Treats for your Sweet

Ok.... Now I know I feel 100,000 times better when I don't eat junk, but with stuff out there like this.... who can resist? Make your own chocolate candy from molds (right) or just order the badge pre-made as a blue lollipop to hand out to your adoring fans. Either way, you'll be "popular" (cue music from "WICKED" which I love).

It's summer! Go out, have fun! We are. :)

Updated Pancakes

I think I told you that back in August I shared about my favorite Oatmeal Pancakes on The Storylady Blog.  Well, given that it's fall and everyone ELSE is doing it, I thought I'd tell you that I updated these pancakes for fall and now they are PUMPKIN OATMEAL PANCAKES!

I added about half a can of pureed pumpkin to the milk/oat mixture, and a nicely generous portion of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients... Voila!!

My son says these are the best pancakes he has ever had in his whole life.  I'm smitten with that boy.

Oatmeal Zucchini Pancakes

I can't believe I forgot to tell you ~ I shared my very favorite pancake recipe on The Storylady Cooking Blog recently!  I made them again today, but with the addition of 1 cup of grated zucchini and a healthy dose of cinnamon and nutmeg.  The kids loved them, just as much as they love the 'regular' oatmeal pancakes.  I'll have to remember this for St. Patrick's Day, although it is completely NOT zucchini season in March.  :)

Yum-o!

Hair's The Ingredient List! ;)

If you like eating duck feathers or human hair, here's a list of foods you should eat:

• Noah's New York Bagels
• Dunkin Donut's cake-style donuts
• Oscar Meyer Lunchables
• Zatarain's products (cajun food)
• cigarettes
• Emergen-C

Of course, don't look for "duck feathers" or "human hair" on the ingredient list.  It will be listed as L-Cysteine.  It is used as a reducing agent in bakery products to:

1. Reduce the mixing time of the flour dough.
2. Stop shrinking of pizza crust after it is flattened.
3. Help move the dough through various bakery processing equipments or dough conditioners.

Gross, grosser, and grossest.  I read this first at (and took this information from) Zsuzsana's Blog.   I may not agree with her all the time but she often includes very interesting information on her blog like this.  Wow!

brownie banana muffins

 Here's the recipe for the muffins I made yesterday.  They made exactly 12 regular size muffins and were pretty tasty straight out of the oven.  I was pleased with how they tasted and was SO excited I was going to make more, with a tweak or two.  Sheesh!  I tried one at room temp this morning, and all I have to say is, yuck.  yuck, yuck, and more yuck.  But the kids love them.  They think they are getting something "amazing" and chocolate (since I don't normally let them eat chocolate) and they are all for them.  But I am still going to work on them.  My Notes:

• Subbed flax meal for oil, next time try applesauce or prunes
• Added splashes of vanilla
• Use more bananas ~ at least 3
• Bake about 17 minutes in my oven

Brownie Banana Muffin Recipe

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons (aluminum free) baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 bananas, mashed (or 3)
• ½ cup soymilk, almond milk, or sesame milk (rice milk)
• ¼ cup safflower oil (or 3/4 c. flax meal, or 1/4 c. applesauce or prunes)
• ¾ cup raw honey or natural sugar substitute (I ran out so I used about 1/3 c. honey and a few shakes of brown sugar)
• 1/3 chopped nuts (not at our house!!)

Preparation Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. In a smaller mixing bowl combine the egg, milk, oil, bananas and honey together. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped nuts. Fill paper muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 12 delicious muffins.

Read this note about subbing applesauce for oil, if you're interested.

If you don't have enough of your own...

...stop by the video store (in my friend's town) for free ones!!



Thanks for the suggestions about food in the previous posts. Keep those suggestions coming! I will mention that I did make Stephanie's Barbequed Pulled Pork yesterday and I was in heaven. I saved some of the juice and poured it over ~ DELISH! It gave me even more confidence in my slow cooker. :) I will mention that my meat was 6+ pounds and I cooked it on low for 12 hours, and it probably could have gone a little longer. Just FYI. yummmmmo!

Put your thinking caps on!

I really appreciate Mrs. Fuzz for blogging over at Fuzz Food. I mean, I appreciate her in general but really appreciate her Fuzz Food ideas because, well... I need 'em!

We have major food issues at our house. While I loooove a gourmet meal (and don't mind cooking them occasionally) I am in no way interested in cooking one for myself. I'm not interested in cooking one for myself and my three kids who will most likely complain about it. However, I will cook (almost) anything for my husband. The problem is... he never tells me what he wants to eat and seeing as how we grew up in two completely different cultures (literally), our opinions about what tastes "good" are completely different. I am not even joking. If I think some meal is fabuloso he will probably think it's mediocre. The stuff I think is fine but not necessarily interested in cooking again, he'd eat for every meal.

His favorite food group is meat. While I enjoy meat, I'm totally happy going meat-free on occasion. To my husband, it ain't a meal if there ain't meat. Not easy on the budget and kind of a challenge to keep cooking up meat in every different way imaginable.

Since we can't agree on what tastes good, I'm already behind. Now, with his weird police-life schedule, I can never predict *when* he will want to eat. There are two ways I mean this. The first is that although I can usually count on him to want to eat just before he goes to work in the afternoon, sometimes he randomly wakes up in the middle of the morning and his first words are "What can I eat RIGHT NOW?" The second is -- and all officers can agree on this -- it's almost Murphy's Law that he'll be on shift in the middle of his meal and get sent on a call, leaving his food abandoned for the sake of public safety. lol.

What's my point? I've realized I have to prepare plenty of meaty dishes which can easily be transported and reheated. The crockpot has become my best friend. I prep all the stuff the night before, and while the kids are eating breakfast I throw it together. It's usually ready around the time husband gets up and gets ready for work. Voila!!

One thing about the crockpot (or "slow cooker") is that so many of the dishes are really bland. That's one thing the husband and I can agree on -- we need us some FLAVOR! :) I found an awesome blog, A Year of Slow cooking, and this lady sure does bring on the flavor! I liked her recipes so much, I bought her cookbook, Make It Fast Cook It Slow. So far, some of the winners have been:

• Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole (I added a can of corn)
  
• Indian Curry (needed more salt)
  
• Breakfast Risotto (I used coconut milk since we are dairy free)
  

I just made the crockpot chicken stock today and I think it will be a great addition to my freezer.

So, all this to say...... Give me some ideas, folks!! What do you like to take to work, make for your police officer, and serve to your family?

Update: MrsOfficer2U posted about some of the foods she & her family are loving right now. Read it here. :)