PANCAKE WEEK

I am so excited about pancakes after spending time at L's parents' home, eating delicious pancakes (Swedish pancakes and oatmeal pancakes).  I also got a thrill when I cracked open my newest Runner's World, and there was a whole page full of pancakes.

You know what this means: I plan to eat pancakes. And a lot of them.  All week long.

For you, this means: pancake recipes!  (More pancake recipes, anyway.  Here's a link to all my posts where I've talked about pancakes or given you pancake recipes).

Pancakes are so good.  They are quick (generally), infinitely modifiable, and have the potential for as many add-ins and toppings as you can dream up. And I can dream up some, believe me.  They can also be pretty hearty, meaning that when I'm in a hangry daze because I've been running ridiculous amounts, pancakes will bring me out of zombie/angry mode and back into the land of satiety.

I'll talk about the RW pancakes later (I plan to make some of the recipes, so...), but today, I threw together a batch of pancakes out of what I had on hand.  I had to go buy coffee, and a package of Bob's Red Mill barley flour was lurking in the discount bin--score!--and some overripe bananas, which are always a cheaper way to buy them. Plus, they are perfect for baking with.

I've gotten really good at just throwing things together and emerging with delicious pancakes.  It's problematic, though, because I have a hard time translating that into a usable recipe.  Here's an attempt, though:

(and, sorry...no pics this morning. I was too hangry to think about it)

Banana Barley Pancakes
Makes 8 hearty pancakes, enough for 2.5-3 people of varying appetites.

• 1/2 cup barley flour (or whole wheat or all white, or a mixture that you try)
• 1/2 cup white flour
• ~3 tbsp wheat germ
• ~2 tbsp flax meal
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• cinnamon (optional)
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• almond milk (or buttermilk and no lemon juice)--no idea on the quantity, maybe ~1 cup??
• 1 banana, chopped
• 1/4-1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

In your pancake batter bowl (or a regular one), put your flours, wheat germ, and flax meal in.  (I add things like wheat germ and flax meal to up the nutrient quotient because eating pancakes can otherwise seem like a big ol' sugar/white flour fest.)  Add in sugar, leavening, and cinnamon (and any other spices you might like).

Make a little hollow in the middle of your flour, and put egg; mix briefly.  Add some almond milk and stir, then add the lemon juice.  Continue adding almond milk until your batter is the right thin-ness--not soupy or too liquid, but smooth and pourable.  (There's not really a good way to describe the consistency. It should be relatively thin. Maybe thick like a milkshake that's drinkable with a straw! Yeah!)

Mix in your banana and walnuts, being careful not to stir it up too much (I just use a fork and stir until everything is incorporated).

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop batter onto a hot griddle and cook.  Eat with your favorite toppings: mine is yogurt and fruit, L's is sriracha and honey (which I also like. I just like yogurt more).

*********************

Think of this recipe as a playground.  I might post what seems to be my master recipe later in the week, from which you can play (though I'm sure you'll get a sense of it here).

Pancake week, y'all.  It's going to be awesome.

Weekday Pancakes

I love pancakes.  My love of pancakes has been previously documented here and here (and probably some other places).  Now, pancakes are normally a weekend, slow-day kind of breakfast, but I woke up and wanted, nay, needed pancakes.  And I had bananas.  Banana pancakes!

Joy the Baker loves pancakes every bit as much as I do, so I searched her site and came up with her Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes.  Yum.  So I whipped them up quickly this morning, and as I was getting ready for work, Lance cooked them.  (Go team!)  Together, we made lovely pancakes and shared them with another, and it was on a weekday.  Sometimes you just have to have pancakes on a weekday, and it makes the day a little more special.

I modified the recipe a bit (based on what I had in my kitchen), but these pancakes were things of beauty.  They were fluffy and delicious and ranked near my favorite oatmeal pancake in deliciousness and texture.  I may have to make these again, because they were that good.

Banana Buckwheat Pancakes
(adapted from Joy the Baker, who adapted it from The Gourmet Cookbook

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 ripe bananas, mashed

In a large bowl, combine flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder/soda, salt, egg yolks, and buttermilk.  Stir (but don't overmix! Use your dough whisk!) and let sit for at least 5 minutes to hydrate the flours.

In a small bowl, mash banana and add oil.  Add to the flour mixture.

Beat the egg whites until fluffy.  Gently fold into the batter.  If it's a little thick (mine was) add some more milk or water.

Cook them in a skillet and devour.

MOAR pancakes (espresso chocolate)

On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, I teach at 7:30 am, which requires me to get up at ridiculously early hours if I wish to be alert, caffeinated, fed, and prepared for class.  Earlier if I wish to add running or some other activity to that list.  This morning, I needed to finish reading student work so I could hand it back to them, so I made a pot of coffee, mixed up the ingredients for my pancakes, read student writing for 45 minutes, then woke L up to make today's pancakes.

He didn't even begrudge me the missed hour or so of sleep.

Today's pancakes: chocolate espresso.  I spotted the recipe in my Runner's World, and I think they will be good--in theory. Today's batch didn't taste very chocolately or espresso-y, so they need tweaked.  I'll give you the recipe and let you try it out and decide.  (They have a forum going on pancakes too...with more recipes!)

In a twist of fate (and a slight lack of ingredients), I turned these pancakes into vegan delights.  But you can feel free to substitute back in all the non-vegan ingredients you like.  The main trick was to use flax "eggs" instead of real eggs, which work effectively to bind the ingredients together and still produced a nice pancake.

In terms of filling-ness, these pancakes stuck with me almost until lunch time, so they are winners as far as that goes.  I plan to remake these (perhaps not this week) and up the espresso and chocolate flavor. Suggested adjustments are listed at the bottom of the recipe

Day 2 Pancakes: Chocolate Espresso
(adapted from recipe in the October 2012 issue of Runner's World)
Makes 16 decently sized pancakes.  Serves 8 (2 pancakes is PLENTY, believe me).

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1/3 cup barley flour (or other whole grain flour)
• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3-4 tbsp sugar (I completely forgot to add this...oops. It'll be good with it, but wasn't bad without)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1.5 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (with juice of 1/2 a lemon added to curdle. Alternately, buttermilk works)
• 1/4 cup espresso
• 2 flax "eggs" (mix 2 tbsp flax with 6 tbsp warm water. Let sit until it's gooey)

Mix dry ingredients in your batter bowl (what? You still don't have a designated batter bowl?).  Make a well, then add all your wet ingredients.  Add more water/milk if you need to thin it out a bit (or a bit more flour if you need to thicken it).  Cook it on a griddle and gobble it down hastily as you dash out the door for class/work/important appointment/to lie on the couch.

Adjustment ideas:

My main complaint is that these didn't have enough chocolate or espresso flavor. So, I might try doubling the espresso to 1/3-1/2 cup (and reducing the milk to keep liquid levels equal).  I also used instant espresso powder, so I might add some of the powder to the dry mix AND use the liquid.

I forgot the sugar, and I suspect that it might also help the chocolate/espresso flavors pop a bit.

But, more importantly, I see some potential for a chocolate/espresso syrup to top these.  If you didn't want them to have the sheen of healthfulness they have with my hippie flax eggs and my crunchy-granola whole grain flours.  If you feel extra crazy, you might try throwing CHOCOLATE CHIPS (or chopped chocolate) into the batter. Or on top. Or both.  Sometimes you have to live on the edge like that, so you may as well add whipped cream and make them dessert pancakes.  That you maybe went ahead and ate for breakfast because they have whole grains and stuff.

If you want to de-vegan these, simply use buttermilk and eggs in place of the almond milk and flax eggs.

Special Friday Pancakes

I've been off work all week, but this morning I decided to make Lance breakfast. Joy the Baker asked that we make ourselves breakfast on her behalf--and provided many tasty recipes. So I decided to pretend that today was the weekend (since Lance will be gone tomorrow anyway, and maybe part of Sunday too), and I made him breakfast.

I'm a huge fan of the pancake. You have infinite variations with toppings, with flavors, with whatever you like. Don't like syrup? (I don't). Use applesauce, cream cheese and honey, jelly, cream cheese and jelly instead! Done!

So looking over Joy's list of breakfast treats, I was drawn to her Carrot Cake Pancakes. Ahh, I thought to myself, this would be the ones that I will make for Lance--no syrup, but a cream cheese topping that will make you almost feel a little bad for eating it for breakfast.

Of course I would have to modify it slightly. I decided that from her comments that the carrot was almost a little overpowering, so I grated half an apple to make up for about 3/4 cup of grated carrot. I also used 1/2 cup of oat flour to not make them a little healthier (though these pancakes are not about being healthy--they do have carrots in them, though! That's a vegetable!), added more nuts, and reduced the sugar by a smidgen, since apples are pretty sweet. I added a bit more spice, because I love ginger and cinnamon. What came out was delightful.

Smothered in a slightly sweet cinnamon cream cheese topping, these pancakes were quite tasty. I could see myself making them again, for sure. Enjoy!


Carrot Apple Pancakes
(adapted from Joy the Baker who adapted them from the Food Network)

Makes 8-10 pancakes

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour*
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• dash nutmeg
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1-1/4 cup finely grated carrot
• 1/2 large apple, grated (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 recipe Cream Cheese Spread (found on Joy's original post)
  

In large bowl, mix together flours, nuts, baking powder, spices, and sugar. In a smaller bowl, combine the egg, milk, carrot and apple, and vanilla.

Get a skillet heating. Put a splash of oil in the bottom to make sure your pancakes won't stick. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing well with a spoon to make sure you get all the flour off the bottom (always a problem with me). I always use one of my dirty measuring cups (the 1/4 cup works fantastically) to measure out the batter onto the skillet--I like smaller pancakes because they're easier to flip. And cuter.

Try not to cook the pancakes too hot, or your carrots will be very raw. I have a gas stove, so a nice medium-low flame works great. Let the pancakes cool for a minute, then stack 'em and slather the layers with the cream cheese spread. Enjoy!

*You can use whole wheat pastry, or just all purpose, if that's what you've got.

Savory Pancakes

I love pancakes.  I am, in fact, plotting a Pancake Fest, in which I will whip out several varieties of pancakes and feed lots of people.  (Booze, waffles, and breakfast meats will also be available).  Pancakes, however, are something that I can't eat daily for breakfast.  Something about all the sugar or something--basically, I end up hungry two hours later.

Lately my breakfast routine has been a bit rushed or dull.  I eat some fruit, and then I get a muffin from the coffee shop.  Not exactly healthy, so I obviously needed to shake up my breakfast choices.  I read somewhere that eating more protein keeps you fuller longer.  Since I'm a vegetarian, I can't really eat any meat, and while I like eggs, I usually want something else with them and too much animal fat (eggs, butter, etc) upsets my stomach. (Yes, I'm picky)

Then I remembered The Hungry Tiger had posted about breakfast lentils. Interesting!  I was lacking in many of her ingredients, but I liked the idea of something involving legumes and vegetables for breakfast.  I grabbed out my How to Cook Everything Vegetarian to see what Mark Bittman had to say about breakfast lentils.  Which was nothing.  However, he did have a recipe for lentil pancakes.

I didn't want to soak my lentils overnight, so I decided to use his recipe as more inspiration.  I'm pretty happy with what came out--it turns out that savory pancakes are almost as good as the traditional ones.

First, I cooked lentils and brown rice until they were done.  I had some leftover tomatoes from the shakshuka from dinner the night before, so I added a few scoops of that to the lentils/rice.  Then I added some spices, onion, green onion, mushrooms, celery, and garlic and pureed it in the food processor. It needed a bit more texture, so I added some oats, oat flour, and one egg.

Using my cupcake scoop, I scooped out portions and cooked them on the griddle until brown and toasty on each side.  I tried one, and they were delicious and, I imagine, infinitely customizable.  We tried one with salsa.  I imagine they'd even be good with a poached egg on top, if you're into that kind of thing.

Breakfast food experiment, success!

I also made this chickpea pancake (or socca) from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for dinner.  It was kinda odd, but tasty--eggy, even though it didn't have any eggs.  It was also amazingly simple and contained relatively few ingredients.  I imagine it'd make a great base for a pizza-like dish.  Seriously, this book will never get old.  If you don't own, I highly recommend it.

Lentil Pancakes
Makes 10-12

This is a VERY rough recipe. Feel free to make substitutions like mad, depending on what you're in the mood for.  I'm sure you can skip the egg if you're after a vegan dish.  (I really should measure stuff when I experiment in the kitchen, especially when it's delicious.)

• 2/3 cup uncooked lentils 
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
• diced canned tomatoes (~1/3 cup or so)
• onion and garlic, to taste
• celery
• nutritional yeast
• mushrooms
• spices, such as cumin, curry powder, chili powder, cayenne, salt and pepper, to taste
• ~1/2 cup rolled oats
• ~1/2 cup oat flour (to thicken)
• 1 egg

Cook the lentils.  When the water begins to boil, add the brown rice (I just tossed in a handful).  Cook until lentils/rice are done.  Drain off excess liquid, if any.  Add the tomatoes.  Let mixture cool to room temperature, then puree in a food processor with onion, garlic, and celery (I'm sure some carrots would be good--I tossed in some chopped mushrooms).  Add oats, flour, and egg, and puree.  Add salt/pepper and spices to taste.  Scoop out and cook on a griddle like a pancake and eat with whatever you think will taste good.  I suspect ketchup, chopped tomatoes, a poached egg, greens, a mixture of the above, or anything else would go well.

Chickpea Pancake (Socca or Farinata)
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Feel free to substitute other flavors for the onion and rosemary.  The original called for regular onion, but I used that in my lentil pancakes.  It makes a pancake that is eggy in texture and would be a good pizza-like base--simply cook, then add toppings and finish baking, instead of broiling.

• 1 cup chickpea flour (also known as gram or besan flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper, to taste
• olive oil
• green onion, whites and greens, sliced
• fresh rosemary leaves

Put 1.5 cups warm water in a bowl and sift the chickpea flour into the water (else it'll be super lumpy).Add the salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp of olive oil together.  Cover with a towel and let stand for a few minutes or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 450.  Put ~2 tbsp olive oil into a cast iron skillet (oh, skillet!) and heat on the stove top until the oil and pan are hot (just like making cornbread, if you're a good Southerner).  Stir in the onion and rosemary (or whatever) and pour the batter into the hot skillet.  Put in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the pancake is firm and the edges are set.

Preheat the broiler.  Brush the top of the pancake with a bit more oil (which I forgot, and it totally turned out okay) and broil for a minute or two, or until brown spots appear.  Cut it up and eat it with salsa or whatever you want!

Day 4: Kitchen Experiments

I love pancakes.  When my friend K posted this link to a recipe for pumpkin "Paleo" pancakes, I was intrigued.  While I generally have little interest in the Paleo diet (a vegetarian diet seems to be the one that keeps me healthy), my desire to make the pancakes stemmed from the fact that they were so very simple. Three ingredients?  No refined grains or oils or other processed stuff?  Taste like pancakes? Let's give 'em a shot for a quick and easy dinner after yoga.

My first pancake(s) were a flop.  Big falling apart flop, so I ate them in their little crumbly pieces. And didn't take a picture, except of the batter.

Second attempt, I made just one big one in the middle of the pan and let them cook all the way through before flipping.  Much better.  And doesn't it look like a normal pancake?  Who'd know it was just pumpkin, almond butter, and an egg!

Man, they are delicious.  Extremely simple, very filling, and I felt pretty good.  I ate mine with Greek yogurt* and sliced bananas and a little drizzle of honey.

This morning, I made them for Lance and me for breakfast.  His reaction was surprise: he exclaimed that they were pretty tasty.  This morning, I mixed pumpkin and banana to make the batter and ate mine with Greek yogurt and honey.  And sure enough, they did a pretty good job of keeping me decently full until lunch time.  I'll try them again tomorrow, probably, for a post-run breakfast (also known as breakfast #2) after my 5:30am run.  Give them a try--they are easy and delicious!

Grain-Free "Paleo" Pancakes

(adapted from The Paleo Project blog)

Makes enough for one serving, but they are easily doubled for two!

• 1 banana or big scoop of pureed pumpkin (to make two servings, I used both)
• 1 egg
• 1 big spoonful of almond butter (probably around 2 tbsp)

Mash/mix/puree all ingredients together.  I used a fork and a vigorous stirring method, but if you feel like dirtying your blender/food processor, go for it.

Pour batter onto hot/greased skillet and cook until little bubbles form on the top and the edges are firm.  Flip and cook on the other side.  Put on a plate and gobble down with whatever topping suits your fancy: I'm fond of fruit, Greek yogurt, and honey myself.

*I think Paleo eaters avoid dairy, so if you're a Paleo person, find something else delicious to eat on it.  Luckily, I'm not a Paleo eater because, damn, I love me some Greek yogurt.

PUMPKIN-SPICE EVERYTHING

I'm a sucker for pumpkin, pumpkin spice, and all things that signal the advent of fall. Traditionally, I even have a few PSLs (or, my new love for last year, the pumpkin spice cold brew, which I couldn't have much of since I was incubating a human and they sort of frown on drinking too much caffeine. Although, one supposed issue with excessive caffeine consumption in pregnancy is a smaller baby, so apparently I didn't drink too much because he was a chunker). Or the cheapskate's version of a PSL, which is brewed coffee with a pump of pumpkin-spice syrup and cream. Anyway, the pandemic means I'm avoiding things like coffee shops, and if we opt to pick-up coffee, we want to support our local coffee shops instead, so no PSLs here.

However, I can make my own PSLs without having to worry about the 'rona. This past weekend, the weather turned of cold, with gray skies and rain and everything. Nearly overnight, the trees responded to this signal to either drop their leaves or change their colors, and the rain washed away the lingering smoke from the fact that the entire West is on fire because of the potent mix of climate change, mismanagement, and other problems. But I digress. For me, though, this was also a signal to initiate pumpkin-spice season.

First, I thawed out a container of pumpkin puree in the freezer, and since it was a little thin, I cooked it down a bit (this has been the best trick for making homemade puree work the best in recipes, and the flavor is fantastic!). After it cooked down and cooled, we took some of it to make vegan pumpkin waffles (from this book), and then I made my favorite pumpkin spice syrup from Oh She Glows, and pumpkin teff pancakes from this book. Oh, and I of course had to whip up some pumpkin spice to pop into my Trader Joe's jar that I've been reusing because making a spice blend is super easy and cheap.

These recipes, combined with the cooling weather, made me feel peak cozy. The pumpkin spice syrup is tasty, and you can change up the levels of spicing as you like--I added ground ginger, which ended up a bit heavy, so I added more cinnamon to offset it, and it was great. I also like adding a bit of cardamom. And you can use the pumpkin syrup in more than just coffee--I toss some on yogurt as a snack, and I used it on my pumpkin teff pancakes this morning. The preschooler also likes it with warmed milk to make a steamer for a no-caffeine pumpkin-spiced delight.

I think 2020 is the perfect year to just fully lean into the world of pumpkin spice, and I plan to do so with no hesitations.

return from the edge of nowhere

So I sorta dropped off the face of the earth for a while.  We were in full swing with Pancake Week when this tragedy occurred:

Ouch.  Anyway, that combined with an influx of work and running caused me to forget to update this lovely blog.

Oh, how did I break my phone into a million pieces? Well, somehow when I was getting my keys out for my office, it leapt from my bag, hit the railing, and landed three stories below. On rocks (face up).  I peered over the edge and observed as it lit up and thought, well, maybe not so broken.  Oh, broken. Indeed.  However, it actually still functioned, once I wrapped it in a bit of plastic that was formerly index card packaging. After three days, my friend fixed it, and there wasn't even a scratch on the LCD--amazing! (His comment: I've never seen one quite this shattered.)  I figured if this phone could survive a three story fall, I should not replace it until it absolutely dies.  It's like the cat of phones.

The rest of the post will be photographs of what I've been up to (and the remainder of pancake week).

Corn pancakes with guacamole, yogurt, and sriracha

Oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes with yogurt and bananas

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie from Oh She Glows

My first Birchbox!

Using the polish from my Birchbox--Color Club in "Tweet Me"

Pumpkin bread and vanilla bean tea (Mighty Tea, also in my Birchbox) for tea time 

Post-Winslow Half Marathon snack: boiled egg with sriracha. Long live the rooster sauce. 

This week's tea treat: blueberry cranberry bread. YUM.

Day 3: Sugar Detox

Now, don't mistake my intentions here: I'm generally an anti-dieter and anti-anything that smacks of "fad".  But when a friend told me she was doing a sugar detox, I playfully commented that I should do it with her.  She then called my bluff by sending me the guidelines and asking me to keep her company.

I thought I could do it as I went to Philly, but given the unpredictablilities of travel and food options, I thought I'd try to ease back so I didn't go through the horrible sugar withdrawals. Like many travels, though, I ended up eating pretty terribly, so by the time I got home Monday, I was ready to hit the no sugar bandwagon.  It involves cutting out all refined grains and sugars along with other sugars (though I'm not following the no-fruit thing that closely).

Day 1: not too bad.  I cooked, I ate veggies, and I didn't feel too bad.  I had a slight headache for most of the afternoon, but it was okay.

Day 2: I went to run (and forgot to eat!) but since I ate so late, I didn't have any crazy reactions. I ate some Paleo Pancakes (using sweet potato instead of banana and coconut butter instead of almond butter), and felt pretty good.  Then I cleaned and went to work...and got really cranky.  I was super tired and low on energy.  I had to go get a cup of coffee and eat a snack before I rallied, and I continued to feel really lethargic.

Funny thing though: I went to bed and slept really hard and really well.

Day 3: This is the day I decided to torture myself, apparently.  I made three batches of cookies: no-bake (for my brother who is town), raspberry pinwheels, and chocolate cookies.  I offered to also bake cupcakes for my niece's first birthday party this weekend, so that should be amusing.  Also, a friend brought me chocolate as a thank-you for helping her.  Today was the day that all was conspiring against me--you know how hard it is to not to eat cookie batter? Especially no-bake cookies?  But I refrained.  Success! (And because I got to take a little nap and work out a bit, I felt pretty good).

All-in-all, I think in a few days, I'll start feeling more energetic as I clear all the nastiness out of my system. My goal is to use this time to hopefully work toward where I can eat a bit of sweet stuff without eating too much and feeling terrible.

And now, off to take a walk!

Sharing the Table

I love hosting people at our house.  Love it.  I think it's wonderful to make things, to open our house up to other people, to invite them in and treat them like family.  L and I both really enjoy it, and this weekend has been all about having people over.  I think this will be a theme we continue all summer, especially as we look for low-cost ways to entertain and socialize.

Friday night, we had B and I over for tofu "meatballs" with pasta and sauce, alongside chard and salad.  Afterwards, we made banana "ice cream," with a little added cocoa powder and a snickerdoodle.  We had gin (with lime, mint, mixed with sparkling water for a low-cal beverage) and wine, and after dinner, we played Rummikub, one of our favorite games.  It was a delightful evening.

We scurried to clean up and went to bed.  The next morning, I got up to run 12 miles with my running group, after which I invited any who wanted to stay in for breakfast, which L was sweet enough to orchestrate.  We got home and saw this:

L had created quite a spread: fruits, coffee, honey, and my favorite oatmeal pancakes ever.  Two of my running buddies stuck around, and L and I enjoyed breakfast with them.  It was wonderful, and the perfect meal after a long, hard run.

Tonight, we hosted potluck as well.  Potluck had been on a bit of a hiatus with the busyness of the semester, so it was nice to kick it off for the summer.  We grilled out and I made this pie:

This pie is lovely and special and decadent.  It's the kind of pie where a tiny slice is plenty to leave you satisfied. (I just read somewhere that M&Ms are designed specifically to NOT leave you satisfied, so I'm happy to find a dessert that I don't immediately want to eat all of it.)

I may have ate a bit more than I wanted to this weekend, but it was nice to host people and spend more time socializing, and I tried to balance out eating more lightly, which seemed to work decently. The next few days will be a flurry of work and writing before I go on my trip next week, so this was the breather before the work of the summer kicks off.

But this pie may make a reappearance in my life...

Chocolate Espresso Silk Pie
(Adapted slightly from Chocolate Covered Katie)

• One 12.3 oz pkg. firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu works great--don't use not silken!)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder
• One 10 oz package chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% Chocolate Chips--you could use less for a less intense chocolate)
• pie shell or ramekins

Prepare your pie/tart shell (if using--you could technically plop the filling into ramekins and call it good)--blind bake until done.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave (stirring frequently and watching--you can burn chocolate in the microwave, I promise!) or in a double-boiler/bowl set over simmering water.

In a food processor, puree other ingredients until smooth.  Pour in melted chocolate and blend until smooth and combined.  Pour into shell or ramekins and chill (or eat immediately--it's pretty good).

I cut the tart into 16 pieces and that's plenty for me, though the more voracious of a chocolate eater you are, you might want a bit more.  Enjoy the pie--it's super easy, reasonably healthy, satisfying for the chocolate-lover and sweet tooth, and infinitely adaptable.  A delight!

put gourds in all the food

 It's pumpkin season! I held off, mostly, this year until it was officially Fall and the weather cooled enough to require sweaters and boots and such. Then, all the pumpkins for me. I made pumpkin spice syrup yesterday and a pumpkin spice latte.

Pumpkin spice latte in a lovely clear mug covered in mushrooms

And then because I had leftover pumpkin, I made pumpkin teff pancakes this morning. And more pumpkin recipes are on the horizon, like this pumpkin tiramisu (vegan!) from NYT Cooking, which I'll make for a book club where a few of my friends are vegan/dairy-free.

We also made this pumpkin spiced caramel corn a few weeks ago to take to a child's birthday party (outside, small group), but then our oldest kiddo got a stomach bug, so we then ended up with it all for ourselves, a dangerous thing because it's the perfect combo of buttery, sweet, salty, and spiced.

I'm looking forward to more baking and pumpkin-based treats in the upcoming weeks--the cooling temperatures make me want to be cozy and have baked goods around, so they may as well have pumpkin in them.

Handy Kitchen Tools

I have a running group that meets on Thursdays to run.  I've brought treats a couple of times, and when I was at the half-marathon last weekend, one of the guys asked for baked goods this week.  I had bananas in the freezer that I accidentally let thaw partially, so they were no good for banana soft-serve (try it! seriously!), so I decided to bake banana-black raspberry muffins.

I would give you all the recipe, but I sorta made it up based on the Basic Muffin Recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  (I really should measure things, but I am so lazy).  I'm not going to give you all a recipe, but I am going to talk about one of my favorite kitchen tools: the dough whisk.

But first, a picture of Neko, who jumped onto the stool in the kitchen to get attention (on top of my cookbook). We have trained her using peanut butter (yes, she loves peanut butter), so she associates the stool with petted, food, or treats

I first heard about the dough whisk from Chocolate & Zucchini.  Intrigued, I decided to buy one for Lance and his brother for Christmas one year.  They both bake lots of bread.  I figured if a French woman with a tiny kitchen recommended it, then maybe it wasn't too gimmicky.

Lance and his brother both praised it as very useful indeed.  Since I usually leave the bread baking to Lance, I ignored it, content that Lance used it and liked it.  Until I started using it to mix the wet and dry ingredients for muffins and quick breads.

It's marvelous.  It works 1000 times better than a regular whisk or a rubber spatula.  AND it doesn't have dough sticking to it--the batter slides off easily and quickly.  I use it to whisk together dry ingredients:

And then to mix the wet and dry together.

You know how muffin/quick bread/cake recipes always admonish you to not "overmix" or DOOM will befall your baked treat? Well, this dough whisk gently combines the ingredients.  No overmixing!

And you know how if you mix something by hand, inevitably (even while risking the dreaded overmixing!) you miss some flour or something on the bottom?  Well, the dough whisk really gets it all.  No more flour spots lurking in the middle of your perfectly whisked batter.

If you find yourself making lots of muffins, pancakes, bread, etc, I would heartily recommend adding this to your kitchen tools.  Get rid of something pointless like one of those crappy whisks, if you have a small kitchen.  You won't regret it.

I'll leave you with an image of another well-used tool in my kitchen: the 1/2 cup ice cream scoop:

PERFECT for measuring out muffin batter.  And absolutely dead-on for the amount of cupcake batter you should portion out into each cup, as I mentioned yesterday.  Another tool well-worth the cost and drawer space!

birthday magic

Today is my 31st birthday. The day itself promises to be a little subdued, but only because we had a wild adventure over the weekend.  To wit:

• sketchy-ass "winery" near Carthage that we said "no" to and drove away;
• Osceola Cheese Factory, where I ate a LOT of cheese;
• drinking champagne out of plastic cups while crammed in the backseat of a car;
• crocheting a bottle holder while drinking champagne out of plastic cups;
• using the empty bottle to test out the bottle holder (it works!);
• stopping by Red Fox Winery on the way from cheese to KC;
• asking the guy guiding our wine tasting to open a bottle of wine for the rest of the drive to KC;
• meandering around KC, drinking coffee and visiting fancy grocery stores in the P&L district;
• located new ciders for me to drink;
• drinking free champagne in the lobby of the hotel after some drama getting in;
• more wandering around, but with gelato!
• going to eat at the fabulous Extra Virgin, which was incredible
• going to the arcade at the Alamo Drafthouse, where I got my ass handed to me by all the retro games (all the iterations of PacMan, Paperboy, and this strange game where I was serving Budweiser to patrons.)
• Some sleep!
• Brunch at Succotash, which was incredible and amazing and had gluten-free pancakes
• A bit of shopping at the Trader Joe's and World Market before we hit the road;
• Locating some new GF things at Trader Joe's;
• ...and, drinking wine/cider while crammed in the backseat of the car as I crocheted a new project on the way home
• Stop at the White Oak station in Rogers (we had mentioned it on the way up)

(Lest you think we were being irresponsible, let me assure you that our driver was totally sober, and Missouri has no open container laws, so we were totally legal.)

I can't believe how much we did in two days, and it was a blast. Not only did my friends plan this incredible outing and shower me with love and affection, but I can't think of a better to celebrate my birthday than cramming five adults over 30 into a car and acting like we were barely 21.  I think it ranks in the top 5 birthdays, for sure, perhaps even one of the best in recent memory.

However, with all that fun, and because I'm 31 now, I have basically been recovering today, which means the actual day of my birthday will be much more low-key. And I'm okay with that. Balance!

Thank you, friends, for the marvelous birthday.

the missing butter

"Where's that stick of butter?" L asked me one morning as he prepared to cook breakfast.

I looked up from my reading, puzzled. "What butter?" "I had a partial stick right here, and now it's gone."  We hunted around, yet, no butter.  I queried the cats, but they revealed nothing.  We figured, however, if they'd stolen the butter (and they would if they could, greedy little monsters), that there would have been butter EVERYWHERE.  This was the good, organic butter, so we were certainly not willing to just give up.

We looked around a bit more, and with no sign of the butter, we were left scratching our heads and slightly sad that the pricey butter had vanished so thoroughly with no sign.  I thought about it, thought about a poem, and then dropped the subject.

Fast forward a few days later.  I'm working from home, L has left from a camping trip. During my work breaks, I'm cleaning as I tend to do when he goes out of town. After I finish work, I begin taking out the recycling piled high in the kitchen; I pick up a box to break it down, and LO! the butter has reemerged!

It appears only slightly scarred by the maw of whichever little furry beast knocked it off the cutting board in the first place. It must have fallen in where they could not reach, and thus it remained until I discovered it as I tried to recover from my household neglecting ways.

****
Otherwise, things were good. Day 5 of the challenge grows a bit easier, and I'm getting into the swing of things.  And I gave the new 40 minute interval strength workout online a go, and liked it! Downside: I ate way too many barre3 bars. Next week: snacks will be veggie based.

day 5
Breakfast: GF banana pancakes with yogurt and a plum
Lunch: leftover beet, chickpea, and arugula bowl
Snacks: apple, barre3 bars, dates
Dinner: Spicy Moroccan Stew (YUM)
Workout: 40 minute barre3 interval strength

Archies: 2011 Was a Year to Remember

Donna has posted her annual Archies (a list of her world's top things), which sparked me to do the same.  After all, 2011 was pretty epic.  It began with my first solo teaching gig and a wedding and finished with a pretty decent bang.  So here are my own Archies, in no particular order (except for the first):

1. Getting married. Our wedding was pretty awesome, after all.
2. Snowpocalypse 2011: Also known as the year we got married after one snowstorm and slightly before an even bigger snow storm that involved a really, really chilly night.
3. My first semester teaching.
4. PR for the half marathon: 1:56!
5. Two new nieces.
6. The return to the US of my Marine brother--just in time for the end of 2011
7. New Balance Minimus
8. This Kesha video--so bizarre.  Why are there unicorns? Why is Van der Beek wearing a bra?
9. A trip to Montana during the Arkansas heat wave.
10.  The National Writing Project Summer Institute
11. Swiss Buttercream
12. So much running--thanks to my running group!
13. Heckling at Twilight: Breaking Dawn
14. Sculpt class and yoga at Millennium Life Center
15. 100 push up challenge (and the ability to now do a "real" push up).
16. Storage units
17. CCCC
18. Wedding showers.
19. Bachelorette party
20. Dancing. (More dancing will happen in 2012)
21. Pinterest
22. Blood, Bones, and Butter--one of the best books I read this year.
23. Learning to make my own jewelry
24. HDMI cable
25. PR for a 5k: 24:30
26. PR for a 10k: 49:05
27. Getting accepted to RSA
28. Modern Family, Glee, and Mad Men
29. Designing and teaching a course
30. Nearing the end of coursework
31. Noodles (Ramen, soba, etc)
32. Pumpkin (or banana!) paleo pancakes
33. The Hunger Games
34. All the friends with their babies (there are so many!)

There are likely some more, but these are the ones that came to my mind off the top of my head, so enjoy!  I love list making--this Archie list-making is enjoyable and allows me to reflect on the year. :)

Whirlwind Weekend/Week

What, it's already Wednesday? Why, where is this week getting to!

Saturday was a birthday celebration. Mine, in fact. My wonderful pal AW offered to throw me a birthday party at her house, and I took her up on it. My brother B and sister-in-law M even came to town to hang out and attend. There were grilled foods. There was Nutella Cake. There were friends and gifts and hugs and drinks and general partying. Fun was had by all, I daresay.

I slept in on Sunday, and waited around for our visitor to arrive. I then realized that he was leaving later than anticipated, which worked out perfectly, since B and M wanted to take us out to lunch. We went and had brunch at Greenhouse Grille (yum!), where I ordered blue corn pancakes--Lance, of course, got buffalo sausage biscuits and gravy. Zoe, the little girl of B and M's friends, cried when she realized her pancake was not standard, though she liked it when she finally tried it.

Our guest finally made it, so we bummed around the house for a bit, then walked down to eat some dinner. It was nice and relaxing--and hopefully he enjoyed it, though it wasn't very exciting! Since he was leaving on Tuesday, I took a half-day on Monday, and we strolled around some more. We had every intention to go to a yarn shop, but they are closed on Mondays (sad!), so instead we spent some time at our huge used bookstore. We also took him to our weekly Monday beer night, which was also enjoyable.

And last night? Last night was for yoga. Oh, yoga. I really enjoy it, but since I am recovering from either poison ivy or poison oak, the heat and subsequent sweat made it sting and burn quite a bit. I had to excuse myself to go run it under cold water. Kathryn is continuing to be good encouragement for me to go to class, and to practice more outside of class.

I pushed myself a little harder on my backbends last night, and that felt pretty good. Last week, I didn't stand to do dropbacks because I was tired, but I decided to do them this week even though I was worn out. And they were good. My teacher even complimented me! Backbends are the one thing that I find easy in yoga--everything else is a struggle--so I look forward to them at the end of primary.

There are two ways to do them: starting on your back or from standing. The standing ones are more difficult, since you "drop back" into the position, which is scary when you've never done it. To help build up the strength and coordination to drop back, the instructor allows time for students to receive assistance: he (or she) supports your back as you lower slowly down and helps you to stand back up. I cannot explain how thrilling it is to drop back and to stand back up, even with assistance, and I look forward to being at the point in my practice to be able to do them without.

Tonight will be a bumming around the house night. I want to go for a short run and do more yoga, and then I might read! Or clean! Either way, it's time to slow down the pace of things. I love having lots to do, but I also need to balance the hectic periods with periods of quiet--something I know Lance wants too.

A Summer Cake to Beat the Heat

Every summer, I volunteer to be a "teacher buddy:" I get to hang out with three Mexican teachers who come to AR for a teacher training program.  Last night, I had them over for dinner, and I made them this cake:

It was delicious.  It's a riff off of my favorite ginger muffins from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book. I love this cookbook--it has great recipes (my favorite oatmeal pancakes are also in this book).  If you're looking for a new cookbook, get this one--it's all about breakfast!

Anyway, here's what you're wanting: the cake recipe. :)

Fresh Ginger Cake with Peaches and Whipped Cream
(from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham)

• big knob of fresh ginger, unpeeled, cut into large chunks
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• zest of one lemon
• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

• whipped cream
• powdered sugar
• vanilla
• fresh peaches
• chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8" or 9" cake pans (I used 9")

Put the ginger into a food processor/food chopper (or chop finely by hand) and chop, chop, chop.  You should have about 1/4 cup of ginger bits, but don't fret if you have too much (I'm of the opinion that a little more is better).  Put into a small saucepan with 1/4 cup of sugar and cook until the sugar melts and the mixture is heated, stirring constantly.  Set aside to cool.  When cool, mix in the lemon zest.

In a small bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.

Beat the butter and the rest of the sugar until smooth and creamy.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Add the buttermilk.  Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth (but not too much).  Add the lemon ginger mixture.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans and bake until done (about 20-25 minutes, depending on your pan).  Cool in pans briefly, then invert onto racks until completely cooled.

Meanwhile, peel and chop about three peaches.  Reserve one half to slice for the top.

Once cooled, beat the whipped cream with sugar and vanilla (to taste).  Spoon a bit on the bottom layer, then pile the chopped peaches on top.  Use the rest of the whipped cream to frost the cake, then garnish with the sliced peach half and chopped crystallized ginger.