Tag: kids meals

JACKET TATERS…Spuds We Like

“Worship the potato? The idea seemed silly to me. But then I thought, what else is more deserving of worship? It’s simple, it comes from the earth, and it can kill you if you disobey it.”
Jack Handey
Time for a savoury bite, and here’s a simple post. With the weather changing, it’s time for hearty soups, apple-walnut salads and comfort food. This jacket potato fits snugly into these sorts of everyday comfort meals. There are very few people in this world who don’t like taters, so here’s a recipe to add to the mighty variety this humble vegetable offers. It’s a recipe that my sister gave me many years ago, much before I began blogging, and I use it often. As an impromptu snacky meal, a side, or as a fun dish for the kids, it never fails to comfort the hunger pangs. There’s nothing to it, other than piercing with the tines of a fork, & then microwaving till done. Pile it as high as you like, play around with the fillings, make it low cal as I do, or high cal as you might like. Then dig in & enjoy these spuds!
Jacket Baked Potato
Take as many largish potatoes as you like. Scrub them well, with a firm vegetable brush, under lots of running water.
Pat them dry on paper towels, then pierce with the tines of a fork all around. This is to ensure that moisture gets released while cooking in the microwave & they don’t burst!
Take a 1/4 tsp of vegetable oil per potato in your palms & rub over the skin.
Microwave at full power for 5-6 minutes, then check to see if they are fork ready & done. If not, give them 2-3 minutes more. (The baking time will vary with the number of potatoes you choose to bake at a time.)
Once done, let it rest for a minute, then slice each horizontally into two. (Be careful- HOT POTATO). Scoop out the hot baked potato flesh potato, leaving the jacket intact.
Mash the scooped out bit with a fork, season it with salt & pepper, add some mayo, grated cheese, boiled egg, spring onions etc, mix well & pile back into the baked potato shells.
Greshly grind some pepper over them. Serve warm!

I have a ‘Custom Stickers’ giveaway promotion on my blog today from one of my blog sponsors, UPrinting ! Their custom stickers are perfect for creating product labels, unique business cards, promotional stickers and more. They are offering me and my readers an opportunity to try this amazing product for ourselves. Learn more about their stickers by visiting these links, “Sticker Printing” and “Uprinting”.
Giveaway Prize Details
250 Stickers/Labels for One (1) lucky winner
Sizes: 2” x 3.5”, 2” x 4”, or 3” x 3”
Paper: 70 lb Label Matte
Specifications: Full color front, blank back; 4 Business Day printing
To sweeten the pot, they are offering FREE UPS Ground Shipping in the USA (Canadian residents need to pay shipping and taxes).
Offer is not available to residents outside the US and Canada.
If you wish to part of the giveaway, please leave a comment on what you would use the stickers for. I’d love to hear about your creative ideas for these stickers!
The giveaway is on until October 29th. The prize will be announced thereafter.
I will also be receiving 250 Stickers/Labels from UPrinting.com for hosting this giveaway.
Posted by Deeba @ PAB

CAPPUCCINO BUTTERMILK MUFFINS…Virtual Connect & O Food Contest

“Caffeine isn’t a drug, it’s a vitamin!”
Woke up groggy one morning. Had been up till 1.30am battling blogger issues. Then the son decided to wake me up at 4.30am with a painful foot. They’re ‘growing pains’ the doctor once said; the lad has P L E N T Y. ‘Why me, why today’, was the only thought I had! For some insane reason, I was wide awake thereafter. Had to find something therapeutic to do. Hadn’t made them a snack for school the day before because I had been dog tired. A thought ran through my head – ‘I’m going to bake some muffins’ … the first time I’ve actually baked at 5.30am! Reached out for my recipe folder on the counter & opened the most in demand comfort bake – Cappuccino Muffins. I love making these. They are simple, get put together real quick, and above all, connect me to Nic @ Cherrapeno where I found the recipe.
Nic and me get on famously, and our email exchanges are sometimes quite hysterical & funny. Makes me a happy baker carrying out a virtual conversation with her! We do also catch up on twitter sometimes, though not as often as we’d like to. Nic and I have plenty of giggles that keep us in splits! I just love ‘food with a connect’ – a memory, a conversation, a giggle attached to it, something like the macarons we made in a mac attack on twitter not so long ago.

They are lovely muffins & pack a punch in each bite. Soft and delicious, with a deep coffee taste. I think using buttermilk instead of milk makes them a tad lighter. Maybe it’s just a figment of my imagination, but well…I find them to be just perfect comfort food. Grab a warm muffin, curl up with a cup of coffee, a good cookbook…bliss!

Cappuccino Buttermilk Muffins
adapted from Nic @ Cherrapeno
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsps instant coffee
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:
Mix coffee into melted butter. Whisk well.
Whisk eggs lightly into the buttermilk with the vanilla extract.
In a big bowl mix well the following – both flours, vanilla sugar, baking powder & salt.
Now pour in the buttermilk mixture & the butter mixture, and mix in gently by hand till moist. DO NOT over mix or muffins won’t be nice & soft. Fold in chocolate chips lightly & do not over mix.
Fill up the prepared muffin tins 2/3 full, sprinkle a few coffee beans if you like. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 20-22 minutes.
Cool on rack.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

This is my entry for the 2nd Annual O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. ‘CAPPUCCINO BUTTERMILK MUFFINS’. Do head across to Michelle’s at Bleeding Espresso and be part of tradition in honor of award-winning pastry chef Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen; Gina has been fighting ovarian cancer for the past year and a half, and in addition to physically battling the disease, she has also started the Cowgirl Cure Foundation to raise awareness and money for research as well.

CONTEST RULES

O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and for the second year in a row, Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso are hosting the O Foods Contest to raise awareness of this important health issue.

There are TWO WAYS to take part in the O Foods Contest:

ONE: Post a recipe to your blog using a food that starts or ends with the letter O (e.g., oatmeal, orange, okra, octopus, olive, onion, potato, tomato); include this entire text box in the post; and send your post url along with a photo (100 x 100) to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

PRIZES for recipe posts:

1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;
2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);
3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).
OR
TWO: If you’re not into the recipe thing, simply post this entire text box in a post on your blog to help spread the word and send your post url to ofoods[at]gmail[dot]com by 11:59 pm (Italy time) on Monday, September 28, 2009.

Awareness posts PRIZE:

One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.
———
From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.
And remember, you can also always donate to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at our page through FirstGiving!

Please help spread the word about ovarian cancer.
Together we can make enough noise to kill this silent killer.

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

CHICKEN QUESADILLAS…Mingling their way to KIDS LUNCHES!

“Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he’s buying.”
Fran Lebowitz

Kids meals evoke strong feelings in me as I often feel my world revolves around what’s best & healthiest to feed this demanding category of beings! I was quite pleased to see a foodie event dedicated to kids meals, which brings me to my dear friend Meeta. It’s time again for the Monthly Mingle, an event which is the brainchild of this very talented & creative lady @ What’s For Lunch Honey. The host for the month is another very talented blogger, Srivalli @ Cooking 4 all Seasons, and her choice for Monthly Mingle 31 is Kids Lunches, which the mother in me bookmarked immediately. Thoughts that run through my mind when I plan for the kids include trying to cover as many food groups as I can, include as many veggies as I can stuff in, & make the meal colourful. One thing I know is that I can make them eat blindfolded if the meal includes chicken, cheese & grilling. The boy sniffs his way to the kitchen the minute I begin grilling!! We all know how challenging kids meals can be, & I’m sending this to Sri because my kids adore Mexican food, & this is their ‘anytime & all time favourite’ in Mexican cuisine! It’s healthy & wholesome too!
A quesadilla is a fast-food item in Mexican cuisine, which involves cooking ingredients, most importantly cheese, inside a corn, wheat or flour tortilla. The word comes from Spanish, and literally means “little cheesy thing” or “cheesie” (from queso, or “cheese)
Wheat tortilla based grilled cheese sandwiches
A flour tortilla is covered with cheese and some other things and then covered with a second tortilla. The whole package is grilled on an oiled griddle and flipped so both sides are cooked and the cheese is melted. This version is often cut into wedges to serve.

CHICKEN QUESADILLAS

Ingredients:

6-8 wholewheat tortillas ( I make mine at home)
4 grilled chicken breasts; chopped up & kept warm in a casserole
1 each red, yellow & green bell pepper

2 onions, sliced fine (optional)
1 cup sweetcorn (I boil my own)
Cheddar or mozzarella cheese
Corn Salad / lettuce
Tomato salsa

Method:

  • There are many ways of putting quesadillas together, but I find this method the simplest.
  • Heat a griddle pan & lightly oil it. Put on a tortilla & heat for a minute. Flip it over, cover with grated cheese & let it melt. (See pictures).
  • Top with chicken, corn, sliced peppers & onions. Season with salt & pepper. Gently fold over & press down, drizzle a few drops of oil & cook on both sides for a minute or so. Cut into two & serve with a corn salad & tomato salsa.
  • If you don’t have tortillas, or are short on time, try the same filling with brown/wholegrain bread.

This week I have a special something to share which touches my soul whenever I listen to it & view the video. Turn the volume up & enjoy this wonderful creation!

Stand By Me from David Johnson on Vimeo.

Playing for change STAND BY ME!

The hub came in from a flight one morning & made my day by asking me to watch this song, one of his faves for a long time. It’s a Ben E King song, Stand By Me, performed by artists around the globe in sync, touching, & beautifully made. It pulled the strings of my heart & I just had to share it with you. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do…

Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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