Sunday Quick Breakfast

Sunday morning, the morning my children seem to wait around staring at me wondering when would be the right time to ask the one and only question that completely occupies all their brains at the same time........"Mom, are you going to make something for breakfast?"

Ugh, Sunday morning, the one morning I like to have my hot coffee and look at the Sunday paper......okay, well, I can make something fast enough to satisfy them when I don't feel like making a huge Sunday breakfast.

When they are on sale I will buy the biscuits you cook in the oven, since I don't buy them often my kids really enjoy them when they have them!

Place them in the oven and I know I have just about 10 minutes before they are done. I look in the fridge to see what I have.....

fresh spinach
turkey breast lunch meat
a fresh tomato grown in our very own backyard
eggs (no, we bought them, they weren't hatched in our backyard)
cheese slices

I put a little olive oil in a pan, chopped up the spinach and dropped it in the pan, chopped up the turkey breast and tomato and dropped them in with the spinach. Sprinkled some pepper and seasoned salt (just a little). Meanwhile I cracked about 6 eggs (I took out 2 yolks) beat it and poured it over the mixture in the pan.
I mixed it all up together and let it cook over medium heat. My biscuits are now done, took them out, grabbed out some sliced cheese (about 3 slices). I cut open each biscuit, took the wrapper off one slice a cheese cut it 4 ways, put a piece on one half of each biscuit. Oh, don't forget to stir your egg mixture!! I continued to open the cheese and do the same to each half of biscuit.
Once the egg mixture is completely cooked I got a spoon and scooped an amount enough to cover one part of the biscuit and then covered it with the other half of biscuit with the cheese (which is nicely sticking to the top part of the biscuit now).
I made 10 of them, had a little left over egg mixture which I put on a plate and drizzled some of my homemade chili sauce on it along with one of the breakfast biscuits (that was Daddy's plate).

The kids all grabbed a napkin, got a breakfast biscuit, and were happy!!! Yahoo! I got them to eat spinach, turkey, and tomato for breakfast and they loved it! They each got two and then finished it off with my homemade oatmeal cookies (that I also put in a banana for potassium)

Side Note**

Of course my children do have their dis-likes of certain fruits and vegetables, for this reason I like to cook without them watching so they won't already have a certain feeling of what I'm making before they even try it. Now Mom Jr. doesn't like tomatoes and yes, she of course was right there watching...Question"Mom, will the tomato taste like nothing when it's cooked in all that?" Answer " ", yes, that's right she didn't get one. She didn't ask again, she just waited, and when she ate it she loved it!!
So if it makes it easier try to make sure the kids stay away as you cook and once they have eaten it and liked it then is when I like to tell them "see, I put this and that in there and you didn't even know it". They start to realize to give everything a try with an open mind, it's not always what you think it's going to be like...

Moms Food Children Approved!!!!

My version of Togos taco salad

When I was pregnant with Mom Jr. there was nothing better to eat than Togo's Taco Salad! I had to have at least 2 of their taco sauce packs as well. Sometimes I'd even ask for an extra cup of the chili beans they put in the salad.
After I had her it was still one of my favorite meals to have but I didn't have to have it as much as I did before.

Now, 4 kids later I needed to come up with ways of making some of our "favorites" at home since it costs so much to take a family of 6 out to dinner or even lunch.

My version of Togos Taco Salad

Items to buy or have on hand:

1 pkg. of kidney beans (I always cook any type of beans I use but you can buy the canned ones to make it faster)

2 small cans of tomato paste

1 pkg. of ground turkey breast (you can use beef, chicken, whatever you like)

1 red onion

2 pieces of garlic (or you can just use garlic powder)

1-2 tomatoes (for the chili beans)

1 head of lettuce (any type of lettuce, we use a mixture of iceberg and the red leaf or dark green lettuce)

shredded cheese (any kind you like)

1 small can of sliced olives (this is optional, if I have it I'll put it out because my kids like them)

tortilla chips (I usually buy the big bag of tortilla chips from Costco since we use them for a variety of recipes)

1-2 tomatoes-diced

sour cream

taco sauce (or you can use salsa, whatever you like)

Thousand Island (this is optional, my husband likes his salad with dressing drizzled with the taco sauce)

avocado (of course! If I have it I obviously will use it, one of the kids favorites)

chicken or beef bouillon (just a little)

I use my crockpot to cook the beans, so I will start them in the morning. I check the beans, wash them, and place them in the crockpot (which I have turned on first with water in it).

I let them cook for 2-3 hours and then will add the cans of tomato paste, some chopped red onion (about 2 slices out of the onion), chopped garlic (or garlic powder), and a little bouillon. Stir it up so that the tomato paste kinda separates. Let that cook for another 2 hours or so (if your doing it in the crockpot I guess it really doesn't matter if you put it in all at once, I just like doing little by little). When I check on my beans and they look almost done I will cook my ground turkey breast on the stove. I usually will season it with some black pepper and seasoned salt. When it's fully cooked I add it in with the beans and stir it. I am now done messing with the chili beans so I just let the flavors mingle and continue to cook slowly all together until it's time to put it all together.

Now, if you are using canned beans I would think you'd probably have to do it all at once with adding a little water.

Chop up your lettuce and put in the fridge so that it gets nice and cold.

When it's time to put it together this is how I do it......

A handful of chips in a bowl, I press them down with my hand to break them up, put chili beans on top of the chips (for my family I put a good amount), drop some shredded cheese over them, lettuce, sprinkle diced tomato (if you like), olives (if you like), get your taco sauce and drizzle it around the lettuce (as well as the dressing if you are going to use it), place a dollop of sour cream in the middle and if you have avocado you can add some slices on top (or smash it up and add a spoonful next to the sour cream).

**extra** If you like the peppers they use, put them on, I usually will just use jalapeno slices on mine.

**left over ideas**

great to just send a container of the chili with chips on the side (and some shredded cheese to place on top, maybe even a little container with taco sauce on the bottom and sour cream on top).

Scramble eggs and add chili for breakfast burritos....

Chicken Enchiladas

This is a favorite in my house. I do both sauces-green or red.

This is my Green Enchiladas recipe.

Now before I start I must say I use some unusual ingredients that you might not think would be in enchiladas but I have found my children don't know the difference and actually prefer this way compared to the traditional way....

The items you will need is: whatever type of meat you prefer, corn tortillas, 1 small can of fire roasted dice green chile's, monterey & cheddar cheese blocks (or just buy the shredded cheese in a bag), a medium size of cottage cheese, a small sour cream, olives (optional), green tomatoes, yellow or white onion, garlic, jalapenos (optional)

First things first....for the green sauce (if you want to make it from scratch) you will need to buy anywhere between 15-20 green tomatillos (the green tomatoes that are covered with a thin leafy shell), you are looking for the hard ones not soft. You will need a yellow or white onion (I prefer the yellow), a piece of garlic, and if you like any type of spiciness you might want to get a jalapeno or 2 (I use at least two in mine).

Now, you need to first remove the leafy cover from your green tomatoes, wash them well and stick them in a pot. Add just enough water to barely cover your tomatoes, slice and chop a piece of the onion, drop in some garlic, and if you bought jalapenos, slice and drop them in also. Let the water simmer and soften all that is in the pot. Meanwhile, if you need to shred your cheese this would be a good time to do so unless you bought shredded cheese in a bag you don't have to worry about that step. I usually will get out a small bowl and mix together the 16 ounce cottage cheese and maybe 4 tablespoons of the sour cream together. I will also add some pepper to that mix and set aside.

As for the chicken, you actually can use whatever you prefer ground beef, shredded meat, ground turkey, or even just cheese. If you want to skip cooking the meat yourself you can always buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it.

I have done both, I will either use boneless, skinless, chicken tenders, boneless,skinless, chicken breasts, or a rotesserie chicken.

If my chicken is raw I cook it in a little olive oil along with a little onion and garlic, once it's cooked I will put in a small can of green fire roasted chilis (if I'm using a rotisserie chicken, I'll shred it, put in a pan and immediately add the can of chili and simmer it together) and let it simmer together.

I will check periodically on the green sauce mixture. I want to make sure everything is soft. Once I know that for sure, I put all the contents from the pot in a blender. I blend it until it's smooth, pour it in a bowl and set aside.

Once my chicken is cooked and has nicely mingled with the green chiles I take it off the burner and move it over to the area where I will be putting it all together.

I now get out my tortillas and start to warm them up on the stove, one by one, I place them in a pile on a plate.

I get out a large casserole dish and spray it with a nonstick spray.

To put it all together:

I get one tortilla, dip it in the green sauce once, twice, maybe three times, move it into the casserole dish, put a little chicken mixture in the middle, a little cottage cheese mixture, a sprinkle of shredded cheese, and if you like olives this is when you will also stick one in, roll it together, lean it to one edge of the casserole dish and continue with the next one. I usually try to get as many as I can in the one casserole dish, although usually I will end up pulling out an 8x8 dish and finish up in there. Once done with either the tortillas or meat you can place any leftover mixture on top of the enchiladas. The cottage cheese mixture, shredded cheese, and green sauce (even the olives). Place them in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30 minutes.

I like to serve my enchiladas with spanish rice and beans (I'll have to put out the recipe for both).

When I serve them to my family I usually will put some beans on one side 2 enchiladas in the middle and on the other side, the rice. Some enjoy a spoon of sour cream on top of the enchiladas and others just like them as is.

Believe me, I know what your probably thinking about the cottage cheese mixture, they do not even realize it is in there. The plus with using that is you use less cheese and you can use the fat free version of both.

Give it a try...my family loves it.........

Where have I been?

Not here, I know that much!! Sorry, I have been busy setting up our family website. I am now ready to get back to my food blog.....

Just to put it out there, our website is www.thefamilyview.net . Check it out, there's more than just food, it has a little of everything.....

Recipes are coming............................