MPM--Taming the Pantry Again

Happy Mother's Day to any moms checking in today! I hope you enjoyed the day. I'm wiped out from getting the house together to host the intimate brunch for 16 today (more on that later) and am geared up for our last regular school week of the year! (sniffle)

Sunday--takeout. No cooking after brunch for so many!

Monday--black bean lasagna , salad

Tuesday: freezer meal--eggplant parmigiana and gnocchi

Wednesday: freezer meal: chicken breast entrees from Trader Joe's, mac & cheese, spinach

Thursday: teriaki sirloin steak, broccoli, rice

Friday: freezer meal--stromboli from band fundraiser for our cousin, salad

We hosted a Mothers' Day brunch this morning, mostly because it's a holiday I can take or leave, but my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law really take it seriously. I'd rather do the stressful hosting thing on a holiday that I am not trying to enjoy myself! We did a brunch, both to accommodate church and baseball schedules, and for something less fancy-shmancy than a dinner. We used my mother's waffle recipe, below, in an homage to her.

Huge success of the week: the Alton Brown granola, recommended by the Tipsy Baker in her Slate article (that was most emailed for almost two days, btw!). It was easy to make at the end of dinner prep one night; the oven was already warming the main course, and the littlest one was happy to do the easy stirring in the big bowl before we added the syrup. Then, as it was slowly baking, the older one was sniffing around happily, saying, "Mmmm! That smell is tasting the air to my nose!" Alas, neither of them enjoyed the final product as much as the production, but it was worth a try, and the little one has added sweetened coconut to the very, very, very short list of Items Considered Edible. Also, this recipe from the new-to-me Aldi Queen (what a great idea--recipes for things that can be made from groceries at Aldi's, Trader Joe's little known, much cheaper sibling!) for Vanilla Scented Granola was also good, but not quite as amazing. Part of that was probably my fault--I didn't have quite the 4 cups of oats called for so while I added more nuts, the granola still came out sticky. And after the sublime sweetness of the maple syrup on Alton Brown's, the honey just seemed too sweet, even for me, and I never turn down anything for being too sweet. Finally, we also tried Katie Lee Joel's "healthy" granola recipe from the late lamented Domino magazine. While I loved that one for its pantry-clearing qualities, I found her cheery selling of this as "healthy" to be baffling, as it has half a stick of butter and a cup and a half of nuts...not at all low-fat, clearly. While it was an enjoyable granola, the Alton Brown version was the clear winner.

Not so much, alas, for the grand yogurt experiment. I wanted to feel like a sorcerer and create this fabulous product but apparently Trader Joe's 0% Fat-Free Greek Yogurt is not an adequate starter as my milk stayed milk and never set. I have no idea other than the starter what I did wrong; I'll try one more time before I give up on it. --->Edited to say: that was only the smaller container that didn't set! The larger one did and we had actual homemade yogurt. My draining technique leaves much to be desired, but it was good, and perfect with all that granola.

Club Soda Waffles

Makes 4 large waffles
2 cups biscuit baking mix (such as Bisquick)
1 large egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups club soda

1. Place the baking mix in a bowl or wide pitcher.
2. With a fork, beat the egg with the oil and stir the liquid into the baking mix. Gradually add the club soda, mixing until all the baking mix is moistened and a slightly thick batter (like buttermilk) forms.
3. Let batter rest for 5 minutes. Heat a waffle iron.
4. Pour about one-fourth of the batter into the iron. Close the lid and bake until any steam subsides and the waffle browns, about 2 minutes. When done, the waffle and iron should separate easily. Repeat with remaining batter.
Note: Use all the batter immediately. Leftover waffles may be frozen. To use, defrost and then reheat in a toaster.
Per serving: 368 calories, 6 grams protein, 39 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams sugar, 21 grams fat, 54 milligrams cholesterol, 806 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.