Cooking up a storm before a vacation

It's winter vacation time!!! I began planning this last summer in August, and have been counting down the days since!

Having fun! Wish you were here! And all that jazz!

Okay, so my daughters and I are out chasing the sun this week. But before we left, I had a lot of work to take care of. Oh yes, the usual, laundry, checking on schedules, going by the bank, packing suitcases. But what really kept me busy was all the pre-vacation cooking to be done. Yep, I said pre-vacation cooking.

I had all the usual cooking to take care of. Then because this was just a girls' trip (guys staying home), I had meals to prepare for my husband and son, so they wouldn't starve. And of course, I had some things to make, for us to take with us, to keep our eating out limited to meals that we really wanted from a restaurant. I don't enjoy eating out in mediocre restaurants. If I'm going to eat out, I want it to taste great.

And then, I wanted to prepare some things to have in the house for when we returned. A dinner in the freezer to heat that night, and some lunch things for to-go lunches the next day. You know how it is after a trip. You come in the door and just want to drop your bag and lie down. The last thing you want to do (but everyone expects you to do) is jump back into the kitchen and make dinner.

So, as much as I could, I doubled up everything I made for a week, plus had a couple of cooking sessions on three of the days last week.

In total, for the trip, to be eaten here, there, and after, I made 6 7 loaves of bread, a double batch of granola, a batch of cookies (and after half of those disappeared, a batch of brownies), a mac and cheese casserole to heat, a rice and beans casserole, a pasta and Italian sausage casserole, a large pot of turkey-noodle soup, some cranberry-orange muffins, a quiche, some beef stew, 2 pizzas, a container of refried beans (with the rest of the fixings for burritos), and a large container of egg salad. Believe it or not, the majority of this will be left behind for the guys to eat up. They're the big eaters in our house, not surprisingly. I am hoping this will hold them for a few days. I've also left them a huge container of carrot sticks, some frozen spinach and frozen mixed veggies. Maybe they'll think to try some of those?

To take with us on the trip, we've packed cocoa mix, koolaid drink mix (some places the tap water tastes terrible), crackers, string cheese, microwave popcorn, some candy from Christmas, cookies, a couple of sandwiches, bananas, nuts, a bag of carrot sticks, and raisins.

I like to bring a bunch of snacky things with us. We can stretch the time between formal meals with a good snack. Our motel has a breakfast provided, which we always enjoy fully. I can always find something healthy to eat. Most of the places we stay have at least fresh fruit, juice, oatmeal, whole wheat toast, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt.

We'll have a fridge and microwave in our room. The three of us will walk down to a market and buy some sandwich stuff to last a few days. We actually fare pretty well with our dining-out budget when we travel. I'll give you more details when we return.

I hope you're having a splendid week! I'll be back in just a couple of days.

Do you take food with you when you travel, too? Making sandwiches in the hotel room, to take to a park or the beach, can save quite a bit on the travel budget.

Easy-to-make heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day Breakfast

Good morning! Are you counting the days to Valentine's Day? It's fast approaching!

What's on the menu for Valentine's Day breakfast at your house? 

If you want easy, you could pour strawberry milk over corn flakes. You could toast up a cherry Pop-tart. You could make toast, spread with strawberry jam and make cut-outs with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Or . . . . . . .

Are you looking for an easy, fun, kid-friendly, and budget-wise breakfast for this Valentine's Day? Here's what I make for Valentine's breakfast most years. Pancake hearts!!

All you need is pancake batter, a griddle or skillet, large spoon (I use the serving spoon that came with our cutlery) and metal spatula.

Make your pancake batter a bit on the thin side, so that it pours well from the spoon. I like to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter. The vanilla cake is nice with the fruit syrup.

Fill your large spoon with batter. Think of the heart as two halves. On the first halve, begin dropping the batter from the tip of the spoon, as you would a regular pancake, making the rounded portion of the heart half. Don't use all the batter in your spoon, save about 1/4. Now, with the tip of the spoon, draw the batter down to the pointed part of the heart.

Quickly refill your spoon, and begin the other half of the heart, fairly close to the first half, so the two halves will join to make one heart. Finish up the point, joining the two points. That's the heart! Use the last bit of batter in the spoon to fix any edges that didn't fill out properly.

These don't need to be perfect, because a lot will be hidden by the whipped cream.

When the pancakes' bubbles have mostly popped, flip them over.

Make your syrup while the pancakes are cooking. For syrup, melt some red jelly or jam in the microwave, mixed with a tablespoon or two of water. (Here I've used a couple of packets of strawberry jam blended with crabapple jelly.)

Place one or two pancakes on a plate. Pipe whipped cream (I use spray whip cream) around the edges, following the heart shape.

Spoon syrup inside the whip cream border. Voila! Valentine's Day pancakes.


These pancakes can be made the afternoon before, and reheated in the morning. When Valentine's Day falls on a school day, I make them the afternoon of the 13th, then reheat in the morning.



Or . . . . . . .

Just not sure about making heart-shaped pancakes? Not a problem. Here's one other way to make Valentine's pancakes.

You'll need round pancakes, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, a pink jelly/jam syrup, as above, powdered sugar, sifter and dried cranberries.

Make your regular round pancakes. After cooking, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut a heart out of the center of each pancake. This works best on a wood cutting board.

On each plate, place 2 or 3 round pancakes with the heart cut out.

Fill the empty heart with red jelly or jam. It's okay if the jelly/jam bleeds underneath the pancakes. It won't be visible.

Take the heart cut-outs, place on another plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Place the cut-outs on the plate along with the round pancakes.

Sprinkle with some dried cranberries.

Okay, so a little bit of fuss for Valentine's Day. But it's fun to do, and these treats for the family are my gift to them.

Just to let you know, I'm chasing the sun for a few days. My posts will continue Tuesday and Thursday, and I'll try to check in from time to time. Internet access will be hit or miss. I'll catch some rays for you, and send them your way! ~Lili