I had an unfortunate incident with my puff pastry for this recipe. It just wouldn’t pull apart. I’ve bought the off-brand before and never had this problem. So I just rolled out the pastry to make it work. And it did! I added garlic powder and left out the cayenne since hubby hates spicy things. This recipe I found on SeriousEats.

Mozzarella and Basil Puff Pastry Twists

Ingredients:

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry dough, thawed

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Unfold puff pastry dough onto a lightly floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll dough into a 9×13 rectangle (measurement is only approximate). Using a pastry scraper or a pizza cutter, cut dough down the middle.

3. Whisk together egg and water and brush the egg wash on each rectangle of puff pastry dough (only on one side) and reserve the leftover egg wash.

4. Mix together the Mozzarella cheese, basil and Cayenne pepper and sprinkle mixture over one of the rectangles. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Place the other half of the pastry (egg side down) on top of the cheese mixture and press the two halves together using your hands or roll lightly with the rolling pin. Gently press edges to seal.

6. Using the pastry scraper or pizza cutter, cut the pastry into 1/2 inch strips.

7. Working one at a time, gently twist each strip and lay on the baking sheet making sure to press down the ends so that they don’t curl when baking. When all of the strips have been twisted and placed on the baking sheet, lightly brush each twist with the remaining egg wash.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the twists are golden brown.

9. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

I’m not sure where I found this one, I think this was on one of the sites featured on SeriousEats. If you grow zucchini this recipe will be even cheaper for you. We rent so I can’t grow a garden. Someday when we have a house I will. I had to purchase the zucchini. I only used one, I had almost 2 cups worth. I flash froze these as well to serve to Eli as a snack. He loved them of course.

Summer Zucchini Bites

Ingredients:

2 c. grated zucchini
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. sharp cheddar, grated
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. fresh parsley, finely chopped

Makes approximately 24 mini-muffin sized bites

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Butter a mini-muffin tin, set aside.

2. In a large glass bowl add two eggs and beat lightly with a whisk. Then, add the zucchini, onion, cheddar, bread crumbs and parsley and combine them with a wooden spoon.

3. Using your hands or an ice-cream scoop, fill each muffin cup just to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the top is browned and set.

To freeze: Let them cool, then place on a baking sheet and set in the freezer for 30 minutes. After the time is up you can put them in a Ziplock bag. To reheat, throw them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds.

This recipe is from http://www.lifesambrosia.com, another of my favorite sites. I didn’t make the wings to go along with this, maybe another time. The chipotles you will find in the Mexican section of your grocery store. It’s in a little can. I used a blender instead of a food processer since my blender is a dead sexy Breville. I also used 2 limes instead of one and threw in a couple pinches of garlic powder.

Chipotle Lime Dipping Sauce

Ingrediants:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

Combine mayonnaise, chipotle peppers, lime juice, vinegar and kosher salt in a food processor. Process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl. Easy! This makes just enough for a couple servings. I’ll eat this with my home made chicken fingers tonight.

Have a few new ones of Eli. One is him sitting in a box watching Dora. The others are him figuring out that he can make his Elmo videos stop, start, go fast, go slow with the PS3 remote. He also almost wrote someone a message (gibberish of course). He somehow got to the message a friend screen.

Vacation this week! I’m so excited, three days I don’t have to get up and get all dressed up for work. Woohoo! I’m off Thursday, Friday, then Monday of next week. I hope to be cooking and baking a lot and I want to squeeze in some gaming as well. Hubby, little one and I look forward to just staying at home and enjoying the time together.

My mom in law is coming over Wednesday night to watch Eli so we can run out and do our monthly grocery shopping. She also has a coupon for a free burger at Chammps. We are armed with a 10 dollar gift certificate for there as well, not to mention if you sit at the bar appetizers are half off. Cheap date here we come!  She’s kind enough to do this so we can stay at home and relax while we are off. Damn grocery shopping!

Monday: Taco Ring (didn’t make it over the weekend so pushed it to this week)

Tuesday: Salmon, rice, veg

Wednesday: Cheap date at Chammps!

Thursday: Drumsticks, fries, veg (recipe is for wings but drums work the same way)

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Sunday: Chicken fingers, oven fries, veg

I used leftover chicken from the roast chicken I had from the night before. I’ve also made this with leftover steak and with just cheese only. Fast and tasty, it makes plenty. We had leftovers of this of course. I served this with Mexican rice and some spicy refried beans. Yum! I added some Southwest Seasoning I got as a sample from Penzey’s Spices. Hubby thought it was a bit too spicy but I thought it was just right.

Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas

Ingredients:

8 flour or corn soft tortillas

1-2 cups of shredded chicken, beef, or pork

1-2 cups Mexican cheese blend

Directions:

Heat your pan on medium heat. Spray a little Pam on the bottom. Once it has warmed up place one tortilla in the pan. Sprinkle cheese on the tortilla, add the meat, sprinkle on more cheese, then place a tortilla on top of the filling. After about 2 minutes flip carefully.

Once both sides are crispy, remove from pan and cut the quesadilla into quarters. Repeat steps until all tortillas are used.

You can add any seasonings you would like. This can be doubled as well, just wrap some foil around the completed quesadillas to keep warm.

I’m on vacation next week starting on Thursday for three days! I’m excited, haven’t had any significant time off since last June. There are some new recipes I’m looking forward to try since I’ll have the extra time. I want to finish a couple games as well. Such a geek! At the minimum I want to finish Suikoden for the DS and Lost Oddessey for XBox. Maybe even start Final Fantasy 13.

Monday: Chicken quesadillas using the leftover chicken from Sunday’s roast, Mexican rice, beans.

Tuesday: Tilapia, rice, veggie

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chicken thigh tater bake, veggies

Friday: Panko baked code, fries, veggie

Saturday: Kugel and Latkes

Sunday: Taco Ring

Eli is getting over a virus and is finally back to eating normally. Poor kid’s nose keeps running but at least he’s running around like a monkey again. Nothing too exciting this week planned except for making homemade pizza for the first time. I’m looking forward to that.

Monday: Pork chops, taters, veggies

Tuesday: Salmon with red wine butter, rice, veggies

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Parmesan tilapia, rice, veggies

Friday: Pigs in blankets, fries, veggies

Saturday: Homemade pizza

Sunday: Roast chicken, taters, veg, cheddar beer bread

This recipe I saw on Once a Month Mom ages ago. I finally decided to make this for Eli. I ended up with about 5 full quart size ziplock bags of the french toast sticks. They reheat in seconds and will quickly fill up your little monkey. The pumpkin adds flavor and nutrition. This is tasty for adults too! You can easily double this recipe.

Toddler French Toast Sticks from Once a Month Mom

Ingrediants:

30 slices of whole wheat bread
1/4 c. butter, melted
8 eggs
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. pumpkin puree

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except the bread together in a bowl. Take all your
bread and cut it into thirds. Heat a griddle and dip the bread into the egg
mixture to coat it and cook on the griddle. Flip over once one side is brown
& make sure both sides are fully cooked. Place finished bread on cookie
sheet, keep separated & allow to cool completely. Once completely cooled,
place cookie sheet in the freezer. Flash freeze the toast sticks for 30
minutes. (The flash freezing allows the food to start to freeze, so when you
place them in a bag they won’t stick together). Remove from cookie sheet
and place in a freezer bag. Freeze until ready to use. To warm up:
microwave 30 – 45 seconds.

So hot here, it was 100 out today and will be for the next few days. Yuck! Good thing I have a slow cooker meal planned for the end of the week. I took a day off tomorrow to have a long weekend. I’ll be making beef stock and whole wheat french toast sticks that Eli can munch on.

Monday: chicken fingers, oven fries, veggies

Tuesday: tilapia, rice, veggies

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: spaghetti and meatballs, garlic twists

Friday: slow cooker roast, mashed taters, veggies

Saturday: boneless chicken thighs, veggie

Sunday: crispy chicken paremsan, roasted red taters, zucchini/squash, other veg