Pancakes

Every Saturday morning we could expect two things: pancakes and chores. Thankfully, Mom fortified us with a hearty warm breakfast before putting us to work sweeping, dusting, and scrubbing. I continued the pancake tradition in our early married life, and it has changed a little as we mix it up a bit with waffles or a bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich. But the idea is the same- Saturday morning breakfast is different and special from the rest of the week's cold cereal fare. I have been using a variation of my mom's recipe all these years, but today I decided to try out a new pancake recipe, one I found online. They were fluffy and delicious! I think we found a new favorite!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• cooking spray

Directions

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg,butter and vanilla into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Serves 2

Slow cooked Thai Pork

This recipe is A-ma-zing! I found it last week, had to make it, and I am so glad I did. It was really easy, and so delicious- everyone ate it right up. I have noted changes I made to the original recipe in italics.

Slow Cooked Thai Pork

The pork is a perfect match for the blend of teriyaki,peanut and lime sauce, with just a little spicy kick.

Ingredients:

2 pounds boned pork loin, cut 4 pieces
2 cups julienne-cut red bell pepper (I used 2 whole red peppers)
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Soy Vay "Very Very Teriyaki")
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp crushed red pepper (I used 1/2 tsp because my kids have sensitive tongues)
2 garlic cloves, minced (we like garlic, so I put in about 4 cloves- crushed)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

6 cups hot cooked basmati rice (I don't like bismati, so I used Jasmine)
1/2 cup chopped green onions (I used 1 bunch)
2 Tbsp chopped, dry-roasted peanuts
1 lime


1. Trim fat from pork and discard.

2. Place pork, bell pepper, and next 4 ingredients in an electric slow cooker (I didn't realize that the PB wasn't one of the first 4 ingredients, and mistakenly added it at this point. It still was delicious, so I'm not sure it makes a difference)

3. Cover with lid, and cook on low-heat setting 8 hours.

About an hour before you're ready to serve:

4. Cook rice. While it is cooking, remove pork from slow cooker, and coarsely chop. Add peanut butter to liquid in slow cooker; stir well to combine. Stir in pork.

5. Chop onions, put in a bowl to use as a garnish (I don't like raw onions, even if they are green, so I added them to the pot so they could cook for a little bit)

6. Chop peanuts, cut lime into wedges, and place in bowls for garnishes.

7. Serve pork on top of rice. Top each serving with onions and peanuts. Garnish with lime wedges.

Thanksgiving Recipes

The older I get, the more I appreciate Thanksgiving, and it has become one of my favorite holidays. I wonder if that is because there is no stress of shopping, no controversy, just a great meal spent with loved ones, with time for reflection on what we are thankful for. Part of what makes the meal great is the recipes that have been in our family for years. It brings back flavors of childhood, as well as memories of Thanksgivings past when certain dear faces were still seen seated around the table. One of the hardest things for me about being a newlywed was taking turns, and sharing Thanksgiving with Ed's family. I missed the hustle and bustle of our large (30+) family, the traditions, and most of all the food. I have grown accustomed to the every-other year aspect of our system, but in the off years I still miss certain dishes (even though I do bring a couple with me). This is a year with my family, and I am gong to be bringing pumpkin to the meal as well as an apple and sweet potato dish that I always seem to make, no matter which family we eat with. Among many other delicious offerings, there will be "Yai's mashed potatoes", a family favorite that my grandmother used to make in huge batches each year. I will share both of these recipes below, but I would like to know- what are your tried-and-true favorites for Thanksgiving? Post the recipe on your blog, then come back here and leave a link in the comments. I will post your links below as well.

Sweet Potatoes and Apples

4 med. cooking apples
5 med. sweet potatoes/yams
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c pecans
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Boil potatoes until tender, cool, peel, and slice in 1/4 inch rings. Peel and core apples, slice into 1'4 inch pieces. Use 9 x 11 inch dish or 2 1/2 qt casserole dish. Lay half the sweet potatoes across the bottom in rows, then apples on top in the next layer, and finishing with the remainder of potatoes. Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over the potatoes and apples. Bake at 350 for an hour.

"Yai's" Garlic Mashed Potatoes

14 medium potatoes, peeled
8 0z cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp salt
1-3 cloves of garlic, depending on taste
1 Tbsp butter
paprika

Boil potatoes, and then mash in a mixer. Add cream cheese and sour cream, and then salt and garlic. Beat until smooth and light. Spoon into a 2-3 qt. casserole dish. Sprinkle with paprika and dot with butter. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350.
(Can be prepared, frozen, and then baked when needed)

Pumpkin for Dinner!

I got this recipe from Trader Joes, and have made it twice in the past week. It is that good. Make it now, before all the pumpkins disappear!

Ingredients:
small pumpkin
tart, peeled and chopped apple
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans)
brown sugar (to taste)
2 Tbsp butter

Cut open and gut the pumpkin. Mix together the apple, raisins, nuts, and sugar, and stuff the pumpkin. Put butter on top of the mix, and then replace the pumpkin "lid". Place in baking dish and put in 350 degree oven for an hour.

The first time I made this, I followed the directions and baked it in the oven at 350 for an hour, but the pumpkin didn't completely cook, so I had to end up microwaving it. If you decide to bake it, periodically use a spoon to scrape the inside of the pumpkin. When it is soft and comes off easily it is done. It may take an hour an a half. I think it all depends on the size of the pumpkin. The second time I just ended up microwaving it on high for 5minutes at time, until I felt it was done (I think about 20 minutes total).

I served this with roasted chicken and garlic mashed potatoes.

Going Gluten Free

For some time we have been concerned with N's bowels. Around his birthday in March, things started to get pretty bad, with lots of gas pain that had him in tears. I took lactose out of his diet, and that seemed to help, although everything wasn't perfect. Then in August things started to get worse again, and it was almost like his body wasn't absorbing anything, and food was going straight through him. I thought that maybe gluten could be the culprit, so one day I just stopped giving it to him. I went out to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and bought GF cookies, pretzels, cereals, and various mixes for cookies, bread, pizza dough, waffles and other baked goods. He was such a good boy when I introduced this new diet restriction on him. I explained that in addition to his "special" milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream, he would now have "special" cereal, cookies, snacks and bread. He has never complained. He eats whatever substitution I have made, and does so cheerfully. I am just so thankful for this! I know that the Lord has his hand in it.

Anyway, within 5 days I noticed a difference, and we have never looked back. N's bowels are "normal" for the first time that I can ever remember, and it is such a blessing. Naturally, we went to the pediatrician for a consultation (coincidentally the same day Ed was in the ER for his own issues). N had a blood test taken, which came back negative for celiac disease. I actually didn't think he had celiac because his symptoms weren't that drastic, but I do believe he has a gluten sensitivity. It is the only thing that can explain this remarkable turn around.

But his not having celiac gives me a little leeway in preparing his food. True gluten intolerance calls for separate cooking utensils, pots, and bowls, as well as complete gluten removal from the diet, including trace amounts in things like vanilla extract, baking powder and other things you wouldn't neccesarily consider having gluten. It would turn our lives upside-down, and I truly feel for those families who bear the full weight of this disease. Instead, I avoid giving him things that blatantly have gluten (wheat based products), but don't worry so much about the smaller quantities in other things. Anyway, things were gong fine with just N having the GF diet. The food was more expensive, but I didn't have to buy large quantities since he is still a small boy, and I could easily prepare a small GF portion of whatever we were eating and still make dinner as usual.

But now we have decided to try out a GF diet for Ed, and things are a little more complicated, and a lot more expensive. The cost difference between GF and "normal" is quite staggering. For example, a regular 5 lb bag of flour is easily under $5. I went online to buy flour through a recommendation of a friend, and was astounded that it cost $15 for 5lbs, plus $11 shipping- that is $26, people!! I bought it because I wanted to try it out, but I am still suffering sticker shock! And that is how it is across the board- anything GF will be significantly more expensive than it's normal counterpart. It's also been harder fixing dinners that Ed and N can eat, now that I have to do a large portion of it, if not all, GF. But it seems like it is working for Ed too. He says the pain in his side is almost completely gone, and he feels normal again. Now that could be normal healing, or the effects of eating GF. We won't know for sure until he sees a specialist at the end of the month.

All of this is to say, we are still trying to figure everything out, and how eating GF is going to work in our family. Fortunately there are a lot of resources online, and many GF products available in stores in my area (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Wegman's). I am currently working on finding meals that I can easily make that are GF. For dinner tonight I didn't know what to make, and Ed suggested waffles. GF waffles do have a different taste, and I wanted something a little more substantial, although many times we do just have waffles for dinner. I found a recipe online for chicken and waffles (I thought the chicken sauce would mask any difference in waffle taste), and I thought I would try it out. I made some changes, and I had to make 2 separate batches of waffles, but it turned out really well, and it was delicious! The kids all loved it, and practically licked their plates when they were finished! Here is the recipe, with my changes in it.

Waffles with Creamed Chicken

Ingredients:
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 small onion minced
1 glove of garlic, minced/pressed
*1 small can of cream of celery soup with 1/2 can of milk
1 tablespoon Madeira or dry Sherry
waffles (see below)

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic about 3 minutes, add chicken and sauté until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add Madeira and simmer about 2 minutes. Add cream of celery, put on lid, and stove on lowest setting. Periodically stir chicken as you make waffles.

Start making waffles. The original recipe called for frozen waffles for convenience, and I like to make my own. But this time, to speed up the process, I used a mix for both regular and GF. In both mixes, to make them taste more home-made I used butter instead of oil, and buttermilk instead of regular, and it made a huge difference.

Once waffles are done, arrange 2 waffles on each plate; top with creamed chicken.

* I realize that cream of celery does have some wheat to thicken it, but it wasn't enough to bother my guys. For those of you who can't have any gluten, here is the substitute:
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons GF flour- Bob's Red Mill, or Better Batter would work
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 c of chopped celery
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add flour and whisk 1 minute. Gradually whisk in broth and cream. Add celery. Bring to boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer sauce 1 minute.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's big, red and round, but I'm not talking about that jolly old elf, I am talking about that wonderful vegetable/fruit-- the tomato! It is that time of year again when the farm is overflowing with these guys in red, orange, yellow, green, even purple! I was so excited to go yesterday because I knew that they were waiting for me! Can you tell I'm excited? Every sentence so far has an exclamation point!



There was a time when I did not regard the tomato so highly. My mom would have to force me to gag them down. Gradually I began to accept them in salads, or cooked with zuchinni, but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic. But once I got married, Ed loved eating them so much that it made me like them. Seeing him enjoy them made something click in my tastebuds and all of a sudden they were delicious! I especially liked eating them with salt, but some dressing- french or italian, would also work. But I should qualify-- the tomatoes I am talking about are the garden variety. Literally, from the garden. In July and August when tomatoes ripen is the time to eat them. In January when the grocery stores sell the garden tomatoe's anemic, mealie cousins I avoid buying them unless a recipe absolutely calls for fresh tomato. But now, now is the time for gorging on tomatoes. And that is what I did. I recently was reading someone's blog where she was raving about a cherry tomato called "sun gold", so I was excited to see them on the u-pick list at the farm. As I went down the rows, I popped them in my mouth almost as fast as I put them in my little container. They are small and incredibly sweet- they may even convince my children to eat tomatoes.
I also got 4 pounds of regular sized tomatoes that I am excited to slice open to eat with salt. Ed and I found this recipe for a BLT last summer from a Spanglish- "The World's Greatest Sandwich", and we have been waiting for tomato season to eat it again. It is soooo good. Seriously, the name fits it. Maybe tonight for dinner...

The World's Greatest Sandwich

3-4 thick slices of bacon
2 slices monterey Jack cheese
2 slices pain de campagne (rustic country loaf), toasted
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
4 slices tomato
2 leaves butter lettuce
1 teaspoon butter
1 egg


1. Cook the bacon until crisp
drain on paper towels and set aside

2. Place the slices of cheese on one slice of the toasted bread
and place in a toaster oven or under a broiler to melt the cheese.

3. Spread the other slice of toast with the mayonnaise,
top with cooked bacon, the sliced tomato and the lettuce.

4. In a nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
Fry the egg, turning over briefly when the bottom is set (keep the yolk runny)

5. Slide the finished egg on top of the lettuce.
top with the other slice of toast, melted cheese side down.
place the sandwich on a plate and slice in half, letting the yolk run down the sandwich.

Thai Chicken & Noodle Salad

I made this last week for dinner and it was a hit. It is a great dinner for the summer- not too much time over the stove.

1 1/4 lb chicken breast
Chinese rice noodles
1 Tbsp veg. oil
2 carrots sliced into ribbons
1 cucumber thinly sliced
Garnish: 1/4 cup torn fresh basil, chopped peanuts, mint leaves, scallions

Spicy Asian Dressing:
4 thinly sliced scallion whites
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 c soy sauce
1/4 c white vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp anchovy paste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Marinate chicken in 1/2 of the dressing for 1/2 hour.
2. Grill chicken or heat oil, slice chicken thinly and cook
3. Cook noodles- boil water, cook for 3 minutes, drain
4. Place noodles on plate, top with chicken, carrots, cucumbers and garnishes. Drizzle with remaining dressing to taste.

A New Season

The long anticipated day has arrived~ first pick-up for the farm! While K napped (Ed works from home on weds.) N and I drove over to meet my mom. On the way there we discussed what may (or may not) be there to pick.

"Mama? I want to pick peas. I will open them up and eat them all up!"

"That sounds really good! I love those sugar peas too."

"Yup. They are soooo good!"

"They might have strawberries too, N. That would be fun to pick, don't you think?"

"Oh yes! I loooove strawberries! And Mama? E will like them too, right? And Daddy?"

"Yes, everyone loves to eat strawberries."

"I can't wait! It will be soooo yummy!"

When we went into the Harvest House, we were very excited find that strawberries were indeed on the list for the week, but the peas were not. After picking out some beautiful chard, bok choy and lettuce, we headed out to the fields.

The strawberry patch was overflowing! We did not have to pick long to get a quart. N enjoyed snacking on the sweet berries and holding the container as my mom and I picked.

We then went over to say hi to the chickens. N was a little disappointed that we didn't have anything to feed them this time. In the past he and E have gotten into the pen and fed them their chicken feed.

Finally we stopped in at the herb garden to pick some parsley. I was amazed at how big the herbs were already-- here is N with the oregano.

Tonight we will have the chard with dinner- I have never made it before, but I am excited to try it. I plan on using this recipe.

2 (1-lb) bunches rainbow chard or red and green Swiss chard
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
toasted pine nuts to taste

Cut stems from chard (if leaves are large, cut out coarse portions of rib), then cut stems crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Stack chard leaves and roll into cylinders. Cut cylinders crosswise to make 1-inch-thick strips of leaves.
Heat butter and oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté chard stems and garlic with sea salt and pepper to taste, stirring occasionally, until slightly soft, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add chard leaves and continue to sauté, stirring frequently, until wilted. (If greens begin to brown before they wilt, sprinkle with a few drops of water.) Garnish with pine nuts.

Caramel Corn

Tonight it is my turn to bring a snack/dessert to minichurch, and so I decided on caramel popcorn. I have always loved caramel corn, but this recipe is the best I've ever had. The first time I had it was as a freshman in college. Angel's mom would make it and send it to her in big containers. Angel would bring it down to my room where we would sit on my bed eating, drinking lemonade, and talking into the night.

If you would like to try it, here is the recipe- it takes a while to make, but is totally worth the effort!

Alison, Angel, and me (notice the Country

Time lemonade on the shelf behind the bed)

Oven Caramel Corn

2 cups brown sugar

2 sticks margarine/butter

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

8-9 quarts popped corn (1 quart=4 cups)

Pop corn, don't salt, and place in a large turkey roaster (or 2 9x13 pans). Mix all the the ingredients except the soda in a medium saucepan. Stir until boiling, boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda until the foaming dies down. Pour over popped corn and stir to coat evenly. Bake at 200 for 1 1/2 hours, stir every 15 minutes to separate big clumps. Store in an airtight container.