Puffy, Fruity Pancakes

I got this recipe out of an old “cooking for two” magazine. I upped the servings to four though. It was very good and was a hit with the family! I made it for supper with a side of bacon and eggs for protein. This will be a very nice comfort food in the winter months, for sure!

4 T. of butter
4 eggs
1 C. milk
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C (EACH) blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

Divide butter between four 2-Cup round baking dishes. Place dishes on a baking sheet and place in oven that is preheated to 400-degrees. Leave dishes in oven until butter is melted. While butter is melting, in a small bowl whisk together egg, milk, lemon rind, lemon juice, extract and sugar. When well mixed slowly whisk in flour until well mixed. Pour even amounts of batter over the melted butter in the four baking dishes. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Ahead of time, clean berries and lightly sweeten if necessary (sometimes out of season berries just don’t taste quite as sweet!). Spoon cleaned and prepared berries over pancake. You may want to shake a little powdered sugar over the berries for presentation.

Homemade Finger Paint

Emma has been a little ill this week, and I am nursing a stress fracture in my ankle. So, as we are trapped inside I decided to make some fun craft supplies today. This will be the first entry in a new category called “Homemade Crafts.” I plan on making several things in the months to come.

1/2 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
food coloring

Directions

In a medium pan, mix all the ingredients together to make the finger paint. Cook over low heat 10 to 15 minutes. Keep stirring the finger paint mixture until it is smooth and thick. After the finger paint has thickened take the pan off the stove and let the mixture cool.

After cooling, divide the finger paint into storage containers depending on how many colors you would like. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container. Stir the coloring in to the paint to determine the shade of color. You’re ready to finger paint! Cover tightly when storing.

Steak Burritos

These were very delicious and satisfying. I really loved making them and always enjoy finding a recipe that can use leftovers. If you have leftover rice and steak, then this would work great. Here’s what I did and how I assembled ours.

Steak Burritos with Black Beans and Rice

Burritos:

1 medium avocado, chopped
1 8-10oz. skirt steak (grilled or cooked the way you like)
1 can black beans
1 cup left over, cooked rice (no flavor, just regular rice)
Salsa
Sour Cream
2 10-12 inch flour tortillas, warmed

Cut steak across the grain and thin. Place it on the flour shell. Pile on black beans, avocados, rice, salsa and sour cream. Roll up and slice down the center. This makes 2 large burritos of more smaller ones. You decide.

Black beans and rice — I just warmed the leftover black beans and rice from the recipe above. I put in 2 T. of salsa and topped it with sour cream on the plate.

Blueberry Chicken Salad

This is the simply the best chicken salad I have ever had. I have made it for Church suppers in the summer and it is always completely consumed! Also it is diet friendly! I got this recipe out of a Southern Living insert one year. I can’t even remember which edition it was. As you can see in the pictures below it is a very pretty and colorful salad as well.

Blueberry Chicken Salad
2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup diced sweet red pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 carton (6 oz.) lemon yogurt (I had a hard time finding plain lemon yogurt, but I used various lemon flavors successfully)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise (I used low fat sour cream instead)
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Set aside a few blueberries for garnish. In a large bowl, gently combine the chicken, celery, red pepper, onions and remaining blueberries. Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise and salt; drizzle over chicken mixture and gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve on lettuce-lined plates if desired. Top with reserved blueberries. This is really good served with croissants. Yield: 4 servings.

Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies

There are a few people in this world who do not like peanut butter cookies, or so I am told. This recipe may persuade them over to the peanut butter cookie lovers corner. Simple, soft, tasty and satisfying… just like Grandma used to make!

Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies
1/2 stick butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ t. salt
1 T. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Beat together butter, sugars, and peanut butter in the bowl of a standing mixer for 2 minutes at medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the egg.

Mix in the dry ingredients until the dough starts to come together. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, roll them in sugar and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Mark the tops with a fork, crisscrossing and pressing down slightly.

Bake for 9-10 minutes until edges start to brown. Cool 5 minutes on sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

Lemon Basil Salmon with Mushroom and Almond Wild Rice

I got this recipe from an older “Cooking for Two” magazine. The recipe itself was good, but the salmon I bought was a little less than fresh. It was good, but not as good as you would get up North on the Coast, of course. The rice is an adaptation of a recipe, and I used (admittedly) Uncle Ben’s in the bag.

2 salmon filets
2 T. butter (melted)
2 T. lemon juice (either fresh or bottled)
Salt
3 T. chopped fresh basil

Lightly salt salmon filets and set aside. Add lemon juice and basil to melted butter. Put salmon filets in heavy foil (foil made for the grill). Pour butter, lemon and basil over the fish. Cook on hot grill until salmon is done (about 20 minutes depending on thickness and heat of the grill) You can also bake these at 350 degrees covered in foil in the oven if you do not have a grill available. Bake for about the same amount of time (20-25 min).

Then….

1 bag of Uncle Ben’s Ready to Eat rice, long grain and wild rice flavor (or make your own in your prefer)
1 C. mushrooms (we love mushrooms, so you can cut back a little if you aren’t as crazy about them)
1/2 C. sliced almonds
2-4 T. butter

Melt butter in small skillet, lightly salt or season mushrooms to your liking and saute in butter. Add almonds when mushrooms are half way through (about 2-4 minutes). Add more butter as needed. When mushrooms and almonds are browned well but not soggy, add rice to skillet and heat thoroughly. Serve.

Quick and Easy Fried Rice

I whipped this up tonight and thought I would share it tonight. I made it to go with the avocado egg rolls. They were great together.

2 green onions chopped
2-4 T. sesame seed oil
4 cups cold day old rice
1 T soy sauce or Maggi’s
2 eggs scrambled and cooked soft (can cook ahead and refrigerate if you would like)

Heat sesame oil in frying pan (NOT a non-stick though) or wok over medium high heat. When oil is hot carefully add rice. Stir gently with a fork for a few minutes until rice is a little brown and warmed thoroughly — be sure to break apart any clumps of rice. Add cooked eggs to the rice and heat thoroughly. Remove from heat and add green onions (do not cook the onions) and soy/Maggi sauce to your taste. Serve immediately. This is a very tasty leftover!

Avocado Egg Rolls

I am reposting this recipe with a variation I did tonight as well as some photos. I am also including some photos of how to wrap an egg roll.

The variations I made were simple. I left the dipping sauce exactly as is. It is wonderful and tasty! What I changed was the stuff inside the rolls. I left out the dried tomatoes and put in fresh Roma tomatoes, I added crispy cooked bacon to the avocado and I left out the cilantro (but that was by mistake!). It was very tasty to say the least and it added some protein. I made fried rice to go with it. Scroll to the bottom to see the pics.

The recipe below was given to me by a friend who wanted these for her birthday one year. I made them and fell in love with them immediately. She says that they are a good knock-off from the Cheesecake Factory avocado egg rolls. I can not personally attest to that since I have never had anything from a Cheesecake Factory (Hey, I live in a po-dunk town in TN! ) Tamarind was the hardest ingredient for me to find. I did find it at a little Indian Food Store here in town. I don’t know if the sauce can do without it or not… but if you can’t find the tamarind maybe try some pureed prune in its stead.

Avocado Egg Rolls
Prep. Time: 0:30
Serves: 2-4

1 T. white vinegar
1 t.. balsamic vinegar
1/2 t. tamarind pulp
1/2 cup honey
1 pinch ground saffron (best saffron I ever found was at the same Indian Food Store!)
1/2 cup chopped cashews
2/3 cup fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic
2 green onions
1 T. granulated sugar
1 t. ground black pepper
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lrg. avocado – peeled, pitted, diced
2 T. sun-dried tomatoes in oil – chopped
1 T. minced red onion
1/2 t. chopped fresh cilantro
1 pinch salt
egg roll wrappers
1 egg – beaten

In small saucepan, over medium heat, stir together first 5 ingredients. Heat until tamarind is fully dissolved and mixture is well blended. Do not boil or over cook and stir constantly

Puree tamarind mixture, cashews, 2/3 cup cilantro, garlic, onions, sugar, pepper, and cumin in a blender or food processor.

Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in oil; refrigerate until ready to use (this can be made a day or two ahead of time… actually making it at least a day in advance gives the flavors time to blend and it has a better flavor.)

Gently fold together avocado, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 tsp. cilantro, and salt until well coated and blended.

Distribute filling evenly onto center of egg roll wrappers — should make around 4 or more depending on how full you make them.

Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up, 1/4 of the way over the filling; brush remaining corners and edges of the wrapper with egg; roll up from side to side; fold top corner over all and press to seal; repeat with remaining wrappers.

Deep-fry egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown.

Drain on brown paper bags.

Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce.

Grilled Steak Cobb Salad

The recipe below is one I got off of a craft site I used to frequent. I loved it, but changed it quite a bit. The dressing recipe was used solely as a dressing in the original recipe, but I decided to use it as a marinade for the steak, and it really turned out nice. I just used our favorite oil and vinegar dressing for the greens. There really isn’t much need for a lot of dressing. You can make the dressing early and let it blend. I think that always makes it better, and then decide how you want to use it.

Marinade/Vinaigrette:

1/2 Cup olive oil
1/3 Cup hoisin sauce
1/3 Cup chicken broth
1/3 Cup pomegranate vinegar
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. soy sauce
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. hot mustard
1/2 tsp. fresh ground white pepper

Mix all ingredients together and whisk or blend until combined well.

Salad:

3 cups mixed greens
3-4 diced tomatoes (I use and prefer Romas)
2 diced cucumbers
2 cups diced baked potatoes (next time you bake potatoes make an extra 2-3 and dice and freeze if you need)
1 cup diced red onion
1 cup of thawed frozen corn kernels
3 lbs of steak *
1-2 T. olive oil

*I decided to use another oil and vinegar dressing for the salad so I used all of the vinaigrette as a marinade.

Marinade steak in half of vinaigrette for 4 hours in the fridge. Grill steak to your liking of doneness. Heat olive oil over medium heat in skillet, and add onions and potatoes. Cook until onions are transparent and potatoes are a little crispy. You may salt and pepper these to taste. Add corn and cook until heated thoroughly. Arrange mixed greens on a platter. Scatter tomatoes and cucumbers on top, and then scatter corn and potato mixture. Slice grilled steak thinly and place on top. Serve with vinagerette or other oil and vinegar dressing of your choice.

Apple Snicker Delight

8 oz Sour Cream
8 oz Whipped Cream (either cool whip or fresh)
6 apples, diced (Granny Smith work best, but can be a combo of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious)
6 regular size SNICKERS® candy bars
Core apples, but do not peel. Cut into bite size pieces. Cut Snickers into bite size pieces and add to apples (works best if slightly frozen). Mix both creams together, and coat apples and Snickers with mixtures. It’s best to let this dessert set for a few hours to mix well before serving.