Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Berry Topping

I've been cooking from my Volumetrics cookbook lately and was surprised at how delicious and fluffy these pancakes are. I love a good pancake but then you have to put syrup and butter on them and then it just feels like you dessert for breakfast. Don't get me wrong, dessert for breakfast is AWESOME but I needed something a little more healthy while still getting my pancake fix. The berry sauce is incredible and replaces any need for syrup.

Ingredients:

Pancakes

• 1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 C lowfat buttermilk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Berry Sauce

• 1 1/2 C unsweetened frozen berries, thawed (original recipe calls for raspberries, I used mixed)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla

For the pancakes,

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until just combined, the batter will be lumpy.
2. Drop by 1/4 C onto a hot griddle and when bubbles appear on the edges, flip. A serving is 2 pancakes.
3. Pile high on your plate and dig in.

For the berry sauce,

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. A serving is 2 Tbsp of berry sauce. 
2. Top pancakes with 2 Tbsp berry sauce and 1/2 C 

Printable Version

1950's Peach Pie

I found a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook at my favorite consignment shop called Mona Lisa's and thought I'd see how they cooked back in 1953. If you can look past all the pictures of women in heels and aprons, this cookbook has some killer recipes!! This pie was to die for. Enough said.

This recipe makes one 9" pie with a top crust.

Ingredients:


Crust:
2 C sifted flour
tsp salt
2/3 C shortening + 2 Tbsp
4 Tbsp. Water

Filling:
7/8 C sugar (If your peaches are ripe like mine were, I'd say cut a little sugar if you're into that)
4 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 C fresh, peeled, sliced peaches
1 1/3 Tbsp butter (Who has a 1/3 Tbsp measuring spoon these days? No worries, it's the same as 1 tsp)

1. Measure the flour into the mixing bowl and mix the salt through it.

2. With pastry blender, cut in half the shortening finely until mixture looks like meal. (This makes for tenderness)

3. Cut in the remaining shortening coarsely until particles are the size of giant peas. (This makes for flakiness)

4. Sprinkle with the water, a tbsp  at a time mixing lightly with fork until all the flour is moistened.

5. Gather dough together with the fingers so it cleans the bowl.

6. Press into a ball. Then roll out, or keep in waxed paper in refrigerator until needed.

7. Divide dough about in half. Round up larger part on lightly floured surface. flatten with hand, then roll out not quite 1/8" thick. Work quickly and roll lightly, being careful not to add extra flour as that makes pastry tough.

8. Keep pastry circular and roll it about 1" larger around than the pie pan to line pan and allow for depth.  Fold pastry in half and quickly transfer to pan. Unfold, and pat and fit pastry down into pan, avoiding stretching the dough. Trim the overhanging edges with scissors.

9. Repeat with second crust except trimming of course!

10. For the filling, mix together all ingredients except the butter. Transfer fruit mixture into pastry-lined pie pan and then dot with the butter.

11. Cover with top crust and make several slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Trim any extra edges.

12. Fold hte extra edge of top pastry under edge of lower pastry. Seal thoroughly by pressing together on edge of pan. Build up a fluted edge by crimping the edge with thumb and forefingers.

13. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes.


If your pie turned out like mine, there will be nothing left of it and you will realize that you never took a picture of the finished product. Oops :)


Printable Version

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Green peppers are really cheap at the farmer's market and of course my sense of reality gets fuzzy when I go to the farmer's market which basically equates to me thinking I can consume 16 peppers in one week. What better way to devour a green pepper than when it's stuffed with other veggies from the farmer's market??? No "wasted produce" guilt here. This recipe originally calls for couscous but I swapped it for quinoa. They were delicious, filling, and very healthy.

Adapted from ChangeOne for Diabetes

Ingredients:

6 large bell peppers (any color)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 C cooked couscous (OR use cooked quinoa!)
1 can (15 ounced) chick-peas, drained and rinsed
1 ripe tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 C crumbled feta cheese (I used shredded parmesan bc that's what I had)

1. Slice the tops off the peppers to make lids. Scoop out the membranes and seeds and discard. Simmer the peppers and lids, covered, in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 and heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

(This is a plug for my favorite kitchen gadget, the Vidalia Chop Wizard! See how finely chopped the zucchini is?)

Add the zucchini and garlic and saute' for 2 minutes Stir in the lemon juice. Cook for 1 minute and remove from the heat. Stir in the couscous, chickpeas, tomato, oregano, salt, and pepper. Stir in the cheese.

3. Fill each pepper with the couscous mixture and place upright in a shallow baking dish. Cover with the pepper tops and bake just until the filling is heated through, about 20 minutes.

Printable Version

Mystery Squash Rainbow Surprise and Warm Quinoa

Fall is an exquisite season. It is my favorite time of year and my favorite time to zip up my fleece jacket and head to the farmer's market on Saturday. I love seeing the old pickup trucks overflowing with pumpkins, gourds, and 3 foot long mystery squash. I picked up some mystery squash a couple weeks ago and they have been staring at me for days. I started chopping and sauteing my farmer's market veggies in some olive oil and what happened next really surprised me. I stopped eating it so I could take a picture because this dish suddenly became blog-worthy. I thought my invention would be one of those times where you eat something because it is SO good for you, not because it tasted good. This was delicious and I ate every last morsel. This is a serving for one, so adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:

1 medium sized mystery squash. I believe mine was of the zucchini family.

1/2 C chopped red cabbage

1/4 C finely chopped onion

1 Leek

1/2 C grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 tsp minced garlic

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 C water

1/2 C cooked quinoa 

1. Wash and scrub all vegetables. Starting with the zucchini, cut lengthwise and remove large seeds. Cut each length into thin slices. Next chop the leek into thin slices, making sure to only use the white bulb and stem until you reach the long sprouting leaves.

2. Heat olive oil on medium heat and add the garlic and onion until fragrant, about a minute. Add zucchini, red cabbage, and leek and saute until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the water a little at a time while sauteing to make sure it doesn't burn. 

3. Add the cherry/grape tomatoes and the juice of the lemon and simmer covered for about 2 minutes. Allow excess liquids to reduce before serving.

6. Serve atop 1/2 C warm Quinoa 

*Quinoa cooks like rice. In a small saucepan, cover 1 C quinoa with 2 C water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 20 minutes. Don't peek at it or you'll let the steam fairies escape. Fluff with a fork and serve.

Warm Quinoa salad with tofu and asparagus

Asparagus is by FAR my favorite vegetable. When Sunflower Market had it on sale for only $1.27 a pound this week, I bought 8 bunches because I know I will probably have to wait until next Spring before it goes on sale again. I would also classify quinoa as one of my favorite grains so a salad with both my favorites foods and a few other star foods like sun-dried tomatoes, lemon, garlic, and tofu is the best thing I've eaten in a long time. I used my Whole Foods cookbook as a guide but since I deviated from the original so far, I had to rename the recipe! This recipe is for a single serving so adjust accordingly.

Printable Version

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 C frozen peas
5-8 spears of asparagus, woody ends discarded, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 C cooked quinoa (May be cooked in chicken broth for extra flavor)
1-2 tsp minced garlic, the fresher the better!
1-4 tsp lemon zest, you decide
1-2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 block of extra firm tofu, diced. 1/4 block should equal 1 serving according to the package
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. To cook your quinoa, rinse your quinoa thoroughly to get rid of the bitter coating. After rinsing, place in a pot and cover with double amounts of water. It cooks similar to rice so if you have 1 C of quinoa, cover with 2 C water. Bring to a boil then turn heat down to low and cover for 20 minutes and don't peek or you'll let the precious steam out! This recipe works well with savory quinoa, so cooking in chicken broth instead of water would work too.

2. In medium skillet, saute the garlic in the olive oil on medium-high until fragrant. Add the sun-dried tomatoes. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, cook 1-2 minutes.

3. Add chopped tofu and cook until almost browned, about 4 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to medium-ish and add the chopped asparagus and frozen peas. Cover and let cook until the asparagus is tender but not wilted.

5. Add cooked quinoa and stir until all combined. Continue cooking for about 1 minute. Salt and Pepper to taste and serve immediately.

BBQ Chicken Calzones

One time in my past life I worked at a bakery called Mrs. Powell's Cinnamon Rolls. It was pretty much amazing to pull fresh cinnamon rolls out of the oven in the morning and load them with frosting. Believe it or not I never got sick of any of the food there, even after 2 years of working there. To balance the sweets, we made a few savory items and one of them was called a BBQ sandwich. It was really a calzone but we called them sandwiches. These were my favorite!!! The combo of tender chopped chicken with a perfectly sweet BBQ all cooked inside fresh flaky bread dough...um yeah. Pretty good.

I've tried to recreate these with a few different dough recipes and we actually prefer the pretzel dough variation! We used our standard pretzel dough recipe for these but you could also use our pizza dough recipe. We have even made them with store bought pizza dough and they work great. 

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c warm water
1 Tbsp Sugar
2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast (make sure it isn't too old or it won't work as well!)
4 1/2 C flour
2 ounces melted butter
10 c water
1/4 c baking soda

Or use this pizza dough recipe.


Filling:

2 standard chicken breasts

BBQ sauce of your choice, we like Sweet Baby Ray's

1-2 C FRESHLY GRATED mozzarella cheese. Pre-shredded will disappoint you...it will be gummy when it melts.


Directions:

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.




While the dough raises, start a pot of boiling water and boil the chicken breasts until tender. Remove from the boiling water and shred with a fork. Return to pan and add a few big squirts of BBQ sauce and combine. It should look something like this.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan. (skip this step if using pizza dough)

Next, weigh your dough all together and then divide by 8. You want your calzones to be uniform and each ball of dough should roughly be 2-2.5 ounces, or whatever the weight of your dough divided by 8 is.

Take each ball of dough and roll it into a large circle, then top with a little chicken and cheese.

Gently fold over to seal the edges, then take a fork and pinch the ends together by pressing down around the edges with a fork or one of those fancy pastry wheel things.

Now, you may skip the boiling process if you are using pizza dough. BUT. If you are following the pretzel dough method, you will want to boil your calzones. We tried just brushing them with a baking soda solution and this is what happened.

They were pretty gross actually...way too much baking soda taste and it was hard to get it all even.

Carefully put each calzone in the pot of boiling water and let it cook on each side for about 30 seconds. This boiling process will give it that golden brown pretzel look and taste. The baking soda does something scientific so don't leave out the baking soda!

Transfer each calzone to the half sheet pan and once you have boiled them all, bake for 12-14 minutes.

Remove from oven and brush with melted butter or take a stick of butter and just rub the hot calzones with the butter.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I have seen these rainbow cupcakes all over the blog world and finally tried them. They were so much easier than I thought they would be and most importantly, were the most delicious creation I have ever made from a cake mix. I used the recipe over at The Girl Who Ate Everything because she is my favorite food blogger even if we are strangers. The secret ingredient to these is sour cream. I've seen sour cream in cakes before but I was unaware of the power of sour cream until now. Don't ever make a boxed cake without sour cream again, alright?

Printable Version

Ingredients:

1 WHITE cake mix, (I used vanilla)

2 Eggs

1 cup sour cream, I used light sour cream in my version

1/2 C milk

1/3 C vegetable oil OR my version uses 1/3 C unsweetened apple and I promise it won't compromise the taste or texture!

1. Combine all ingredients until all incorporated and then mix on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.

2. Separate the batter into five bowls, and then add the food coloring of your choice to each bowl. Mix well or else your batter will come out with uneven color swirls. I have heard the Wilton gel colors are the brightest  and bestest but I used the liquid drop kind and it was OK, not great, but OK.

3. Line about 15-17 cupcake tins with cupcake paper. To figure out how much batter goes in each cup, add water by the tablespoonful until it's filled and then use that as a guide so your colors are all even. 

4. Using a tablespoon or mini ice cream scoop, scoop batter into cupcake tin, using one color at a time. After each plop of the batter, dip your finger in water and then spread the batter out flat before adding the next color, this gives it a nice stripe.

5. Repeat with remaining colors and bake according to the boxed directions. Use the ol' toothpick trick to make sure they are cooked all the way through. If the toothpick comes out clean, they're done!

6. Let the cupcakes cool and then frost! I used a butter almond frosting which is made with:

1. 1 stick of softened butter
2. 1 teaspoon almond extract
3. 1-4 tablespoons of milk
4. 3-5 cups of powdered sugar.
5. Beat all these ingredients, adding powdered sugar a little at a time and then save the milk for the very last so it gets to the perfect consistency. These are approximate measurements and each time I make it, I use a little more or less of the milk and powdered sugar.