Favorite Oven Fries

These excellent fries have been part of a near weekly ritual since my oldest started Kindergarten. His school offers a fast food lunch twice a week and after discussing compromise options with him, he sticks with the pizza lunch on Fridays and we send our own homemade chicken tenders and fries on Wednesdays. These are usually made the night before and I pack them in his sandwich container with chicken strips I've made and frozen previously and the school heats it up for him.

Oven Fries:

8-10 small to medium round style potatoes

1/4 cup canola oil plus 2 TBS olive oil

salt and seasonings to taste

Wash and cut potatoes into thin wedged shaped pieces. Toss slices in a large bowl with oil and other seasonings. (I use a blend of rosemary, pepper, sage, thyme, sea salt, orange rind, lemon rind, garlic and onion). Arrange slices into single layer on cookie sheets and bake at 425. Start to check them in 8 minutes and then every 3 minutes after. When golden brown on one side, flip them and bake again starting to check after 5 minutes. Blot with paper towels if desired.

related links:

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

Pumpkin Pancakes

I'm not at my best at 6AM. There, I said it. When I start to hear the thumpity-thump stirrings of little legs that will soon be sticking cold feet into my bed with me usually my brain jumps to something like "Oh, crud. Is there something for breakfast that they can get themselves?"

Our family's smallest members eat a lot of trader joes cereal bars, mozzerella cheese sticks, yogurt, and muffins for breakfast. They are quick and easy and they can help themselves while I figure out which side of my end table I left my glasses on.

Pancakes are a great make ahead food. They are inexpensive and easy to make and they can be eaten cold straight out of the fridge. Or if the kids aren't impatient, it takes me 10 seconds to heat them in the microwave (not something my oldest is ready to be using yet).

I have been using a Betty Crocker recipe for pancakes for years. I stick with them because they are super fluffy and taste like the bisquick ones. I was concerned that the addition of pumpkin would make them flat but they turned out nearly as fluffy as the original. I think we'll be making this one regularly.

Pumpkin Pancakes:

1 cup flour (I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)

1 TBS sugar

1 TBS baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

2 TBS oil or melted butter (I use oil)

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until desired consistency. I like a fluffy, thicker pancake so I make my batter as shown. If using whole wheat flour in part, like I do, the mixture will thicken a little as it sits. I like to let my batter rest about 10 minutes before I begin using it.

Star Round Two: Star Sandwiches

I'm determined to find the perfect use for this as a "press".

I'm prefacing this post by saying that I'm not a crust-cutter-offer. I'm a big time crust presenter. And most of the time my kids eat them. But my philosophy is to present foods as they come and my kids can choose to eat or not eat which parts of them they enjoy. So I wavered slightly in making these since technically all they are are versions of crust-cut-off sandwiches. I'm also prefacing by saying that I made these during the day...so I've cheated a bit on the blog. :)

That being said, I had some bread that's going to go in a couple of days and I had two heels in it and I really want to see the spectrum of what this little star wonder can do. A cute shape seems a great way to hide from your kids that their sandwich is half heel. I made two versions; a pressed one and a flat one.

These are olive and cream cheese. And at the time of writing, they've since been devoured.

Star Calzones

My oldest son started Kindergarten today. I wanted to make him something fun for his first lunch in his new lunch bag and over the weekend while outlet shopping I found this cute little star shaped pie mold and decided to try to make him some pocket calzones.

What I learned is that they call it a pie mold for a reason. Much better suited for sandwiches or pie crusts. Bread dough is best formed into calzones by hand. I made four of these little pockets then gave up and made a big calzone for slicing.

I did manage to have a couple of stars that came out nice and those went into his lunch along with an encouraging note for his first day.

Dough: Basic bread dough

Filling: Turkey pepperoni, mozzerella cheese, red sauce, minced green beans

Mini Quiches Start: 10:32 PM End 11:31 PM

The last thing I thought I wanted to do tonight was cook. But at 8:45, I found myself getting home ridiculously late from the Magic Show/Surprise-all-the-kids-get-free-ice-cream-sundaes bash at the library and I still had two loads of laundry to finish. That's when I figured to throw caution to the wind and make quiche. It's breakfast. It's lunch. It's options.

I'm not a very good pie crust maker but months ago after getting a handheld pastry tool I stubled upon a recipe that mixes all of the ingredients into one bowl and presses it into the pan. No rolling involved and no dusty flour counters. My hands get really greasy using this method but the crust is buttery and rich and exactly the way it should be in the end.

My crust is:

1.5 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

1 stick of butter

2.5 tablespoons milk

Mix everything into one bowl until it's completely blended. I have a pastry tool that helps me but honestly, you can do just as well and even better by kneading the whole thing with your bare hands. With this mix, you don't have to cut the butter into pea sized pieces and you don't have to roll it at all which eliminates the dreadful "roll as soon as it starts to stick together" method of traditional crusts.

When fully mixed press into pie pan to evenly cover bottom and sides. I prefer to use a coated muffin tin and it's the same method for each muffin cup.

My quiche filling base is:

4 eggs

1 cup milk

Beat together well and pour into molds. Before this step, you'll want to add whatever ingredients to the empty pie shells. Tonight I just added shredded cheese. Often I make it with cheese and spinach. It's important to add the non-egg ingredients first and then fill with the egg.

Baking time varies. I usually bake at 375 until edges are golden and egg is set. I finish off with 5 minutes at 450 just to get the top done a little more. If you are doing these in muffin tins, they'll come out rounded like cupcakes but as they cool they'll set nice and flat.