(9 votes, average: 4.78 out of 5)

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So I’m walking through the store and these tomatoes catch my eye.  Ugly Ripe Tomatoes are touted as having “just-picked” flavour out of season.   Nothing compares to the taste of a just-picked tomato so I had to try it.  I shelled out $3.40 for two tomatoes (!) to make a salad.  It has Ugly on the label so as not to confuse it with the Supermodel Tomato (which, sadly, has anger issues.)

You’ve got to feel sorry for these tomatoes.  They got teased by the Cheerleader Tomatoes, passed over by the Jock Tomatoes, laughed at by the Stoner Tomatoes and were consigned to lonely weekends at home eating Haagen-Dazs.  (Not that I’m the tomatoes are bitter.)

Truth time.  Do they taste like vine ripened, still warm from the sun tomatoes?  Not really.  But they’re definitely better than the artificially-red rocks that usually pass as tomatoes in the produce section this time of year.  So they really livened up this easy salad.

CHOPPED UGLY SALAD

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (or about 1/2 cup of chopped roasted red peppers from a jar)
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c. pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 c. crumbled feta
1/2 c. light extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbl. chopped oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

(I’m pretty sure you don’t need the instructions, but here they are.)  Mix the veggies and olives.  Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, oregano, garlic and salt and pepper.  Pour over.  Best if chilled for a couple hours but you can eat it right away if you’re starving.

Take that, Cheerleader Tomatoes.

(Like would you totally, like, StumbleUpon! this post?  Thanks! You’re, like, the best! )

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Ok, I love a good hard boiled egg (especially with Maldon Salt ala Nigella) but there comes a time when you can only eat one more hard boiled egg. Here’s a list of recipes I came up with while figuring out what to do with those eggs as we dig ourselves out of the pile.

1. Curried Egg Salad @ 101 Cookbooks
2. Deviled eggs
3. Asparagus and Eggs with Mornay Sauce @ Gathering Manna
4. Spicy Pickled Eggs @ Foodies without Borders
5. Lazy Tea Eggs @ Just Bento
6. Avocado and Egg Salad
7. Crab Louis
8. Scotch eggs @ Soup Spoon
9. Son-in-law Eggs @ Esurientes
10. Fish Pie
11. Fried Hard Boiled Eggs with Tamarind @ Rhai Food
12. Chef’s Salad
13. Empanadas @ Parker’s General
14. Potato Salad @ Greg and Kat
15. Thousand Island Dressing @ Chow
16. Sleepy Twisted Sister’s G-N-G Breakfast Ramekin
17. Egg Biryani @ Siri’s Corner
18. Georgia Cracker Salad @ Fast Fabulous Foodie
19. Traditional Spinach Salad @ Green Lemonade
20. Egg and Bacon Spread @ Retro-Food
21. Golden Grills
22. Green Sauce @ Italian Food Recipes
23. Nettle Soup @ Modern Beet
24. Bobby Flay’s Grilled Asparagus and Egg Salad with Tarragon-Caper Vinaigrette
25. Hard Cooked Egg Cookies @ Baking Sheet
26. Salmon Kedgeree @ Epicurious
27. Mirj’s Chopped Liver
28. Asparagus Casserole
29. Tuna Pate
30. Egg Masala @ Indian Food Recipes

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Well, I believe we established that roasted garlic paste puree is on a par with George Clooney…smooth, suave and delicious with just a hint of velvety overtones (don’t ask me how I know, I just know.)

Now we discuss what to do with that bowl of golden deliciousness that you’ve prepared. Roasted garlic paste can be added to most sauces, soups, dips or casseroles. As promised, I suggest myriad ways to add that sassiness to transform your favorite dishes.

1. Roasted Garlic Paste and Blue Cheese Hamburgers
2. Piadine with Caesar Salad and Roasted Garlic Paste
3. Roasted Garlic Prawns at The Great Indian Desi Dhaba
4. Smear it on bruschetta
5. Roasted Garlic and Herb Dip at CyberBistroBoutique.com
6. Rib Roast with Roasted Garlic Sauce
7. Mix it with a little cream and horseradish and drizzle over grilled steak
8. Simple Pasta Sauce with Roasted Garlic
9. Baked Brie with Roasted Garlic and Herbs at Clipped and Diced
10. Pea and Garlic Soup at Green Gourmet Giraffe
11. Roasted Garlic Sweet Potato Butter at Cooking at the Pacific Outpost
12. Roasted Garlic and White Bean Dip at Off the Spork
13. Roasted Garlic Rosemary Mashed Potatoes at Crafty Diversions
14. Stir in olive oil, basil and toss with pasta.
15. Lemon Chicken with Roasted Garlic at Kara’s Recipes
16. Roasted Garlic Soup at In the Kitchen with Nell
17. Add it to your yeast bread recipe
18. Chicken Fried Steak with Roasted Garlic and White Peppercorn Sauce at Stephen’s Site
19. Mix it into mayonnaise to make a great sandwich topper
20. Roasted Broccoli with Garlic at Kalyn’s Kitchen
21. Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots at Everything is Better with Bacon
22. Macaroni and Cheese Casserole at An Attempt at Cooking
23. Asparagus with Roasted Garlic Aioli at Epicurious
24. Roasted Garlic Spread at Divine Domesticity
25. Add it to cream cheese and sour cream. Warm in the oven until melted.
26. Chicken and Mushrooms in Roasted Garlic Sauce at The Cooking Diaries of a Wine Loving Soccer Mom
27. Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce at A Peek at the Perrys
28. Stir it into your favorite gravy.
29. Romaine and Blue Cheese Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing at Fennel and Flax
30. Mix it with butter and spread it on roasted corn

No need to thank me.

(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)

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Leftovers have gotten a bad reputation which they don’t deserve. I mean, it’s not like they CHOSE to be ignored, forgotten, the last bits clinging to the bowl. They had dreams, big dreams, to be the centerpiece of a divine meal.

I believe in giving leftovers another chance but you have to be a little crafty with children. So we have started opening “Chez Kids,” a quaint little place not far from our kitchen (actually about 2 feet). We heat the food while our youngest draws a menu from the choices. The oldest sets the table and plays waiter. You’d think they’d get tired of this and see through it but yesterday’s “disgusting” broccoli becomes irresistible when they’re calling it “Trees with Cheese” and serving it with Monday’s chicken. The oldest puts on an apron and “cooks” our food by serving it up on plates which the youngest lovingly serves while wearing a Maybelline-brow-penciled-mustache.

The kids have fun, leftovers get a second chance and I actually get to eat without getting up every 2 minutes. It’s a win-win situation. Hey, everyone deserves a second chance…even broccoli. Wait…let me think. OK, even broccoli.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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The kids are up, bleary eyed and hair askew. The clock is ticking and the school morning rush is kicking in. A mother’s thoughts go to that age old question…how do you get the kids to eat a healthy breakfast? Even the ancient Egyptians were saying, “Tut! Eat your figs. Don’t you want to grow up strong like the Sphinx? EAT!”

Easier said than done. However, I’ve come up with my own bags of tricks and borrowed a few others. If you’re always short of time in the morning, I’ve noted those recipes that freeze well. Just reheat and serve. Here are some ideas to get your kids off to a good start.

1. Oatmeal - The biggest hurdle with oatmeal is that it often looks like wallpaper paste or that glue we used to eat as kindergardners, you know, the kind that came with a brush? Oh, well, you didn’t eat it? Oooooo kaaaay. Anyhoo, oatmeal is a blank canvas. Jazz it up, girl!! Try adding some of the following: brown sugar, apple butter, honey, fruit spread or preserves, yogurt, caramel, applesauce, wheat germ or granola. Obviously some of these are healthier than others so just ad a couple chocolate chips or a spoonful of pie filling…just enough to make it fun.
2. Breakfast Sandwich
3. Oatmeal with nuts and chocolate chips
4. Baked Graham Cracker French Toast (freezable)
5. PB&J Wraps - Smear PB, jelly and cream cheese on a whole wheat tortilla and roll. Slice it up for the little tykes.
   
6. Oatmeal with peanut butter and chocolate flavored protein powder (tell ‘em it’s Nestle Quik!)
7. Peanut Butter Granola Logs
8. Ants on a Log Moving Rocks - Spread PB on celery, add the raisins then add almonds or granola
9. Oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts.
10. Rice cakes with Nutella and banana
11. Pumpkin Oatmeal
12. Bean Dip with whole wheat tortillas
13. Inside Out sandwiches - Roll ham or turkey slices with cheese around a rolled up tortilla or slice of bread.
14. Whole Wheat Pancakes - The trick here is to make them fun. Draw a face with maple or chocolate syrup. Add bananas and chips for the eyes. Next time you’re at a restaurant with the kids for breakfast, look at how they make Mickey Mouse, a Martian, give the kids a cookie cutter to make shapes. (freezable)
15. Breakfast pizza - For older kids and teens, a breakfast pizza is a lot more appealing than cold cereal. I make these on English Muffins, put them individually on a cookie sheet and freeze. After they’re solid, I pack them into Ziplocs for microwaving on busy mornings. Younger kids love these with the cheese cut into shapes before topping the pizza. (freezable)
16. Cheese quesadillas or rolled tortillas with eggs and cheese. Roll a tortilla around string cheese with a bit of pizza sauce.
17. Hummus Roll - Spread on whole grain flatbread, sprinkle with shredded carrots and thinly sliced red pepper for older kids. Younger kids will dip pretty much anything into hummus.
18. Apple Bulgur (did you know bulgur has the highest amount of protein among cereal grains?)
19. Maple Nut Oatmeal
20. Baked Apples
    
21. Banana Carrot Muffins (sneakily used by moms for decades to sneak in fruit s and veggies!)
22. PB&J Waffles
23. Little Pocket Buffet - Buy a small muffin tin. Put veggies, dips and cheese cubes into each “pocket.”
24. Scrambled eggs with “blood” (ketchup) If you can stomach it, my daughters thought it was “REALLY gross” which to a preschooler means it must be eaten. Which means they’ll also love…
25. A Spider Sandwich - Cut a PB sandwich with a round cutter and stick pretzels in for legs.
26. Berenstain Bears Breakfast Oatmeal
    
27. Grilled cheese and egg sandwich
28. 1 Cup Strawberry Shake Smoothie - Mix 1 cup milk, 1 banana, 1 cup yogurt and 1 c frozen strawberries in a blender. Serve with a straw. Kids think everything is better with a bendy straw.
29. Egg Muffins - Not McMuffins, but rather eggs mixed with ham, cheese and veggies and baked in a muffin tin. Portable and quick for the whole family.
30. Ramen Noodles - My daughter loves this for breakfast. Toss the flavor packet or use very little as it’s high in sodium. Stir in leftover chicken or shrimp and toss with a some shredded skim Mozzarella or light herb cream cheese. Add milk to thin if necessary.
31. Apple Smilies
32. Butterscotch Banana Bread Waffles (freezable)
33. Granola bar
34. Banana Oatbran Muffins (freezable)
35. Breakfast cookie - Not for everyday but better than nothing on really rushed days. (freezable)
36. Shaped Pancakes - Coat a metal cookie cutter generously with non-stick spray. Pour pancake batter into the cookie cutter. When set, remove the cookie cutter and flip. Another way to jazz up pancakes is to “draw” with the batter. Put the batter into a squeeze bottle and let the kids draw letters or shapes. If you want to “etch” onto a pancake, squeeze out a little batter in a shape or letter; let it cook for a minute then top with more batter. When you flip the pancake, there should be a darker shape where you “etched.”
37. Egg Salad Bagel - Use half the egg yolks and light mayo. Serve on toasted bagel.
38. Waffle puzzle - Cut the waffle into uneven pieces and let the child put it back together.
39. French Toast Rollups - French toast for on the go. Cream cheese adds calcium and protein.
40. Grilled Peanut Butter sandwich
41. Breakfast Burritos - Make on the weekend and freeze. Microwave for 3 minutes. (freezable)
42. Ancient Scrolls - For your budding archaeologist, spread peanut butter over a tortilla or whole wheat flatbread. Let the children “write” text with Alpha-Bits cereal. This one’s a big hit in the kindergarten set.
43. Nachos and Fruit Salsa
44. McD’s style Egg Muffin Sandwich
45. Peanut Butter “Sundae” bar -Spread peanut butter on whole wheat bagels and provide bowls of cut bananas, mini marshmallows, cubed apples, honey, raisins, grated carrots and maple syrup for topping.
46. Pretzel kabobs - Let your little one thread Cheerios on mini pretzel sticks and dip into yogurt.
47. Berry Berry Smoothie
48. Peanut Butter Noodles - Mix a little peanut butter with HOT water and a touch of brown sugar. If your kids are older, add soy, rice wine vinegar and hot chili oil. Toss with whole wheat pasta.
49. Scrambled Tofu…Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, but if you don’t tell, they won’t know they’re not eggs. Serve with ketchup.
50. Amish Baked Oatmeal - If your kids like oatmeal cookies, they’ll love this. Cheap, healthy and a pan will last all week.
51. Hot Brown Rice - Mix cooked leftover rice with a little milk, cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins. Heat.
52. Waffle “French Toast” - Make a batter of eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla, dip waffles, coat in cornflake crumbs and bake at 375 for 10-12 mins.
53. Banana “Pudding” - Mash a very ripe banana and stir into applesauce with a bit of vanilla yogurt. Toddlers especially love this when they make it themselves.
54. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup smoothie
55. Hash - Cut up some leftover baked potatoes then fry them with a leftover meat.
56. Yogurt and granola “sundae”
57. Cereal Trail Mix - Mix cereal (great for the last of the box) with nuts, raisins, seeds and anything else your kid likes in a Ziploc bag.
58. Peanut Butter Banana shake
59. Pizza Rolls - Put pizza sauce, cheese and cut up veggies between two crescent rolls and pinch closed. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. (freezable)
60. Applesauce “Soup” - Stir cut up fruit and nuts into applesauce
61. Cinnamon Apple Quesadilla
62. Country Cottage Cheese - Mix apple butter with cottage cheese.
63. Hard boiled eggs
64. Spinach Cheese Casserole - Bake on the weekend and enjoy throughout the week by heating and topping with salsa or spaghetti sauce for teens, ketchup for little ones.
65. Waffle Egg Sandwich - Toast two whole wheat waffles, top with egg and cheese
66. Checkerboard Sandwich - Spread one slice of light wheat bread with peanut butter. Spread a slice of white or dark whole grain bread with cream cheese or , for a treat, marshmallow cream. Slice sandwiches into 9 pieces by cutting into thirds length wise and width wise. Flip over every other piece to show the darker size of the bread. If you trim the crusts (which is de rigeur in the toddler set I know), it will look neater.
67. Breakfast Rockets
    
68. “Painted” toast - Mix a little food coloring into several bowls of milk. Give the kids a CLEAN paintbrush and let them “paint” their toast before eating.
69. Fruit skewers - Thread cut up fruit on skewers and serve with cream cheese mixed with peanut butter and milk for dipping.
70. Toffee Cream of Wheat
71. Pizza Omelette - Ok, on this one, you need to be comfy making an omelette. If you are, before folding your omelette, fill with diced bell peppers, cheese and tomato sauce. If you’re not, throw these into a pita and nuke it for about 15 seconds to melt the cheese. I won’t tell.
72. Fruit and cheese
73. Ham and Cheese Bagel - Grill on your George Foreman or Panani press.
74. Steel Cut Oatmeal cooked overnight in the Crockpot
    
75. Banana Dog (banana dog (peanut butter, a banana, and raisins in a long whole-grain bun)
76. Fruit and Cream Cheese Sandwich (use strawberries or other fresh fruit)
77. Nutty Breakfast Rolls
78. Ham and Tater Tot Casserole…Ah, tater-tots…a kids favorite potato.
    
79. Blender Breakfast
80. Mini Waffles
    
81. English muffin topped with honey, cinnamon and granola
82. Whole wheat toast with flavored cream cheese - Make your own. Stir in preserves, maple syrup, cinnamon, peanut butter or Nutella into softened light cream cheese.
83. Pita Melt - Put thinly sliced turkey or ham with cheese in a pita and microwave for about 1 minute
84. Fruit Salad - Cut up seasonal fruit and toss with yogurt thinned with a little milk.
85. Green Eggs and Ham - Use a little green food coloring as you scramble the eggs.
86. Banana “Buttons” - Cut slices and sprinkle with a little brown sugar.
87. Waffle Sandwich - Make your waffles portable.
88. Muesli
    
89. Fruit “pizza” - Top a whole wheat tortilla, waffle or bagel with fruit yogurt and sliced fruit
90. Breakfast taco
91. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls
    
92. Grilled cheese on whole wheat
    
93. French Toast Sticks - Kids love finger food. (freezable)
94. Whole grain toast with peanut butter and apple or banana slices
95. Chocolate Monkey Smoothie
96. “Lunchables” Breakfast - Leftover meat thinly sliced with cheese and whole wheat crackers
97. Bacon Hashbrown Rollups
98. Kids Favorite Breakfast Bars
    
99. Grilled Cheese and Bacon on Raisin Bread (It strangely works.)
    
100. Leftovers (Do you really think the breakfast police will arrest you if you don’t eat “breakfast” foods?)

Whew!  That should hold you for a while.  Let me know what other ideas you have.

Blessings and health!

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Well, dears, I come to you tonight trying to work through this cold-bronchitis-cough-chest-thing that the whole state seems to be fighting. But never fear! I will continue my series on why you should be planning your family’s meals. Tonight we’ll go over a few benefits just in case you weren’t convinced by my last post.

What you will gain:

• Time you previously wasted opening and closing cupboards in search of inspiration.
• Gas you’ll save by not running out to the grocery store and picking up what you need to make dinner. See? Who woulda thought menu planning would be ECO-FRIENDLY?
• Best of all, money since planning meals will allow you to shop for exactly what you’ll need rather than anything that grabs your fancy (and if someone’s grabbing your fancy at the store, you should be slapping them!) By sticking to the menu you designed, it will help cut out all impulse buying.

What you will lose:

• Frostbite that you get from staring for a half hour at a freezer that contains only a lonely Popsicle, ancient ice cubes and an unidentified piece of freezer-burned meat.
• Since you know what you’ll be having in a few weeks (you’re repeating your family’s favorites in your menu plan, right?), you’ll save a couple nights of cooking just by making double and freezing one for the next time that menu plan rolls around.
• Maybe a couple unwanted pounds as you order out less.
• The 3,487,219th time of hearing “What’s for dinner!?”

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you of why you need a menu plan. Next up, I’ll give you a few more options for menu planning. Until then, keep your nose warm!