Whatever Wednesday: Dinner Edition

 This past weekend I thought I would get ahead of myself and cook some extra chicken to have on hand for easy meals this week . 

Of course I only thought as far as making the chicken and not what meals I’d make with it . 

Standing in my kitchen this morning staring at diced chicken breast for a few minutes ( thankfully my only audience speaks babble mostly or has four legs ) resulted in a comforting , cheesy warm pasta bake .

Alter to suit the contents of your fridge . Diced ham and smoked Gouda would be an amazing variation . 

Definitely perfect for the cold days ahead or great as a make ahead dinner . 

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Chicken Macaroni & Cheese 

1 cup shredded Gouda 

1 cup shredded Cheddar ( I used montarary Jack )

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs 

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 

1 1/2 – 2 cups of milk ( depends how thick or thin you like the sauce )

3-4 tbsp butter

3-4 tbsp flour 

1 tsp garlic , pinch of salt and pepper 

About 3 cups cooked macaroni ( I didn’t really measure the noodles ) 

2 large chicken breasts cooked , cooled and diced 

Melt butter in sauce pan . Stir in flour to form a roux . Allow to cook a minute or two . Stir in milk and add garlic /salt and pepper . When it has thickened and resembles a sauce ( be careful it doesn’t burn on the bottom) add 1/2 cup Gouda and remove from heat 

Combine sauce with noodles . Stir in chicken and remaining Gouda cheese 

In large but not too deep oven safe dish , spread noodle mixture . Flatten with spoon and sprinkle top with bread crumbs and parm . Finally top with other cup of cheese . 

Bake at 350 centre rack until cheese is melted and edges are browning. 

Tuesday Trio – 3 Easy Toddler Recipes

Popeye Muffins

 

Popeye muffins seem to be everywhere in the mama groups and kid recipe facebook pages. I’ve seen various variations of the recipes. Some resulting in a very bright green Hulk-ish muffin , while others use banana in an attempt to cover the “green” taste that can happen with lower sugar , lower fat muffins.

This is my take on the muffin . I didn’t use pureed spinach like many of the recipes call for as I didn’t want the green color.  I am ok with a little bit of sugar and good quality butter so I used them , but you could swap for honey , maple syrup or apple sauce.

I used most of what was left of a tub of fresh baby spinach because that was what i had on hand. I chopped finally and basically wilted in a pan.  I used a mini muffin pan and was really pleased with how they turned out.

They are full of spinach but you can’t taste it at all.  A nice alternative without  banana like a lot of the recipes have.

Veggie Cheese Bites

These look like ugly lumps of veggies shoved in a muffin and I guess they are but they are delicious ugly lumps !

I am sure you could make them prettier with finer dicing or more even chopping but I wasn’t too concerned. I use whatever veggies need using when it comes to these. In this case I had half a bag of California mix : Cauliflower/broccoli/carrots so I used those.

I’ve also made these on the stove top and on a cookie sheet.  Always yummy !

Broccoli Bites

These are pretty close to the ones above , but don’t have flour and are more  of a veggie patty than muffin texture.

Again, use what you have with these . For more moist veggies, use more breadcrumbs.

Even adults  love these little guys !

Whats your favorite recipe to make for your toddler? Any Fails ?

 

Marvelous In Your Monday : Food Porn Edition

Not sure what to call this one.

I thought about “Meaty Monday” due to the graphic photos of meat , but I’m not sure that really draws in the readers. Carnivores don’t wear their badge proudly nowadays. Well, the bacon lovers do , but that’s about it.

I figure it’s still a pretty Marvelous In My Monday. It’s always pretty marvelous when your entire blog post consists of nothing but graphic food porn , right ?\

And on that note, here is a collection of pictures of things I’ve cooked and eaten since I last posted.

Chicken Parmesan and cappellini with garlic butter.

Deliciously fattening.

The usual .

I eat this or some variation of this every day . 2 large organic brown eggs, scrambled with baby  kale .

I ran out of kale on this day so I piled on the Parmesan and apparently stole part of my son’s orange.

On this day , I had made Mr D sweet potatoes and kale so just added a bit to my eggs.

The time i ate smoked ribs and crinkly fries with ketchup and called it dinner.

Vegetables.

All of them.

And that glorious day that DH smoked ribs and chicken and LOTS Of it .

So yummy.

Whats marvelous in your monday? Nothing ? Well just look at my food porn and get your marvelous on !