Pop Tarts Part II

I used the other half of the pop tart dough today.  The 2nd batch is even better than the first. I made them smaller this time.  I also cut one rectangle, then put in on the top of the dough to cut the second one, for each pop tart.  It made them fit together a little bit better. 

I brushed a little bit of egg on top of them and sprinkled with a little bit of extra filling.  It gave the dough a little bit more flavor. 

Green Eggs and Ham

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!! 

I soaked ham in water and green food coloring for a few hours.

Then I added green food coloring to milk and eggs.

When the eggs and ham were almost cooked, I added some spinach. 

The kids LOVED it!

Breakfast Casserole

I use my own version of this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mrs-allens-brunch-bake/detail.aspx

The one on allrecipes is a great recipe if you're having a brunch but its way too much for the 4 of us. 

I save all of the ends of our bread in a bag in the freezer for this recipe. 

4 slices bacon

8 slices bread

about 4 Tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I use whatever I have in the fridge and I don't measure)

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cups milk

a handful of spinach

seasoning (I usually use garlic and salt in a grinder)

Microwave bacon

Spread 1 side of each bread slice with butter.

Arrange 4 bread slices buttered side down in the bottom of a squre baking dish.

Layer with the crumbled bacon and half of the cheese

Arrange remaining bread slices over the cheese, buttered sides up.

In a small bowl, mix the eggs, milk, spinach and seasoning and pour evenly over bread slices.

Top with remaining cheese. Cover, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight.

Bake at 325 for about 45 mins.  (Until eggs are set)

Steel Cut Oats

This is the recipe that my friend Tara gave me:

1 cup steel cut oats
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup water
4 cups milk
Optional - raisins, dried fruit, nuts, etc.

Cook over night for 8 hours on low heat in the crock pot

I double the brown sugar and cinnamon.  I usually use craisins because they plump up so much when they're cooking. 

TIP:  Grease the crockpot!!  Its a major mess.  Tara also told me that she cooks hers in a smaller bowl, in a water bath. 

TIP #1:  The first time you do this, do it during the day when you can watch it.  My crockpot takes about 4-5 hours, not 8. 

Honey Orange Ham

My brother, Tim, and his girlfriend, Kristen, gave us a ham when we went to PA for Christmas.  I took a few slices of it out of the freezer and mixed the following:
1 tablespoon of orange juice, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, and about 1 tablespoon of honey. 
I baked the ham for about 20 mins, poured the glaze on it, and baked it another 20 mins. 
I've probably tried at least 10 ham glazes and this was definitely one of my favorites. 

Here is the original recipe, for an 8 lb ham. (with a lot more ingredients)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-orange-glazed-ham/

Rainforest Cafe

Tonight we had a copycat recipe from Rainforest Cafe.  The terriyaki sauce that I made was YUMMY!  I will never buy terriyaki sauce again.  The only change that I made to the recipe was that I used my own seasoned salt instead of straight cajun seasoning because I didn't want it to be too spicy for the girls. 
I also used spinach instead of lettuce.

This is the seasoned salt recipe that I used: http://www.food.com/recipe/judis-seasoning-salt-78572
I substituted Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning for the celery salt, tumeric and cayenne. 

Here is the Rainforest Cafe Blue Mountain Grilled Chicken Sandwich:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/527/Rainforest_Cafe_Blue_Mountain_Grilled_Chicken_Sandwich37679.shtml

 Grilling chicken

 Toasted buns, crispy bacon and chicken coated in yummy terriyaki sauce

This will have to satisfy us for 55 more days.  Then we'll be at Rainforest Cafe eating the real thing!

King Cake

I just couldn't eat another yucky Food Lion/Ukrops/Walmart King Cake this year.  I found this recipe in the Family Fun magazine and decided to try it.  http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/king-cake-1033941/

Mine didn't look nearly as pretty and it was a looong process.   The girls loved it and it tasted much more like an authentic King Cake.  We're hoping to make it to Mardi Gras sometime in the next few years and we promised Bella a real Randazzo's cake. 

My only tip for this is make sure its in an airtight container with some bread to keep it moist.  It gets dry quickly. 

 Kneading

 Rising

 Making a ring

 Rising again

 Ready to bake

Finished product

Jan 27, 2012