food Archives - Home With The Boys

Comfort Food {Five Minute Friday}

May 9, 2013 By Erin 15 Comments

It’s Five-Minute Friday with lovely Lisa-Jo!

Set a timer and just write. Don’t worry about making it just right or not.

For me? An exercise in letting go and letting words flow. Five minutes only. {yes, I do set a timer and it quacks like a duck at 5 minutes, which totally makes me smile}

Today’s prompt: Comfort.

And go…

I’m going to keep it real here: When I heard this week’s word was COMFORT, my mind went right to food. Comfort food. And then I made a batch of popcorn on the stove.

It’s not that I need food to give me comfort, but there has always been the comfort of family and home attached to food in my life.

Comfort Food with Grandma

My mom always talks fondly of “Saturday night hamburgers” made on the farm when she was growing up. The hamburgers WERE very yummy, but I think it was more of the family coming together over those hamburgers that produced such warm memories…such comfort.

And she went on to bring that same level of comfort in our home. Tuesday night tacos before Girl Scouts. Large batches of BBQs {sloppy joes} when extended family was in town. Chicken chili, stove-top popcorn, sugar muffins, the list goes on…

It was all YUMMY, but it wasn’t really the food. It was the love being put into the food. The comfort of a mom who cared about home and warmth and love more than perfection or presentation in that food. The food was never more important than the family or company sharing it.

I hope to be passing on that same comfort my mom gave me with our Saturday morning donuts and first day of school chocolate chip scones and… you get the idea.

Comfort can be found in food and home and family…and you gave me all of that, Mom, and still do. We love you dearly!

Comfort Mom

Happy Mother’s Day!

Stop.

And now I’m off to link up this post with the fabulous Five Minute Friday community! You MUST take the time to read the words of these BRAVE writers!

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Filed Under: family, five minute friday, food, mother's day, motherhood

Quinoa for the Whole Family

April 9, 2013 By Erin 1 Comment

Quinoa for the Whole Family

I’ve become a quinoa lover in the past year.

Quinoa was only a rice substitute in my mind when I first gave it a try, but I’ve found it to be much more versatile than I had originally thought!

The nutrition facts for quinoa are pretty awesome. One cup of cooked quinoa has 220 calories, 3.5 grams of healthy fat, and 8 grams of protein! That protein number is what really catches my eye because I am always working on getting more protein in my diet. Quinoa is actually a healthy carbohydrate AND it contains the amino acids needed to help your body use protein well. Super food is right!

Once I realized how much I could do with quinoa, I bought a large bag of Nature’s Earthly Choice Organic Quinoa at Costco and I’m so glad I did! It use some at least once a week and it is lasting us a long time!

I took to quinoa quickly, but I knew the boys would be a little harder sell. That’s when Pinterest came to the rescue! Here are a few of my favorite quinoa recipes, for myself and the rest of the crew, as well as a few I can’t wait to try!

We already love these recipes…

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Quinoa Muffins from Once a Month Mom

Everything in these is YUMMY and the quinoa adds a unique bit of crunch that the boys and I love!

Breakfast Quinoa from How Sweet It Is

One of my favorite breakfasts right now because I don’t have to add any sweeteners – it’s delicious the just the way it is, topped with sliced bananas and chopped pecans!

Slow Cooker Chicken Quinoa Chili from Sweet Treats and More

This is a wonderful, filling lunch or supper dish! I’m the only one who really enjoys this, but I still make a regular batch and freeze the extras for later lunches!

I also love to mix up some quinoa with leftover shredded meat and veggies for a quick, healthy lunch!

And a few recipes we’re excited to try…

Quinoa Chicken Tenders

I’m giving these a shot in place of store-bought chicken nuggets this week! They sound fabulous to me, but I want the boys to love them, too! Wish me luck…

Puffed Quinoa Peanut Butter Balls from Vegangela

I’m a sucker for anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate. And when Big J saw the picture of these, he wanted to know when we could try them, so I can’t wait to whip up a batch!

Chocolate Quinoa Protein Energy Bars from No Meat Athlete

Chocolate – good. Quinoa – good. Protein – good. Energy – good. I just need to pick up some protein powder before I can attempt these bars!

Does your family enjoy quinoa? What are your favorite recipes?

*This post contains affiliate links.

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Filed Under: food, healthy living, recipe

Delicious {Baked} Donuts!

February 12, 2013 By Erin 2 Comments

Somehow, over the past few years, Saturday morning donuts have become a family tradition around our house. I’m ok with that.

Donuts = happy tummy.

and…

Donuts = REALLY happy boy tummies.

But sometimes I don’t feel like loading up everyone in the van on a cozy Saturday morning. And I don’t even want to know the calorie count on those fried bits of heaven.

So I bought a donut pan. Oh yes, I did.

Thanks to Pinterest, we’ve been having our Saturday morning delicious donuts at home, trying several different recipes and enjoying ourselves ever so much.

Friends: get yourself a donut pan. You will not regret it. And when you do, try these recipes as quickly as possible…

Baked Banana Bread Donuts with Dark Chocolate Glaze - My first go at homemade donuts made a believer. The inclusion of bananas and Greek yogurt tilts the scale even more towards the healthy side for this recipe, but they were every bit as delicious as the fried variety. And the dark chocolate glaze? Fabulous.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Syrup Frosting – I love all things pumpkin, so obviously I had to make these. Yum. Who said it needs to be fall to enjoy baked pumpkin deliciousness? I love the light glaze on top – no drizzling it on for me. I dunked that baby in the glaze and never looked back.

Baked Maple Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar - The Hubby is a fan of sugar-covered donuts, so these were a big hit with him! And the boys and I haven’t really met a homemade donut we didn’t like yet, so these were another home run! Please eat these warm. I must agree with Si and Jase about the power of hot donuts after trying these fresh out of the oven. {If you don’t watch Duck Dynasty, you will not understand this reference. Please remedy this situation as soon as possible.}

I have several more recipes lined up to try and you can bet I will share those recipes if they turn out well!

Oh, who am I kidding? They are DONUTS. Of course, they will turn out well.

Let’s dish on donuts today:

Who has the yummiest store-bought donuts?

Have you made homemade donuts?

Do you have a favorite homemade donut recipe?

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Filed Under: food, Pinterest, recipe Tagged With: breakfast, donuts, family tradition, recipe

Day & Night Cookies

February 3, 2013 By Erin 1 Comment

When Big J was three, I started doing some preschool at home with him, and we started off each day with a Bible story, beginning at the beginning!

One particular day, we were talking about how God created day and night and focused on the colors black and white.

He needed something to keep him occupied and he loved baking with me {still does occasionally}, so we came up with this fun little recipe!

We took my mom’s classic chocolate chip cookie recipe and mixed it up a little to make “Day and Night Cookies.” I threw in a little bit of this and that I found in the cupboard. We were both quite pleased with the yummy results!

Day Night Cookies Oven

The “mix-in” proportions can be changed to suit your tastes – more Heath in my case! Raisins could also make a great “night” option.

Big J had fun finding the black and white pieces as he ate the cookies. And looking back over this recipe, I think I’m ready to pop another batch in the oven!

Day Night Cookies

Day and Night Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup mix-ins – here is my preference:
*1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
*1/4 cup white chocolate chips
*1/2 cup toffee baking bits (such as Heath)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugars and shortening together.

Add eggs and vanilla.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients, adding your preferred mix-ins last.

Drop by spoonful on to a cookie sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until a light golden brown.

What would you throw into your version of “Day and Night Cookies?”

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Filed Under: faith, food, preschoolers, recipe

Italian Herb Bread {Bread Machine}

September 11, 2012 By Erin 3 Comments

I made this Italian Herb Bread a few years ago to kick off Bread Machine Week – a week where I used my bread machine every day! The bread machine had been put away for a while and I decided it needed to be used a little more often! Now we use it all the time!

**For those of you wondering, we have an Oster 2 lb. EXPRESSBAKE Breadmaker that we got as a wedding present 9 1/2 years ago. Never tried anything else, but works great for me!**

This recipe was under the French bread category in my bread machine cookbook. I have since found recipes all over the internet to make in that wonderful machine, but this cookbook was a great start for me!

The bread came out very tasty – nice crust, soft inside and great flavor! I am saving it for our spaghetti dinner on Thursday! I think it would be excellent for sandwiches as well. As I have mentioned before, I now prefer to make the dough in the machine and then bake it in the oven, but this loaf came out great right from the machine so I wouldn’t mind doing that again!

The only change I made to this recipe was omitting the Parmesan cheese since I am not a fan. Let me know if you make it with the cheese!

Italian Herb Bread

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp active dry yeast

Directions
Measure and add liquid ingredients to the bread pan.

Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to the bread pan.

Use your finger to form a well (hole) in the flour where you will pour the yeast. Yeast must NEVER come into contact with a liquid when you are adding ingredients. Measure the yeast and carefully pour into the well.

Snap the baking pan into the breadmaker and close the lid.

Select “French” setting, choose crust color and start!

Bake in a greased loaf pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees!

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I’m linking up with Tasty Tuesday!

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What’s Cooking in September!

September 2, 2012 By Erin 1 Comment

For me, September equals fall and fall equals a very happy Erin!

There are so many reasons to love fall, with yummy food right near the top of that list. I’m starting to add in soups and chili, but still holding on to the grill recipes from this summer! The best of both seasons!

One new challenge for this month is the addition of evening activities for the boys! Big J will have soccer two nights a week, and both boys will have swimming one night a week. We will be eating earlier on those nights – we’ll see how it goes!

Here’s what’s cooking in our kitchen this month…

{New recipes indicated by a *}

Brinner

*Summer Herb Spaghetti with Bacon

BBQs

Tacos

Grilled Hamburgers

*Mini Wonton Tacos

*3-Meat Slow Cooker Chili {Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy Family Favorites}

*Grilled Honey-Soy Flank Steak

Bacon-Wrapped Deer Steak

Chicken Kabobs

*Chicken Taco Chili

*Baked Chicken Fajitas

*Orange Chicken with Asparagus

Cornflake Chicken

*Chicken Lettuce Wraps

*Turkey Breast in Crockpot

Stromboli

Homemade Pizza

*Pork & Apple Skillet Supper {Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy Family Favorites}

Pulled Pork

Ham & Pineapple Kabobs

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What are your favorite main dish recipes for fall? I’m always looking to add more yummy recipes to my list to try!

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Choosing Homemade: Six Foods I’m Making at Home

August 21, 2012 By Erin 10 Comments

I feel so blessed to be at home with and for our family at this stage in my life. I know this isn’t possible – or desirable – for everyone and I pray that I don’t take a moment of it for granted.

One of the things I really enjoy doing with my time at home is making homemade foods for my family. I do NOT make everything from scratch, but if it can save us some money and make something a little healthier for us, I like to give it a try!

I think time is very valuable as well, so I don’t make things from scratch that will take up too much precious time with my family. And I like to choose things I enjoy making – for obvious reasons!

I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite foods that we make at home now instead of buying from the store! These are all recipes I make on a regular basis – they are tried and true!

One side note: Whenever I make a bread machine recipe, I mix the dough in the machine on the dough setting and then bake the dough in the oven. I like the shape of the loaf better than when it is baked in the machine! Just personal preference!

1. Blender Salsa

Source: mountainmamacooks.com via Erin on Pinterest

2. French Bread

Source: low-cholesterol.food.com via Erin on Pinterest

3. Honey Whole-Wheat Bread

Source: 100daysofrealfood.com via Erin on Pinterest

4. Granola

Source: homewiththeboys.net via Erin on Pinterest

5. Pizza Dough

Source: moneysavingmom.com via Erin on Pinterest

6. Taco Seasoning

Source: myblessedlife.net via Erin on Pinterest

What foods do you enjoy making from scratch?

I’m linking up to Tasty Tuesday today! Check out all the yummy recipes posted over there!

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Texas Caviar

August 16, 2012 By Erin 4 Comments

Texas Caviar just screams summer to me, so I thought I better post this recipe before summer ends!

Just so you know, I have always strongly disliked beans and peas of any kind – except plain old green beans. So I was a little skeptical about trying this dip, but when I did the Daniel Fast {only fruits, veggies, & grains} a couple of years ago, I needed to find a way to get more protein without meat or dairy!

I was SO pleasantly surprised. This recipe was easy, yummy, and filling – what more could you want?!

I also love how colorful it is – it looks beautiful in a glass bowl in the middle of a spread for entertaining!

There are a lot of variations out there, but this is the Texas Caviar I enjoyed and I hope you do, too!

Texas Caviar

Ingredients
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 can whole-kernel corn, drained
1 can Rotel, Mexican style
3 ribs celery, chopped
Cayenne pepper and black pepper, to taste

Directions
Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour to combine the flavors. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

That’s it! I told you it was easy!

Have you ever made a variation of Texas Caviar? I would love to know what goes in your recipe!

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Back-to-School Breakfast Tradition: Chocolate Chip Scones

August 14, 2012 By Erin 9 Comments

Yesterday was our first day of school and the first words out of Big J’s mouth as he came down the stairs were:

“Can we have chocolate chip scones?! It IS the first day of school!”

I guess I began a tradition when I made these scones for the first day of school last year. And I don’t blame him for wanting them again because they are DELICIOUS!

I found the basic recipe on AllRecipes, but it needed some changes to help the consistency and texture! I experimented a few times and now they are absolutely wonderful! Give them a try for a special breakfast at your house!

Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
8 tablespoons orange juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry blender or a large fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Mix in the orange juice to form a dough.
Turn the dough on to a floured surface. Pat or roll into a 9 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut “pizza-style” into 12 triangles. Transfer the scones to the baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown, approximately 12 minutes. Move to wire racks to cool.

Notes: I have also made these using only all-purpose flour, and next time I will try with just white whole wheat flour! I forgot to spray my pan this time and the scones were just fine – probably depends on the pan!

What are your favorite special breakfast menu items?

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I’m linking up to Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam!

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What’s Cooking in June!

June 6, 2012 By Erin 3 Comments

I’m working on making this blog more about what my every day life is like here at Home with the Boys and eating is a major part of what happens in a house full of boys!

Even though we are all picky eaters, I am already seeing voracious appetites developing in these young men and I’m trying desperately to keep up without losing my mind or our money!

Now that we are in the new house, I can resume some freezer cooking and start making more homemade snacks to fill these guys up!

We are also doing a LOT more grilling because it is summer and the grill is more accessible in our new backyard! So, if a few of these recipes get skipped, it’s because we couldn’t resist the temptation to grill yet again!

This month I’m just listing the dinners we’ll be having, but I hope to add our breakfast and lunch choices next month! {Baby steps to being more intentional and following through!}

Here’s what’s cooking for dinner in the month of June…

{recipes with an * are new to us this month!}

Apple Stuffed Chicken Breasts

*Asian Lettuce Cups

*Bacon Crusted Pork Tenderloin

*Brinner: Breakfast Burritos

Brinner: French Toast

Chicken and *Fried Rice {I think I’ll do grilled chicken with this instead of the chicken in the recipe.}

Chicken Marinara

*Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia

*Grilled Ham & Pineapple Kabobs

Hamburgers