I had a little fun with my egg poacher molds recently. The hubby sat down to this Sunday breakfast a few weeks ago.

Today was supposed to be a Pancake Saturday. But we forgot to pick up our favorite pancake mix, and despite staring at the shelves in our grocery store for a rather long time, we couldn’t bring ourselves to pick out a different mix. So we made our way to the frozen aisle and picked out some waffles. We chose a box of Aunt Jemima Homestyle and didn’t regret our decision. We had them with thick cut bacon and it was tasty.

Sometimes the simplest meals are extra special.

Chicken and Dumplings by The Crock Pot Girls

I haven’t made Chicken and Dumplings in ages. This recipe used a crock pot which meant I didn’t spend any time slaving over the stove and this gave me time to enjoy a movie with my sweet husband (Real Steal).

Tasty Rating:

It was pretty good. I like this type of meal much more than my hubby but even he thought it was ok. I felt like the dumplings weren’t  quite done enough – this recipe had me cutting up biscuits and dropping them in the crock pot for the last hour but I think it needed more time to cook – they were a little squishy.

Husband Clean Up Rating:

According to my hubby, it would have been fine if not for the fact that I overboiled the crockpot. He’s still cleaning that up.

Overall:

I’d make it again but I’d find a different way to do the dumplings.

Jasmine had a hard time choosing between Chicken and Biscuits…

Recipe found on The Real Mom Kitchen Blog

These made our kitchen smell amazing – very fallish! I decided to go for the oversize, fresh from the local coffee shop size, i.e. huge! This means that as pretty as they look, and as good as the one I had tasted, I will not be eating another one any time soon not that I’m working on a healthier lifestyle. Unless I split one in half, or maybe even in fourths. Ok, that might work. And I’ll give a bunch away to friends and co-workers. Either way, then I won’t eat them all!

I had a really tasty meal planned, but I just wasn’t up to cooking. And the husband wasn’t feeling up to cleaning up after me. So we had the “emergency pizza”. The one that’s been in the fridge for a while “for some night”. It was tasty. Clean up was minimal. Life is good.

Tasty Rating:
Very good but might have been better if I had marinated the chicken in the Buffalo Wing Sauce instead of tossing the whole thing with the sauce. Possibly adding some blue cheese crumbles might have livened things up as well.

Husband Clean Up Rating:
All this mess for chicken and mac?

Overall:
I’d make it again, but try the modifications listed above.

Buffalo Chicken Mac Recipe from Kraft Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (12.6 oz.) KRAFT HOMESTYLE Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Classic Cheddar Cheese Sauce
• 1-1/2 cups  chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce for Buffalo wings (I used 2 Tbsp and found it to be about right)
• 1/2 cup  KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Tbsp. chopped green onions (I used chopped white onions since I didn’t have green onions on hand)

Directions

1. HEAT oven to 425ºF.
2. PREPARE Dinner in large saucepan as directed on package except do not top with Bread Crumb Topping.
3. TOSS chicken with pepper sauce. Stir into Dinner; spoon into 1-1/2-qt. casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and crumb topping.
4. BAKE 5 to 10 min. until cheese is melted. Top with onions.

Turkey Lasagna recipe by Ina Garten

Bread Pudding recipe by Ina Garten (Note: I used individually wrapped Wild Blueberry muffins instead of the Panettone that this recipe recommends and I didn’t add the sliced almonds) topped with  Vanilla Cream Sauce from Southern Living Magazine (Note: I added a tablespoon or so of Brandy to give it a little something extra!).

The Lasagna was very tasty (the husband loved it!) and I really liked the Bread Pudding despite the fact that I don’t eat it very often and hardly ever order it at restaurants. I decided to make this to use up the Otis Spunkmeyer individually wrapped Wild Blueberry muffin collection that was rapidly growing in our fridge. I get one every time I take a breakfast bag from the hotel where I stay during the week, and rarely eat them. It was a great way to use them up, however, I must remember to NOT make dessert after making lasagna. I’m currently falling asleep on the couch because it was simply too…much…food.

Tasty Rating:
Yummy!

Husband Clean Up Rating:
The mess that kept on coming. First it was the dessert dishes, then the lasagna dishes, and finally the cream sauce dishes. Poor husband didn’t know what hit him this evening with the kitchen.

Overall:
I’d make it again but not for the same meal.

Tasty Rating: Very good!

Husband Clean Up Rating: Super Messy

Overall: I’d make it again

Recipes

Honey-Mustard Pork Roast with Bacon

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs

Both are by Giada De Laurentiis

Today’s breakfast featured French Toast. This is my favorite of the three rotating menus I use for breakfast (French Toast, Pancakes, and Crepes).

I use an Alton Brown recipe for my French Toast. You can check it out here. I double the recipe and use one large loaf of French Bread (freshly baked yesterday!). I make two modifications: instead of regular Half and Half, I use Fat Free, which sounds like I’m improving the healthiness of the recipe, right? Well, I quickly cancel that out by using one cup of Heavy Whipping Cream. Because it’s delicious. It’s an awesome, simple way, to make French Toast.

I make the husband one of three meals every Saturday for Breakfast: Crepes, French Toast, or Pancakes.

Yesterday, was a Crepe day.

I previously used this Paula Deen recipe for Crepes. It’s really good and was my stand by recipe for years, but then I discovered this Giada recipe. The husband thinks the Giada recipe is much less greasy and I love that it uses a blender to mix the ingredients.

I fill the husband’s crepes with some sort of sugar free jam – this time it was Strawberry. Mine, on the other hand, are much tastier, because they are filled with Nutella. I first had Nutella years ago on a trip to Italy. There were little packets at the breakfast buffet table (I might have taken a few in my purse, but I’ll never tell!). I was thrilled when it became readily available here in the States.

My secret ingredient for Giada’s crepe recipe is to add 1 tablespoon of Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar. This is a key ingredient for most Czech dessert recipes and I use it in these crepes for the required sugar and instead of adding vanilla extract.

The husband won’t say this because I know he likes all of my breakfast creations, but crepes are his favorite. His face lights up when from the very first bite to the last, and he smiles his “I love crepes” smile and in moments like that I feel like the best wife ever.