Week 4 - Ben's Birthday a full day of food!!

For Ben's birthday I decided to go all out for Sunday Funday today. Today's post will include breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!

Breakfast - For breakfast I made Chunky Monkey Pancakes (banana chocolate chip pancakes!) Here is the recipe link.

Ingredients included:

•     1 cup all-purpose flour
•     2 teaspoons baking powder
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     1/4 teaspoon salt
•     3/4 cup skim milk
•     3 tablespoons butter, melted
•     2 eggs
•     1 tablespoon white sugar
•     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•     1 large banana, diced
•     1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I actually only used half of this amount because a few reviews said the pancakes were to chocolatey)
•     cooking spray 

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set bowl aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the skim milk, melted butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. 

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix the batter. 

Gently fold in the banana and chocolate chips.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. (I used a measuring spoon to do this)

Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

I made these for Ben and my parents and they were a HUGE hit :)

Lunch (appetizer) - My friend Melissa shared a taco dip recipe with me that is super easy to make. We had a few people over for football, so I thought this was a great opportunity to make it.

Ingredients:

•     bar of cream cheese
•     1 can of chili (no beans for us)
•     shredded cheese

Spread the cream cheese evenly into a pyrex dish. Then spoon out the can of chili over the cream cheese. Top with your favorite shredded cheese.

Put in the microwave for approximately 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve with scoops tostitos chips and enjoy!!!

Dinner - Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

I thought this would be a fun and easy recipe to make. The link to the recipe can be found here - http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/228362/slow-cooker-chicken-tacos

Ingredients:  (I made this a bit different than the recipe stated)

•     3 chicken breasts, fresh or frozen
•     1 1/2 cups cooked rice
•     1 cup salsa
•     1 can corn
•     sliced tomatoes
•     shredded lettuce
•     shredded cheese
•     taco shells 

Put the chicken, salsa and corn into the crockpot on high for 4 hours or until the chicken is done. The last 30 minutes add the cooked rice and stir into the mixture so it can soak up the remaining juices. Shred the chicken for the tacos, this is optional but makes them easier to eat! (The chicken actually fell apart as I was stirring it around, so I didn't have to shred it to much)

 Scoop the filling into your taco shells, hard or soft, and then top with tomato, lettuce and cheese. Super yummy! You can also make burritos with wraps instead if you want too!
 
This was a great day for eating at the Fairclough Home! Happy Birthday to Ben - his first as a dad :)

Week 3 - Mexican Potato Nachos!

I decided on this week's recipe because I had extra ground beef that I wanted to use. The recipe for Mexican Potato Nachos was the perfect fit!! I found the recipe here - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-Potato-Nachos/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=93220341&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2012-09-14&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1 - but changed it a bit. The recipe below is how I made the nachos.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large baking potatoes cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• leftover ground beef
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 2 tablespoons water
• cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup shredded lettuce
• tomato chopped - (I used 4 tomatoes from our garden!)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Pour 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into a large bowl; toss the potato slices in the oil to coat.

Arrange the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

Bake in the preheated oven until the potato slices are golden brown, about 20 minutes.

While potato slices are baking, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat; brown (or reheat) the ground beef in the hot oil, breaking it up into crumbles as it cooks, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the taco seasoning and water. Simmer until the flavors have blended.

Arrange the potato slices on a serving platter and sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Top the potatoes with the meat and sprinkle with more cheese. Spread the lettuce out over the nachos and garnish with tomato. 

Serve as an appetizer or meal and enjoy!! This would be a great recipe for entertaining company. It made a good amount of nachos and I only used 2 potatoes! 

Stay tuned for next week's edition of Ben's Birthday Sunday Funday :)

Week 2 - Breakfast of Champions!

This week for Sunday Funday I decided to do a breakfast recipe since Breakfast/Brunch is one of our favorite meals of the day. This easy recipe for Crunchy French Toast Sticks reminded me of something special we would get out at a restaurant.

The recipe can be found here - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crunchy-French-Toast-Sticks/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=86825100&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2012-06-23&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipe&me=1

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 cups corn flakes, crushed (I used Special K cereal instead)
• 4 slices bread, cut into thirds (Depends on how many people you are serving)
• 1 tablespoon butter

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a bowl. Spread the crushed cereal onto a plate. Dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture and then press gently into the cereal to completely coat the bread. I used my hands to help with this step.  Place the breadsticks onto a plate while breading the rest; do not stack.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat; cook the coated breadsticks in the melted butter until golden, about 4 minutes each side. 

Top with syrup, serve and Enjoy!

Week 1 of 2012! The newest Fairclough and Hamburger Casserole!!

I can't believe football season is here! The 2012-13 season is going to be quite different than last season for the Faircloughs...now we are a party of 3!!!  Introducing the newest Giants Fan to our family......

Meet Ellie Grace!

Ellie enjoyed her first Sunday Funday! This week I found a recipe for Hamburger Casserole that looked good. I found the recipe here - http://southernfood.about.com/od/hamburgcasseroles/r/bl30119r.htm.

Ingredients included: 

• 1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced onion or 1/2 small onion (I did not use onion)
• 1 large egg
• prepared mashed potatoes, about 2 to 4 cups (I used the fake mashed potatoes by Betty Crocker!)
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• paprika, optional (I did not use this)

I decided to prepare the meat mixture first while I had some free time (aka Ellie hanging with Daddy Ben). Combine the breadcrumbs and milk together first. Then mix in the ground beef, salt, pepper, bread crumb-milk mixture, and egg. Then spread the mixture in a 9-inch pie plate. 

Bake the meat mixture at 350° for 35 minutes. While the meat is cooking, prepare the mashed potatoes so they are ready to be added when the meat comes out of the oven. When the meat came out of the oven it had some grease/fat on top so I spooned off what I could before the next step.

Spread the mashed potatoes to the top of the meat and sprinkle the top with cheese. 

Return to the oven for 10 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted and potatoes are thoroughly heated. 

Feel free to add ketchup and enjoy your meal! We even had leftovers!!!

This meal reminded me of Shepherd's Pie and Meatloaf. It was so easy to make and very tasty! I hope everyone enjoyed Week 1 of Sunday Funday! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the blog throughout the season. Feel free to share your favorite recipes - I am always looking for new ideas!!!