Egg in a Cup

Have you tried egg in a cup?

It's been awhile, but if you only need one egg,

it's fast, easy, and great entertainment for little helpers.

Egg in a Cup

1 egg

salt, pepper, garlic, cheese, or whatever you like on your egg.

1 mug

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1.  First add egg and seasonings to the mug.  Whip with a fork.

2.  Place mug in microwave.  Cook egg for 1 minute.  (Adjust as needed for microwave power.)  When you begin cooking, the egg will fill approximately 1/3 of the mug.

 3.  Invite your little helpers to watch as the egg begins to fill the cup.  We call this "egg volcano".

 4.  Dump egg onto a plate.  Cut and fluff with a fork.  Enjoy!

Monster Cookies

Growing up we made these cookies:

loaded with chocolate chips and M&M's.

They adapt very well to a healthier version -

high protein and high fiber.

Monster Cookies

1 ½ cup peanut butter

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup pureed dried fruit (I used apricots and prunes)

2 tsp. vanilla

½ cup butter

2 tsp. baking soda

3 ½ cups oatmeal

1 cup oat bran

1 cup high cacoa chocolate chips 

1/2 cup raisins

Mix first 7 ingredients.  Add dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips and M&M’s.  Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft).  Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet.  Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy.

Pita Bread

We wanted falafel for dinner.

But we didn't have any pita bread.

Figured I'd just find a recipe.

Turned out to be great entertainment, too!

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Pita Bread

2 1/2 tsp. yeast

1 1/2 cup warm water

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups white flour

1.  Mix yeast and water.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients. 

2.  Knead in mixture for 6 minutes or knead by hand for 10.

3. Let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. 

You can speed this process up in the following way (works for all breads).  Turn your oven on set for 450 degrees.  Allow it to heat for 1 minute.  Turn the oven off.  Place dough in a bowl covered with a damp cloth inside the oven which is now warm, not hot.  The dough usually doubles in about 30 minutes.

4.  Divide dough into 12 balls.

5.  Roll flat until dough is 1/8 inch thick.

6.  Place rounds on a greased cookie sheet.

7.  Bake at 500 degrees on a low oven rack for 5-6 minutes.

The pita will be ready when the bread is lightly browned.

 8.  Optional:  Now the fun part!  The dough will POOF as it's rising. 

 My children thought this looked like balloons expanding.  After the bread's been in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes, invite your little ones to WATCH.

My kids were glued!

 This is how we served our pitas.

The balls are falafel.

(Falafel is a vegetarian protein made of seasoned chickpeas - very common in the middle east and introduced to me by my mom when I had Sean).

We ate them in our pitas with chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and yellow bell peppers.

 Close-up of the Falafel.

Pumpkin Cookies

Christmas tended to be a little too sweet around here.  We just returned home from visiting family, and I'm back to finding life sweet enough.  Here's some cookies I whipped up tonight.

Pumpkin Cookies

1/2 cup pumpkin

3 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. canola oil

3/4 cup pureed prunes
1/4 cup molasses

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

3/4 cup high cacao chocolate chips

Beat all ingredients until well blended.  Stir in pecans and chocolate chips.  Scoop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degress.

Gingerbread Play Dough

Birthday party in December...must have gingerbread scented play dough!

Makes the house smell like Christmas!

Gingerbread Play Dough

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 tsp. cream of tartar

2 cups water

3 tbsp. oil

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ginger

Mix all ingredients in a large pan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture reaches a "dough" consistency.  Remove from heat.  Knead dough for 5 minutes.  Add color with food coloring.  (I tried liquid and paste - both worked equally well.)

Smoothies

Our favorite family treat...smoothies!  We enjoy them so much, we often have smoothies and popcorn for dinner.  Could be bad, but with a healthy recipe like this, it's a guilt-free indulgence.

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Smoothies

fresh fruit

frozen fruit

vanilla

milk

Sometimes simple is best!  Add fresh fruit to bottom of blender.  Next add frozen fruit until blender is 3/4 full.  Add vanilla (to taste).  Add milk until level is even with the top of frozen fruit.  Puree until smooth.

Here's a few of our favorite flavors:

banana mango

strawberry banana mango

banana strawberry blueberry

Chili

Nothing quite like chili on a cold fall day.  Keep it simple with ready to go ingredients and a crock pot.

 Crock Pot Chili

2 cans chopped chicken breast, undrained

1 can black beans, undrained

1 can pinto beans, undrained

1 can chili beans, undrained

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans tomato sauce (large)

1 cup chopped onion (or rehydrated onion flakes)

1 bag frozen chopped onion/pepper blend (onions with green, red, and yellow bell peppers)

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. chopped garlic

4 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. cumin

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

large pinch red pepper flakes

Dump everything in the crock pot.  Simmer for 3-4 hours.  Enjoy!

I loved all the colors after adding the spices.