Comfort Foods and Indulgences

Wow, what an awesome idea this is for breakfast, or breakfast for dinner...or a snack. It's like the whole kit and kaboodle in one bite. Do you know how hard it is to have the bacon, eggs and toast done at the same time? Well of course you do, you've tried. It's a challenge.

So I guess this post has now saved you from morning despair and frustration. Lucky you. Oh let's not forget how good these taste....the buttery toast, the salty bacon, the runny egg (or not depending on how long you cook it).

It's just fantastic and a perfect solution to making breakfast for a lot of mouths. Once they are in the oven, get the coffee goin' and you'll have to time to take the curlers out of your hair before you take the kids to school. They will be very happy for that.

And they easily pop right out of the tin. So perfect.

Traditional shortbread should really be called “several sticks of butter – cookies”. The butter could very well be what makes them so additively mouth watering. Shortbread is not something that could linger around my house. If it does, I end up consuming 98% of it. With the weather shifting into summer and tank top season upon us, eating a large batch of shortbread would most likely keep me in turtlenecks and long sleeve t’s rather than a cute maxi or simple sun dress.

I have been  wanting to recreate this favorite, household cookie, yet in a gluten free version. Playing with ingredients has become my new hobby (or obsession) and when something hits and comes out right, the kitchen dance begins! The neighbors up the street can hear me singing with joy as the kids wait patiently by the oven door. I found, rolling out the dough and letting it rest in the fridge before shaping helped the cookies not spread when baked. In addition, cut dough can be flash frozen and saved for another day.

Making shortbread was a high priority. It’s, yet another one of those freezer friendly doughs, and when baked not only does the house smell divine, but the rich, buttery biscuit easily melts in ones mouth. Using ingredients on hand; macadamia nuts, limes, and coconut, a successful cookie was born. This basic dough could easily find a home with lemon, almonds, bittersweet chocolate, dried fruit, and a host of other pantry staples. I am going to experiment. You can too! Then come back here and tell me what you come up with!

Every Sunday I roast a few chicken breasts (bone in, skin on). It’s easy. Having shredded chicken in the kitchen at all times prevents me from randomly eating empty calories during the week. Plus, having pre-cooked, roasted chicken on hand, gives me lots of inspiration for one pot meals.

Generally, I don’t really like leftovers. With that said, I always make enough food for dinner so M can take lunch to work with him the next day and the kids have something healthy to put in their lunch box. Yet, by the time Thursday rolls around, even though I have “planned” a particular meal for that night (yes, I do meal plan every single week), sometimes it is hard to motivate. Whipping up a meal in less than 2o minutes is sometimes much more desirable than what was supposed to be on the table that night and this leftover hash was created on one of those nights.

Left over roasted potatoes, shredded chicken, half of a red pepper, a few leeks, additional random veggies, and some spices, created one of our new favorites; Chicken-Potato Hash. It is equally delish with or without the poached egg. Eli and I prefered it with the egg, where as Isaac cannot sit next to us when eggs are on the menu. Instead, he added a bit of ketchup. This also makes a wonderful and highly requested Sunday morning breakfast. Sausage works just as well and I have been known to a throw in some left over green beans, roasted carrots (or other roots), and a dollop of goat cheese.

This is a funny little recipe.  It only has four ingredients and requires no baking. I used to make this cake when my boys were little and it always amazed me. I was looking through my recipes the other day for something and came upon this and had fond memories of it. I can't even remember where I got this recipe from anymore, but it's a winner.

How does a cake require no baking? It's made from chocolate graham crackers and after you've frosted the crackers and let the cake sit for several hours, they soften up and become cake-like. No kidding. It works very well. You make two frostings, one with peanut butter and one with chocolate. It's easy and a great make-ahead little cake with very little effort.

The frostings are definitely worth making from scratch. They are basically just flavored whipped cream frostings, one peanut butter and one chocolate, and they are light and fluffy and absolutely delicious.