Oh so Yummy Oatmeal Pancakes

I saw a delish looking recipe for Oatmeal pancakes a while ago somewhere in the blogsphere. The dunce i am didn't bookmark it or write down the site. I vaguely remembered the recipe so I swagbucked for it and this is the one that I found that looked right. These are so good!!! All the little b's ate at least 4 pancakes each and daddy liked them too. They are scrumptious with warm maple syrup or just alone. I'm thinking of adding a few raisins to make smileys the next time I make these since they remind me a little of oatmeal cookies in flavor.

Oh so Yummy Oatmeal Pancakes

1 1/2 C rolled or quick oats

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour ( regular works fine)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 C buttermilk or sour milk(1 1/2 TBSP lemon juice plus milk to make 1 1/2 c)

1 c milk

1/4 c applesauce

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c sugar

In blender or food processor blend rolled oats until they resemble flour. (in my blender I have to do 2 batches, in my food processor not) combine with the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

combine in a small bowl. mix well and add to the dry ingredients. mix until just combined. cook on a greased/buttered griddle until the edges begin to look done and bubbles form across the top. flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.

These are so yummy!!! The only thing I have noticed is I think there's a little much sugar in them as they go from golden to dark brown to burnt quickly. I'm gonna try reducing the sugar to 1/4 C. I don't think flavor will loose anything but I hope it will help with the color issue. I hope you guys enjoy these as much as we do.

Weekly Menu 8/22

All good things must come to an end. Summer as we know it in our house is coming to an end this week. Monday is DH's last day of vacation and the school year starts with in-service days Tuesday.

Our menu plan for the week is as follows:

Monday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with sliced peaches

Lunch: Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, pears and raisins

Dinner: Meatloaf Packets (recipe at the end of the post) and broccoli

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Peach Muffins

Lunch: Noodle soup and peanut butter pinwheels, peaches

Dinner: Pork Chop Hamburger helper and broccoli

Wednesday, Pasta Day:

Breakfast: English Muffins and fruit

Lunch: Quesadillas and mixed fruit

Dinner: Butternut Squash Ravioli

Fishy Thursday:

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, toast w/ jam

Lunch: Bologna or Salami Sandwiches

Dinner: Salmon Burgers (patties to the rest of the world), rice, sauteed summer squash and zucchini

Meatless Friday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and fruit

Lunch: English Muffin Pizzas, veggie sticks

Dinner:Lentil & Rice Burritos

Saturday:

Breakfast: Pancakes or Waffles (Triple batch for the freezer and quick breakfasts another day)
Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Hot Dogs, Mac or potato salad, fruit or veggie stix

Crock Pot Sunday:

Breakfast: Bacon, Eggs & toast

Lunch: Stuffed Peppers (main meal)

Dinner: noodle soup, quesadillas, leftovers

Meatloaf Packets

1 1/2 lb ground beef (80%)

1 Package onion soup mix

1 egg

3/4 C milk

1/2 C bread crumbs

1 lb potatoes skin on, cut into wedges

3 C carrot sticks

1. Heat gas or charcoal grill. Cut 6 (18x10-inch) sheets of heavy-duty foil; spray with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix beef, dry soup mix, egg, milk and bread crumbs. Shape into 6 loaves, 4x2 1/2x1 inch. Place 1 loaf on each foil sheet. Microwave potatoes for 4 -6 min. Place about 1/2 cup potatoes and 1/2 cup carrots around each loaf.

2. Bring up 2 sides of foil so edges meet. Seal edges, making tight 1/2-inch fold; fold again, allowing space for heat circulation and expansion. Fold other sides to seal.

3. Place packets on grill. Cover grill; cook over medium heat 25 to 30 minutes, rotating packets 1/2 turn after 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender and meat thermometer inserted in center of loaves reads 160ºF. To serve, cut large X across top of each packet; carefully fold back foil to allow steam to escape. Garnish with parsley.

I may just try to bake these in the oven depending on the weather. i will probably start cooking them at 350 degrees for a half hour. I will try to remember to include the oven baking instructions if that is what i do.

Menu Plan 8-15 to 8-21

It’s Back to School time again, and time for me to get back into my routines. The biggest one I have missed is my Menu Planning. I’m tired of pulling something frozen out of the freezer and thawing it 30 minutes before I want to eat. I have drawn up a monthly game plan and have decided to add themed days. ..Crock Pot Sunday, Meatless Friday (because I can’t do it on Monday like the rest of the world lest I make something that would trigger DH’s stomach issues), Pasta Wednesday, Pizza Night, and Fish Thursday. I also would like to send the kids off to school with a warm breakfast daily, so will be researching some recipes for that to keep some variety. And I’m sorely in need of lunch inspiration. We’ll see what I can come up with for that. Here’s what I‘ve Planned for this week.

Monday:

Dinner: Spaghetti, Italian Sausage, and Salad

Tuesday:

Lunch: English Muffin Pizzas, fruit

Dinner: Mediterranean Quinoa Skillet derived from this recipe from the $5 Dollar Dinner Mom ( for my meatless meal of the week)

Wednesday:

Lunch: Peanut butter and Jelly, fruit or veggie sticks

Dinner: Steak with all the trimmings…baked potatoes, Salad,

Thursday:

Lunch :Quesidillas, veggies

Dinner:

Friday:

Lunch:Salami Sandwiches, fruit or veggie stix

Dinner: Whatever my mom makes…we’ll be going down home for the weekend.

Saturday:

Lunch: Bug’s Birthday Party.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches, coleslaw, rolls

Hot Dogs, Buns

Broccoli Salad

Jello Salad

Chips and pretzels

Grandma Eva’s Baked Beans

Fruit

Cake & Ice Cream

Dinner: Green beans & Potatoes & Lunch leftovers

Next week I’ll try to plan a Breakfast schedule to and practice that with dh being off to school again.

Little Victories

This morning, Bean and I made a sock puppet with yarn hair while the3 Boy was at school. It was a nice little project. I enjoyed it, but she was only mildly interested in it since she wasn't allowed to use the sharpies to color on it. The Boy came home and I started to make lunch. After lunch, I came into the living room to put in a video for the big kids to watch while I rocked Bean to sleep. I noticed my sock puppet on the floor minus his yarn hair. I was a little disappointed and asked who had pulled his hair out. Laila and Bean both said they didn't. The Boy was still finishing up his lunch in the other room. I picked up the sock puppet and hair off the floor and put it up to mend him later and went up to rock Beanie to sleep. After getting her to sleep, I came down and sat down with the kids. They asked to finish the video, which I let them. Then the Boy came to me with tears and blubbered "Mommy, I pulled the hair off your sock puppet." I know he was afraid of his consequence by his reluctance to tell me, and his tears. I explained that I was disappointed that he ruined my toy, but I was so happy that he told the truth. I am so proud of him for telling me the truth all on his own. He is the first child to lie to get out of trouble. Even when I see him hit or take a toy from his sisters, he will say he didn't thinking it will get him out of trouble. I feel like we've gained such a huge victory with him over this. I just hope that he continues to tell the truth.

I also tried a few new recipes this past week. Monday night I made "Mom's Best Meatloaf" from
Allrecipes.com . It was absolutely horrible. DH and the little B's were so disappointed and grumpy about a bad meal. Last night though I had a "victory" in that I made this crock pot chicken recipe. It was delicious! It was pretty easy too...other than the skinning the chicken part. Let me just say, skinned chickens look really, really sad. I'm sure this recipe would also translate to a regular roast chicken recipe too. Then you could leave the chicken on and slip the rosemary and lemons under the skin. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

The Thing That Did Go Right This Week

This week seemed to have lots of "Those Days". You know the ones I mean. The ones that make a mom wonder why she's even bothered getting out of bed at all. My friend Steph blogged about her battles with The Grump while her Hubby was in Mexico on a Missions trip. I read her post and could totally relate. My week wasn't all that bad, but Wednesday and Thursday I was doing hand to hand combat with The Grump. Mr. Man has been diligently working on the roof all week, plus the 2 days he took off that project to go to school for meetings. Bean is quite fond of asking "Where Daddy?" and by Thursday she was answering herself "On da roof!" However she was quite unhappy about the fact that Daddy was home, but unable to be with her.

Wednesday I answered the queries of "What's for dinner?" with pork chops, only to have the Boy go into a full fledged meltdown. He was super tired and he wanted Special Pasta for dinner. Since I was already at the grocery store to get pork chops, I grabbed a can of olives so that I could change my mind and make special pasta ;-). After considering how long it takes to get the grill up and running along with Daddy's need to be back on the roof working after a break to help me take the kids to the spray park, I decided Special Pasta was the way to go. After I got dinner all together I was met by the compliment from Mr. Man, that the pasta was the best he's ever eaten. He couldn't have made it better (it's his signature dish).

Special Pasta (Greek Pasta)

1 1/2 pound penne pasta (or similar shape)
1 large can of black olives sliced
4-7 Peppercinis (to taste. you control the heat here)
4 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 to 3/4 C olive oil (enough to coat the pan 1/4" thick)
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
1 roasted red pepper chopped (optional)

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook pasta as directed on the package.
2. Chop peppercincs, garlic, and olives (and roasted pepper if using). Pour olive oil in a saute pan and add everything but Feta cheese. Saute while the pasta is cooking.
3. Drain pasta. Put it in the serving bowl, top with sauce and feta cheese. Toss to combine and enjoy.

We all love this recipe. The kids, especially the Boy, and even Bug who is a picky eater. It was inspired by Mr. Man's desire to re-create some of the dishes he ate on a trip to Italy & Greece.

Thursday, I did battle with The Grump again, but I was more successful and won. Bug on the other hand did not...win her battle with the grump. But she's only 5 and was extremely tired. Miraculously, I stayed calm and did not lose my patience as I often do when she is feeling grumpy. She had several ffull fledged meltdowns during the day and each time I was able to remain calm and not respond in like. By the time evening came, I earned an evening off after such a long week and it was greatly appreciated.

Independence

It's been a busy week here. Monday we started re-shingling the roof on our house. My dad and mom were over. Dad to help Hubby, and Mom to help me :-D Progress was good for the first day, then Tuesday we (okay Dad and Hubby) ran into some trouble. Our roof had 4 layers of asphalt shingles, PLUS the cedar shakes from the last time it had been done. It's interesting what you find in 100+ yr old houses, isn't it. Wednesday had the previous day's section shingled. Now we're waiting to do the leaky part until Dad gets back from his missions trip to Mexico.


The boy went home with Grammy & Papa Wednesday to stay for a few nights. It's his first time away from home with out any of his sisters. I don't think he misses us too much from what Grammy says. I'm missing him a lot and so is everyone else. We're looking forward to his return tomorrow. Bean talked to him on the phone and said "I miss You Boy." I know he's having a blast on the farm. He's helping Papa build a chicken coop, and playing with Harrison the rooster (who is more like a pet dog than a farm animal). I can't wait for Auntie Kristin to post pictures. While he's gone, I've been busy getting ready for Bean's birthday. She is 2 today. We're having the family party tomorrow. Boy have I been cooking like crazy today. I even put the Bear and Bug to work while Bean was napping. I also let all the girls help me make rolls. Our menu for the party is:

Hot dogs and Hamburgers with Homemade Buns
Broccoli Salad(my mom & gram's recipe)
Grandma Eva's Baked Beans (Hubby's Gram)
Jello Salad (my gram's recipe)
Veggie Tray
Cake & Ice Cream

Everything is prepped except the veggie tray and the cake. I still need to cook that. I take the easy way out though with decorating. I bought a Blue's Clues cake topper set from the grocery store. Nice professional toppers for much less than the store bought cake. I love looking at my menu and seeing the "scrapbook" of recipes and our family's special dishes in it. It's like we have all of the members with us even though some of them have passed. Usually my parties are a group effort. This time I'm proud to say I've done almost all of it by myself. Grandma Wilda is bringing the Jello Salad, and that is the only dish I did not prepare. I'm quite proud of myself.

Hamburger and Hot dog Buns

1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Cup melted butter or oil
4 1/2 Cups flour ( I use a blend of all purpose and whole wheat)
2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 envelope)
2 TBSP Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt

1. In Kitchen-Aid mixer combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix to combine. While mixer is going, add liquid ingredients. Knead for 8-10 minutes.



2. Grease dough and let rest for 30 minutes.



3. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, flatten and place on a greased baking sheet. FOR HOT DOGS: divide dough into 16 pieces and shape into hot dog shaped rolls. Start with a hot dog size and it will raise to the perfect size for the hot dog.



Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.