Quiet Sunday Morning

We are enjoying a quiet Sunday morning. Reese is busy playing his Leapster and fighting a cold, Nathan is pretending he's a thief (not sure where that come from) and he's finding toys around the house, stealing them, and taking them to his stash in the playroom. How come when I call this "clean up time" I can't get him to steal his toys away to the playroom so enthusiastically?

Jake slipped off to the office for a few hours before coming home for afternoon football and I plan on spending the morning changing my blog background to something neutral I can live with for awhile (I'm sick of my need to change it all the time), laundry..never ending laundry and a final check of my "accounting" work before sending 2007 to the accountant and into history.

I had a few requests for the squash casserole recipe so here it is:

Squash Casserole
2-3 cups fresh squash, cooked and drained
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
6 tbs. butter, melted
1 cup stuffing (I use Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing)

Preheat oven to 325. Combine first 7 ingredients. Place in a baking dish. Combine butter and stuffing, spoon over top. Bake 45 minutes.

It's really yummy and you may never eat squash any other way after trying it!

Cooking

We're two for five on the recipes we've tried out of Deceptively Delicious. The first was the chicken nuggets, which I loved but the kids came to a screeching halt when they spotted the "orange stuff." Here are our votes on the other dishes and the recipes if you are interested in trying them yourselves:

Macaroni and Cheese 1
Mom and Dad vote: Yummy
Kiddos vote: "Yuck" and "Too Cheesy"

1 1/2 c. elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. cauliflower puree
1 1/2 c. (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz. (almost 1/4 c.) cream cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. pepper

Boil pasta. Coat large saucepan with cooking spray, heat over medium heat. Add oil, then flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles a thick paste, but has not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. I thought this part was tricky. On my gas stove it turned brown before it thickened so three tries later I let it cook about 15 seconds and proceeded on. Add the milk and cook, stirring every now and then, until it begins to thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the cauliflower puree, cheeses and seasonings and stir until the sauce is smooth. Stir in macaroni. If I make this again I'll add more pasta because it is REALLY cheesy.

Scrambled Eggs
Mom and Dad vote: Good, but a strange texture. Probably wouldn't make again.
Kiddos vote: Nope, but they were always sketchy about scrambled eggs anyway.

2 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1/4 c. sour cream
1/2 c. cauliflower puree
2 tbs. grated Parmesan
pinch of salt
nonstick cooking spray
1 tbs. olive oil

Whisk together eggs, egg whites, sour cream, cauliflower puree, Parmesan and salt. Coat skillet with cooking spray, add egg mixture and scramble. It took longer to cook than the recipe indicated and the skillet had quite a bit of water in it when it was done cooking. I just scooped the egg out being careful not to get the water with it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mom's vote: Great! No vote from Dad because he is a freak and doesn't like chocolate.
Kiddo's vote: Yummy, I want more!
Family over for dinner vote: They taste just like a regular cookie!

Nonstick cooking spray
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. margarine
2 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (and chopped)
2 c. chocolate chips
Walnuts optional
Raisins optional
2 c. flour
1/2 c. old fashion oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray. Mix sugar and margarine until smooth. Beat in egg whites and vanilla, then chickpeas and chocolate. All the flour, oats, baking soda and salt, mix until thick dough forms. Drop by tablespoon on cookie sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes. I put my chickpeas in the blender and set it on food chop so there wouldn't be huge visible chickpeas in the cookies. The blender left a few whole chickpeas behind and Nathan noticed them right away. Next time I'll be sure to blend them all the way!


Pancakes
Family vote: Perfect. Will make this again and again.

Here is the recipe with my changes in italics
1 c. water (1 1/4 c. milk)
1/2 c. sweet potato puree
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 c. pancake mix (2 c. Bisquick)
nonstick cooking spray
1 tbs. vegetable oil
Syrup

Mix all ingredients just to combine, batter should be lumpy. Cook in skillet or griddle coated with cooking spay and vegetable oil. (Short and sweet of it...I'm assuming everyone knows the basics of pancake making).

I promise my blog will not turn into a cookbook nor will I prevent Ms. Seinfeld from cookbook sales by providing a copy of all her recipes here. I will, however, share a good recipe from time to time.

Friday

Remember when you were a kid and you needed to get somewhere? You hopped on your bike, roller skates or you walked. This morning, instead of hopping into my car I decided to ride my bike to get to where I was going. It's a beautiful day and Jennifer and I had decided instead of meeting for breakfast after dropping of the kids at school we'd pass on the bagel and play tennis. We have tennis courts in our neighborhood about 2 miles away and as I crawled into bed last night I decided my month off after the marathon needed to officially end. We had such a great time that we're playing again next Friday. I say play, but really I just hit the ball around. I took lessons about 8 years ago, but can't remember a thing I learned. Jennifer hasn't played in a long time either, but at least remembered the rules!

I made the chicken nuggets out of the Desperately Delicious cookbook. I loved them, but the kids immediately spotted the "orange stuff" (sweet potato) and refused it. I would certainly make them again for myself and maybe I'll try a different puree that isn't orange. Off to eat leftovers for lunch.....