Back-to-School Breakfast

There is a Wal-Mart commercial that irks me. Let me set the scene. Little boy in school and teacher announces a pop quiz. Class gets nervous and little boy gets nervous. But on the sidelines is Mom watching him. And Mom is saying, "I can't actually be there for him, but I can give him a good breakfast." And then the advertisement is for Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Toaster Strudel. And then I want to punch the TV.

They can't be serious. Fill your child with some empty sugar calories, high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil and you can be confident in giving them sufficient nutrition for their growing bodies and minds!!!

Let's not do that to our children this school year. What can we give our kids to help them stay full and focused? Here are a few ideas of what you can feed your babies before you send them off to the world of times tables and book reports. I am going to give you two lists. One of quick breakfasts when you don't have a lot of time and then a second list of breakfast items you can make when you have some extra time.

Quicky Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs with whole grain toast and jam (Smucker's Simply Fruit is GREAT all-fruit jam)
Oatmeal and fresh fruit
Yogurt with whole grain muffin
Whole grain cold cereal or granola and fresh fruit
Fruit and yogurt smoothie and whole grain toast and jam

And wash it down with juice or skim milk.

More-Time-on-my-Hands Breakfast:
Oatmeal with Apples, Brown Sugar and Raisins
Whole Wheat Berry Muffins
Whole Grain Waffles
Peanut Butter Pancakes
Breakfast Burritos
Skillet Potatoes with Roasted Red Peppers and Baked Eggs
Apple and Carrot Bran Muffins
Whole Wheat Double Chocolate Muffins
Homemade Granola
Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
And I am working on a breakfast quinoa recipe that I will post eventually

Obviously, there is much more that can be added to these lists, so please add your ideas to the comments.

Rookie's Notes: A word on muffins. Make a batch and then freeze them. For breakfasts, microwave a frozen muffin for 1 minute and it's done. Same with waffles. Make a bunch, freeze and then put them in the toaster.

A word on oatmeal. Ditch the packets. Not only does is have a few weird ingredients in it, it's much more expensive. To make quick oats, it takes minutes. Here is my recipe.

1 1/4 cup quick oats
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 cups water

In a small bowl, combine oats, flax seed, cinnamon and salt. Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once boiling, stir in quick oats mixture and stir constantly for 1 minute. Remove pan from the heat and serve. We like ours with a little brown sugar and sliced bananas.

Yields 4 servings.

Keeping it Real

What dinner prep is complete without an open jar of Nutella and a soup spoon?

No thanks to Ethan, I have (had) a 3-pack of Nutella from Costco. It was bought a few months ago and there is only one jar left. Actually, make that half of one jar.

p.s. Remember when I was in "Real Simple" magazine? Yes, I really was. Click here.

Baked Penne with Sausage, Spinach and Red Bell Peppers

I like making food for people that have just had babies. I feel like Superman coming to their aid. Who doesn't like a good meal they didn't have to cook? Especially after having a baby, which can sometimes feel like being hit by a truck.

This was the most recent meal I made for a family from church who just had a baby. With it, I also brought caesar salad and chocolate cupcakes. And the adorable new mom said she was going to keep the cupcakes for herself. And she should. She gave birth to an adorable baby girl and birth is never an easy task. And the baby's name is Molly! I just love that name.

When I came home, I told Ethan I wanted to have another baby, but only if it's a girl and I can name her Molly. Then later, I was feeding Violet and my mind wandered to the name Molly. And I started formulating the middle name I would use and how it would sound with the last name Ingram. And then Violet spit up all over me and I remembered that I was done having children.


This baked pasta is a hybrid of my other baked pasta with sausage and eggplant. This one has sausage as well, but I added spinach and red bell peppers. The peppers were a brilliant addition. They added such a surprising sweetness.



1 lb penne pasta
5 Tbsp olive oil, divided
5 links mild Italian sausage, about 16 oz
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 tsp kosher salt
A few grinds black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
A big handful baby spinach leaves
1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded, with a handful reserved in a small bowl

Set the oven to 450 degrees.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until soft on the outside, but not cooked all the way through. Drain, pour back into pot and toss with 3 Tbsp olive oil. Set aside, stirring occasionally while preparing the other ingredients.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add sausage links. Cook, flipping once, until sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove sausage onto a plate and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, slice sausage into 1/4 inch slices and set aside.

In the same skillet over medium high heat, add remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil, onion and red bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Saute until onion and the bell pepper are softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 1 additional minute. Pour in heavy cream and add Parmesan cheese. Stir well to combine and simmer for 5 minutes, until cheese is melted and heavy cream is slightly thickened making a cream sauce.

In a large bowl, combine pasta, sausage, tomatoes, spinach and mozzarella. Stir well to combine. Pour in cream sauce. Toss gently. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved mozzarella cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, until cheese is browned and pasta is cooked through.

Yields a lot. Like 8 servings. When I made this for the family with the new baby, I split it between two 8x8 pans. One for them and one for us. So if you make this and know that you won't eat all of it, call your friend and tell her that you are bringing dinner for her and her family. It will make her day.



HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS RECIPE OR ANYTHING ELSE? Click here.

Rockwell, Ethan and Caroline

These are my kids lately:


Congratulations to Jack. He is 5 1/2 and can finally pump himself on a swing. Good thing he figured it out before kindergarten or else he would be that kid.


See? I told you Van has a huge mouth. Not sure what he is worked up about in this picture. Probably something to do with a denied refill of milk in his sippy cup.


And Violet is still really adorable and perfect. And blue-eyed.

Deep-fried Green Beans with Basil Aioli

Text message series:

Kalli: I have mass green beans. You interested?

Me: Yes. I will call you in a bit.

Kalli: Sweet. I am picking them right now.

So I called her and claimed my green beans. She told me she had just picked them. How? I do not know. She was 36 weeks pregnant at the time. Bending over and picking green beans sounds nearly impossible. When I told her I was coming, I also mentioned that I was bringing her a big slice of chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. And she said with a sigh, "Let's get married." I suppose that chocolate cake is that satisfying at 36 weeks pregnant. Kal, does your husband know you just proposed to me?




For the aioli:
2 garlic cloves
1 egg yolk
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
10 basil leaves
1/3 cup olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, add the garlic cloves and process until minced. Add egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard and basil. Process and add olive oil very slowly, drop by drop, until the aioli is emulsified and thick and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate until serving time.

For the green beans:
Oil for frying
1/2 lb green beans
1 cups flour
2 tsp tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp chile powder
1 cups milk

Heat the oil to 375 degrees.

While the oil heats, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and chile powder. Whisk well to combine. Add the milk and whisk until smooth. Once the oil is heated, dip a few green beans in the batter and shake off the excess. Add the beans into the oil and fry for a few minutes, until the batter is golden. Remove the beans from the oil and onto a paper bag or paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining beans.

Serve deep-fried beans with basil aioli.

Yields 4 servings.

Rookie's Notes: When frying these, hold half of the bean in the oil until you can feel it float to the top. Then drop in rest of the bean you are holding. It will prevent the beans from going straight to the bottom and burning.

Also, don't be temped to load up the oil with too many beans. The more you add, the quicker the oil temperature will drop and you will get greasy fried food and not crisp fried food.

One last note, I added baking powder to the batter because I wanted a puffy, crispy batter. If that isn't your forte, don't add the baking powder.



HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THIS RECIPE OR ANYTHING ELSE? Click here.

Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping 101 - REPOST

I originally wrote this post in January of 2009, but I thought I would put up here again. I get a lot of questions about how to shop for and plan a menu. With a bit of organization and planning, your weekly meals can be a piece of cake. Read on.


This post isn't going to be for everyone. For some of you, this is all old news and you are a pro. But for others, this is going to be revolutionary and you might even save some money. What am I talking about today? The value of a menu plan and the grocery shopping for it.

Convenient that my camera is a fossil
because it fits right into the pocket of my purse.
Thus, I can bring it anywhere!

I recently had a friend ask me about menu planning and how to do it. It might seem like such an elementary concept, but you can be more efficient than you think.

So how do I do it? I will give you the full run-down.

First, set aside one day a week to go to the grocery store. It keeps you more organized that way. My day is Monday. I ALWAYS go to the store with a list in hand. This isn't a list I have jotted down on the back of an envelope. No, this is a list I have prepared the night before and it is in my notebook I keep everything in. On my list are things that pertain to our weekly menu and things I have run out of. And then there is the occasional deodorant and toothbrush.

Van, my constant companion.
Jack was a few aisles over,
begging me for a toy like it was his last day being a child.

When I plan a weekly menu, I sit down with my pile of recipes and cookbooks, which is embarrassingly large. I go through them and decide what sounds good. Chicken taco soup with cornbread or pork tenderloin with green salad and roasted cauliflower. The list goes on. I take a look at the weekly schedule to know what nights we will be home for dinner and the nights we won't. So let's say I have to plan a meal for five nights of the next week. I write down five dinners. Then I go back through the recipes to see what ingredients I am going to need that I do not have. Usually that means fresh produce, cheeses, dairy and fresh meats. Sometimes it will include something I normally have in the pantry, but have run out of, like red wine vinegar or dried oregano. It is so important that I go through each ingredient and write it on the list.

After making the list, a sloppy one at that, I make another nice list and categorize it by type of food. This might sound stupid, but I am saving time in the grocery store by doing this. I write down all the produce together. Then the dairy, meats, frozen and pantry items in separate sections as well. This makes going through the grocery store a breeze. I am wasting less time going back and forth.

Want an example? Well, today is the day you have been waiting for. Behold, example. This is a small sample of my menu last week.

Shrimp creole with brown rice and green salad
1 lb frozen shrimp
green bell pepper
celery
onion
cayenne pepper
romaine lettuce
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
green onions

Braised hunter-style chicken with quinoa with green chilies, cilantro and green onions
chicken breasts
8 oz. button mushrooms
onion
bottle of lemon juice
5 Anaheim chiles
green onions
fresh cilantro

Cocoa Ripple Cake
eggs
walnuts
heavy cream

Random things for snacks, breakfasts and lunches
yogurt
bread
cereal
string cheese
popcorn
fresh salsa
corn chips
fruit- bananas, oranges, grapes

So then categorize it by sections of the grocery store:

Produce
green bell pepper
celery
2 onions
romaine lettuce
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
2 bunches green onions
8 oz button mushrooms
5 Anaheim chiles
fresh cilantro
fresh salsa
bananas
oranges
grapes

Meats
chicken breasts

Pantry
cayenne pepper
bottle of lemon juice
walnuts
bread
cereal
popcorn
corn chips

Frozen
1 lb bag frozen shrimp

Dairy
eggs
heavy cream
yogurt
string cheese

Household
baby formula
body wash

If you stick to a list, you won't waste money. Some weeks you will spend more because you have to stock up on more things, but other weeks you will spend less. The worst thing you can do is go into the grocery store without a plan. You will get home and wonder what you were thinking. But if you have menu and a list for it, you will have a productive week. No wondering what to do for dinner each night. You will have more healthful meals and less "breakfast for dinner". And the best part is that the leftovers are lunch the next day.

I hope this is helpful for some of you readers out there. I know this will help my friend. If you want to add any ideas or suggestions, add away!

Julia Child Print Giveaway Winner

I completely forgot to pick a winner last night. Last night was major childrearing. Like one of those nights where you look at your husband and say, "We used to just date and now we are doing this." It was one of those nights where we just couldn't seem to get the children in bed and asleep. And then around 10 pm, Van and Jack came downstairs and said something about broken glass from a light bulb and Van wasn't wearing a diaper. I guess my dreams of having them go to sleep at the same time in the same room are out.


Anyways, I remembered all about the giveaway this morning. Our winner is Holly Elise of Recipes From the Smallest Kitchen. Holly, e-mail me and we will chat about your favorite color of print and your address. Congrats lady!

For those of you losers, do not cry, the print is available in Megan's shop for $10 this week! Click here.