OK, 'fess up! How many of you do this? I am proud to say, we have breakfast for dinner often; probably 3 times a month.
Now, I'm not saying I plop a bowl of Cheerios in front of everyone and say "Bon Appetit!". No, I mean real honest-to-God breakfast; the kind that nobody seems to have time to make anymore. Which is, of course, the reason it's for dinner!
The other day we had 2 kinds of muffins, bacon and hard boiled eggs--for DINNER. The kids were thrilled and so was I. I'm not much of an eater when I'm pregnant. There isn't a lot that appeals to me and when I can't eat it's so hard to cook for someone else. Blogging is an effort too since this is a food blog and I really don't feel like food right now!
So, back to the topic, my kids love to have pancakes and sausage or eggs and hashbrowns or English muffin breakfast sandwiches or French toast and bacon for dinner. My husband could eat cereal 24/7 and sometimes when he is not in the mood for a full dinner (which is often with his back pain) he will simply eat a bowl of cereal. I admit I have yet to feed the kids cereal for dinner. I just can't do it. I'm sure it's as healthy as anything but it goes against my moral food fiber.
So, when you have breakfast for dinner (you know you do!) what do you have?
Recipes from the first game of the season are IN! They all look fabulous and do yourself a favor by visiting the equally fabulous blogs written by our players.
Enjoy!
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From KFarmer at KFarmer & The Dell:
Stacked Egg Plant
Cut up eggplant and brush with olive oil, sprinkle w/salt & pepper. Grill on high heat until mostly done. Set aside and let cool.
Chop up three or four sun dried tomatoes. To make rice use 1 cup chicken stock and 2 cups water to 1 1/2 cups rice. Add tomatoes and a pinch of saffron to liquid. Cook 20 minutes.
Chop up 2 celery sticks, three or four okra and 1/2 an onion. Cook in olive oil till tender. Add ground turkey and cook till done. Add salt, grated Parmesan cheese, lots of black pepper, parsley, rosemary, thyme, basil and ground red pepper.
Melt butter and add bread crumbs and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Place roasted eggplant on foil covered cookie sheet; add scoop of rice, then turkey mixture, bread crumbs and a piece of roasted red pepper on top. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or till bread crumbs are brown.
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From Adopted Son (aka my oldest brother!) at Ear to the Heavens:
Dijon Chicken ala Robert
One cup rice
One lb. Fresh Ground Turkey
One cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 minced cloves garlic
One cup diced spanish onion
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
1 cup cream or half-and-half
teaspoon fresh-ground Black Pepper
teaspoon Sea Salt
Dash of rosemary
2 TBSP Olive Oil
In a 2-Qt. Saucepan, prepare the rice.
(Boil 2 cups of water, then add the rice and lower to a simmer. Cover
and let cook for approx. 20 minutes. Stir and remove from heat. Leave
covered until ready to serve.
While the rice is cooking...
In a large fry pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Once the oil is heated, add the salt, pepper, and garlic.
Stir with a wooden spoon until the garlic begins to soften. Be careful
to not burn the garlic.
Add the onions to the pan.
When the onions soften and get slightly transparent, add the ground
turkey. Stir frequently.
Once the turkey is thoroughly cooked, add the rosemary and the
sun-dried tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes soften
slightly.
Stir in the Dijon mustard.
Once the mustard is stirred throughout, slowly stir in the cream or
half-and -half.
Reduce the heat and stir until the cream thickens.
Serve over the rice.
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From Compulsive Writer at From the mixed-up files of a middle-aged mind:
Rice Bean Soup With a Tomato Twist
Steam the rice.
Brown the ground turkey in a pan light coated with olive oil.
Add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook through. Season with salt
and pepper.
Stir in one to two cups of tender green beans and 1 large can of cream
of mushroom soup.
Serve over the white rice.
Sprinkle liberally with the sun-dried tomatoes.
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From Ian at The Gallumphing Gourmand:
Gobble Burgers
Makes 12 big burgers
Burgers
2 lbs. Ground Turkey
1/2 C Rolled Oats
1 Egg
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 dash Tabasco (or to taste)
baguettes for buns
Filling
1 C Minute Rice
1 C water
1/4 C Ground-up sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper
1 egg
salt & pepper
Rice Directions:
Boil water with a pinch of salt in a small saucepan.
When water is boiling, add rice, sundried tomatoes, oregano, basil,
chipotle, egg and pepper to taste.
Mix everything around a bit until the egg and the spices are incorporated,
cover and remove from heat.
Let stand for about 10 minutes. (Yes, I know the box says 5 minutes, but
with all the other stuff in there it takes longer to set properly)
Burger Directions:
Place ground turkey into a large mixing bowl.
Add all other ingredients except baguettes. (Just making sure)
Mix together gently with the fingertips until just mixed evenly.
Form the meat into twenty-four (24) thin patties, and group patties into
pairs.
Add a spoonful or two of the rice mixture onto one patty, then cover with
another patty.
Form into burgers, making sure that the edges are completely sealed.
Grill burgers, making sure that they're cooked all the way through. They're
BIG burgers, so they'll probably take longer than you would expect.
Cut baguettes into burger-sized sections, then cut in half.
Toast each half on the grill until slightly toasted.
Serve with lettuce and sliced red onion, then GOBBLE!
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My own:
Turkey Meatballs in Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Serves 4-6
Make enough white rice for 6 servings and keep warm. (Rice cookers are great for this!)
Meatballs:
1 lb. ground raw turkey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 clove galic, minced
1 tsp fresh basil. finely chopped
Mix ingredients together and make into meatballs about 1" in diameter-not too large.
Saute in a small amount of oil until lightly browned. Drain oil off and keep warm.
Sauce:
1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped fine
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped fine
1 clove minced garlic
2 T olive oil
2 T flour
1/2 c chicken stock or white wine
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
freshly ground pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil over medium heat, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
Add sun-dried tomatoes and basil, sauté until tomatoes are softened.
Add flour and stir well until there are no lumps.
Slowly add stock or wine until thickened.
Add cream in a thin stream until well combined.
Add Parmesan and stir well.
Stir meatballs into sauce and serve over rice. Balance this out with a very green salad and crusty rolls.
Today is the day...the first game of Ready, Set, Cook! for this season. If you have not played with us before, please read the basic rules HERE. Even if you have played before, there are some slight modifications so check out the rules page anyway.
Here are our 3 ingredients for the day:
ground turkey
sundried tomatoes
white rice
Hey, I know white rice is not good for you and if you like to cook along and want to do the healthier thing, feel free to change that one ingredient to brown rice.
Aprons on, spoons up, GO!
I haven't. We are hoping to get to at least one before it gets too cold to be enjoyable. I plan on being dragged away from summer kicking and screaming this year! It definitely went far too quickly for me this time.
So, in honor of all that is summer, including Fair food, I made funnel cakes last night for dessert. Yes, you can make them yourself! It seems that one of my 14 year old daughter's friends is fascinated by the fact that I know how to make funnel cake. Honestly, until I was married I didn't know you could make your own either. My mother-in-law made them occasionally and they were just like the ones we would get at the carnival.
Just after my first child was born we took a drive out to Farmer Brown's, a mostly Mennonite run farmer's market, and I purchased my first and only Amish cookbook there. The recipe for funnel cake is included and I set to making my own and have never stopped.
It really isn't difficult at all but I have a few tips. A cast iron skillet works best for these. You can use a deep fryer but I find it isn't necessary since the depth of the oil only needs to be about an inch and a half or so; enough for the cake to float just a bit and not stick to the pan. Also, home use deep fryers aren't really roomy enough.
You don't need a funnel cake pitcher at all, pouring the batter in a thin stream has worked well for me all these years. You can purchase one though and they look like this:
A larger spider or metal spatula is helpful in removing them from the oil although if your batter is right tongs should work.
This is the recipe as it is in the book, Amish Cooking by Sallie Y. Lapp.
Funnel Cake
Combine 1 pt. milk
2 beaten eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 t baking powder
enough flour to make a loose batter
Place lard in an iron skillet, enough to cover about 1 inch of dough, heat the lard and then begin poring the batter through a funnel, beginning in the center of the pan and gradually pouring the dough from the center outward in a circular manner. (Do not allow the dough to tangle the previously poured batter). When the funnel cakes are light brown, remove them from the skillet and serve with maple syrup, a tart jelly or simply sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
The only thing I take issue with here is that she says not to tangle the dough. I always start in the center and run concentric circles out to the edge of the pan and then zip across the whole thing again so that it all stays together. If you don't, it's hard to get it out of the pan all at once.
Sometimes I add a tablespoon or so of sugar to the batter and a teaspoon of vanilla for flavor. We also like cinnamon sugar on these. I've seen them with strawberries and whipped cream and with ice cream sundaes made right on top. I'm still a purist when it comes to these and I like them as is with powdered sugar.
