Baked Oatmeal

Yum!!!! Try these they are so good. Many of you may know, or not know..i freezer batch allot of food. It helps with dishes, and prep time and getting the kids off to a great start! I mostly bake and freeze breakfast and lunches. It helps free up time to get Elijah off to therapy and Julia get school started and still have time to nurse the baby and make sure my soon to be 2 year old eats. And i can make it nutritious.

• 
  Preheat oven to 375°
• 4 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup raisins (I used 3 snack sized boxes)
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups almond milk or milk 
• 1 cup applesauce
• 4 tablespoons butter or butter substitute, melted 
• 2 large egg, beaten 
• Natural Maple syrup for drizzling 
• 
  

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.Mix the milk, applesauce, butter, and egg to oat mixture; stir well. Put in muffin cups,spray with cooking spray.  Bake at 375° for 20 minutes.This made about 26 "cup cakes" for us. *Please note these do not rise like cup cakes do, so make sure you fill them to just about where you want them, they may rise a little bit..but its minimal, I  let mine cool for like an hour and then put them in the freezer. We of course had to taste test a few ;)

*Adapted from several different sources online

Crispy Chicken Wraps

One thing that has changed in our life sense Elijah has been diagnosed is we never ever go out to eat any more. The crowd, the noise and social expectations right now are to tough on Elijah. We typically slap a $50 bill on the table and walk away thinking "That was totally not worth it" And although Elijah is improving by leaps and bounds, right now, we just stay at home and eat. Although, completely off topic, but kinda not, Elijah's therapy company is starting a new thing, where they will baby sit at head quarters and they are teaming up with a restaurant in the area and we will get a free babysitting and dinner in the month of may..so cool! I love that company, and am so thankful they always go above and beyond :)

Needless to say, i miss some of my favorites from these restaurants. There are things in life that i Love, God, My little Family, and Honey Mustered. I know, i know..but its true! I also love crispy chicken wraps, and my favorite restaurant for honey mustered and my favorite restaurant for crispy chicken wraps isn't the same one...imagine my dilemma! (haha..peril) And also, we as a family have been cutting back majorly on High Fructose Corn Syrup and Dyes, for about a year now. I refuse to give up on taste though :) I after all do love to cook! This is my recipe i came up with to satisfy all this. And OH MY GOODNESS GUYS! Try it! Its the best! I promise!..yes a lil unhealthy, but it was a treat..like instead of going out to eat we had these and Elijah loves just the nuggets, so its all one meal every one loves! Whoo Hoo!

First off the Honey Mustered:
1/2 c Dijon Mustered (no do not substitute, it wont work)
1/2c Mayo
3/4c Honey, or if you prefer more of a mustard flavor 1/2 cup then :) I did 3 equal parts and then added honey to taste and made a huge batch..its awesomeness!

Now My Yummy Chicken Finger recipe:
3/4 c all purpose flour
3/4c dry bread crumbs
2 Tbs grated Paresan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (i use 1 cup milk minus i Tblsp, plus one Tblsp of lemon juice..did you know you could do that?)
We used chicken tenderloin, and about 12 pieces cleaned up and cut to a preferred shape)
Canola oil for frying
in one bowl mix up the first 6 dry ingredients set aside, in another bowl combine buttermilk and egg

put chicken in batches, in the buttermilk (i will be honest, i did half and used a bigger bowl) then scoop out chicken and put in dry mix (again i did half in a big bowl) Make sure you coat well :) In an electric skillet heat canola oil to 375* Fry chicken for a few minutes on each side (i just did it until it was a pretty brown color) flip and repeat :) Drain on paper towel.

The Rest of the Recipe:
Romaine lettuce
tomatoes, diced
sharp cheddar
bacon bits (if desired)
Tortilla shells, warmed
Honey Mustered
The thing i love about this recipe, allot of the prep is done earlier in the day, i had the lettuce all cut, tomatoes diced, cheese shredded, bacon baked, They dry mix made, the butter milk made..at supper all i had to do was make a buffet of toppings and fry chicken and warm tortillas and assemble...and of course...Enjoy!

Lasagna Rolls

I don't know if this became of me being very cheap, or just a pet peeve...but i always hated throwing away those extra lasagna noodles i didn't need. I was torn between saving those last 3 noodles in my pantry, for who know how long or just throwing them away...neither option was ideal to me. And then i got thinking, don't worry this isn't a scary story..lol..some of my thoughts do turn out ok! And i was thinking, man i should just roll them up jelly roll style and make them individual. I am sure i am not the first person who has done this, but it was a hit! I used all my noodles..was able to freeze a couple servings and i have a child with allergy's, so i could make the rolls individual to the person even, and it wasn't a pain! This is my recipe.. which honestly isn't one..its just what i threw together..you can adjust to your family's taste,

Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna Rolls

1 pkg of lasagna noodles
2 jars of sauce
*a tub of ricotta cheese
*a tub of cottage cheese
*1 eggs (great binder)
*4 garlic cloves (i used preminced Jarred)
*2 cups of mozzarella, divided
*1/2 cup of parmigiana cheese, divided
Italian spices to your liking (i use basil, oregano, and some parsley)

Boil noodles to package directions, (while they are boiling you can throw all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix it up by hand quickly, only do 1 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmigiana in the bowl though, i do not like super herby filling so i just sprinkle my herbs in to taste)drain and rinse in cold water (only because this helps with cooling the noodles down so you can handle them sooner) I had to use 2 pans for this recipe..a 9x13 and a 11x7. Pour sauce on the bottom of both pans. start laying out your noodles flat on your counter and laying the filling on a single flat layer..and then roll them up! cover with another layer of sauce and sprinkle with i cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmigiana bake at 350 and then enjoy! yum!

I serve them with meatballs on the side in the rest of the sauce you didn't use ..putting meat in the roll up i think would just make them messy.

As Promised

I promised a couple friends i would post the following..and i thought you may want to see too :)

My Gyro Recipe!
Well, its kinda a conglomeration, i will try to explain best i can!
I first made my own homemade greek yogurt..but i am sure you can use store bought no problem!
Click here for Tzatziki Sauce recipe

My only adaptation to it, i do not puree the cucumber, i find it makes a really watery sauce, instead i Finally chop it, salt it and drain it in a cheese cloth to get all the access moister out. and then add to the recipe, trust me, do this instead it turns out much better.

My next thing i do is marinate my chicken tenderloins in Italian dressing overnight (i am sure you can use Caesar, but i like the sweetness of Italian opposed to the tang of Caesar) Fry chicken along with onions and peppers...

I chop up peppers and onions and add chicken, put a little extra virgin olive oil in a fry pan, fry them for a lil bit, and then add a little less than a tsp of sugar to the mix and fry a little longer. this sweetens the onions and caramelizes them, this is what takes the recipe over the top!

Of course you must have feta cheese and i like to use the Arnold's flat bread as my pita bread, i bought mine at (wal mart)    pile all ingredients in the lightly toasted (i just do that in the fry pan) flat bread and enjoy!

One of many pages of my binder

My next thing to post is...My Recipe Binder is almost done!!!! yay! I just have to buy some more inserts and i will be done, well, i am sure i will never be completely done, seeing i will always be adding new recipes but you get the idea,

This is a binder divider, you can not see but it has a clear pocket to put "to be sorted" recipes in the proper category

My dividers are labeled as followed, poultry main dishes, non poultry main dishes, sides, appetizers, and misc (marinades, jelly's punches etc, this work for me the best) its over simplified and only the category's i use most

My printed out recipes received hole reinforcers

Allot of work, but so happy it is done!!!