Week-long Frittata

Most Sundays, I make a breakfast frittata to last me through the week.

This helps to keep my brain from getting creative ideas for breakfast (always a bad thing) while sluggishly and brainlessly meandering into the kitchen at 5:30am each weekday morning.  When I am half-awake, it is not the best time to try to decide what to eat.  Usually, the final choice ends badly and I blow through entirely too many empty calories before I even start my day. 

Here is what I usually toss into my frittata - and don't laugh until you try it for yourself! 

On-the-fly recipe:
10 eggs - whole eggs (I know - probably bad, but it is what it is.)
1/4 cup 1% milk
Salt & Pepper
1 can Margaret Holmes Hoppin' John (don't you turn your nose up!)
Couple handfuls of crushed Cheez Its (yes, you read that right.)

Turn your stove dial to medium, Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Spray a large L-A-R-G-E, oven-safe skillet with Pam Spray - or if you have high maintenance Calphalon pans like I do, pour a glug of olive oil into the pan and wipe around the bottom and edges.  Curse your pan for the 1000th time for being high maintenance.

Once pan is warmed up, add in the slightly drained can of hoppin' john, add in the crushed cheez its.  toss around with a spatula (because that is my tool of choice - it is hereditary - I get it from my mama "Helgene.") 

Quickly whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Add in to the pan.  Spread everything around evenly and let the frittata cook for about 7 minutes - until the bottom is set. 

Carefully move your pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  When timer goes off, check the frittata by pressing on the center - if it bounces back, your frittata is done.  Pull out of the oven WITH OVEN MITTS.  Can you tell that I have burned myself over and over again by not using mitts? 

Let frittata cool completely, slice into triangles and toss into a tupperware container for next week's breakfasts. 

To reheat, place a slice onto a plate, warm at 50% power for 1 minute or so.  Enjoyed best with a side of homemade guacamole and a slice of wheat toast!  YUM!

More Birthday Buzz...

Two peas in a pod - Owen & Malachi ...  Best buddies since kindergarten.

And the aftermath...

Mama's Information Station ...

What with all of the flyers, notices and reminders that come home from school and in the mail, we needed a place to house them all - in plain sight and not in stacks.  Stacks never work for me because I forget to sort through them - and anything on the counter in my kitchen is fodder for the trash can!

And so began Jim's latest project ...  a bulletin board for the wifey.

First he had to build a frame from trim, mounted onto a bead board backing...

Next, he painted the trim black ...

After drying, I distressed the edges, but sadly didn't take pics of that part...  Then he added a clear gloss to the frame. 

The ceiling tiles were then covered with burlap ...  (this sounds simple and easy peasy, but boy it wasn't!  The ceiling tiles were 2 x 2 and my bulletin board was going to be much bigger - so Jim had to connect the brittle ceiling tiles together so that we could stretch the burlap across.  Not fun.)

But finally, it all came together and here it is!  Love, love! 

Update: Owen's Birthday Cake

While I know this cake looks luscious and dreamy ...  it wasn't quite so - at least in my opinion.  

Everyone else said it was great, but to me, this is actually two cakes in one - and I mean that on two completely different levels. 

Sure, I made two recipes of Barefoot Contessa's "Birthday Sheetcake" for this double-layer cakeroo - plopping one on top of the other, but this cake was more than that - it was a lemon pound cake with chocolate fudge icing. 

Let me explain ...

The cake is dense - and has a full lemon's worth of zest in each layer.  Each layer has 6 extra large eggs, sour cream, etc. etc.  Heavy. 

The icing is that of a thick, rich fudge.  Luxurious, deep and dark - and a bit sticky, like fudge.  Divine, right?  Not on a lemon pound cake, at least in my opinion. 

So, this is where I am - after having promised to give you the recipe - I am not so sure that I can recommend the cake - or making two entire recipes of it like I did. 


Barefood Contessa Birthday Sheet Cake

For the cake: 18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 lemon, zested
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the frosting: 24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until smooth. Finish mixing by hand to be sure the batter is well mixed.

Pour evenly into the pan ...

Smooth the top with a spatula ...

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan to room temperature.

For the frosting, place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chips are completely melted. Off the heat, add the corn syrup and vanilla and allow the chocolate mixture to cool to room temperature. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the chocolate mixture and softened butter on medium speed for a few minutes, until it's thickened.

Spread the frosting evenly on the cake. Have the birthday boy decorate the cake with chocolate candies.

Don't ask why this child o' mine put his favorite wrestler's initials on the cake ... just let it be...

Now on to clean up the mess...

Miles and Millie - Life is good...

Pretty darn good...

For those times when birthday cake is nowhere in sight ...

Growin' like weeds!

Miles turned 6 ...

Owen is turning 9 on Saturday ...

A Day in the Life of a Sugar Bear ...

How you doin'?

Grandma's pecans are delish!

Table for two...

Owen's binder is a fun place to hide ...

"I'm sexy and I know it ...."

I can fly, I can fly, I can fly!

"What?  You again?"  

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' ...

Usually Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays begin with slightly harried mornings, but today it was a Wednesday!  The day started out with aggravation over the new toaster... 

Sure, it's lovely to have a toaster after a week of making toast in the oven, but this fella here takes at least 4 minutes for the light setting (although it is quite lovely to watch the toast gently sink down automatically.)

After much prancing around the room like the nervous Nellie that I am, with only a few minutes to spare before throwing kids into the car to rush off to school, I rounded out the breakfast rush by dropping a container of peas on the floor ...

All of which quickly rolled under the frig!  Does this look anything like your day? 

Double fisted just doesn't cover it!

This is a typical day at my desk - beverages anyone?

Resolutions: 2012 - The List

1.  Plan nothing - happily do lots
This simply means that I will commit to very few events and say no a bit more often.  This will free up memory space in my brain, create lots of free space on my calendar and in general make time for me and my family of four to do whatever we feel is fun in the moment. 

2.  Answer of the year, "Let me think about it and get back to you..." 
As a former "yes!" girl, this in itself is a huge leap of ... FREEDOM!  Normally, I say "yes!" to most things, thinking I can pull it all off.  In 2011, I realized that most times I ended up with a lot of extra anxiety from all of the things I agreed to do, places I said I could be.  Most times, I would let friends and family down - and the inevidable guilt would ensue.  Now, I will say "Let me think about it..."  

3.  Facebook less.
For me, I often get sucked in and realize I have wasted a good chunk of time and then have to hurry, hurry to make up for the time I've spent.

4.  Meat + 2 Sides = Meal
That's it.  Recipe Queen here has noticed that her children eat much better when we grill a meat, and serve it up with two simple sides - rice, mashed potatos, beans, crusty bread with olive oil, etc.  All of these recipes for casseroles cloud my brain, add too much to my budget and take too much time.  When a haggard mom sits across from her two boys and they are not eating - after the time/money spent - this makes for one frustrated mama.   

5.  Two magazine limit
Everday with Rachael Ray and Health magazine - that's it.  Nothing else.

5. Purge
Gone are my collection of Country Living, Martha Stewart Living, Taste of Home.  My stacks of saved magazines became a huge stresser in 2011.  Suddenly, my hobby of casually flipping through a magazine became a To-Do Item at the end of my very long list.  I already decided to cut down my subscriptions to just two magazines, but the stress still seemed to linger.  It was then that I took my entire collection of favorite past magazines and purged them all.  Gone.  Just.  Like.  That.  I am in heaven... try it for youself!  Instant gratification!

6. Less Details
I love my peeps dearly, but sometimes saying too much can give a person permission to think they can offer up unsolicited advice to try to "help."  Less is more when it comes to friendship, I think.  At least for me.  Maybe it is my excitable personality - perhaps this can be misconstrued for lack of brain cells.   I haven't quite come to a final conclusion, however, my brain is fully intact and quite clever, in fact.  I don't need to be fixed, but thank you.  I am happy as I am.   

That's it.  This is the list - feel free to borrow a few items here if it will help to organize your mind and life!

Another Packer Win ... thanks to the Holey Sock!

That's right folks - it's all in the sock! I wear them for every single game - and look at that record!  (And no - I won't be getting new ones - these have seen me through the Brett Favre years, 2 pregnancies - and the Super Bowl - they are here to stay!) 

GO PACK GO!