Breakfast in Bed – Kid Friendly Version

April 30, 2015May 19, 20152 Comments

Breakfast in bed has long been a Mother’s Day tradition across the country. This post is not meant for Mom’s, but for those who care about them. So, I will be addressing both kid’s and their adult helpers. This is my Kid Friendly version of breakfast in bed. Although mom’s love to be pampered, it’s not always a good idea for a young child to be handling mom’s good china and crystal. So, I thought it would be fun to give kids some ideas on how they can prepare some simple crafts and recipes (with adult supervision) to surprise Mom. And even if they don’t have the adult supervision needed for cooking on the stove or using a knife to cut things, I will mention some easy substitutions!

So, if you are a mom… now is the time you turn the computer over to your children or significant other or whomever may be a trusted adult in your child’s life…

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OK kids, Mom’s love feeling special and knowing that you love them. You don’t need to crack open your piggy bank to do this. With some easy supplies and ingredients you can probably find around your house, you can bring Mom a beautiful breakfast in bed tray with a delicious and nutritious breakfast!

Start with a tray. I got this one around Christmas time for a dollar at a local store. If you look around you might have a hard plastic tray you can use too. It may have Easter bunnies on it or even sun flowers.

Now find a dish towel or a tea towel. This one is plain white, just use whatever color your mom likes.

Fold the towel nicely to cover the tray, but not over hang.

Use a disposable coffee cup for this project. If you don’t have a plain white one available, you can color a piece of computer paper or construction paper, cut it to the size of your mom’s travel mug, color it with pictures or just a simple “I love Mommy” and tape it to the mug.

Then your cup will be ready to set on the tray with coffee or tea… or whatever your mom likes to drink in the morning.

Ask an adult to help you get some of your mom’s favorite fruit and make her a little fruit salad in a paper or plastic cup. Here there are some sliced mango pieces and cut up strawberries. You could use grapes, blueberries and raspberries if you can’t use a knife. Just be sure to rinse them and dry them gently first.

Get a pretty napkin and plastic fork and knife or in this case a wooden set.

Make a pretty flower like this one. This one is a pom-pom flower (I will be posting the tutorial soon, so look for it). And place it in a bud vase. You could also make a tissue paper flower or get creative and make one from pipe cleaners or popsicle sticks or whatever you have in your craft supplies.

This is an egg with a hat… You can click on this link to find my Eggs with Hats recipe! (Also, notice it is on a plastic plate, you can use whatever you have, plastic, paper) If you aren’t allowed to use the stove, make mom some nice toast with butter and jelly!

Mom’s usually like having something healthy for breakfast and this BCT (Bacon, Cheese and Tomato) salad is yummy and healthy. Again, if you can’t use the stove you could just get some pieces of cheese and toss with some tomatoes and maybe use microwaveable bacon.

Here is what you will need for my BCT salad:

My BCT salad is super simple! It’s just some crispy bacon (1 slice, chopped into 4 pieces), 4 grape tomatoes (they were grilled with the bacon for about 1 minute) and about 2 oz. of diced cheddar cheese. Toss them all together.

And that’s it. I will have a list of supplies for doing it exactly as I did. But, you can definitely substitute with supplies you have around the house! Have fun and remember that your mom will just love the effort you are putting into it so make it special and keep her tastes in mind!

Supplies:

1 hard plastic tray

1 kitchen towel

1 plastic plate

1 bud vase

1 homemade flower

1 pretty napkin

1 plastic cup

1 coffee cup, decorated

1 fork and knife

Food:

1 egg with hat (bread, egg, butter see recipe here)

1 BCT salad (grape tomatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon)

1 fruit salad (mango and strawberries)

Coffee or tea for the mug

Stacy’s Famous Pancakes

April 27, 2015May 19, 2015

When I was a kid my mother had one real cookbook. Most of her cooking was of the passed down from generations type (the best type really). But I loved this cookbook. It was probably something she received as a wedding gift, an old red Betty Crocker. I used to pour over that cookbook looking for recipes whenever I felt like being industrious in the kitchen.

I was around 8 or 9 when I decided to try the recipe for buttermilk pancakes. Well, growing up in a Portuguese-American household, there wasn’t much buttermilk around. Goat’s milk yes, plain whole milk, sure… but, buttermilk, not so much. Buttermilk was not something I had ever heard of. Sooo, my 8/9-year-old mind determined that buttermilk must be milk with butter in it! And how does one get milk with butter in it? Why you just melt the butter and add it to the milk of course!

These days, buttermilk is a staple in my home. I make cakes, chicken (like my Popcorn Chicken), breads and any number of things. What I do not use it in is pancakes. Never even tried it! Turns out, I love my little 8/9-year-old trick (that I had no idea was a trick at the time!). There is something about that butter addition that brings a real richness to the dish.

As for the rest of the recipe, it was a good base of course, but my pancakes have taken on a life of their own over the years. They are a weekly staple for breakfast around here because they are just so easy. But they are also a great late night snack when all my friends (who are mostly moms and dads themselves) get hungry late night after a fun party or gathering and don’t want the last thing in their bellies to be that glass of wine!

So, lets start this with my little 8/9 year old trick. Melt a half a stick of butter or margarine. Should take about 45 seconds in the microwave, but watch it.

Here are all the rest of the ingredients.

Next, is the milk. The milk is cold, this brings down the temperature of that melted butter (and makes my “buttermilk”). The cooling is essential so you can add the egg quickly without having to wait for the butter to, well, cool.

Now, add in one large egg. Wisk.

Add in one cup of all purpose flour. But don’t wisk yet… this is my little quick and easy trick to not having to sift things… definitely a time saver.

So, on top of the flour, add in the baking powder and baking soda.

Now add in salt and wisk.

Last ingredient is to add in the sugar. This is probably more sugar than you will ever see in a pancake recipe. I like them sweet. You don’t even really need syrup with my pancakes. I almost always eat one like bread before they make it to the table.

This is what you will see. Remember not to over wisk. You don’t want to make it tough. Also, at this stage, its a good idea to let it rest for 5-10 minutes – just to give the leveners to leven.

Now you will want to butter the pan. Heat pan to medium/high heat. Don’t skimp here. Make sure you cover the whole pan. When I was a kid we would always use a plug-in electric skillet. (heat to 325°F if using an electric skillet) Sometimes I still do, but here I am using a non-stick stove top griddle.

Pour your batter to whatever size you like. We tend to like about 4″ diameter circles.

Don’t forget to leave some space between in order to get your spatula in there for flipping. When you start to see bubbles form on top and then start to pop on their own, you will know they are ready for flipping.

(If you would like to add anything in, blueberries, chocolate chips and in this case bananas, do it right after pouring and flip with the same rule, when you see bubbles that start to pop… as you can see, these are ready for flipping.)

Pancakes should be golden in the middle and around the edges. If at this point you need more butter for the pan add some. Then let them cook for a bit less time on this side. Keep the heat on medium/high. I do about 45 seconds to a minute on the flip side, it’s really just to finish it off at this point.

Add some butter and syrup (or just eat without) and enjoy!

Recipe for Stacy’s Famous Pancakes:

(serves 4)

1/2 stick butter or margarine, melted

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 pinch of salt

Additional butter or margarine for pan.

Directions:

Mix milk into melted butter. Add egg and wisk. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Wisk. Add in sugar wisk. *** Careful not to over wisk.

Pour onto a buttered skillet that is over medium/high heat or 325°F on an electric skillet. When bubbles form on top and start to pop, flip. Cook about a minute more.

Enjoy!

Portuguese “French” Toast (Fatias Douradas)

April 22, 2015May 19, 20153 Comments

Portuguese “French” Toast… Growing up, this was just plain ole french toast to me! I didn’t realize it was “Portuguese style”. My mother would make this with whatever bread we had in the house, usually some type of portuguese vienna bread (as you see here) or pop seco roll. But, it wasn’t unheard of to make it with plain old sliced bread either. The key is the crispy fried goodness that soaks in all that sugar and cinnamon.

My Vavó (grandmother) used to call these Sopas Fritas, which doesn’t make much sense because literally translated it means Fried Soup. But, if you understand a bit of Portuguese food history, it will. The Portuguese make a soup with milk and put stale bread in it called “Sopas de Leite”. Instead of soup, here we beat eggs and add milk to the beaten egg mixture and dunk day old bread to make fried, well, bread… but it was her quirky way of referring to this delightfully delectable dish. This was traditionally served on Fat Tuesday before lent for those who could not afford to make Portuguese Malasadas (a portuguese fried dough). Now, we eat it for breakfast, brunch, parties or just as a fun snack. Kids and adults alike love Fatias Douradas!

Whatever you call them, they are a simple and delicious start to the day. Definitely a dish the kids can help with! And one they will surely gobble right up. Just one more note before we get started. I have since realized what “actual” french toast is made with sliced bread and topped with maple syrup… this is a bit different and definitely is meant to be eaten sans syrup. (This is a habit my husband had to be broken of) But, if you must, you must… just try to enjoy it as is first! 🙂

Start by adding about 1/4 cup of oil to a large skillet. This one is non-stick… a cast iron skillet will work well here too.

Grab a large Vienna bread… or any somewhat crusty loaf of bread. Vienna bread has a medium crust. A good substitution if you don’t have this available would be an italian loaf.

Slice it pretty thickly. These are about 1″ slices.

Place 6 eggs in about 1/8 – 1/4 cup of milk.

Beat eggs vigorously.

Prepare your sugar and cinnamon. This is one cup of sugar and 2-3 T. cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Mix that with a fork until combined.

Now, set that cinnamon mixture up near your empty platter that will be ready to receive your cinnamon sugar encrusted slices.

Also, set your egg mixture near your prepared, preheated skillet. Proximity really matters in this recipe.

Quickly dunk your bread… you don’t want to over saturate the bread here… so this needs to be done as you are ready to place it in the pan.

Now… fry the egg dunked bread slices in the oil for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Until golden brown on both sides. Hence the term ‘golden slices’ which is the literal translation to ‘Fatias Douradas’

Immediately dunk fried bread into the cinnamon sugar… do not drain first… you need the oil to soak in the sugar and cinnamon. Then place on your platter. You may notice that some of it melts in… nothing could be better!

Whether you name these Portuguese ‘French’ Toast, Golden Slices, Fatias Douradas, or Sopas Fritas… be sure to call it delicious! Enjoy!

Recipe for Portuguese ‘French’ Toast:

(serves 4)

1 large Vienna bread loaf (or loaf of your choosing)

1 c. white sugar

1/4 c. veg. oil

3 Tbs. cinnamon

6 eggs

1/8 c. milk

Directions:

Pre-heat pan with oil on med/high.

Prepare ingredients: In a shallow medium sized bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon, set aside. In a medium bowl beat eggs and milk vigorously, set aside.

Quickly dunk bread. Fry on both sides for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Immediately dunk in cinnamon sugar mixture. Plate.

Enjoy!

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the portuguese american mom

stay awhile… have a cup of tea, let's get creative!

Category: Breakfast

Breakfast in Bed – Kid Friendly Version

Stacy’s Famous Pancakes

Portuguese “French” Toast (Fatias Douradas)