Wednesday: Brat Bites, Rescued Pizza & My Easiest Roast Chicken

Got up this morning and did not make bacon.

I know. Shocking.

But believe it or not, my kids can survive a morning without bacon.

They had sausage, cereal, bagels and oatmeal, and then we got to work.

We had a full day of homeschool ahead of us, so I wanted to get everybody moving.

Yes, I Eat Soup for Breakfast

People often ask me what I eat for breakfast.

Well, this morning I had soup.

I love soup, especially when the weather starts getting colder.

And I had some of that leftover soup I made yesterday with the pork chop gravy, vegetables, beans and ground beef.

So I warmed up a bowl and ate it while we were doing schoolwork.

Here’s something else people ask me about: when do I actually sit down and eat?

A lot of the time, I eat breakfast and lunch while we’re homeschooling.

Because think about it.

I’m already sitting there working through math problems or helping somebody with an assignment.

Why not eat my lunch at the same time?

It’s actually a really convenient time for me to sit down and enjoy my food because I need to be sitting there anyway.

I don’t necessarily need a separate lunch break.

Sometimes I just need a bowl of soup and a math book.

Brat Bites for Lunch

For lunch today, I pulled out the bratwurst I bought at Costco over the weekend.

And I made one of our easiest lunches: brat bites.

If you’ve never made these, they’re ridiculously simple.

I just slice the bratwurst into small, bite-sized pieces, spread them out on a sheet pan and roast them at 400°F.

They take around 10 minutes in my oven, depending on how thickly they’re cut and whether they’re already cooked. For raw bratwurst, I make sure they reach 160°F in the center.

The little cut edges get nice and browned, and they’re so easy for the kids to eat.

But here’s my favorite part.

I cut up all the bratwurst at once.

Even if I’m not planning to cook all of it today.

I take the extra sliced brats and put them into a freezer bag.

Then the next time I want brat bites, all I have to do is pull out the bag, thaw it safely and put them on a sheet pan.

No cutting.

No prep.

Just cook.

It’s such a small thing, but it makes lunch that much easier another day.

The Gluten-Free Focaccia Failure Becomes Pizza

Remember my gluten-free focaccia experiment from yesterday?

The one that was supposed to be big and bubbly?

Well, it was not big.

And it was definitely not bubbly.

It was more like a thin, crispy pizza crust.

But it actually tasted pretty good.

And I absolutely hate wasting ingredients.

So I saved it.

Today I pulled it out, added marinara sauce, pepperoni and cheese, and turned it into gluten-free pizza.

Was it as good as our regular focaccia pizza?

No.

The kids were very clear about that.

But did they eat it?

Yes.

And that’s what matters.

I think sometimes when you’re experimenting in the kitchen, it’s easy to look at something that didn’t turn out exactly how you wanted and call it a failure.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unusable.

It failed as focaccia. It succeeded as pizza.

I’m still going to keep working on that gluten-free focaccia recipe because I really want to figure out how to get that light, bubbly texture.

But in the meantime, we got another lunch out of yesterday’s experiment.

And I didn’t waste all that gluten-free flour.

My Lunch Was a Burger Salad

While the kids were eating brat bites and pizza, I made myself a quick salad.

I pulled out one of the burger patties I grilled yesterday, crumbled it over some greens and added my toppings.

That’s it.

A burger salad.

I love doing this with leftover hamburgers.

You don’t have to reheat the burger and serve it on a bun again.

You can chop it up, add it to a salad and have a completely different meal.

And I ate mine while we finished up some math.

Again, making good use of the time I’m already sitting down.

The Easiest Way I Roast a Whole Chicken

This afternoon was a little hectic.

We were trying to finish schoolwork, it was raining outside, and one of my kids broke her glasses.

Just one of those days when things keep happening.

Thankfully, I had a whole chicken in the refrigerator from my Costco trip.

And when I had a free moment, I decided to get that chicken cooking.

This is one of my favorite ways to make a whole chicken because it requires almost no hands-on effort.

It’s not fast cooking.

But it is fast prep.

And those are two very different things.

My Low-Effort Whole Roast Chicken

I took the chicken out of its packaging and seasoned it with:

• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Smoked paprika
• Italian seasoning

And here’s one thing I always like to do.

Get some of that seasoning underneath the skin.

Especially over the chicken breasts.

I gently loosen the skin and rub some of the olive oil and seasonings between the skin and the meat.

That way the flavor isn’t just sitting on the outside of the chicken.

Then I put the chicken into my roasting pan and covered it tightly with parchment paper and foil.

I put it into the oven at 350°F and let it roast for about three to four hours.

The exact cooking time depends on the size of the chicken, so I always check that the thickest parts reach a safe internal temperature of 165°F.

My Trick for Crispy Skin

At the end of cooking, I remove the parchment and foil.

Then I spoon some of those delicious pan juices over the chicken.

I turn the oven up to 425°F and let the skin brown and crisp.

And that’s it.

A beautifully roasted chicken without standing in the kitchen babysitting it.

The whole thing takes hours, but the amount of work I’m actually doing is minimal.

I can get the chicken into the oven, go back to homeschooling, deal with broken glasses, finish whatever else needs to happen, and dinner is basically taking care of itself.

That’s my kind of cooking.

Dinner Was Already in the Refrigerator

While the chicken was finishing, I looked at what else I had available.

I still had leftover rice.

I had some cooked pasta.

So I reheated those and made a few side salads.

And dinner was done.

No need to make a new starch when I already had two perfectly good options in the refrigerator.

I also roasted some sweet potatoes because I was really in the mood for them.

And I decided to turn my own dinner into a harvest salad.

My Chicken Harvest Salad

For my salad, I used some of the freshly roasted chicken and added:

• Roasted sweet potatoes
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Chopped apple
• Salad greens

It was delicious.

I love the combination of savory chicken, sweet roasted potatoes, crunchy apples and a little bite from the onion.

It’s such a good fall combination.

And it was a nice way to take the same chicken everybody was eating for dinner and turn it into something a little different for myself.

That’s one of the things I love about roasting a whole chicken.

You don’t have to serve everybody the same plate.

Some people can have chicken with rice.

Some can have chicken with pasta.

And I can have a big harvest salad.

Everybody gets what they want, and I’m not making three separate dinners.

Family Game Night: Hues and Cues

After dinner, we cleaned everything up and sat down for a family game night.

We played a newer-to-us game called Hues and Cues.

And if you haven’t played it, it’s really fun.

One of the things I especially love is that you don’t have to know how to read to play.

Which makes it great for our family because even the younger kids can participate.

Basically, the game is all about guessing colors.

One person is trying to get everybody else to identify a specific color on this huge board of different shades.

So you give a clue.

Maybe you say, “Sunset.”

Everybody puts their marker on the color they think matches that clue.

But here’s where it gets funny.

Because what color is sunset?

Orange?

Pink?

Purple?

Yellow?

Everybody pictures something different.

Then you get to give another clue.

Maybe you say, “Early sunset.”

And suddenly people start moving toward completely different colors because they’re imagining a different part of the evening.

It’s hilarious to see how differently everybody interprets the exact same words.

And I love that my younger kids can play right alongside the teenagers and adults.

Nobody has to sit out because they can’t read a card.

Definitely a fun family game.

Plenty of Chicken for Tomorrow

So that was Wednesday.

A full homeschool day.

Soup for breakfast.

Brat bites and rescued gluten-free pizza for lunch.

A leftover burger salad for me.

One very easy whole roasted chicken for dinner.

And family game night to finish everything off.

I also have extra sliced bratwurst in the freezer for another day, cooked ground beef ready for chili, leftover burgers and now a bunch of roasted chicken. Tomorrow I’ll use the leftover bones/skin to make some homemade bone broth.