipped out over this meal because she didn’t want the eggs touching anything else. Ah, the rough life of a toddler :)
Happy before she discovered this was not a "real" cupcake :)

Honey Yogurt Waffles

Honey Yogurt Waffles

Date: 6/5/2012

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2012/05/16/honey-yogurt-waffles/

Modifications: None

Time to table: 30 minutes prep

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: You’ll notice that Annie hasn’t “loved” a dish in awhile – she just doesn’t seem as into eating lately, unless it’s ice cream or cookies :) You’d think she’d scarf down waffles, but she is always much more interested in eating the fruit! I thought these were great, especially for being a “healthy” recipe – they still tasted sweet (of course, Ben and I put maple syrup on them – but even without that. We told Annie syrup is medicine and so far she hasn’t demanded it ;) and I loved the addition of cinnamon. They weren’t as fluffy as other waffle recipes we’ve made, but they still kept their shape pretty well.

Annie helping cut strawberries
Annie loves helping me separate the strawberries – stems in the compost!

Crazy face

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with blackberry sauce

Date: 4/30/2012

Recipe: http://annies-eats.com/2011/01/12/lemon-ricotta-pancakes-with-blackberry-sauce/

Modifications: None

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Love

Annie: Love (especially the blackberry sauce!)

Notes: These are probably my favorite pancakes ever – too bad I am NOT good at flipping pancakes and they somehow all got burned on the outside but not always quite done on the inside. That’s why I like waffles – my waffle maker tells me when it’s done :) These are not exactly quick pancakes since they involve beating egg whites and dirty quite a few dishes… but they are tasty. So it’s not like this is truly a “quick” breakfast for dinner meal, but I guess it’s quicker than a lot of other involved meals.

Crazy Annie with blackberry sauce

Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Shells

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Date: 4/26/2012

Recipe: http://annies-eats.com/2009/02/27/sausage-and-spinach-stuffed-shells/

Modifications: I got diced tomatoes for the “chopped tomatoes” called for in the recipe – I’m not sure if there is a different thing actually called chopped tomatoes, but if there is, I couldn’t find it. I only made 2 8×8 pans, and for my preference, there wasn’t NEARLY enough sauce. I added a large can of crushed tomatoes to the top – a 28oz can split pretty evenly between both pans.

Time to table: 1 hour prep, ~1 hour baking time

Servings: Three 8×8 pans (but I got only 2 + some extra)

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This made a little more than 2 8×8 pans for me – but the remaining weren’t quite enough for another pan. I used my small pampered chef cookie scoop to stuff  the shells – about 2 scoops per shell. I froze the 2nd 8×8 pan prior to the baking step. This is very similar to the other stuffed shells recipe we tried, but I liked this one better, especially since I knew to add a lot more sauce. The filling was especially rich and delicious, probably due to using sausage versus turkey.

IMG_7330

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Brussel sprout hash

Brussel Sprout Hash

Date: 4/19/2012

Recipe:

  • 1 small sweet potato, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 bunch brussel sprouts, quartered
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • ~6 strips of bacon
  • shredded cheddar cheese
  • one egg per person
Cook the bacon in a skillet. Remove from pan and save the grease. Cook the sweet potato, onion, brussel sprouts, and garlic in the bacon grease. While the vegetables are cooking, chop up the cooked bacon. When the vegetables are done (or nearly done) mix the bacon back in. Turn off the heat and top the mixture with the cheddar cheese and cover the skillet to let the cheese melt.
While the cheese is melting, fry up one egg for each person. Serve the hash in a bowl/plate and top each dish with a fried egg.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This is similar to another dish I’ve made before, but it was different enough that I figured I’d post it. I absolutely love this meal and would eat it very often. I also feel that in spite of the bacon and the bacon grease, it has enough healthy components going for it to be a guilt-free meal. Annie didn’t necessarily not “like” it, as much as she just ignored it, just part of being a toddler I guess. We’re sometime dumbfounded by what she decides she doesn’t want to eat. Veggies cooked in bacon grease, with cheese, and an egg?!?!  Whatever. :)

Brussel Sprout Hash