A few things I wanted to mention.

Breakfasts: I have been trying to keep to my promise of making better breakfasts for my kids. This morning after I dropped DD off at school, I came home and put together a batch of Breakfast Burritos. I also tried out Scrambled Eggs in a Bowl. It was really easy, really quick, and really weird. DD loved it, though, especially with some shredded cheddar on top. Boogie Boy probably would, too. Last week I also baked up a batch of biscuits at night one day, and then put together a half-batch of “No Sausage?!?” Gravy in the morning after splitting the biscuits. I can make gravy early in the morning, but not biscuits AND gravy. This week I am also planning on making some Applesauce Sandwiches, which DD should like, and should be easy on the morning brain. I need to remember to make some sandwich bread, though.

Dinner Reviews: Some of the dinners we have had in the last few days that I wanted to point out are Two Cheese Pasta and Broccoli Casserole, Chicken in Zesty Peanut Sauce, and Make Ahead Wraps.

The Cheese and Broccoli Casserole thingy was okay, but I think it could be WONDERFUL with the addition of a simple bechamel. If I make this again, I would make the bechamel while the pasta was boiling, and add only 2 c. cheddar and 1/2 c. parmesan as well as the tomatoes to the bechamel. I would also add in a tablespoon of dijon mustard (a trick I saw in my new Rachel Ray cookbook that I think is worth the price of the book! and now you have it for free *grins*). Then I would combine the pasta, broccoli, and cheese sauce together. Then bake as directed. Even more yummilicious!

The Chicken in Zesty Peanut Sauce was neither zesty nor peanutty to us. I don’t think there is any way to save this recipe for our tastes, without starting over completely. I am pointing this out because I used this recipe in the Chicken Breast OAMC mini-session I posted earlier. It was edible, just not very tasty, especially served over white rice, as suggested by the poster. I hope your family likes it more than mine did if you have this in your freezer. The boys loaded it up with hot sauce, maybe that might help . . .

The Make Ahead Wraps, on the other hand, were a winner despite my best intentions to mess them up completely! So I started rummaging around the freezer just before dinner, looking for the 4 containers of black beans my list said I had in there. Each of these should equal 1 can, so I had everything I needed (after having done my grocery shopping a few hours earlier). Gah! I could only find ONE! That meant I had 3 cans of beans (including the 2 cans of pintos) out of 6 that comprised the bulk of the burritos (Tish calls them wraps, but they look and tasted like bean burritos). Okay, so I call up my hubby and ask him oh so nicely to bring home 3 more cans of black beans. He agrees and I continue on assembling the rest of the ingredients. I start cooking the rice, using my white jasmine I have a bunch of, rather than brown I didn’t have any of. I also use my favorite steaming method to cook. Unfortunately, I was slightly distracted or something. Once I put the lid on the rice, I forgot to turn down the heat. Five minutes later I smelled something burning. Oh, dear. After I identified the source of the odor, and saw the black bottom to my rice, I knew there would be no rice in these burritos. Gah. So, yeah, I decided not to make another batch of rice, and just rolled them without it. They were so yummy! And nice and filling, and I am sure they will freeze and reheat just fine and make lovely lunches. I served them with Zucchini Fries, which were yum, but prolly would have been super yum if they had still been hot when I served dinner (note to self and to others: roll burritos, then put zucchini in oven, then heat burritos for dinner and stick extras in freezer)

Another recipe you should try (just in time for Memorial Day Grilling!): Bacon Wrapped Mushroom Kabobs. OMG. I know, everything is better with bacon (if you’re an omnivore), but these are REALLY GOOD!