Baked Bacon

 Ok if you haven't heard of this it will change your life.  I LOVE bacon and this is seriously the most awesome trick ever!  Baked Bacon.  Do NOT Preheat your oven! Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil and let it stick up on the edges.

 With a fork layout your bacon on the foil.  Then stick it in a cool oven at 400 for 20 minutes.

 This is what it will look like when you take it out.  Take the bacon off the pan and put on paper towel and dab off as much grease as possible.  Then let the grease cool on your pan.  In a few hours you can ball up the tin foil and just throw it out!!! NO MESS.

Delicious.

I will never fry bacon again.

Easy French Toast

 French toast is super easy to do but I thought I'd run through it for those that have never tried it before.  I cracked some eggs in a cake pan then added 1/2 cup milk.  Wisk it up really well.

 Then put some bread in the pan and flip it so the egg/milk mixture gets on both sides.  If you like cinnamon you can add some to the mixture.

 Cook on a frying pan preheated to medium heat and greased.  Leave on one side for 1 minute then flip it.

Serve with syrup or anything else you enjoy on french toast.

Whole Wheat Bread

 I love homemade bread!  So does the Mr. which is why he bought me a bosch for Christmas!  I love my bosch. I did this batch x5 and it was too large to rise in my bosch so I would do it x4  for a bosch and x2 for a kitchen aid.  First pour 1 1/8 cups warm water in your bowl then add 1 tbsp yeast I use the one below.  Then add 1/4 cup sugar. Make sure the yeast dissolves completely before adding the rest of the ingredients.  This will take about 10 minutes.

 Melt 1/3 cup margarine.

 Pour into bowl

 Add 1/2 tsp salt and 3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

 Mix on 1 on the bosch or kitchen aid.

 Let rise for 30 minutes.  This is what my bread looked like :)  Crazy hunh?  Like I said I will only do a x4 next time.

 Grease pans and fill 1/2 way with dough and let rise until it doubles.

 I made 3 loaves of bread and 2 dozen hamburger buns.  For the hamburger buns shape them the size you want and let them rise.

 Bake at 350 for 20 minutes for the bread and for the buns.

Yum homemade bread!

Chicken Mandrin Orange Salad

Today for dinner I am making a quick, delicious, low calorie meal.  The ingredients you need are:

1-2 chicken breasts
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp smoked applewood seasoning (opp)
4 cups spinach leaves (washed)
1 can mandrin orange segments
crunched almonds (opp)
1 ounce feta cheese (opp)
Salad dressing of your choice (I used raspberry & white balsamic from president's choice)

First spray your pan with pan if you are using a frying pan.  I like my chicken grilled but considering the nearly 2 feet of snow outside today I have no desire at all to BBQ.  So cook your chicken really anyway you  like.  I cut mine into strips but you could also cube it.

 Season it to taste.  I added onion powder, garlic powder (each about a tbsp) and a pinch of salt.  This time I tried a 1/2 tsp of my smoked applewood salmon seasoning.

Once it is cooked allow to cool for a few minutes while you prepare your salad.

Wash your spinach and put in a salad bowl as much spinach as you desire, then drain your orange segments and add the segments to your bowl.  Break up feta cheese if you are using it and add it as well. Mix in a 1/4 cup dressing.  Then put into individual bowls or plates and add chicken and almonds on top.  Enjoy!

Supermom Pancakes

Not only are these pancakes delicious they are so good for you!  They are made with whole wheat flour, only 1 tbsp of sugar and no oil, butter or margarine.  On the plus side my 2 big kids love them and so do my two daycare children.  The Mr. loves them as well.

 First find some bananas.  I usually like them riper than this but these ones still tasted delicious.

 Premash your bananas so you don't end up with any big banana chunks in your pancakes.

 Then add liquid ingredients: milk or water (I used water since we have a dairy allergy in this house), egg and add your 2 tbsp red river if you choose too (the red river gives the pancakes a bit of a crunch).

 Then wisk it all up.

 Then add all the dry ingredients to your bowl.

 Wisk it all up again.

 Use a ladle and pour about a 1/2 a cup worth into your pan. Make sure your pan is preheated and sprayed with pam.  Preheat your pan to medium heat.

 Flip when the pancake bubbles.

They are so yummy.  This recipe yields 6 medium pancakes.  I would normally double it for my pancake loving family of 5 but today just the kids were eating.


Now here's the recipe:
2 mashed bananas
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp red river cereal uncooked (opp)

Blueberry Bran Muffins

My husband and kids love muffins so I made some today!  These muffins are super easy and low calorie and most importantly, yummy.

First, spray your muffin tins with pam or another oil spray. This recipe will make 12 regular sized muffins or 24 mini-muffins which is what I am making today.  Preheat your oven to 375.

Dump 1 1/2 cups bran into your mixing bowl.  Then add 1 cup milk.  Allow these to sit for about 5 minutes for the bran to soften.

Then add 1/2 cup apple sauce, 1 egg and 2/3 cup brown sugar and mix on low for about a minute.

Then add your 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 cup flour ( I use whole wheat flour but either is good), 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt and blend.

After everything is mixed add 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes for mini muffins and 22 minutes for regular muffins

These muffins freeze so well.  My little munchkin (age 5) loves to be able to just grab a few to take to school for snack.

Caesar salad pizza

I use premade Greek pitas for this recipe but you could use lots of things as a premade crust like naan breads s regular pizza crust for example. It is very important that the crust is premade or the spinach gets over cooked. So lay your premade crust on a baking sheet and preheat your oven to 350. Start cooking up some chicken ( i use 1 chicken breast for 4 mini pizzas).Then add 2 tbsps of Caesar salad dressing to each crust. Next cut up some spinach leaves into quarters. Exact measurements are not needed. Then drizzle some more dressing on top. Next add chicken to your pizza then sprinkle with parmasean cheese. I then bake the pizzas for 7 minutes at 350. Slice and serve. Enjoy!