It's All About the Food

It's been a busy week with birthdays (two, with one more on Monday), youth groups, school meetings, homework, concerts, speeches, school pictures and dudes caulking windows and blowing insulation into the attic.  And there's the usual house work, laundry and daily drop-offs and pick-ups, and such going on.

 

Creative time this week was pretty absent, and again, wasn't a project of my own.  This week the closest I got, was arranging a couple bouquets of flowers and printing photos of animals for my 6 y.o.

 

It was a week of Pinterest for meals though.

 

 

Banana Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies with Whole Wheat, Oats, and Dried Blueberries  Now that's a mouthful for a recipe name.  I picked them because I have a high schooler whose not a fan of traditional breakfast foods, which makes it really fun to figure out something to make that she can run with.  These turned out really well.  They are filling; great with a glass of milk or juice.  I've had one for lunch a couple days this week because of the running around.  Switch up the dried fruit for your tastes and you could add a tablespoon of Flax or Chai seeds to up the nutrition.

I'm on a quest for a quick and easy granola bar.  This is the second recipe I've tried lately.  The first was Here.  It was a bake recipe and good.  This No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars uses a boiled mixture to hold it together.  Don't fear the liquid sugar.  I followed the time and it turned out well.  I had to do the full-sized pan and squash everything to one end.  Really pressing it down and making them thick enough is key - I used the bottom of a glass to press them down; my fingers, even greased, kept sticking.  They are soft without being crumbly.  I keep them stored between parchment paper. 

 

This Banana Bread Crumb Cake is A.Mazing.  It's really moist, without being wet, like some banana recipes can get.  The crumb topping is crunchy.  It.  Is.  Good.  Makes a good dessert (as I used it for) or on a brunch table or just with coffee.

I love Salisbury Steak, so when I saw them in meatball form, I had to try them.  Pioneer Woman did up these yummy Salisbury Steak Meatballs and serves them up on noodles.  My only want was more gravy, because it was sooo good.  This was a perfect comfort dish on a cool-ish day.

Birthday People in my house get their fave food for dinner.  Sometimes that means going out, sometimes it's something I make.  For the six year old, it's McD's cheeseburgers or pizza.  Well, he had the burger for lunch, so . . . pizza it is.  I found this recipe when I didn't have enough time to make my usual bread-machine version of pizza dough.  This Quick Bread Dough recipe is ready to go in about 20 minutes.  I was crunched for time and my go-to Quick Marinara wasn't going to be quick enough, so a search provided me this no-cook Homemade Red Sauce.  An informal poll, taken while the family was stuffing their faces with pizza, revealed they prefer this dough to my, now former, bread machine version.  I love that the dough also works for cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls.  It's a keeper.

I had two other recipes that will be moved to next week because of a change in evening plans.

I'd better get a move on my day.  Friday Night In-law dinner is up and I've got a dessert to make, potatoes to cook and some odd tidying to do.  If the evening works itself out, I'll be heading to my sister's to take in a few episodes of Outlander.  My daughter is running the Color Fun Fest 5K on Saturday; and it'd be fun to go depending on what wave she's in.  There's a party on Sunday for the birthday folks.  And hubby is getting ready to leave for a week.

Happy Friday,