Pinterest Pancake Bites

A few weeks back, Jen posted her Pinterest attempt, now it's my turn.

These cute little pancake bites looked too simple to mess up, so I gave 'em a go.

Pancake mix, some diced strawberries, diced banana, and cinnamon, and into the oven they go! 

They baked up just fine in the 12 minutes recommended. (Side note: the next week I made them again, this time with frozen fruit, and I needed to add 2-3 minutes to the baking time.)

Smash 'em up with a little butter and syrup.....

...and let your children enjoy them with your camera in their pretty faces!

Kids, husband, and I loved these little breakfast puffs and they'll definitely make more appearances in our house!

Beef and Veggie Stir-Fry (or, how you get your kids to eat ALL. THE. VEGETABLES.)

Do you stir-fry? If so, Yay! If not, why not?

It can look complicated, but I assure you, stir-fry is simple and easy and you can use pretty much whatever you have on hand.

For example, the beef and veggie stir-fry I made last week contained the following ingredients:

-One sirloin steak

-Various chopped up veggies (broccoli and carrots)

-Corn starch

-Soy sauce

-Ginger (powdered)

-Asian fish sauce

-Sesame ginger salad dressing

(Basically, if it was in my fridge and looked/sounded/tasted Asian-like, it went in this dinner.)

Also, I have discovered that by cutting carrots into "ribbons" the children will find them to be delightful and will happily eat them up without complaint.

Slice meat thinly and sprinkle with corn starch and ginger (or whatever meat seasoning you like.) Saute the steak and veggies in a hot pan with a little bit of sesame/olive/vegetable/canola oil. You don't even need a wok, although if you have one, great, use it!

Some peeps like stir-fry with noodles, others with rice. Your dinner, your choice. I had a package of rice noodles in the pantry. I boiled them quickly, drained them, and added them to the veggie and meat pan. Then I added a dash or two of each of my Asian sauces and mixed it all around a few times. Sometimes I even add a spoonful of peanut butter. No child will ever refuse vegetable is you tell them they're covered in peanut butter : )

When I have some, I add a sprinkling of crunchy noodles, because everyone likes the crunchy noodles.

Dinner is Served!

Jello Cake

When I was in elementary school, a girl in my class bragged that her mom made the best Jello cakes ever and each kid got to pick their favorite flavor on their birthday. I though this girl was nuts, because who wants Jello on their birthday? In my young mind, Jello cake was just a sheet of plain Jello in a cake pan - nothing special about that. Fast forward years (and years and years) later, and I now know what this girl was talking about. Jello Cake is not just Jello, but a cake with Jello poured over it. Once absorbed, the Jello makes the cake oh-so-very flavorful and moist and becomes a gorgeous color to boot. I discovered this recipe right before St. Patrick's Day when I was looking for green dessert ideas, and later altered it slightly for different flavors and colors.

Ingredients:

-Yellow or White cake mix and everything necessary to follow box directions.

-One large or two small packets of Jello (even the generic kind will work fine)

-One small box pudding

-One 8-ounce tub of whipped topping (Cool Whip)

Directions:

1. Bake cake according to box directions.

2. When done and still warm, poke a bajillion holes in the cake with a knife, or meat skewer like my helper is doing here:

3. Make up Jello according to package directions, using 1/3 less water than called for. 

4. After Jello is mixed well, pour liquid directly onto poked cake, making sure all the little holes get their share of Jello goodness.

5. Wait. Let cake sit (either in fridge or at room temperature) for at least an hour (or, ya know, however long you've got).

6. Mix pudding according to package directions. Eat a spoonful or two and let baby bird-like children do the same. Mix remaining pudding with Cool Whip.

7. Spread on top of cake, like thick, fluffy frosting:

(You can also see here how the color of the cake changes. Remember, it used to be yellow, now it's strawberry-flavored pink)

(The finished product. Looks pretty average and mundane, but wait until you cut it open.)

(Viola! Lovely!)

Have fun playing around with Jello, pudding, and cake combinations. I made a Raspberry Lemonade Jello Cake for an Easter lunch where the hostess was a big fan of lemon and raspberries. (I used lemon cake mix, raspberry Jello, and lemon pudding). I wanted the cake in the picture to be kind of like strawberry shortcake, so I used strawberry Jello and vanilla pudding. Use your imagination, or whatever is in your pantry!

Nailed it!! Pinterest Pancakes

I try not to just cold cereal it everyday for my kids. Which they love pancakes, so it usually isn't a problem. Well the other morning I thought I would give our ordinary pancakes a twist, so I did the logical thing and went to Pinterest and found cinnamon roll pancakes with cream cheese icing (really its frosting, it just sound not so horrible if you call it icing with breakfast). The two older kids were all ready for school and working on homework (that doesn't happen often) and they both needed help and the two younger kids were fighting. So, this seemed like the PERFECT time to try a new recipe.

I followed the recipe from http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/03/01/cinnamon-roll-pancakes/

NAILED IT!!!! Okay, so this is an epic Pinterest fail. "You try, you fail. You try, you fail. The only time you truly fail is when you quiet trying". So, I tried again on the next pancake.

Success!!!

Made a little bit of cream cheese icing.......

and enjoyed breakfast.

These delicious pancakes didn't stop the younger kids fighting or do homework for the older kids, but at least we had a yummy breakfast! 

A word of wisdom when it comes to Pinterest (or anything else for that matter). "Never compare yourself to others. You will always compare your worst self to their best self".

Costa Vida anyone?

I love Costa Vida sweet pulled pork burritos. And I LOVE my crock pot. So why not combine the best of two worlds.Crock pots are awesome for those busy days that you know you are not going to have much time to put dinner together.

Add pork roast, liquid smoke, and garlic salt. I do not add any extra liquid, but my crock pot has a tight seal and doesn't evaporate. Add liquid if you need too.

I can my own salsa (when it is canning season, my big sis and I will put up a few posts about canning). Do not use all 2 liters of soda, 1 - 1 1/2 cups is plenty!!

Mix together and enjoy now or for a better flavor have it for dinner the next day. But it smells so good, you can't help but eat it right then!

ENJOY!!!

Sweet Pork Burritos 

Pork roast - any size will do
Smoke flavoring
Garlic salt
1 jar salsa
1 can soda (any kind of dark soda, cola, rootbeer, dr. pepper, etc. diet soda even works)
1 cup brown sugar

Add pork roast to crock pot, add a drizzle a few teaspoons of smoke flavoring and a few teaspoons of garlic salt to roast. Cover and let cook 8+ hours. The longer the better! Shred pork and add salsa, soda, and brown sugar. Stir and keep warm until ready to serve. This is the VERY BEST if made a day ahead of time and then warmed in crock pot again the next day. The juices really have time to soak into the meat. I hardly ever remember to do it a day ahead of time and my family still loves it!

I serve these with cilantro lime rice (rice with a bunch of lime juice and cilantro mixed in), cheese, sour cream, and lettuce.

And in case anyone is wondering, I have an awesome crock pot. It is a Hamilton Beach Stay-or-Go. My husband got it for me for Christmas a few years ago. He felt silly getting it for me as gift, but I really really really wanted it. I was so excited when he found it and it was under the Christmas tree!!!

Fluffy Jell-O Salad

My 2 year old woke up at 2:30 am this morning and had NO intentions of going back to bed. She had crashed at 5:30 the afternoon before, so she was up ready for the day. Well, when the 2 year old is awake, mom is awake. I tried turning on a cartoon and going back to sleep. Nope, apparently that wasn't going to happen. So, I kept the cartoon on for my daughter and thought I would start to work on what I needed to do for the day. Before I knew it I had lunches ready, breakfast ready, laundry folded, and now I was wide eyed and bushy tailed. Now that it's 4:00 am, why not start on dinner. So, I made the first half of this fluffy jell-o salad.

Boil water, add the gelatin pack and 2 puddings. It will fluff and boil, so watch out for over flow. Stir in slowly.

After jello mixture has cool a few hours add chopped fruit

Mix well

Add jello mixture to whipped cream or cool whip. Fold gently so the cream doesn't go flat

And enjoy at 4:00 am or whenever you make dinner

At least one of us finally fell back to sleep!! (Isn't she adorable, how could I be mad at that for keeping me up all night)

Fluffy Jell-O Salad 

3 cups water 

1 small box of gelatin - any flavor  to match fruit that you will use 

1 - 3 oz box cook and serve vanilla pudding 

1 - 3 oz. Box cook and serve tapioca pudding (I have only ever found this in the Jell-O brand) 

1 pound fruit (strawberries, raspberries, bananas, canned mandarin oranges, anything that sounds good), chopped to bite sized pieces 

1 pint of whipping cream or 1 small tube Cool Whip 

2 T. regular vanilla pudding (only need if you are using whipping cream) 

Boil water in 2 quart sauce pan. Add gelatin, if using sugar free it will foam and boil really high, watch out for that. Stir in well. Add vanilla pudding, stir in well. Add tapioca pudding, mix well. Boil and occasionally stir for 3 minutes. Turn off stove and put jello mixture into fridge. The mixture needs to be cooled all the way, so it will take a few hours. I have put it in an ice bath in the sink to cool it faster and that works well too. If using whipping cream, whip with 2 T regular vanilla pudding (this helps stabilize the pudding). Whipped to stiff peaks. Once  the jello mixture is cooled stir in fruit then fold in whipped cream or cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to eat. The longer it is in the refrigerator the better it tastes. 

Meatloaf

I found the original for this recipe on allrecipes.com, but it has been changed here and there. So, here is the Fugal version.

I use caramelized onions every change I get. I only had red onions in the pantry, but use whatever kind you like or have on hand.

Mix all the spices, dried oatmeal, hamburger, and onions. I just use my hands and give it all a good mix.

I double the recipe because my family really likes this a lot. Except for my pick eater, child #2.

All done! This picture doesn't really make it look very good. But remember, I do have some talents and photography I guess isn't one of them. Maybe I should have my two oldest do my pictures, they are getting really good at photography.

This is a great meal to do during the week. I usually will get it ready ahead of time and then put it in the oven when the kids get home from school. I can still help with homework while this is in the oven.


Meatloaf:
1 /1/2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1 onion, caramelized or sauteed
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs, crushed crackers, or dry oatmeal (whatever you have on hand)
Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:
2 T brown sugar
2 T prepared mustard
1/3 cup BBQ or ketchup

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine beef, onions, milk, and bread crumbs (or whatever you have on hand). Season with salt, pepper, . Place in a loaf pan. In a separate bowl combine ingredients for topping. Mix well and pour over the meatloaf. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.