Swiss Chard YUM!

I don't think I'd ever tasted Swiss chard til a year or so ago when I tried it in a new recipe and failed. I am so, so glad that we tried it again...in a NEW, FAVORITE RECIPE!

Last year I planted a bunch of new stuff "to try." Some didn't come up. Others didn't come up at the time but came up this spring when I wasn't paying much attention. The Swiss chard was so beautiful I almost hesitated to eat it. But I've been wanting to try more recipes from Simply in Season, so I looked up Swiss chard in the index and settled on "Chard Cheese Bake." It was scrumptious! 'LilDude had three or four helpings. Big ones. I lost count at some point. We also had locally grown asparagus and a rhubarb/blueberry crumble made from our new rhubarb and blueberries from the freezer. I'm thrilled that it's finally SPRING! ;)

Have you ever washed anything so gorgeous???


And the final product:


Chard Cheese Bake
from Simply in Season

1 lb Swiss chard or spinach (chopped)
Cook and thoroughly drain. (In the front of the book it has cooking tips for each vegetable. I cut the stems into chunks and then rolled the leaves together and cut the roll crosswise in each direction. I boiled the stem chunks for 8 minutes, adding the leaves for the last 3 minutes of cooking time. They were perfect.)

4 eggs, beaten
1 c. milk (I used rice milk)
1 c. cheese (I used cheddar)
1 c. cubed bread (I used gf rice bread & thought it particularly good in this)
1/2 c. green onions, sliced (I used 2 T. that I'd frozen)
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, grated

Combine all ingredients and pour into greased 2-qt dish. Cover and bake in preheated 375 oven for 25-30 minutes, until set. (It took mine at least 40 minutes.)

Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Muffins (gluten/casein free)

During the past WEEK of illness, I've made several batches of these muffins for the sickies. They've been very appreciative! I found the original recipe in Dr. Sears' Parenting Newsletter, but I can't locate the recipe on-line and I've changed it a LOT. So blame my experimentation if you hate it! ;)

Pumpkin Muffins*

(*gluten & casein free...assumes you will buy ingredients that contain no gluten or milk products)

Makes: 24 regular or 48 mini muffins (they freeze well for snacks/breakfast)

Mix together dry ingredients:

3 c. brown rice flour
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
2 t. sea salt (or regular)
4 t. baking soda
1/4 c. brown sugar


Mix together wet ingredients:

4 beaten eggs
3/4 c. thawed orange juice concentrate
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. 100% maple syrup
2 T. agave nectar or honey
4 t. vanilla
2 c. cooked, mashed butternut squash or pumpkin

Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Add 1-2 cups of chocolate chips (gf/cf) or raisins.

Put batter into greased muffin tins and bake at 350. About 15 minutes for mini muffins, about 20 minutes for regular...but watch them so they don't overbake.

P.S. I would never, ever guess these were gluten free muffins. They taste like the real thing! :)

Day 26, Mashed Potatoes for Breakfast?? (93...Free!)

In the spirit of trying to do better with breakfast, I tried a new recipe this morning using leftover mashed potatoes. These hash browns are easy and worth making again. We ate them alongside scrambled eggs. The only difference I'd do next time is attempt to make the onion pieces tinier.

Day 14, Breakfast Blitz! (93...Free!)

**Edited to say that I plan to keep adding to this post so check back for more breakfast ideas... ;)

I whined about this awhile back, but just in case you missed it...

BREAKFAST IS A MAJOR SHORTCOMING AT OUR HOUSE!

It's every man, woman, and child for him/herself. (And it would be every dog for herself if Sara the dog knew how to unscrew her doggie food container.) Generally speaking, most people grab cold cereal with milk. Although we try to limit ourselves to cereal at or below 10 cents/ounce, that is becoming harder and harder to find. Anakin loves cereal and usually fills his bowl to overflowing...with Dad and Lizzi close behind...so one box of cereal doesn't go far. In additional, the nutritional value of most cereals is quite unimpressive.

So what's a family to do???

PLAN! I'm ready for a plan! I implemented it yesterday and have succeeded for TWO WHOLE DAYS. ;) I figure if I post it here, I'm more likely to stick to it, so here goes...

I made several categories of breakfast foods. Each day of the week, I plan to select an item from a different category. You'll recall that 'LilDude needs gluten/casein free food, so you'll notice that the list is geared in that direction. On the few selections that include gluten or casein, I'll modify for him.

Eggs (w/ toast & fruit)

• scrambled
• over easy
• hard boiled
• breakfast burrito w/ homemade salsa
• quiche
• egg skillet breakfast ( recipe below)
  

Hot Cereal

• steel cut oats
• Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal (gluten free, Bob's Red Mill)
• Easy Oatmeal Recipes (crockpot overnight is one option)
• baked oatmeal (recipe below)

Cold Cereal

• homemade granola (More With Less Cookbook)
• store (ugh!) cereal, if 10 cents/oz or less

Smoothies/Fruit

• fruit smoothie
• seasonal fruit & yogurt

Other

• gluten free pancakes (Bob's Red Mill)
• rice cakes w/ peanut butter
• gluten free biscuits (Bob's Red Mill--I add raisins and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar)
• hash browns (from leftover mashed potatoes)
  

I'll continue to add to the list as I think of new ideas. If you have good breakfast recipes that can be gf/cf modified, I'd love to know about them. Here's what we've had so far this week:

Monday: Egg Skillet Breakfast
Tuesday: Baked Oatmeal
Wednesday: g/f biscuits (& spoonful of peanut butter) w/ fruit
Thursday: Baked Oatmeal
Friday: Scrambled Eggs/salsa, toast


Egg Skillet Breakfast
I diced a small zucchini and a green pepper. I fried these in a skillet along with small chunks of sausage. After the veggies were tender, I added scrambled egg mixture (enough for our family, eggs beaten with a small amount of rice milk) and cooked until done, turning several times. I added cheese after removing 'LilDude's portion from the pan. Served with salsa, optional.

Baked Oatmeal
2 beaten eggs
4 c. oatmeal
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. rice or almond milk
2 t. baking powder

Mix all ingredients together. Put into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with milk. Optional: add chocolate chips or dried fruit before baking.

My kids LOVE this dish. This morning, Anakin had seconds and asked if we can have it more often.

Succulent SMOOTHIES!

Want a quick, nutritious way to "healthy up" your kiddos? Think SMOOTHIES! We eat/drink (depending on how thick they are! :) smoothies several times a week. I use whatever is on hand. Fruits of all kinds--frozen, leftovers, bananas that have had better days. Juices--concentrates and regular. Various milk substitutes. And when I'm feeling really sneaky, I throw in some ground flax seed for an even more nutritious punch. No one has ever noticed or complained.

Here's a list of ingredients I frequently use. The main requirement is a balance of liquid and fruit...you need to have enough liquid to get the fruit to blend. (At least you do in my old blender! :)

Fruits

• Any kind of berry: strawberry, blackberry, marionberry, raspberry, blueberry (a mainstay!)--usually frozen

• peaches--canned or frozen

• bananas or pineapple (though I try to avoid buying an abundance of "tropical" fruit because it has to be shipped such a long distance and therefore isn't very easy on the environment)
  

Liquids

• Juice--orange (w/ calcium), pineapple (if I've saved from the squash recipe I posted), apple, grape

• Any liquid from a canned fruit...I can peaches with a VERY light sugar syrup...when the peaches are gone I save the juice to add to smoothies. I don't use any other sweetener.

• Vanilla or regular rice milk (since 'LilDude is dairy intolerant, I avoid milk products though they are great in smoothies!)
  

• Orange juice concentrate

EXTRA nutrition

• ground flax seed

We eat smoothies for breakfast or snacks. The other day my kiddos were drinking the latest smoothie, saying "this is better than what we get at _____!" (Famous smoothie restaurant...where each smoothie is about $4!)