Oatmeal Applesauce Pancakes

I have been on a mission lately. What is that mission you ask? To find foods my now one year old {eek!} baby will eat. Now that we're moving out of the baby food stage I've been terrified! Don't ask me why but it's been really stressing me out. I'm a working mom so it's important to me to find a healthy quick breakfast to fix my daughter in the mornings. Especially one she can feed herself while I'm getting ready without too much worry from me that she will choke on it. That's where Oatmeal Applesauce Pancakes step in! I know you're thinking making pancakes in the morning is not quick! Well I am here to tell you that you are correct! That's why I make them ahead of time and freeze them. Pop them in the microwave and voila! Quick and easy breakfast!



Oatmeal Applesauce Pancakes
from Allrecipes

1 cup flour
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk

Directions:
Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together. Set aside. In another bowl combine applesauce, sour cream, egg, vanilla extract and milk. Once the wet ingredients are well mixed together pour in to the dry ingredients and mix it all together.

Scoop about 1/4 cup of pancake mixture on to a griddle heated to medium-low heat. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Turning once. Serve with maple syrup and butter, peanut butter or mashed up bananas smeared on top.

*Special notes: this batter is pretty thick. I used the bottom of my measuring cup to help spread the pancakes out on the griddle. Also the recipe called for milk but I used soy milk with great results since that's what we drink in these parts!

Chicken Parmigiana

Hello there! I'm back. I have a whole load of recipes that I need to get posted, but I've had a serious lack of motivation. I spent over a week of not cooking, so now I need to get back in the groove of cooking and start posting.

Chicken parmigiana is one of my favorite Italian dishes. I'm not a fan of spaghetti but add some breaded, cheesy chicken then it is one of the best meals! This was one of those recipes that I sat down to the computer at 5:30 trying to come up with a meal and I had all the ingredients in the house. The original recipe calls for making your own sauce which I'm sure is delicious, but I had a jar of marinara sauce in the cupboard so I adapted.

This was by far the best chicken parmigiana I've ever made. We won't even consider the frozen, breaded chicken patties I used when my husband and I were both in school and working full-time. Ah I shudder to think I ever considered that dinner!

Chicken Parmigiana
adapted from The Pioneer Woman

4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
Salt And Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Medium Onion, Chopped
1 clove chopped garlic
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.

At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.

Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.

Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in jar of spaghetti sauce let simmer for 10 minutes.

Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.

Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Southwestern Stuffed Acorn Squash

My mom first originally made this for Troy and I awhile back. Now believe you me... I was skeptical. I'm not really a squash fan. My husband definitely not a squash fan. But believe it or not we both ended up going back for seconds! I love this because it's a whole meal in itself! Not to mention it's pretty darn healthy for you too!

Southwestern Stuffed Acorn Squash

very slightly adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

3 acorn squash, (3/4-1 pound each)

1/2 pound lean ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 medium red bell pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbs chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes

1 15oz can black beans rinsed

1/2 tsp salt

Several dashes hot sauce, to taste

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Cut squash in half horizontally. Scoop and discard seeds. Place the squash cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until tender, about 45 min.

In the mean time, brown the ground beef in a skillet. Add onion and bell pepper until tender. Stir in garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, beans, salt and hot sauce. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until the tomatoes are broken down. About 10-12 minutes.

When the squash are tender reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Fill the squash halves with the ground beef mixture and top with cheese. Place on the baking sheet and bake until the filling is heated through and the cheese is melted. About 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Jello Pie

I had to make a pie for Thanksgiving this year. I have never made a pie in my entire life. I'm not really a baking person. I prefer cooking. I figured a Jello pie would be fool proof enough for my inexperience. It was fool proof and might I add delicious?


Strawberry Jello Pie
from Baked with Love and Butter

Ingredients:
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbs corn starch
4 tbs strawberry Jello mix
3-4 drops red food coloring

1 graham cracker pie crust (buy it or make it yourself)


Directions:
Add water, sugar, corn starch and food coloring together in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until well mixed. {The mixture will be a milky pink color}. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture becomes thick and clear. Mine didn't thicken and clear up until it started to boil. Once the mixture is thick and clear remove from heat and add Jello. Let it cool a bit. {This is a great time to start slicing your strawberries!}
Add sliced strawberries to pie crust. Once the jello mixture has cooled a bit, pour over strawberries in the pie crust. Put the pie in the refrigerator for a few hours to set up.

Serve and top with homemade whipped cream. Mmmm....

Cranberry Baked Brie

We started a new tradition on Thanksgiving and it involves brie cheese. If I had to pick brie would be my favorite cheese. Just thinking about it makes me want to run out and get more. While in NYC a few weeks ago and I an open faced turkey sandwich with brie and apples. So good. The melted brie. Yum!

Thanksgiving dinner didn't happen until 3:30 due to naps so I planned a few appetizers. This cranberry baked brie was the star. The burst of orange zest with cranberry and melted cheese on a ritz cracker. Oh so good! I would have eaten the whole thing if I could have.

This is what it looked like after about 10 minutes. We couldn't stop eating it. Good thing we had a few hours between this and our dinner.

Baked Brie

8 ounces brie cheese round
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, or dried
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place brie on a baking sheet.
2. Pour maple syrup over top, and add cranberries. Sprinkle with thyme and orange zest.
3. Place in oven, and bake 25-30 minutes, until brie is soft when cut.
4. Remove from oven, and carefully transfer to a serving plate.
5. Serve immediately with crackers.

Pumpkin Chili

I've been pinning lots of yummy looking food on my pinterest account, but my goal is to actually make an item off my board. This pumpkin chili is one of them. I was a little apprehensive to make it. Pumpkin? In chili? It seems that pumpkin is usually paired with something sweet. But you couldn't even taste the pumpkin flavor. It was sweeter than typical chili.

The recipe calls to make it on the stove, but I browned the onions and beef and then tossed everything in the crock pot and put it on low all day. You can do either depending on the time you have.

Pumpkin Chili
adapted from Whole Foods

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 jalapeños, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion, jalapeños and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, water, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and add beans. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes more. Ladle chili into bowls and serve.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Wow it's really been a long time. Longer than I happy with! Here is a winning recipe to make up for it though :) Honey and lime have got to be my new favorite flavor combination! And I'm sure a lot of you have tried some variation of these delicious enchiladas. If you haven't... they are divine and you should! I adapted this recipe from one of my favorite go to recipe sites Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I left out the heavy cream to keep these enchiladas on the lighter side of the calorie spectrum. Enjoy!


Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour tortillas
8-10 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
24 0z jarred salsa verde (I used La Victoria)


Directions:
Mix together the honey, lime juice, chili and garlic powder. Pour over the shredded chicken and marinate for at least 1-2 hours longer if you can. When the chicken has marinated add chicken and cheese to the tortillas {save some cheese to sprinkle on top}and place in a greased 9 x 13in pan. Pour salsa verde over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degree for 25 minutes.

Delicious!