Six-Thumbs-Up Brunch

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We are a Sunday brunch kind of family. We usually attend noon Mass and arrive home around 1:30 p.m. Having had breakfast early and nothing to eat before Mass, we're usually pretty hungry by the time we get home. But, since everyone around here loves big breakfasts, breakfast food is usually what they want, even though it's afternoon. It's difficult to find something I can prepare (other than just plain eggs) after Mass that doesn't take an hour to cook. We enjoy breakfast casseroles, but by the time a breakfast casserole cooks, it would be 2:30 or later. We're hungry now! It's even more difficult to find something quick now that we're trying to keep everything lower in fat.

For brunch yesterday, I made some Cinnamon Bun Bread before we left for Mass (we left just as it came out of the oven) and a big Ham and Potato Omelet after Mass. This brunch menu was a huge hit and fit the bill in more ways than one.

The Cinnamon Bun Bread (recipe from "Cooking Light") was wonderful. I cannot think of a better bread I've made in the recent history. It was moist and soft and cinnamony and sweet. The kids loved it and Doug loved it. And it was also wonderful left over. It was really incredibly easy, too. Baking it before Mass gave the loaves time to cool, so that when we arrived home, I started the omelet and then iced the loaves. The great part is, they were low in fat, but you would never know.

The Ham and Potato Omelet (also "Cooking Light") was great, also. Using frozen hash browns made the process very quick -- start to finish, less than 30 minutes (probably closer to 20-25). The omelet was also fairly low in fat, but, again, you'd never know by tasting it.

Though I used both recipes from Cooking Light, I modified them slightly -- either because there were ingredients that are not on the reflux diet, or there were steps that I omitted because I didn't find them necessary. Below are my versions.

I did not read the directions carefully when making my bread.
Instead of rolling from the short side, I rolled from the long side and
cut the roll into five pieces -- thus the five humps on my bread instead of three.
I have italicized that part in the directions below for emphasis.

Cinnamon Bun Bread
2 loaves

1 package dry yeast
1/4 c. white sugar, divided
1 c. warm milk
3/4 c. warm water
1/4 c. butter or stick margarine, melted
1 t. vanilla extract
1 egg
5 c. all-purpose flour, divided
1 t. salt
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1 T. butter, melted

Glaze:
1 T. butter, melted
1 c. powdered sugar
2 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract

Combine milk and water in a large bowl mixer bowl.
Dissolve yeast and 1 T. white sugar in warm milk mixture; let stand 5 minutes.
Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, vanilla, and egg.
Add 4 1/2 cups flour, 3 T. white sugar, and salt to yeast mixture;
stir to form a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface
and knead until smooth and elastic,
adding flour when necessary to keep it from sticking, for about 7-9 minutes
(or use dough hook in mixer -- for about 5 minutes).

Place dough in a large oiled bowl, turning dough to coat top.
Cover and let rise in a warm place for about one hour or until doubled in size.
Punch dough down. Divide in half.
Roll each half (or press with hands) into a 14 x 7-inch rectangle
on a floured surface.
Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle each dough portion with half of brown sugar mixture,
leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Roll up each dough rectangle tightly, starting with a short edge,
pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets, and pinch seams and ends to seal.
Cut each dough roll crosswise into 3 pieces.
Place 3 pieces, cut sides up, into each of two loaf pans coated with cooking spray.
Cover with greased plastic wrap or damp tea towel
and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Uncover dough, and bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until loaves are golden on top
and sound hollow when tapped.
Immediately brush tops with 1 T. melted butter.
Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack, and remove from pans.
Cool loaves on rack almost completely before glazing.

To prepare the glaze,
mix in a bowl,
1 T. melted butter with powdered sugar,
milk, and vanilla until blended and a thick drizzling consistency,
adding a few more drops of milk if necessary.
Spread with a knife over tops of loaves.

Ham and Potato Omelet
4 - 6 servings

1/4 c. low-fat milk
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
5 extra large eggs (0r use 6 large)
1 T. vegetable oil
4 c. packaged frozen hash brown potatoes (southern style)*
1 cup chopped low fat ham **

Preheat oven to 450°.
Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
Add potatoes; sauté for 5 minutes.
Stir in ham; sauté 1 minute.
Combine first four ingredients, stirring with a fork.
Stir in egg mixture.
Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until set.
Cut into wedges.

This would be good served with some shredded cheese,
if you're not watching the calories,
or some fresh diced tomatoes.


* The original recipe called for hash browns with onions and peppers,
but for the reflux diet, I used plain.
You could use the peppers and onions potatoes and omit the onion powder.
A note about hash browns -- I do not buy the expensive name-brand hash browns.
The brand name was $2.50 -- on sale.
The "other brand" that I bought, was $1.05 -- regular price.
As long as the ingredients are real potatoes,
you don't need to spend extra for brand name --
you're just paying for advertising and coupons.

** I used Hillshire Farms deli ham.
This is the brand I buy for sandwiches --
it's low in fat and tastes pretty good.

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Weekly Menu

This week brings a mix of new recipes and tried and true. I've had some very good luck with new recipes found at My Recipes (sponsored by the publisher of Southern Living, Cooking Light, Health, and a couple of other magazines). I can search for a recipe and look at just the Cooking Light choices, which has helped me immensely in my planning (and linking!). I can also search by rating, which I do, and have had plenty of five-star choices. I don't think we've had a loser yet.

I've been doing some reading on reflux and the more I read, the more I find that what was on the menu prior to the last month or so were not been good choices for Francis' stomach. As I mentioned in my King Cake post, high fat foods can be as bad for tender tummies as spicy and acidic. I have also learned that mint is an absolute no-no, as are onions, garlic, vinegar, pepper/peppers, and the obvious citrus, tomatoes and spicy foods.

Between Francis' reflux and Michael's allergies (and my picky 18 yo) it is getting harder and harder to find foods we can all eat.

Saturday
Lunch: Smoked Turkey Wraps, lowfat chips
Dinner: Three Cheese Pizza Bianca, Pepperoni Pizza

Sunday
Brunch: Ham and Potato Omelet, Cinnamon Bun Bread
Dinner: Hearty Beef Stew, bread, salad, Sweet Potato Pie

Monday
Lunch: Chicken Wraps
Dinner: Turkey Burgers, oven fries, Asian Slaw

Tuesday
Lunch: Bagels and cream cheese
Dinner: Split Pea Soup, Hearth Bread, Rice Krispie Treats

Wednesday
Lunch: Egg and cheese burritos
Dinner: Chicken and noodles, fruit, bread

Thursday -- Valentine's Day
Lunch: fast food treat
Dinner: Pork Chop Suey, Chinese Noodles, Pink Frosted Heart Sugar Cookies, Strawberry Parfaits

Friday
Lunch: Welsh Rarebit
Dinner: Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, scalloped potatoes, cole slaw

*Tried and True
* New to me

If you see a recipe you'd like, just leave a comment.
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Tailgate Party

We had our Championship Game tailgate party last night. Fortunately the food was better than the outcome of the game.

The recipes I used for the party were all unknowns to me. I usually don't do that, but having a tender tummy amongst us has required me to go outside my comfort zone and find some new recipes. Fortunately they were all winners (unlike the game). I am posting the Oven Fried Chicken recipe here, which I made several changes to, and the bean dip later. Two others I made no changes to and highly recommend.

Deborah tested dough pretzels recently and came up with her own recipe, which was a wonderful thing, since they turned out very yummy. If you like Auntie Anne's, take note here. And they are not difficult to make, although the dough is soft and you might not have a picture perfect pretzel. The taste more than makes up for the appearance. Everyone raved and begged for more soon.

The big surprise of the night for me (other than the score of the game) was these Baked Zucchini Chips. I think these are supposed to be like a low fat version TGI Friday's zucchini sticks. These were a cinch to make and the only fat in them comes the Parmesan cheese. Wow! I don't even think they needed to be dunked in ranch dressing. I will definitely make these again -- they would be great as a side to some grilled meat or sandwiches.

This chicken recipe was very good. It was very easy to make and each of the kids, and Doug, raved about it. We are big fans of fried chicken, so I wasn't optimistic that this recipe would rival real fried chicken, but it turned out better than I imagined. I made quite a few changes from the original recipe, since the original was very seasoned and Joshua is not supposed to eat highly seasoned food . I think they would have been over-seasoned as the recipe was originally written (you can find the link to the original recipe down in my menu for this week). We will definitely be eating these again and they would be great made as chicken fingers, too. I salted and peppered my drumsticks after they came out of the oven, but you could add it to the cornflake mixture if you like.

Oven Fried Chicken
1 1/2 cups low fat sour cream
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (or 1 t. crumbled dry)
14 chicken drumsticks
2 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes cereal*
salt and pepper to taste

Place a baking rack over a large cookie sheet (you may need two pans and racks).
Spray baking rack with oil spray.
Mix sour cream, garlic, sage, and rosemary in a medium-sized bowl.
Place cornflake crumbs in a large- to medium-sized bowl.
Rinse chicken with water and pat dry with paper towels.
Dip chicken into sour cream mixture.
Roll in cornflake crumbs and place on baking rack.
Cook at 375 degrees F for one hour, or until chicken juice runs clear.
Salt and pepper to taste.


* If you have a processor, use it for these. I processed mine to a fairly fine crumb and it would be difficult to do that without a processor.

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Apple Streusel Pizza

This recipe is a good, low fat alternative to an apple pie. Without the fat of the pie crust, and limited fat in the topping, it still tastes like apple pie, and I think gives you a little more chewing satisfaction than apple pie. I frequently make this recipe when I'm making pizza, because I just make another dough recipe. But, you could make it any time and it's very easy. I cut the fat in the streusel by half when I made it tonight and I truly don't think you could tell the difference. I'm posting the recipe as I made it today. I sprinkled half with coconut, but sliced almonds, or another chopped nut, would be really yummy.

This is not a great picture because I had no natural light, but you get the idea.

Apple Streusel Pizza

1 recipe of pizza dough*
1 T. butter
4 apples, peeled and thinly sliced **
2 T. white sugar
1 T. water
1/3 c. flour
1 c. light brown sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
Heat a medium saute pan over med. high heat.
Melt butter in pan and then drop in apple slices.
Sprinkle with sugar and water.
Turn heat down to med. low and cover (keep an eye on them to make sure the liquid doesn't cook up).
Cook until apples are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove cover and turn heat up to reduce the liquid in the pan.
When almost all of the liquid has cooked up, turn off apples.
Punch down dough and spread onto greased pizza pan.
Arrange apples all over pizza dough.
In a bowl, mix flour, cinnamon and brown sugar, and cut in butter until crumbly.
Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until top is bubbly and bottom is golden brown.
Remove from oven, cool slightly and slice.



** I used golden delicious tonight. I like the way they cook down and get soft.
However, you could use any cooking apple.


*Pizza Dough

1 c. warm water
1 T. vegetable oil
2 T. sugar
1 packet yeast (or 2 t.)
2 1/2 to 3 c. flour
1 t. salt


Place water in a bowl and add sugar.
Sprinkle yeast over water.
Add the oil, 2 1/2 c. flour, and salt and mix until smooth.
Knead with dough hook for 3-5 minutes or 7 minutes by hand, adding flour as needed.
Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
Let rise for one hour, or until doubled.

Day One

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I promise this won't turn into a GERD diet blog, but while we're new to this whole this, I thought I'd blog about it.

Today was a pretty good day. I went grocery shopping this morning and was able to find a good selection of low fat snacks, and since I was at my local discount grocer, they were very reasonably priced. I found some different things than we normally eat and they look promising. I also found a good beverage, something without high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, citrus juice, or carbonation, and Francis likes it. Since Francis is a teenage boy, snacking is a big part of his diet. I know that some people would just say, "suck it up and do without," but he is a real foodie kid and I can't imagine how sad he would be to be stuck on a mashed potato diet. I know that we can work around these issues and still have some fun with food.

For lunch, I made Francis and I some wrappers. I broiled a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breast with a little Goya Adobo with pepper on them, sliced them thinly and rolled them up in a warm tortilla with some chopped lettuce, shredded carrots, a little shredded cheddar, alfalfa sprouts and a smidge homemade (from mix) low fat ranch dressing. With a side of sliced strawberries and some low fat chips, he was very happy.

For dinner he and I tried this pizza (except I made my own dough). It was just o.k., but in all fairness to the recipe, I used very little ranch dressing. I used a basting brush to put it on the dough, so I know I used nowhere near a 1/2 cup. It was just a little bland, but would probably be really good with all the ranch and maybe a little drizzle of BBQ sauce. I would also add some red peppers if we weren't dealing with a sensitive stomach. This is not a great picture -- it looked much better in person.

For dessert I made an Apple Streusel Pizza. This is a good, low fat alternative to apple pie and it's very yummy. I'll post the recipe later.

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