Happy Birthday Dad

I dedicate my blog today to my dad. The master of the grill. No one makes a better brat or hamburger on the grill than my dad. Like I said in an earlier blog, food is love. My dad has alot to do with that and since this is a food blog I would like to share some of my foodie memories of my dad with you. When I used to come home on break from college my parents would ask what I would like to eat. Most times, it was a cheeseburger on the grill. I grew up in a home where both of my parents cooked. I have memories of my parents coming home late at night from a night away and them having a plate of what they called eggies and noodles. It is what it sounds like. I can still smell it when I think about it. It was their "drunk" food:) I also remember them running their bread through the grease from fried pork chops and sprinkling it with salt and pepper. My dad is infamous for getting you to eat more than you intended to. Maybe it's the greek in him. The first time Don met my parents, my dad made brats, per my request. After 2 brats , Don was done, until Dad said, "Hey Don, aren't you gonna have a 3rd?" Even though he was stuffed, he did. This was his first time meeting my parents and I think he was trying to impress them. Every holiday I try and cut and hand out dessert. After I make the first cut, my dad takes over, the pieces are never big enough:) Speaking of holidays, my mom and dad used to do them together. They would each make a certain thing. Now, with my mom gone, my dad does it all himself. He does a fantastic job. Not that I ever doubted him. He is even trying new things. He made mushroom stuffing a few years ago. Now don't even get me started on holidays, especially Chrismas. The amount of food my dad puts out is crazy, but so appreciated. He puts out a spread of snacks in the afternoon. All pretty much homemade stuff, than a huge dinner (usually prime rib), dessert, and if we would stick around late he may even pull out a sub or pizza. Growing up we all got a birthday dinner. Now, this was not some restaurant you went out to...it was a "What's your favorite, homemade dinner you wanna eat for your birthday?" We still do it, as much as possible, today. Don will always ask if I wanna go out on my b-day and I usually opt for a family dinner at home. Since retired, my dad has been a food quest....the best meatloaf. He tries combining different recipes, trying different ingrediants. Everytime I see a meatlof recipe, I immediately think of him. Seeing that he is the king of the grill, he is also the king of all tailgaters. If its a Badger game or Brewers game, more times than not, he will be tailgating or just bringing brats for everyone else. And donuts or what he calls sweet rolls,still happen every Sunday, if someone is there to buy them for.

I could go on and on, but what this all boils down to is soul food. It is the heart and soul he puts into his food that makes it special to me. It's in my genes too. Thanks for the great memories Dad, I love you and Happy Birthday.

Sunday, Scone Sunday

So, we have Cereal Saturday and now we are onto Scone Sunday. Sunday has always been a special breakfast day for me. When I was little, my mom loved the musical Flower Drum Song. There is a song from it that she used to sing me: "Sunday, sweet Sunday, with nothing to do. Lazy and lovely, my one day with you." I now seem to take the lyrics to this song pretty literally. Growing up, my Grandpa Kerch used to come over every Sunday after church and bring us coffee cake. He would stay and visit and play cribbage with my brother. After a while my mom had to break the news to him that 3 little kids, prefered donuts over, the more sophisticated, coffee cake. So, it was donut Sunday from than on. It is a really beautiful memory I have of him. Apparently, my grandpa had a great food reputation of his own in FDL, but that's another story for another day. My husband's family always had what they called Farmer's breakfast on Sunday. It was eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and bacon. Can you tell Don grew up in the city, seeing that this to him is a farmer's breakfast:) So, I always try to make something a little more substantial than cereal on Sunday. I even set the table, like I would dinner. This mornings menu was gluten free orange scones, yogurt parfaits, turkey sausage patties, and fresh orange/grapefruit, strawberry juice. I started at 8:3o and we were eating at 9:30. Really not too long of a prep time for all that food. The scones were to die for. I cannot even describe how good they were. I had never even tried a scone until a few months ago. I love them because they seem like just the right amount sweet. I served them with butter and raspberry preserves. This recipe is from the allergy free bakers handbook. Here is the recipe:

1 (6 0z. container of greek yogurt 2 tbsp. double acting baking powder

3/4 c. orange juice 1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. orange zest 1/3 c. canola oil

3 cups basic gluten free flour mix 2 tbsp. rice milk

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum sugar

1/3 c. organic sugar

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

-Whisk yogurt, oj, and orange zest in one bowl

-In another bowl, whisk flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder and salt

-Add OJ mixture to dry and add canola oil, mix. Mixture will be lumpy

-Flour a work surface and turn out dough, turn out dough and split into 2 pieces. Flatten to about 6 inches thick and cut into 6 pie shaped wedges.

-Put on baking sheet and brush with rice milk and sprinkle with a little sugar

-Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Don gave them 9 out of 10 points..and the only reason it wasn't 10 was because they were not donuts:)

Cereal Saturday

This is one of the best traditions that I started. The kids love it and it gives me a break. A while back I was complaining to a friend that most people get off of work on the weekends, but moms don't have a break ever. How, on a non-school day, I would love to get up and not rush into making breakfast. She suggested letting the kids do it.....and Cereal Saturday was born. Saturday mornings was cereal and cartoons for me. But, cartoons are on all the time now, and not such a cool thing, like they were for me. So, kids get bored and hungry quick. I don't usually let my kids eat sugary cereals, but Cereal Saturday is their chance. Maddy is the leader of this operation. There are 3 tupperware out on the table. One, is Cheerios. They get 1/2 cup of that and the other 2 are sweet, sugary fun cereals. Currently, they are Cookie Crisp and Honey Grahams. They get 1/4 of each one of those. So, not only does Maddy get a chance to be very responsible (which she loves) she is doing math without even knowing it. There is fruit at the table for the cereal, if the want it, and the milk of the week... which can be anything from coconut to almond. My kids see these different options as normal now...which I think is pretty cool. So Cereal Saturday is a success and will be a tradition for years to come in our house.

G-Free Baking

Every new year I like to try something that I haven't tried before, but something not too out of my comfort zone. This year it is Gluten Free Baking. Not that I have Celiac's Disease or anything like that. I just think it can't hurt to limit your gluten intake. I mean you don't NEED gluten in your food and G-free foods are readily available now anyways, so why not. I got this cookbook called The Bakers Guide to Allergy Free Baking. It has really opened up my eyes to all the different grains and types of flours that are out there to use. I have made 4 things so far and, honestly, all have tasted better than anything that I have made before with gluten in it. Don thought the chocolate cupcakes I made were great. He said they tasted like hostess cupcakes and he doesn't even like cake! The banana cake was also to die for. So moist and yummy. Today I tried the Buckwheat Apple Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies. I decided that every Tuesday would be "Baking Tuesday" and I could make a new treat for the kids for the week. Allergy free does not mean sugar free so, of course, you still need to eat in moderation. However, most recipes I found call for alot less sugar, applesauce, or light agave nectar. They were a hit, kids loved them! I will definately be making them again.

For the Love of Juice

I love juicing. But, it wasn't always that way. I came into it about a year ago and went out of it pretty quickly. I had a crappy juicer that was alot of work to clean and it didnt juice very well. So, I broke down and bought a Jack LaLane juicer. I got sucked into an infomercial one day and was convinced. I juice everyday for myself and every other day for the kids. The kids love it....thank God they don't know the little stuff I slip into it:) Does vegetable juice taste like V8 in the juicer? No, it still taste good though. The only downside is that you cannot really store it, so it needs to be made fresh everyday. Cleaning sucks as well, but it can go in the dishwasher, which is nice.

Here are two of the recipes I made today. The picture does not do the taste justice. Looks gross....tastes great. It makes me happy just thinking about it. Bottoms up!

My juice:

1/2 to 1 cucumber

handful of spinich

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 apple

a small piece of ginger

Kids juice:

1 apple

1 orange

1/4 cucumber

small handful of spinich

1 carrot

handful of grapes

Veggies, Veggies, Veggies!

I'll begin this blog with the way I have been eating for the last 6 months. I have cut out almost all sugar and have traded in processed high carb foods for high fiber whole carbs. I have also been adding in a ton more vegetables and protein. I am lucky that I am home for lunch and can have a hot lunch vs. a sandwich and chips. This is a far cry from my lunches growing up: sandwich, chips, little debbie snack and an apple. I found the more I ate this way, the more I craved veggies and the less I craved sugar. I was the kind of girl that could wake up in the morning and eat a handful of m & m's and cap it off at night with a bowl of ice cream. Now, I am upset if we don't have any fish for lunch or are out of avacados. It is quite a shift, but now that I am used to it, I wouldn't give it up.

Basic Salmon:

1 lb wild caught salmon

seasoned with a few shakes of salt, pepper and paprika, chopped garlic, and a squeeze of lemon.

Put in 400 degree oven for roughly 20 minutes...until fish flakes.

Vegetable Rice:

Make brown rice per directions on box.

Chop and steam any variety of vegetables.

Combine cooked rice and vegetable, with salt, pepper, and a few squeezes of fresh lemon.

Both of these sound really almost too simple, but they are delicious. My husband, Don, is not a big vegetable eater and when I asked him to try it, he was nervous. He was suprised by how flavorful it was and said he would eat it again. I made this dish again and mixed it up a little by making a lemon vinagrette with oil, lemon, and pepper and adding that as well as a handful of grapes. Sounds weird, I know, but trust me...the flavors work.