Chunky Monkey Pancakes

Sunday breakfast is usually my hubs job when he's home.

Today I decided to surprise him and my boys with yummy,calorie loaded, oh so sweet and delicious Chunky Monkey pancakes. I figured we can go out later and burn out those calories together as a family.

Chunky Monkey Pancakes

I am not a big pancake maker. As I mentioned that's hubs job. So I made my fluffy pancakes with help of my friend Bisquick - the original pancake and baking mix.

Why mess with perfections, right?

Then I added my Chunky Monkey touch - chocolate chips, Pecans and bananas.

This recipe makes 8 - 4" pancakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Original Bisquick Mix
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup Pecans (chopped)
• 2 Bananas
• Maple or Table Syrup

Mix Bisquick, milk and eggs together until while combined.

Pour about 1/3 cup of batter onto hot and greased griddle (1 pancake). Top it with chocolate chips and pecans. Flip when the edges are dry and cook till done.

Stock pancakes on top of each other (I do 2-3 per serving). Top with sliced banana and chopped pecans. Cover with syrup......ENJOY!

Sometimes I make little bit of fresh whipped cream on the side.

Sweet Noodles With Cottage Cheese

Growing up Europe every mom I knew cooked and baked for her family except my mom.

I don't know why my mom didn't cook.Grandma was an excellent cook and so was my mom's sister. Perhaps because my mom was always different. She could never fit into any "box". As long as I remember my mom was always her own person and she didn't do anything she didn't like. I've been told that I am a lot like her.....except I cook and bake.

Fortunately for my mom, my sister and myself our dad was an excellent cook and we happen to live in a hotel. So there was never a shortage of good food or cooks.

Sweet Noodles with Cottage Cheese

Every summer we spent few weeks in our summerhouse with mom while dad worked. Since we spent majority of it at the public pool/resort most of our diet consisted from restaurant meals, fresh salads, fruits or sandwiches.

There was one thing my mom always made for us when we were tired of all of the above.

We named it "Emergency Food". Till this day when I feel down, sick or just don't know what to eat I make myself bowl of mom's Emergency Food.

It is very simple and very tasty if you ask me or my sister.

The emergency food is nothing more then broad egg noodles with melted butter, cottage cheese, icing sugar and cinnamon.

This recipe makes 2-3 servings of Sweet Noodles with Cottage Cheese

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Broad Egg Noodles (cooked)
• 2 Tbsp Butter (unsalted)
• 1 1/2 cup Cottage Cheese
• Icing Sugar
• Cinnamon

In a pan melt butter until golden brown on medium heat. Add cooked and well drained noodles. Stir it around until the noodles are covered with butter and warm. Add cottage cheese and heat for minute or two until the cottage cheese starts to melt a bit.

Plate it, dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pork and Potato Dish

In my family Pork & Potatoes always makes for a good dinner. No matter how I make it my boys are pork and potato lovers.

Hubs being Italian and all he prefers pasta, rice and then potatoes.Since he's been on the road we've been eating potatoes a lot. I love potatoes.

Pork and Potato Dish

This Pork and Potato Dish actually came from an Italian recipe my hubs inherited from his Italian grandma. Originally it is made with chicken and ribs, but I used pork and put my own twist on it.

I didn't have all of the ingredients for the original version so I will have to make it next time and post the original recipe as well.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 lbs Pork Loin
  
• 6 Potatoes (peeled and cut up)
• 1-2 Red Peppers (sliced in strips)
• 1 cup Mushrooms (sliced)
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• Italian Parsley
• Rosemary
  
• 4 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
  
• Olive Oil
• 1/2 White Wine

Wash and dry the pork loin. Slice it to any size you want to.

Preheat the oven to 395F.

In a skillet heat up oil and brown the pork.

Put the potatoes into large roasting pan. Coat them with olive oil and mix them all around so they are all covered in oil. Add the pork on top of the potatoes. Salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, rosemary and garlic.

Add mushrooms and peppers.

Cook for 45-60 minutes or until tender. Last 20 minutes add white wine into the roasting pan.

Low Sugar Chocolate and Cream Cheese Cupcakes

The other day my boys and I felt like we need some treat. We decided to make some cupcakes.

My older son is Type 1 diabetic so I try to make my baking low sugar and diabetic friendly whenever I can. I don't mind him having some regular baking once in a while.

Since we were making his favorite cupcakes I decided that low sugar version is required. I knew he won't be able stop at just one....

Chocolate & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

We chose to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese topping.

This recipe will make 12 regular size cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 11/2 cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
• 1 cup Water
• 6 Tbsp Oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 4oz. Cream Cheese
• 1 Egg (beaten)
• 1/3 cup Splenda
• 1/2 Chocolate Chips (unsweetened or semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with medium size baking cups.

In a bowl combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, Splenda and cocoa powder.

In another bowl combine water, oil and vanilla extract. Slowly add it to the dry ingredients mixture.

Use the empty bowl to cream together cream cheese, Splenda, egg and chocolate chips. The mixture would be little runny not icing consistency.

Pour the chocolate mixture evenly into 12 baking cups. Spoon the cream cheese mixture in the center of each cupcake.

Bake for 20 minutes.

The Nutritional Info is calculated by me using SparkPeople Recipe Calculator.

Nutritional Value per Cupcake

Calories 247, Total Fat 14g, Sodium 207mg,Carbohydrates 29g, Fiber 2g, Sugar 13g, Protein 3g

Turkey Dogs and Salsa Pasta Bake

Thursday night my sister who is also a single mom of two little boys had to work late.

I ended up having my nephews over for dinner. They are not as easy going in the food department as my two boys.My sister has a full time job and she's not the cook in the family. Their main diet is quick and easy. Kraft Dinner, Hamburger Helper, Hot Dogs, Soups from can, Fried Chicken and of course Drive-thru.

I didn't get much notice about having them for dinner so I had to be inventive with what was in my fridge and pantry.

I wanted to make sure that the food is sort of healthy and that they would actually eat it without a fight.

I wanted to make some pasta dish, but I was out of pasta sauce. It was time to improvise.

I created Turkey Dogs & Salsa Pasta Bake. It was a hit. No whining, no complaining. Plates were licked clean and most of them asked for seconds. My sons gave this dish 9.7 out of 10 points.

Ingredients:

• 250g Catelli SMART Rotini (dry)
• Salt
• 2 cups Chunky Salsa
• 6 Turkey Wieners
• 1 cup Tillamook Colby Jack Cheese (shredded)
• Parmesan Cheese
• Italian Parsley

Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease your casserole dish.

Cook Rotini in salted boiling water till Al Dente. Drain it well.

Cut up Turkey Wieners into 1/2" chunks.

Place half of Rotini on the bottom of the casserole dish. Cover it evenly with 1 cup of Salsa. Spread turkey wieners on top of the Salsa. Cover it evenly with 1/2 cup of cheese and then put layer of the leftover pasta on top.Salt and pepper to taste. Evenly spread the rest of Salsa on top of Rotini.Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Cover with lid and bake for 45 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melted on top.

This was delicious as well as low calorie and low carbohydrate meal.

This recipe should give you 6 portions @ approximately 260 calories, 11g of fat, 27 carbohydrates and 6 g of fiber.

Stove Top Stuffed Pork Loin

Last weekend I spent 3 days in the hockey arena living on concession food and the occasional drive-thru. By the time Monday came my whole family was missing some good home-cooked dinner.

Since Monday was a crazy day and I had so much stuff to catch up on and the lack of sleep didn't help I decided to make something delicious, but not time consuming.

Stuffed Pork Loin

I stopped at the grocery store and picked up fresh pork loin and head of red cabbage.

My kids love stuffing homemade (preferred by me) or Stove Top. Since Stove Top stuffing became a staple in my pantry I decided to use it.

Ingredients:

• 1 Boneless Pork Loin
• 2-3 Garlic Cloves (finely chopped)
• Rosemary
  
• 1 box Stove Top Stuffing (any kind)
• Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 395F.

Butterfly the pork loin and pound it till about 1" thick all over. You should end up with nice flat sheet of pork. Salt and pepper lightly.

Sprinkle with chopped garlic and rosemary.

Make Stove Top stuffing according to directions and then spread it evenly on top of the pork.

Roll it tightly and put it onto rack inside the roasting pan. Pour about cup of water or liquid of you choice underneath.

Roast it for about 30 minutes. Then using turkey baster baste the pork with it's juices. If needed at more liquid.

Roast for another 30 minutes basting once or twice in between.Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.

I served my Stuffed Pork Loin with Braised Red Cabbage and German Dumplings.

Crispy Caesar Chicken

Lately my children have been asking for chicken almost every night. The oldest loves fried chicken, but it is still only few weeks after holidays so I was thinking about making fried chicken without frying it.

I decided to bread some chicken thighs in Panko breadcrumbs, but that sounded too boring and I needed something to make the Panko stick to the chicken.

Crispy Caesar Chicken

I decided to use salad dressing.

All I have to do to look at the smiling faces around dinner table to know that we had a winner.

Ingredients:

• Chicken Thighs, Breast or Drumsticks
  
• Caesar Dressing
• Ranch Dressing
• Panko Breadcrumbs
• Romano Cheese (grated)
• Italian Parsley (finely chopped)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Wash and dry chicken pieces. In a bowl combine Caesar and Ranch dressing about 1 cup each (depends on how much chicken you have).

In another bowl mix together Panko breadcrumbs, Romano cheese and Italian parsley (again depends on your taste and how much chicken you have).

Coat chicken in the salad dressing mix and roll in breadcrumbs mixture.

Place into baking dish or baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes.

I served it with mashed potatoes and it didn't need any salt or pepper due to the spices in the dressing and the saltiness of the Romano cheese.

Apple Cinnamon Loaf

Last week my husband showed up home with a big bushel of beautiful apples.

We've been eating them all week long as much as we can, but when I looked into the box this morning we still had over a half left.


I decided I needed to do something with the apples before they go bad.

My son's school runs Breakfast Club every morning. They want to make sure that every child will start a day with healthy breakfast and full tummy.The Breakfast Club is totally supported by donations and school fundraisers.

Apple Cinnamon Loaf

So I decided to make few Apple Cinnamon loaves to help out and do my part.

Little Peanut's school goes by the "Healthy Schools" code so everything I put into my loaves must be on the pre-approved list.

This recipe makes 4 regular size loafs.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Flour
• 1 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 cup Oats
• 1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 6 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 cup Butter (room temperature)
• 3 Large Apples (peeled and chopped)
• 3 Eggs
• 2 cups Milk

Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease 4 loaf pans.

In a large bowl sift together flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in oats and brown sugar. Cut in the butter. Add chopped apples.

In another bowl beat eggs and milk. Pour it into the flour mixture and folded in gently. Stir only until combined. Fill the greased loaf pans about 2/3 full.

Apple Cinnamon Loaf

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool down before cutting or it will crumble.

Easy Slow Cooker Chili

This week was very busy in my household so I decided to make a big pot of Chili so I didn't have to worry about dinner for couple nights. I love the part about CHILI tasting better the second day.

This recipe is very easy and made in a Slow Cooker. You can prep it in the evening, leave it in the fridge overnight and put it into the slow cooker in the morning.

Slow Cooker Chili

I also use Aylmer's Diced Tomato with Chili spices so all I have to use is salt and pepper. The only person in my family who loves spicy Chili is my hubs so I don't make it too spicy. That's what is so nice about using Aylmer's Chili ready tomatoes. It's just the perfect blend. If you like it more on the spicy side add more Chili powder.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Lean Ground Beef
• 1 - 11/2 lbs Stewed Beef
• 1/4 cup Red Wine
  
• 1 Onion
• 2 Green Peppers (sliced)
• 1 - 19oz can White Kidney Beans
• 1 - 19oz can Red Kidney Beans
• 2 - 19 oz cans Aylmer's Chili-ready Diced Tomatoes
• Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
  

In a large skillet brown the ground beef, drain the fat and add chopped onion.Then add chopped green peppers and heat it through. Put it into slow cooker. Use the same skillet to brown stewed beef. After the beef has nice crust de-glaze it with red wine. Add it to the slow cooker.

Drain the white and red bean. Add it to the mixture together with diced tomatoes.

Mix it well.Salt and pepper to taste. Add more Chili powder for extra heat. Cook it on low for 6 hours.

Serve it with shredded Cheddar on top and fresh bread.

Delicious Veggie Pizza

On Friday's Little Peanut has his hockey practice so dinner is later then usual. At the beginning of the season boys decided maybe Friday should be our Pizza Night.

We would order pizza before we left the hockey arena and pick it up on the way home. It worked fine till Hormone Boy who's Type 1 diabetic started to have very high Blood Glucose after eating it. We figured that there must be sugar in the sauce so the following week we went without the sauce and the same thing happened again. At this point I though there must be sugar in the pizza crust.

I didn't want to cancel the Friday Pizza Night so I dusted off my bread maker and I started making my own pizza dough. It was so worth it. We haven't order pizza since.

My apology goes to our local pizza guy....sorry.

So every Friday I make our pizza. Well, I make 3 pizzas because between four of us we like different things. Two pizzas always remain the same with the occasional twist. I try to make my pizza different most of the time.

I usually make 1 - 2lbs pizza dough in my bread machine before the hockey practice and leave it wrapped in the fridge.

Then when it's time I divide the pizza dough into 3 parts. One half and 2 quarters. This makes 1 extra large thin crust pizza for HB and hubs, 2 medium thin crust pizzas for LP and myself.

Last Friday I decided to make veggie and cheese pizza for myself.

Ingredients:

• 1 Thin crust pizza crust
  
• 1 Onion (sliced)
• Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
  
• 1 Red Pepper (sliced)
  
• 1 Yellow Pepper (sliced)
• Ricotta Cheese
• 1/2 cup Skim Mozzarella

Preheat oven to 425F.

Lightly brush the pizza crust with olive oil, sprinkle with chopped garlic. The let it sit so the dough can rise a bit (if you are working with fresh dough).

Meanwhile caramelize the sliced onion in a skillet.

After you let the dough rest and rise for a bit (about 10 minutes) spread the caramelized onions over the crust. The spread the peppers. With a teaspoon drop little piles of Ricotta all over the crust. Cover with Mozzarella and you are ready for the oven.

Check the pizza after 10 minutes to see if it's done. It won't take long for the thin crust to bake.

Cauliflower Soup With Garlic Croutons

My children love soups. I do not make them often and I realized that if I make a soup for them it's always the same. I got caught in a vicious 4 kinds-of-soups circle and it was time to break it.

So last night as I was planning my meals for this week I realized I had a head of cauliflower that I bought over a week ago and I needed to do something with it before it goes to waste.

Cauliflower Soup With Garlic Croutons


I decided to make a cauliflower soup. My hubs suggested that I put bacon and potatoes in it (men and their bacon), but I went with Garlic Croutons. That turned out to be a great call, but you be the judge.

My no-cauliflower eating 12 year old asked for second helping.....

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Head of Cauliflower (about 1 lbs)
• 1 Onion (small and finely chopped)
• 2 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)
  
• 2 Tbsp Butter (I used Bacon fat I keep in my fridge to make hubs happy)
• 4 Tbsp Flour
• 2 cups Vegetable Stock (water is fine too)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley(chopped)
• Garlic Croutons

Take apart the cauliflower into small florets.Cut up the stem into little chunks. Put it into large pot with boiling water and add salt. Cook on medium.

Meanwhile make a rue from the butter (or bacon fat) and flour. Add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook for few minutes while stirring. Add the vegetable stock and cook for few more minutes.

Add the rue mixture into the pot with the cooking cauliflower. Add the pepper to taste and keep cooking on medium low for another 20 minutes. Make sure the soup is not boiling.

Chopped the parsley and add it to the soup. The soup is ready, but I left it to simmer for another 30-40 minutes to get all the flavors out . I suggest you do that if you have time. It's sure worth it.

Pour the soup into serving bowls and add handful of garlic croutons on top.

You can make your own croutons from old bread, olive oil and garlic powder or you can just buy them in your local grocery store.