Huevo in my Heart

We've eaten this for breakfast twice this week and we've all really enjoyed it.
  It's kind of like a Toad in the Hole, but with a fun twist.

I had my houseworker make these corn tortillas earlier in the week.  Then I took two corn tortillas and cut a heart shape out of the middle with a cookie cutter.  I then put them in a greased frying pan & let the tortillas and the hearts brown on both sides.  Then I took the hearts off and set them to the side.  I layered the tortillas on top of each other & put a little bit of butter inside the hole.  Then, I put an egg in the middle of the hole.  Fry on both sides until the egg is cooked .  Put the Huevo in my Heart on a plate, put your cut out shapes on the edge & serve with salsa.

This recipe came from The Pioneer Woman.

Pineapple Meatballs

This is one of my favorite dishes.  It is sooooo yummy!  We start this recipe off by making meatballs.  You can find our meatball recipe here.  

For the Pineapple sauce you need:

1 Cup brown sugar

3Tablespoons corn starch

1 Can of pineapple chunks

Juice from a can of pineapple chunks

1/4 Cup of vinegar

1 1/2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

1 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

Combine the brown sugar and cornstarch in a pan.  Add the pineapple juice and blend until smooth.  Add vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.  Simmer uncovered on medium low heat until thickened (less than 10 minutes).  Pour the sauce over the cooked meatballs and add the pineapple chunks.

Pizza Crust - Our favorite kind

This is the second pizza crust that I've posted on this blog, but this one is our new favorite pizza crust!  It is easy and delicious.  I found this recipe in The Pioneer Woman's cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon yeast

4 1/2 Cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Cups warm water

Pour the warm water into a bowl.  Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water.  In another bowl, combine the flour and salt.  With an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle in the olive oil just until it is incorporated.  Gently stir the yeast/water mixture.  Drizzle the yeast mixture and mix until the dough forms a ball.  You can mix this by hand if you don't have a mixer.  You may need to add a little more flour just until the dough isn't extremely sticky.  Drizzle a little oil into a clean bowl.  Put the dough in the bowl and then flip it over so the dough is is coated in the oil.  Cover the bowl and let it set in a warm place for 2 hours.  I let mine sit inside my stove (with the stove turned off).  Or, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap (before it rises) and let it sit in the fridge for up to 2 days.  

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Divide the dough in half.  Grease a pizza pan or cookie sheet.  Using your hands, stretch the dough to the desired shape.  Lay the desired toppings over the dough and bake the pizza for 10 minutes, until golden brown.  

If you only use one half of the dough, you can wrap the other half of the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it up to 3 days before use or you can freeze it for up to 6 months.

Valentines Day Pizza

Just to round out our Valentines Day meals, we had heart shaped pizza for dinner.  I made it this afternoon so our kids and their babysitter could enjoy it while my Husband and I went out on a Valentines Day Date!

You can find this pizza crust recipe here.  The pizza sauce recipe is here.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie

This was a special Valentines Day Snack for us.  We ration our chocolate chips, so this was a fun treat!

1 container of plain yogurt (I used Mama's Yogurt)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup of milk

2 Cups of frozen strawberries *

1/3 Cup of Honey (more or less depending on how sweet you like it)

1/3 Cup of Chocolate Syrup.  I use this recipe.

1 Cup of Chocolate Chips.  

*I buy fresh strawberries in bulk & then clean them, cut the stem off and put them in the freezer whole.  They work really well for smoothies!

Put everything, but the chocolate chips in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add 3/4 Cup of the chocolate chips and blend again until the chocolate chips are in small pieces.  Pour the smoothie into cups and then sprinkle the top with the leftover chocolate chips.  Garnish with a fresh strawberry.

Pancakes - Valentines Day Style

My kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pancakes.  So, I figured I'd borrow an idea from my Pioneer Woman cookbook and make the kids Red Velvet Pancakes for breakfast.  They did not disappoint!!

Pancake Ingredients:

3 Cups + 2 Tablespoons flour

3 Tablespoons baking powder (only use 1 1/2 Tablespoons for High Altitude)

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups milk

1 Cup Buttermilk (1 Cup of milk and 1 Tablespoon Vinegar)

2 large eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons white vinegar

4 Tablespoons melted butter

Red Food Coloring

Icing Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (sifted)

Dash of salt

4 Tablespoons melted butter

1/4 Cup buttermilk (1/4 Cup milk and 1 teaspoon vinegar)

1/4 Cup milk

2 Tablespoons pancake syrup

Heat your skillet and grease it. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cocoa powder.  Whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl, mix the milk, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and vinegar.  Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture.  Whisk gently until the batter just comes together.  Add the melted butter until it's all combined.  Add the food coloring and whisk it into the batter.  The more food coloring you add, the deeper red your batter will be.  Drop the pancake onto the skillet with a 1/4 Cup measure.  Cook on both sides until they are done.  

For the icing, combine the powdered sugar, salt and melted butter in a bowl.  Add the buttermilk milk and pancake syrup.  Whisk the mixture until it is nice and smooth.  

Stack the pancakes on a plate and drizzle on the delicious icing!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

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I love Holiday's & I've found it takes some effort to make a Holiday feel like a Holiday when you live overseas.  I try hard to make Holiday's special occasions for our family.  I also like to keep it fairly simple because let's face it, I have 4 small kids and it takes a lot of energy just to get breakfast on the table.    I spent about 30 minutes last night getting prepared for today.  I started off by setting the kitchen table up with Valentines Day books that the kids found when they

first woke up this morning (I get these books out every year on V-day and then I put them away for the rest of the year.  That way they are "like new" to the kids on Valentines day.  I do the same with the Kids Easter basket books and toys). 

I made some heart shaped ice cubes that I added red food coloring to.  The kids LOVED their heart ice cubes in their juice this morning.  I got this ice cube mold from IKEA.

I also made heart shaped Valentines Day Cards for each of the kids.  I sat them at the top of their plate and they thought it was neat to have their own individual Valentine Day card from Mom and Dad.  After that, I went ahead and mixed all the dry ingredients for the pancakes and icing (just to save time in the morning) and I covered it and went to bed.  

The kids helped me get the table set up and helped me make the pancakes this morning.

It took a little preparation, but it was worth it to make a special Valentines morning for our kiddos.

Meatballs

We really enjoy meatballs around our house.  There are a lot of things you can do with meatballs . . . eat them plain, add all kinds of different sauces on top for different flavors, eat them with jam, etc.  The recipe I use came from my Betty Crocker Cookbook:

1/2 kilo ground beef

1/2 Cup plain bread crumbs

1/4 Cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 onion chopped finely (1/4 Cup)

1 large egg

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.  I use my hands to get it mixed thoroughly.  Shape into meatballs.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole

We are back from the States and our kitchen is back in service.  It feels nice to come back, unpack all the dishes, get them all washed, clean all the cabinets and get off to a new start!  When we arrived, it took a while for us to get the kitchen back in order, so we did some easy breakfasts.  Here's one of our go-to "easy" breakfasts . . . Toad in the Hole.

Ingredients:

Sliced Bread

1 egg

1 teaspoon butter

salt and pepper

I used the sliced bread that you can get at most of the grocery stores in Addis. I cut a circle hole in the middle of the bread.  In a frying pan, melt the butter.  Place your bread in the butter and then break an egg into the hole in your bread.  Let the egg cook until it is firm on the bottom side and then turn the bread over so the egg will be fully cooked on both sides.  Salt and Pepper to taste.