Pecan Pancakes

Growing up, my Dad worked swing shift most of the time. The week he worked the midnight shifts, we ate breakfast for dinner. I love breakfast foods, so that always worked for me. I still like to have breakfast for dinner pretty often. Pancakes are one of those things that I only want to eat every once in a while but when I do, I try to make enough for dinner and some extra for the freezer. I don't always have time in the mornings to make a full breakfast, but if I have things that are ready to go it makes it a lot easier on me,

I decided this go round to make pecan pancakes. When I was a little girl, my Dad often made pancakes for us. According to him, they were so light and fluffy that he would have to use coke bottles to hold them down on the griddle. But my Mom is the one that introduced me to Pecan Pancakes and they are one of my favorites.

Ingredients gathered:

Dry ingredients are mixed in one bowl, wet ingredients are in the other.

Pecans are added and then mixed until batter is just mixed.

Cooking in a hot pan

Always wait for the surface to be filled with air bubbles before turning your pancakes.

Yum! A nice stack of piping hot Pecan Pancakes. Add a little maple syrup and butter if you like and enjoy! 

Pecan Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted if desired
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
vegetable oil
pecan halves (optional) 

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, soda, and chopped pecans.

In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk and milk, egg yolks, and melted butter. Blend into the dry ingredients just until all ingredients are moistened.

Beat egg whites in another bowl until stiff peaks form.

Fold into the batter until well incorporated.

Heat a small amount of oil in a large skillet over medium heat (or use a griddle to make more at a time).

When skillet is hot enough for a drop of water to sizzle, scoop pancake batter onto the skillet in about 1/4-cup portions, spreading slightly.

When edges are rather dry and bubbles are popping and bottoms are nicely browned, about 2 to 3 minutes, turn over and cook the other side until browned, about 2 minutes longer.

Serve hot with butter and syrup and garnish with pecan halves or fruit, if desired.

Dinner with the Girls

It has been a while since I have shown a cooking project with Jenna and Samantha. Now that they are in middle and high school and are involved in after school activities and no longer need a nanny, they aren't at my house very often. Now I tend to go to their house and cook with them and their Mom. This was a dinner we prepared a couple of weeks ago, Judy came up with the menu, but we all pitched in to get it all cooked. We had Red Bean and Quinoa Burgers, Hamburgers, Slaw, Pasta Salad, Caprese Salad and some sauted mushrooms to top the burgers. 

We always have a great time cooking together, trying new recipes and just hanging out together. I have been cooking with the girls since they were tiny and I love that they still enjoy cooking. It is also great that that they can pretty much do anything thing in the kitchen. 

We had so much fun, we are going to start scheduling these a little more often. Judy had the great idea of having our own book club. All four of us will read the same book, we will get together and cook dinner and discuss our books. We are reading our first book now.

Great times!

Mango Freezer Pops and a Peek into a Collection

We eat a lot of frozen pops in my house. Pretty much year round, but in the summer we eat even more. I try and make my own, most of the time they are frozen juices or smoothies, using real fruit, yogurt and honey to sweeten (if needed). No crazy food dies, not artificial flavors or sweeteners.

I don't have a set recipe for most of the ones I make, I just put a couple of cups of fruit, about a cup of vanilla or plain yogurt and a little milk into the blender and just blend it all together. Easy, peasy!

The Mango-Raspberry pops on the left use the above ratio. I used four ripe mangoes about 3/4 cup of raspberries, a cup of yogurt and enough milk to make everything blend smoothly.

The Mango-Chili ones are different, I have had the recipe forever, but this was my first time making it. I am interested to see how the cayenne pepper tastes after freezing! I tasted the mixture before freezing and it was prety good.(Recipe below)

So you might have noticed that I have a few different molds. Once I get on a kick with something, I am really on a kick. I am pretty frugal in most every aspect and can really stretch a dollar. Except when it comes to kitchen tools and art supplies. I still bargain hunt, but things that get used a lot are worth a little extra money, if they have a function that the cheaper ones might be lacking. I like molds that allow me to remove the popsicle from the base--I don't like the ones that have 4-6 together and you have to wait until they are all gone to wash it and start again. Once mine are frozen, I toss them in a big plastic bag labeled with the flavor and as soon as we have eaten enough for a new batch, I can start again. Doing this also makes it easier for me to have a few different flavors in the freezer at a time. I love all my molds. The Ice Cream Cones can be found here , the Ring Pops (perfect for little ones) can be found here and the Monster Pops are here.  

I really like the Tovolo brand of molds, I use mine a lot and they have held up beautifully.Here are some reasons these are my favorite brand:

*** After at least three or four years, of almost constant use, they show almost no signs of wear
***They come in lots of fun shapes
*** BPA free
***The cones catch drips,great with little ones
***The led of the cones comes off easier than any other molds I have ever used

   *** They all come off the base that is used for freezing and the bases are sturdy so you don't have to worry about them collapsing on the way to the freezer. The fact that I can remove them from the base is my number one reason for loving and preferring the Tovolo brand molds.

My name is Gina and I have a serious Kitchen Gadget fixation!

Mango Chili Pops

2 cups pineapple juice

1/2 cup honey

1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and flesh scooped out

2 tbs lemon juice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Toss everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.

This Week's Basket and Meal Plan

This is what was in my basket this week. No add-ons t his week, I knew I would be going out of town so I didn't want to have too much and take a risk on losing some of it. Our baskets also had some bananas but I traded mine with someone so that I got extra limes.

My plan for everything else:

Lettuce-salads and sandwiches

Celery-freeze for making stock later

Corn--Skillet Corn (as a side dish to Spicy Honey Chicken)

Tomatoes- sandwiches, salad, sliced to top Caprese Chicken

Mangos--Mango Smoothie and Mango-Chili freezer pops

Asparagus-Steamed and served with Rosemary Garlic Salmon

Potatoes-- cheesey mashed potatoes served with the Caprese Chicken

Limes--will be zested and juiced to make limeade and cut up to add to glasses of water

Nectarines and plums will be eaten as snacks

It is an abbreviated menu since I will be traveling to my Mom and Dad's. Mom will begin her chemo next week and we would appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts.

In My Garden

 Most of my plants went into the ground a little late this year so I am just now getting a lot of blooms and growing food. I thought I would show you some pictures of what I have growing.

Welcome to my garden!

My sunflower is just starting to open up. This is the first year that I have grown a lot of flowers and most of them are mixed into my garden area.

I have four raised beds in my yard,the large one has a fence on the back of it so that my climbing and vining things have a place to go. My peas were growing there, I have pulled them out and have planted lima beans in their place, I also have some morning glories growing along the fence.

My first pumpkin! I have never tried to grow pumpkins before, so I was excited to see this one.

Ahhh, tomatoes, the number one reason for gardening. Nothing in this world beats a home grown tomato. I can't wait until these start ripening.

I also have some beans! 

Lots and lots of blooms.

As I mentioned, this is my first year to try and grow a lot of flowers. I have quite a few that are mixed in with my food bearing plants. I did this hoping to attract lots of pollinators to the garden. I also decided to add a flower bed to the side of the house. I started out with an 8-foot section, but it was kind of lost on that huge fence so I decided to add two more sections for a 24-foot flower bed. The Nicodemus plants in the middle have been blooming for a couple of weeks now and I am finally starting to see some other blooms too. I know now that I need to start my flowering seeds a little earlier than I did this year. I have lots of green in that flower bed, but not a lot of color yet.

Blue Cheese Compound Butter

I went through a phase for a while where I made a lot of different compound butters and kept them in the freezer. Then for some reason, I stopped. This is my favorite, because I love blue cheese. I love to slice this on top of a steak that just came off the grill or added to grilled corn on the cob.

I start with 1 cup of softened butter, 2 tablespoons of chives, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 2-3 teaspoons of coarse ground pepper and 4 oz of crumbled cheese.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 

After everything has been mixed, pour the mixture onto a sheet of waxed paper.

Using the wax paper, I work the butter mixture into a log and then place it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes. After it starts to harden, I pull it back out and wrap a little more wax paper around it and then place it in a freezer bag, rolled to get out as much air as possible,

This also makes a great topper for a Blue Cheese Burger!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken Pizza happens to be one of my husband's favorite dishes. At first I really only made it for him, but it has really grown on me too. When we got married, a friend of mine gave me a gift card to Books a Million. She knew I loved cook books and she didn't want to even guess at a cookbook that I might not have. I found a book from The California Pizza Kitchen and knew it would be perfect since it had many of the recipes that Kip already loved. 

I started this recipe the day before I was going to make the pizza because I like to make my BBQ sauce ahead of time. I do make and can the BBQ sauce I use the most often, but the one that we like on this pizza is a little sweeter than the one I have canned.

(I also love that most of my condiments in the fridge are in mason jars!)

The next step is to cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces, cook until just done and then coat with BBQ sauce and let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.

To assemble the pizza, roll out the pizza dough to the desired thickness. Spread about 3/4-1 cup of the BBQ sauce over the surface of the crust. Top with 1/2 cup of shredded  smoked Gouda cheese and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. Arrange chicken pieces and red onion pieces over the dough. Bake at 475 degrees for 12-14 minutes. When the pizza comes out of the oven sprinkle with chopped cilantro. 

We were hungry and I forgot to take a picture of the pizza cooked and after adding the cilantro. Here is is right before going in the oven.

BBQ SAUCE

2 cups water

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup vinegar

3 tablespoons molasses

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in medium sauce pan over medium high heat and whisk till smooth.

bring mixture to a boil the reduce heat and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes until thick.

cool then store in air tight container in refrigerator.

Bountiful Basket and Weekly Menu

This is my basket that I got this week. In addition to the basic basket I also gout and Italian pack. This is pretty much all the produce I will use for the week, I love the variety, just enough of everything to make a meal and not so much that we end up eating the same thing for a week straight.

As soon as I get home with my basket, I make my meal plan for the coming week to incorporate everything so that nothing gets forgotten and wasted. I typically plan five dinners for each week, and that leaves room for a leftover night, eating out or at a friend's, or an I-am-going-to-eat-popcorn-for dinner-because-Kip-is-working-late. I also have pantry staples that I can whip up a quick meal if I need another meal. Most weeks, I also plan one dessert.

This week's menu includes:

Salmon Patties, mashed potatoes, salad

Mushroom and Swiss burgers, grilled veggie kabobs, homemade potato chips

Ginger pork, rice, broccoli

Tuscan soup, rosemary bread

Grilled steak, baked potato, salad, green beans

Since yesterday was Father's Day I cooked dinner for Kip's family, making some of his Dad's favorite dishes. We had BBQ pork sandwiches topped with hot slaw, macaroni salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and jalapeno cornbread. For dessert I made banana pudding. He was one happy Dad!

Salad Bar at Home

I love going to a good salad bar. There are so many things that you can add, and I love all the variety that they offer. There aren't that many places around me that have one, and since we don't eat out as much as we used to I decided to make one at home. No real rules here, I just chop up whatever veggies I have on hand and set them all out. It is a great way to use up left over veggies or meats too. 

I bought those containers at the Dollar General a couple of summers ago and I love them. Each of the sections come out so that I can condense them as they empty. In the summer, I eat salads for lunch most days and I can keep veggies chopped and ready for a quick lunch. I am hoping they have these again this summer because I would love to have a couple of more for fruits.

I know I eat more veggies if I don't have to take the time to cut them for every meal. 

A couple of times a month, I try and plan a night of assemble your own meals. I still do all the prep, but then whoever is here can make their dinner to suite their own taste. I do Taco night, sandwich night, build a pizza night, a potato bar, and a nacho bar. I would love more ideas if you do this sort of thing at your house!

Bountiful Basket and Meal Plan

Yippee, it is a Bountiful Basket week! This week in addition the the regular basket, I also got a picnic pack. When I get home each week, I take the time to sit down and plan my meals for the coming week. I find that if I do that, I make sure that every thing gets used and I don't find any unused food that gets forgotten and ends up in the compost bin. 

Here is how I will be using my basket this week:

Romaine and iceberg lettuce will both be used in salads and on sandwiches.

Asparagus will be steamed and served as a side dish.

Celery will be frozen for use in stock.

Bananas, apples, grapes and some of the berries will be eaten as is or in smoothies or mixed in yogurt.

Tomatoes will be used in salads and on sandwiches,

Squash will be in grilled veggie burritos.

Orange bell peppers will be in the veggie burritos, salads and some sliced for snacking.

Broccoli will be chopped for salads and steamed as a side.

Onions are used in cooking throughout the week.

Red Potatoes will be a potato dill salad on burger night.

Red Onion will be in salads and on BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Cabbage will be some type of slaw.

Watermelon will be sliced and devoured!