A Casserole Fit for Kings, or Hungry Kids

A better title for this post would be "What to Do When Junk-food Friday Rolls Around, But You're In No Mood to Strap 3 Kids Into the Car to Go Get Food." This is one of the recipes I'd been meaning to try, but never got around to. It's amazing how appealing it was once I realized I had all of the ingredients and could get it on the table relatively quick. 

Chicken and Cheese Anyone?

There's really not much to say about this one other than it's the definition of comfort food. Think of a hot chicken, or ham, and cheese sandwich. Pair it with some chips, or a salad if you want to be healthy, and you have a complete meal. We enjoyed it for dinner and found out that it makes a really tasty lunch the next day. You don't even have to reheat it if you don't want to. How awesome is that!

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Chicken and Cheese Casserole

Ingredients

1 loaf sourdough bread, cut into 1" cubes (I used stale oat bread & just ripped it into chunks)

1 pound deli meat of your choice, sliced in strips* 

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

4 eggs

2-1/2 cups milk

2 teaspoons salt 

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350deg F (180deg C). Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Toss the bread, meat, and cheese in a large bowl and then place in the prepared baking dish.

In the large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Whisk thoroughly and then pour onto the bread mix. 

Bake the casserole for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Slice and serve with your favorite sandwich condiments.

*If you want to make a vegetarian casserole then just replace the meat with a mix of your favorite veggies. I'd say peppers and spinach would play well in this case, but go for whatever you like.

N.B. - You can prepare the casserole the night before and let it sit in the fridge so the custard can soak into the bread. Makes for an easy Sunday morning breakfast. 

Necessity and Invention, or Something Like That

Alright, here's my disclaimer. This is what happens when Pancake Friday (a tradition Nana started with the kids when we first got to Australia) meets the end-of-the-month-cupboard. (For those that don't know/remember, I go grocery shopping once a month so by the end of the month the pickings can get pretty lean.) In any case, the kids were all excited for some fluffy golden pancakes like Nana always makes, but then I realized we had no eggs and no milk. So what to do? Risk disappointment by offering them oatmeal or toast? If you could see their giddy little faces you would know this was not an option. So I did what I do best and scoured the Internet to find some kind of happy medium. After some searching and combining I came up with orange flax seed pancakes.

The Makings of a Winner

The Final Product

 The final verdict was a thumbs up from everyone. The kids enjoyed theirs with syrup while I had peanut butter and syrup on mine *yum* And Nana went a step further and had hers with whipped cream. Brilliant! I'd say this one is a keeper and I'll be adding it to the Pancake Friday rotation :)

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Egg-less, Milk-less Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sugar (I used raw sugar, but you can use whatever you have on hand)

1/4 cup ground flax seed (you could eliminate this if you want, but it gives a nutritional boost)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup water, or slightly more to get desired consistency

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

butter, oil, or non-stick spray for cooking

syrup of choice for serving

Directions

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Add the orange juice and stir. Add enough water and stir to create a crepe-like batter.

Heat a skillet on medium heat and add a teaspoon of oil. Once the oil is heated, add a 1/4 cup of batter to the skillet. When the pancake starts to bubble on the top and the edges start to crisp up, flip over. 

Give the pancake about another minute on this side and then remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter until you're done.

Serve the pancakes with a syrup of your liking or a dusting of powdered sugar. Enjoy!

N.B. - To make my apricot syrup I used about a quarter cup of apricot jam and thinned it out with hot water to syrup consistency. Really simple and quick, but very tasty.