Tormented Kitchen

This isn't really a recipe, it's more of a cute kid thing. Eric has decided he likes toast a lot, mostly because he can make it with limited adult help. Adult instructions are in parenthesis. Ingredients: 2 slices of bread, preferably white (Eric's favorite) real butter strawberry jam Method: (Take bread out of package and hand to Eric. Eric will adjust the toaster settings himself and place bread into the slots.) Toast bread in toaster until desired toastiness. (Remove hot toast from toaster and place on a plate. Hold so Eric can spread toppings easily.) Spread about 1 tablespoon of butter on each slice of toast. Spread about 1 tablespoon of jam on each slice. (Put away butter and jam.) Assemble into a sandwich or eat separately and enjoy!

Food. Ah, food. I've had a weird relationship with you lately. Some days nothing sounds good, but I know we all need to eat. I'm tired of eggs. We've had way too much food with eggs. Breakfast burritos, egg salad sandwiches, fried egg sandwiches, omelets, quiches, frittata. BLEH. Today I'm sharing my recipe for quesadillas. I got creative with the sauce and placed layered, thin slices of avocado on top. Eric had fun dabbing the sauce on top of his wedges. It was cute when he'd take a bite and go "Spicy!" and then dig in. Eric actually likes spicy food! Ingredients: flour tortillas, 2 per person (1 for a kiddo) shredded cheese, either cheddar or a Mexican blend sour cream salsa avocado oil other optional items: leftover shredded or chopped meat, onion, cilantro, refried beans Method: 1. Heat a skillet over high heat. Add about 1 tsp of oil to the pan. When hot, place one tortilla in the pan. Immediately top with shredded cheese and other optional ingredien

Waffles. I love them. I love anything that is soaked in maple syrup. I've been using this recipe for years to rave reviews. A note to ensure puffiness: Make sure your baking powder is fresh and that you beat the wet ingredients separately before adding to the dry ingredients. This keeps them from going flat. Ingredients:   2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup milk 1 cup water 3 Tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 Tablespoon oil Pinch salt Nonstick cooking spray Method: 1. Preheat waffle iron. 2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Blend water, milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Pour wet ingredients into dry and blend until lumpy. Add oil and mix until mostly smooth. 3. Spray iron with nonstick spray and use about ½ cup of batter per waffle. The exact amount will vary depending on the depth of the waffle wells. 4. Cook about 4 minutes, but this can also vary depending on your iron. I usually go by smell. When they start to s

I know there are plenty of Olive Garden fans out there, my dad being one of them. I have tried and tweaked and come up with my own clone version of O.G.'s Zuppa Toscana. It's good. And not just because I said so. Many other people have agreed. A lllooooonnnnggg time ago, I took a pot to a Mary Kay dinner and everyone loved it. Yes, I was a Mary Kay lady. But that is its own story so back to the soup. The highlight of my soup is using homemade sausage. Justin's family has a sausage recipe and I've had the honor of making it. It is a traditional Italian sausage in the Northern Italian style i.e. no fennel. I've seen similar recipes listed on recipe sites, but they are usually considered French. I doubt anyone is ambitious enough to want to make homemade sausage, so I will not bother posting it. I will say making it is very labor-intensive. It took most of a day to grind, mix, and stuff the casings, then another couple days in the fridge for the sausages to dry cur

Berry Peach Smoothie I was inspired and threw some stuff in the blender to make a breakfast smoothie. Yum! I will need to make this again. Now if I can just get the kiddo to hold still and try it. Ingredients: 1/3 to 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 1 banana 1 - 6 oz container light peach yogurt 1 - 4 oz. can peaches in light syrup 3 c. ice 1 c. milk (or more to desired consistency) optional - 1 package of strawberry smoothie mix (it makes it extra sweet and frothy) Method: 1. Put ice in blender, then berries, other fruit, yogurt, and milk. 2. Blend until smooth. 3. Enjoy! This made enough for 2 adults and 1 kiddo (roughly 30 oz.)