Breakfast Parfait

I love the idea of creating cute and fun lunches to encourage my son to eat. But when it comes to breakfast it always seems like I'm stumped. Unless it's pancakes or waffles or some special egg dish how do I make it appealing? Here's a quick and easy idea I found for dressing up a simple cereal breakfast.

The Breakfast Parfait

Cheerios

Yogurt Flavor #1

Rice Krispies

Yogurt Flavor #2

Banana Slices

Whipped Cream

Sprinkes

Maraschino Cherry

Assemble the layers in a parfait cup as shown above. Serve and Enjoy. Stacy Julian of Stacy's Big Picture suggests you speak in a lame French accent when you serve this to make it even more special!

Free Summer Movies

This week (tomorrow actually) starts the Free Summer Movies at Regal Cinemas. Every week between now and the end of August, the theater will show 2 movies (one "G" and one "PG") at 10am, usually on Tues and Wed, for free. What could be better? They aren't always the greatest choices, or able to hold my toddler's attention, but we usually find a few throughout the summer that are fun to go to-- either at the SuperMall, or at the new theater in Renton. I think AMC does this as well, so one of their Southcenter locations participates. Happy Movie watching!

Homemade Granola Bars

I occasionally like to watch this great cooking show on the food channel called Good Eats. The other day, they had an episode on making homemade granola bars and power bars that were much healthier (and without all the preservatives) than the ones you buy at the grocery store. They didn't look too hard to make, so I decided to try them both out. The granola bars were great and very easy to make, so I'm going to post the recipe here. The power bars were . . . . okay, but I wasn't a huge fan, so unless someone requests it, I'm not posting that recipe. As a WARNING, most of the measurements are done in ounces, so you'll need a food scale to make this recipe. Also, I found most of the ingredients in the bins at Winco.


Homemade Granola Bars

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
• 1.5 oz raw sunflower seeds*
• 3 oz sliced almonds
• 1.5 oz wheat germ

Wet Ingredients:

• 6 oz honey
• 1 3/4 oz brown sugar
• 1 oz butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Other Ingredients:

• 6 oz of a variety of dried fruit (blueberries, cherries, apricots, raisins)

Directions:

1. Place all dry ingredients on a cookie sheet. Stir so all ingredients are mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine all wet ingredients. Stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Remove saucepan from heat and add dry ingredients and mix.
4. Chop all dried fruit and add to the mixture in the saucepan. Mix well.
5. Place in a well-greased 9x9 inch pan. Press very firmly and evenly into the pan.
6. Bake at 300 degrees for 25 minutes.
7. Allow to cool completely. Run a knife around the edges and turn the bars out of the pan onto a cutting board. Cut into bars.

Properly stored, these granola bars will last in the cupboard for 2-3 weeks.
*The recipe calls for unshelled sunflower seeds, but I would recommend that you use the shelled seeds (unless you like eating the shells).

Barbecue Cup-cuits

This is an extremely versatile recipe. In other words you can pretty much change the ingredients to suit your needs and it will still turn out!

Barbecue Cup-cuits

2 1/4 Bisquick Mix

1 cup Milk

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 tbsp Dried Minced Onions

Water

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce

Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

Mix the Bisquick Mix and 3/4 cup Milk then add milk slowly until you get a good biscuit texture. I mixed in just less than 1 cup of milk total. Mix it all together and kneed about 7 times. Divide into 12 balls. Flatten and spread across the bottom and sides of each cup in the muffin pan, forming biscuit cups. Bake for 2 min.

Put the Onions in a small bowl and fill with water. In a skillet brown the Ground Turkey. Drain the fat, then drain the Onions and add them to the Turkey. Cook for another minute or so. (You can just throw in the onions dry, or use a fresh onion, I prefer to rehydrate them so the dry ones aren't too strong.) Remove from heat.

Mix BBQ Sauce in with Turkey and Onions.

Fill the biscuit cups with the Turkey mix, cover all with grated cheddar cheese.

Bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!

Like I said before these can be made with any variation you can think of: bacon or sausage and eggs, taco meat, use canned Sloppy Joe or Chili mixes (Manwich), use refrigerated biscuit dough or your own biscuit recipe, make your own BBQ Sauce, add your own special toppings (just like a taco if you use that, or gravy for breakfast ones), canned chicken with vegetables in a creamy sauce, or come up with your own family variation. Just comment and let me know what variations you try so I can know what works.

Road Trip Survival Tips

Honestly, the idea of making a road trip with my Toddler overwhelms me. We always bring lots of snacks, toys, and of course the DVD player, but I confess that it's usually not enough. I read a post this week on Nap Time Journal that made me realize I could be doing a lot more. Her Summer Time Kid Car Kit is super cute! Not only is it a nice container but she's got a fair size list of suggested items and activities to fill it with. I'm hoping one of these kits will help us last just a little bit longer before the DVD's come out!

Watermelon-Berry Lemonade

I found this recipe in one of my magazines and it is tasty! Perfect for a hot summer day!

Watermelon-Berry Lemonade
Yield: 12 servings (about 4 quarts)

• 8 cups cubed watermelon
• 3 cups hulled and quartered strawberries
• 2 cans frozen lemonade concentrate
• 8 cups water

1. In a blender, combine half of the watermelon, strawberries, and lemonade. Cover; blend until smooth.
2. Transfer to serving container. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Add water.
3. Serve over ice.