Lunch Time, & Breakfast for Dinner

I had a mini-tub of whipped sun dried tomato cream cheese from Noah's Bagels and it was just sitting in my fridge and I wanted to use it before it went bad. I was thinking pasta sounded pretty good. So I boiled up some noodles added a little bit of sauce from a jar, and a couple tablespoons of this cream cheese. Has anyone tried this? So creamy and tasty, you must try it for an easy pasta dish for lunch or dinner. Some extra Parmesan cheese and ta-da!

I didn't really want to cook anything last night so I thought... hmmm... what can I whip up fairly fast? I made the decision to go with breakfast for dinner. This brings me back to nights from my childhood when my dad had a late credit union board meeting and Mom and I were on our lonesome, mom always made it seem like we were getting away with something by having breakfast for dinner. My dad always helped too by seeming so upset that he missed out because he had to be at a meeting.

Now is there anyone else out there that likes bacon but doesn't particularly like the smell that lingers in the house? Well I am not going to take credit for this one, my mom decided to do this one morning when we were at their house and I thought it was pure genius. You know how I am always talking about using my BBQ for most anything I can, but have you ever thought about cooking bacon on it? Yes, you read it right, bacon on the grill. I am sure you are saying, wait wouldn't that start a grease fire or something? Well this is how you avoid that: you line a cookie sheet (one with a lip) with tin foil for easy clean up. I like to put in a cooling rack so that the bacon isn't sitting in it's own grease, and then line up your bacon on the cooling rack and place in the BBQ. You don't even need to turn it, just watch it for your desired doneness (I like mine extra crispy but not burnt). And when you are finished, carefully bring the bacon inside, but the best part... that lingering bacon smell stays outside! Genius, pure, genius!

For the eggs I used fresh parsley, leeks (cooked in a touch of olive oil before I added the eggs to soften, and I used these because I have a bunch to use from my CSA bag) garlic powder, and salt & pepper to taste. They also had a sprinkling of mozzarella after they were fully cooked, delish! These pancakes were made with my pre-mixed pancake mix, see the recipe by clicking here.

**Side note yes those are those horrendous sausages that we all know and love, they were bought for a camp out and didn't get used... no excuses...but this is in super fine print so you get how I feel about it! HA HA HA!

Step Away From the Box Part Two

In a lot articles I have read recently about eating on a budget many have recommended making your own pancake and biscuit mix. I know on two separate Food Network shows; Nigella Express and Sandra Lee's Money Saving Meals they both gave recipes for their own mix. So a couple of weeks ago I went about doing it. I swear if Molly could eat pancakes every meal she would, this is one thing that she eats a lot of every time I make it and I wonder how she can pack it all away (I mean for a two year old she consistently eats like three pancakes!) I used Nigella's recipe, which is specifically for pancakes, however I did use it to make my strawberry shortcake scones, so it works for everything. The only thing is that it does call for a small amount of sugar, so if you were going to use the mix for something savory, like baked "fried" chicken for example you would just have to keep in mind it has a small sweet component. I have been very pleased with this mix and so I thought I would share it. I used an ikea plastic container and with a sharpie wrote some of the recipes out on it (pancake instructions, mix instructions, biscuits instructions, and chicken instructions). Overall I am very pleased, it couldn't be simpler to mix together and you are saving so much money, I mean really it is probably only 50 cents or less versus a $3 box that doesn't last very long.

So here is the recipe for the mix:
4 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp sugar

To make pancakes:
1 cup pancake mix
1 egg
1 cup milk

 1 tbsp melted butter

**It also makes wonderful waffles!