Left Coast Mama » Cooking with toddlers

Recipe: Potato Scones

Gwen — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:47:50 +0000

Light and fluffy Potato Scones

As a child (and teenager) I was always happy when we had leftover mashed potatoes because it meant that in the morning, or for brunch the next day we would have potato scones. Warm from the oven with melted butter these scones are to die for, light and fluffy and not dry at all.

Last night I made too many mashed potatoes on purpose. This morning Quinlan helped me measure, dump and mix the dry ingredients. Aidan wanted to help as well, but I put him off until this afternoon when we will try to make some totally homemade pumpkin pie.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup butter or Margarine

3 TBSP Baking Powder

1 TBSP Sugar

1TSP Nutmeg

1/2 TSP Salt

~1 Cup Mashed Potato

1/2 Cup Milk

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 400F.

Mix all the dry ingredients and add in the butter. Once the butter is cut in mix in the potatoes and milk. When it all sticks together dump on to a lightly floured surface. Use a juice glass or round cookie cutter to cut out scones and put on a parchment covered cookie sheet. The scones should be about a half inch thick.

Light Browning

Bake for about 10 minutes until the bottoms are a light brown and the tops are just starting to brown.

Try not to butter and eat all of them right out of the oven.

Oven Baked Real Chicken Nuggets

Gwen — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 03:09:57 +0000

I sometimes forget how easy it is to make real food. Well maybe the reason I forget is because it is easy to make real food unless you are spending most of the time running through your baby gates and trying to stop your toddler from destroying your computer or making a trans-Atlantic telephone call. That being said when I can keep the boys occupied I like to make some of our favourite homemade meals.

One of our favourites is oven baked chicken “nuggets” made with boneless skinless chicken breasts and beaded with cornflakes, spices and served with homemade spiced oven fries. They are really easy to make and so much more healthy than the fast food/prepackaged food alternatives.

Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients:

Cornflakes

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

Spices [I use Onion powder, garlic powder, Masala (Tandoori Spice), salt, pepper (fresh ground) and sometimes some Montreal steak spice.]

egg

flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to about 375 F

Put a small amount of flour in a small bowl. Beat 1-2 eggs in another small bowl. Put about 2 cups of cornflakes in a ziplock bag and add spices. Crumble the cornflakes and mix in the spices. Cut the chicken breast into long thin strips. Dredge in flour, coat in beaten eggs and drop into the bag of breading mixture. Coat thoroughly and place on a wire rack on a baking sheet. (I coat the wire racks with PAM, or you could brush with oil.)

Bake the chicken for about 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked but not to dry, turning then at about 10 minutes.

Serve with a crisp salad or some veggie sticks and you have a great healthy meal in about 1/2 an hour.

Scattered Mom from Notes From The Cookie Jar has started Food Revolution Fridays as an homage to what Jamie Oliver is doing in the States right now. While I have not watched the show, Scattered Mom’s enthusiasm about food and cooking real food has inspired me to take a look at some of the things I am doing right and some that I can easily change. Taking the time to make some of the easier recipes that the boys and Anthony like seems like a no brainer. If you want to read more posts about other people’s food revolutions click the link and check out some of the blogs that are participating .

Picky Eater? Aidan? . . . Well Maybe

Gwen — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:07:28 +0000

I have heard a whole lot from the blogashpere about Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook Deceptively Delicious. It seems that she routinely purees vegetable matter and stuffs it into just about everything she can think of. I think that if Aidan were only really picky about eating vegetables I would get th book and try it out. But the problem is that the thing Aidan hates more than anything is meat. I can only get him to eat pepperoni and Salami, and that only sometimes. He has always eaten vegetables like cucumber, and baby corn, but balks at trying new meat or even new textures of other foods.

It is funny to think about how easy it was to feed Aidan in the beginning, he would try anything and even if it came back out he was willing to try again. There were a few exceptions that he still hates and they include any of the meat family and especially potatoes. Aidan hates, hates, hates potatoes. (Though the first time Aidan tried green beans and first made the “blah, blah” gagging sounds is legendary.) So the thought of trying to hide cauliflower in his mashed potatoes doesn’t make any sense at all. As for the chick peas in the chocolate chip cookies doesn’t really work either, for as much as he likes the idea of cookies, the actual cookies not so much.

I have found the real way to hide almost any kind of food including meat is with pasta. If you have pasta and sauce Aidan will scarf it down like there is no tomorrow. Maybe I need to get a pasta machine and try to make some more exotic sauces. Wish me luck.

*****

This post is part of the Parent Bloggers Network blog blast “Just Eat It” and I have a chance to win a 250 dollar gift card to Williams Sonoma. Wohoo! Can anyone say new blender or maybe a pasta maker or a bread maker? The possibilities are endless.

© 2007 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: Blog Blast, children, Cook Books, Cooking with toddlers, Healthy Eating, Parent Bloggers Network.

Menu Plan Monday

Gwen — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 05:37:51 +0000

I have actually planned for the rest of the month, though I will only give you this weeks plan. I actually made a nice week plan with grocery list on the computer that has really helped me to plan. I am very happy to have so much already done so that it isn’t going to be a big chore on Sundays any more. I am also starting to plan for a baking day with Aidan. He is so cute and loves to mix everything. We just have to watch out for his sometimes over-whelming enthusiasm. (I am almost out of salt as a result of his enthusiasm.) So on to the plans.

Monday: Kabobs with rice and vegetables. Bake bread with Aidan.

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken, salad, baked potatoes

Wednesday: Pancakes, Bacon, eggs (Aidan will help with the pancake batter.)

Thursday: Pizza

Friday: Ham with scallop potatoes, (mashed for Anthony), Broccoli

Saturday:Church Dinner at HT

Sunday: Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with Basmati rice and roasted vegetables

Have a wonderful week. Visit the Organizing Junkie for more great menu plan ideas.

© 2007 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 4 comments
Related: Cooking with toddlers, Gwen, Healthy Eating, Menu Plan Monday, organization.

Angel Food Cake

Gwen — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:51:31 +0000

Did you know that if your bundt pan/tube pan is too small your angel food cake will be very puffed over the side? All I can say is Mary is probably getting a store bought cake for the cake and cheap booze on the porch.

Aidan liked the mixing of the cake though.

Cooking With Daddy

Gwen — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:35:22 +0000

A few weeks ago we got Aidan a 2 step stool so that he could get “Cwean” in the bathroom. ( He can’t reach at all with just a step stool.) I have been thinking about letting Aidan help with some baking but I haven’t been brave enough to try. Anthony, however, tried it yesterday with great results. The only problem came at the end of making the batter. Aidan did not want to wait for the pancakes to cook. In fact he was so upset he crawled up on the table to cry.

Anyway, not much else to say the pictures I think say it all. (Oh, please excuse our messy counters. No space and all. )

Aidan helps pour sugar.

Aidan Stirring with the Measuring spoon. (He thought it was like a digger.)

Aidan beating the eggs.