Larnygitis!

Yep, I've got laryngitis and now getting a cough to go with it.  I won't be making anything out of the ordinary for the next couple of days (though I'm going to Costco to get salmon today - it's a staple in our house!).  Hope to be back cooking and baking soon!

Pancakes

In my quest to make an even larger dent in my flour, I made the kids pancakes for lunch - yep, from scratch.  They do taste better than the box mix (any variation), but not so much so that I would abandon box mix forever (like I have vowed to do with those pizza dough disks/Frisbees). I put some canned blueberries on some of them because Joshua loves that, and Aaron likes it too.  Per usual, one of my kids won't eat it - in this case, Isaac.

To be honest, I also tried to make a cocoa version of these by taking some of the batter and adding Hershey's cocoa powder and some additional sugar.  It basically created a whole wheat-tasting pancake but without the nutritional value add.  I put a chocolate gelt on to show it was chocolate, which Aaron said looked stupid.  He's right.  It does...

No cooking today...

I had some of the lentil soup for lunch, and I had fish tacos (out) for dinner.  Not even the effort to make toast today...

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

So here it is: my own recipe (and healthy!) that I make 2 or 3 times a year. 

• 1 pound carrots - peeled and diced
• 1 medium to large onion - peeled and diced
• 1 head of garlic - peeled and diced

• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes (or one 29-ounce can) - undrained
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 pound dry lentils - cleaned in a strainer
• 8 cups hot water
• 2 medium bay leaves

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot (I used a 4-quart pot).  When the oil is just hot, add the carrots.  Sauté (occasionally stirring) for 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the onions and stir together.  Add the garlic, but do not stir right away (because garlic will burn quicker that the other ingredients).  Cover and let cook over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes.  Take the cover off, mix all ingredients, and cover again.  

After another 3 or 4 minutes (the onions should look translucent but not brown), add the tomatoes (juice and all), salt, lentils, water, and bay leaves.  Stir all ingredients together. Simmer for an hour and 15 minutes.  

You can eat it after that, but it really is one of those things that tastes better the next day (and the day after that!).  The ingredients need time to really interlock their flavors together.  I also add a bit more salt to my own bowl because the nature of lentils is that they need it.  So here it is - a healthy recipe - and my very own (which really doesn't align with my mission of using cookbook recipes, but I needed to make something hot and healthy!).

 

• Prep time: 45 minutes (yes, it takes that long to peel and dice the vegetables and then clean the lentils)
• Cook time: 90 minutes (this includes the hour and 15 minutes that the pot is simmering)

Basic Waffles

OK, I know I said I would make something healthy today, and I did, but it is still simmering, so here are the waffles I also made today (because my super picky younger kids won't eat my (yes, MY recipe) lentil soup).

To tell the truth, I've made these waffles several times before, so I knew what the result would be and that my kids would like them.  The recipe specifies unsalted butter, and that's what I use.  I also says 1/2 cup to 2 sticks of butter, and I have always used 1 stick of butter in the batter itself (although I drizzle a bit of regular, salted butter on top after they are cooked).  The recipe says that it will make 12 6-inch waffles, but my waffle iron isn't 6" x 6" (which is what I think they mean), and I only get 8 waffles out of it.  Many times that I have made this recipe, I have doubled the recipe and the froze the waffles in baggies of 2.  They heat really well in the oven at about 200 to 250 degrees F. for about 5 minutes.  Totally don't recommend microwaving.  I've never done it, but I imagine "yuck."

  
The kids, as usual, love these waffles.  Aaron and Joshua wanted blueberry syrup, but Isaac goes for the regular "alleged" maple syrup :)

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 8 minutes (about) per batch, depending on your waffle iron
• The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking 1997, 1996, pg. 801

Leftovers...

Been using up the cookies, macaroons, rice, and other misc. foods in my fridge and freezer.  Promise to move on to a new recipe tomorrow!  I am really (really!) going to make something healthy this time!