A Great Brunch Idea...Swet Potato Pancakes!!

Recipe Redux Time! Yes folks, it's that day of the month when I reveal my entry for the Recipe Redux.  If you don't know what it is then click here to find out more.

The theme this month is Shower Brunches.  If y'all read my blog regularly then you know that I love live for breakfast foods.  I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  When I got this theme I was super excited.  I got an idea but, by the time I went to make it, my star ingredient had gone bad.

When I came across this recipe I knew it was perfect.  It's a little sweet, a little savory, great for brunch.  I have been munching on them since I made them.  I spread them with peanut butter, dip them in syrup, and make them into pb&j sandwiches. I actually made these on the day of Kaylee's party because I couldn't eat the cake and I didn't want to be left out.  

Sweet Potato Pancakes
Adapted from Super Healthy Kids
makes 6
calories 101
fat 0.2
protein 4.7

Ingredients
1/2 cup sweet potato.
1 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c egg substitute
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder


Directions

1. Cook sweet potato until soft.  (You could possibly use canned if you wanted to)
2. Mash and measure out a cup and place in a bowl.
3. Add skim milk, egg substitute cinnamon and vanilla and mix well.
4. Mix in flour and baking powder
5. Using a 1/4 measuring cup drop onto greased heated skillet (heat the skillet on medium to medium high)
6. Flip when the sides start to bubble 
7. When the second side is brown take off

Every time I get the hankerin' for pancakes I think I'm going to make this....or I'll just make a big batch to freeze so I can eat them whenever I want.  These would also be great to serve a child who doesn't care for vegetables. 

  

Kaylee Party Recap

Right now it's 5:22 in the morning and I'm hiding in my garage because I have little girls scattered all over my living room.  Seriously, it looks like a crime scene.  There's 2 sprawled out on the floor, one curled up on the loveseat, one on each end of the couch and the last one is asleep SITTING UP on the couch.  I wish I could get a picture for you.  But, I'm enjoying the quiet.  It's been over 12 hours since I've heard any silence in this house so I'm taking the time to start this post.

Anyways, yesterday was Kaylee's birthday.  She had an 11:30 game, her final game of the season.  They won {YEY!} 3-1.  As sad as I was to miss her final game, I stayed at home to work on stuff for the party.  Since Sirr is here for the week he was more than happy to take her and see her play.  Unfortunately during the game one girl dislocated her ankle and another got hurt.  

Kaylee's friends got here around 2:00.  They are some of the most interesting, smartest girls I've met.  I think I've had better conversations with them then I have with many adults I've interacted with recently.  We headed up to the pool and they got to swim for about an hour before we did cake and presents.  I also set out some chips, dip, and watermelon for them to snack on.  Some of the girls had to leave at 5 {I had 2 options for the parents.  If they couldn't sleep over they could come for the party from 2-5} so we headed back to the house.  They ran around like crazy girls until it was time to make pizza.  Then they ran around like crazy AFTER they made pizza.  Actually, I really don't think they stopped running around like crazy...

As party of their goody bags I had them decorate pillowcases.  They had a blast doing it.  

After dinner and pillowcases it was time to do makeup.  Finally at around 10 we had them settle down to watch a movie.   They chose A Wrinkle in Time because they were reading it in school.  Turns out it's a 2 hour movie!  While they were watching the movie I set out popcorn, and pretzels.  The popcorn was plain.  I figured after the chips and dip, candy and cake, they didn't need any more salt and buttery fatness going in their body.  {Kaylee's lucky I love her so much or this would have been a TOTAL health freak party}  We, after being rudely asked  "DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN BUTTER OR SALT??!!??"  I went into a brief lecture on the health risks associated with high sodium diets. I am proud of myself for keeping it short and simple (and appropriate for 10 year olds.)   {During breakfast I was given hell by a certain child because we only had sugar-free syrup, we don't normally use butter, salt, or really eat junk food, and because we don't have ice cream in the house.}

I ended up crashing at around 11:30. According to Ken the girls finally fell asleep at around 2.  They ended up waking up around 7:30.  For breakfast we had Puffins (pancakes made in a muffin tin.  I do this so I don't have to stand over the stove for 2 hours making a million pancakes.) and then we headed to the pool for about an hour.  By 11:30 it was just the family.  

The girls relaxed and watched Hotel Transylvania while I cleaned up a bit.  We went out to Golden Corral for dinner and came home and did cake cookies and presents.  Kaylee and Mantha's stomachs were not too happy from a day full of eating crummy food.  Next party we have is going to be a healthy party.  I will allow a cake but, no cookies, candy, or junk food.  

Kaylee claims she had a wonderful birthday.  I'm so happy that she had fun.  Next time though, Ken and I have decided to keep it small and simple.  Well, maybe not simple but, atleast small.  

All in all it was an excellent day.  I sent the kids to bed early because they were starting to break down on me.  Good nite fat free family!  I promise there won't be as much time between this post and my next one.  Life is calm now.  My break has officially begun (besides stocking up for vacation and working on my AFAA book.)

Kaylee Birthday

Yesterday I had a baby and today she's turning 10.

Where did the time go??

Tomorrow she'll be driving and in a week she'll be graduating college.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLEE!!!

Kaylee age 1-5

Kaylee Ages 6-9

Kooking With Kaylee: Vegetable Pasta Toss

As I said a few weeks ago, I'm doing a new part of my blog called:

Yesterday Kaylee decided that she wanted to make dinner tonite.  I told her she could as long as she blogged about it.  So, here she is.

Hi! I'm Kaylee.  I'll be 10 next Saturday!!  I love cooking, reading and eating.  My favorite things to cook vary from cakes to pastas to salad.  I like to cook because I always watched mom cook.  It was fascinating to watch so I started asking to help.  I also like the fact that it's science.  I love science.  You measure and mix things, and see the reaction.  My favorite things to eat are pumpkin cheesecake and Japchae.

I was flipping through a cookbook yesterday and found this recipe.  I checked with mom to make sure that she could have everything.  When she told me that we could make some changes and it would be okay, I was excited.  I asked if I could make it sometime and she told me I could cook tonite.

This recipe interested me because it seemed like something interesting to try and simple to cook.  I knew that I could do everything.  I also though the flavors would go well together.

While I was in school mom did all the chopping for me.  When I got home we got everything out of the fridge.  I heated the pan.  Then I sauteed the mushrooms and onions and added some pepper (because everything tastes better with pepper.)  We added all the other vegetables and warmed them up.  Once they were heated we added the pasta and dressing and stirred it all up together.

I liked that it had different shades of green.  It actually looked like something you'd buy for decoration.  It tasted magnificent!  All the flavors blended really well.  You could taste a bit of the mushrooms, a bit of the spinach and the dressing in every bite.

So get in the kitchen and make this tonite!

Vegetable Pasta Toss
adapted from Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids
Calories: 152
Fat: 3.8 grams {I personally believe this is wrong}
Protein: 10.5 grams
Serves 6

16 oz (2 packages) Shirataki Noodles (found near the tofu in the produce section of the grocery store) {you can substitute 8 oz of regular noodles}
16 oz white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1 T minced garlic
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, in water, drained
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
16 oz frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
1 package Hidden Valley Garden Green Onion Dip Mix
.5 cup fat free mayo
.5 cup skim milk
.25 cup fat free sour cream

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package
2. Whisk together the dip mix, mayo, skim milk and sour cream.  Place in the fridge until ready to use. 
3. Spray large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.Cook mushrooms until they are soft and a little brown.
4. Add artichokes and heat through.
5. Add spinach, broccoli and garlic and garlic and heat through.
6. In a large bowl add veggie mixture with pasta and toss with dressing.

{This dish can be served warm or cold}

I hope you enjoyed the dish Kaylee picked out to make for you.  She's really excited about this post so leave a comment to let her know how you liked it.  

What Did the Daddy Tomato Say to the Baby Tomato?

Ketchup!  

And that's exactly what this post is....a catch up post.  Between school (which is over next week) and life, FFQ has taken a back seat.  

So, the semester is going to over next week.  I'm so happy!  The last few weeks have totally stressed me out.  I just want to be able to relax for one whole day and do nothing and not worry about whether or not I have homework or studying to do.  And after my last final on Thursday I can start working on the last bit that needs to be done to for my AFAA certification.  I'm so excited about it,  I really don't think y'all understand how much this excites me.  

On Wednesday I booked all our vacation plans.  I'll be posting about those later in the month.  But, the whole family is super excited and can't wait.

I have started 2 personal challenges.  

Challenge #1
For the entire month of May I have decided to cut out everything processed that I can make myself.  Chips?  GONE!  Pretzels?  Getting rid of them!  I will still be eating things like soy milk and cheese and I might try my hand at making sandwich bread.  (I love baking bread so it won't upset me too much)
Why am I doing this challenge?  Because I'm sick of being in pain.  I'm tired of having to look at every package and make sure that I'm picking up the correct brand of things.  I'm done with it.  So, to gain a piece of mind and to save my stomach I'm just cutting it all out. 

Challenge #2
I WILL challenge.  Every day this month I'm going to start the day with a phrase beginning with I WILL.  This is because I've found some days hum-drum and boring.  Why not try and make every day a challenge? 

Here are my I WILL statements since the start of May..

Photo courtesy of: World's Strongest Librarian

Photo courtesy of: Inhabitots

If you want to join in then you're more than welcome!  Use the hastag #IWillFFQ. or post it to my facebook page

So I tried something new tonite for dinner (I really wish I had snapped a picture)

Mushroom Gravy Oatmeal
.5 cup Quaker hot cereal (or oatmeal)
1 cup water

1 cup vegetable broth
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 sliced onion
1-2 T minced garlic
1 T cornstarch

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a small bowl toss mushrooms and onions with garlic
3. Lay out on greased sheet pan
4. Place on top rack of oven for 20 minutes
5. Boil vegetable broth
6. In a separate bowl mix together cornstarch and a bit of water
7. Take your broth off of heat and whisk in cornstarch, put back on heat and boil until thickened (about 2 minutes)
8. When mushrooms are done then put them into gravy
9. Cook oatmeal according to package instructions and put into bowl
10. Spoon 2T-1/4 cup of gravy over oatmeal. 

It was delicious.  It was alot like rice with gravy but a bit heartier.  Pure deliciousness.  Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo so, I'll have a nice shrimp fajita recipe for you.

Are you challenging yourself to anything this month?

Carrot Zucchini Bread

Which is more important to you, pretty baked goods or tasty ones?  These muffins fit perfectly into my personal food perspective.  "It doesn't matter how they look, all that matters is that they taste good."  I am always the first one to admit that my baked goods are really ugly.  And MAN, are these ugly!  They are delicious though.  

I used the big holes on my grater and I think that's part of the reason they were ugly.  If I had shredded them smaller they would have been prettier. I found this recipe on Happy Herbivore.  It's basically the chocolate zucchini muffins that I have posted about before without the chocolate.  Sunny helped me with these.  I measured, she dumped and mixed.  These muffins are so easy a 4 year old can do it {it's really scary to call her a 4 year old....still can't believe she's that big}

Zucchini Carrot Muffins
Adapted from Happy Herbivore
Makes 12
Calories: 67
Fat 0.3 g
Sugar 1.5g

Ingredients
1.5 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 c sugar free maple syrup
6 T applesauce
1 t vanilla
.25 c skim milk
.75 c shredded zucchini
.75 c shredded carrot

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray a muffin tin with pan spray or use muffin liners
3. Mix together flour and baking powder
4. Add in syrup, applesauce, skim milk and vanilla.  Stir to combine
5. Fold in zucchini and carrot
6.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full
7. Bake for 18-25 minutes  (I think mine actually took about 30 but, start with 18) or until a toothpick comes out clean

  Happy belated National Zucchini Bread Day everybody! Do you have a zucchini bread recipe?

Happy National Zucchini Bread Day!!

Today is National Zucchini Bread Day.  I love zucchini bread.  It adds a bit of color and a dose of veggies plus, it adds a bit of sweetness in my opinion.  Tomorrow I will have a zucchini bread recipe for you all!  I can't resist the urge to make them.  

I have really cool news too.  Kaylee will hopefully be doing a guest blog for me once a month.  It's called.....

She and Mantha are always interested in my blog, giving me advice, asking if they can help, and wondering what it's about every time they see me working on it.   So, I finally suggested that if they were so interested in it they should write a post for me.  Kaylee decided that she didn't want to do just one post, she wanted to do a series.  But, at the same time she IS (almost) 10 and we all know that sometimes things don't get finished.  So, keep an eye out for it.

And just so you know, after May 10th I will be back to my regular blogging schedule.  School is taking a toll on me again and finals are done in 2 weeks so, I'll be free until August.