Easiest Pancakes Ever

I woke up today craving pancakes but feeling really lazy, so I solved this problem by finding the easiest pancake recipe ever (maybe aside from Bisquick). Not only is this recipe conveniently easy to remember, you only use one bowl and you mix everything together all at once. The pancakes are super light and fluffy too.

Really Easy Pancakes (not really adapted much at all from Buttermilk Pancakes I on allrecipes.com):
Makes maybe 4 servings? I only used about 1/3 of the batter and made little pancakes but then I also don't eat that much...
-1 1/4 c all purpose flour
-1 egg
-1 1/4 c buttermilk (or part buttermilk part regular milk if you run out of buttermilk like I did, or regular milk + 2 tbs vinegar if you don't have buttermilk)
-1/4 c white sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 c veggie oil/canola oil
-pinch of salt
-splash vanilla if you're feeling fancy

-Blend or whisk everything all together
-Cook on a preheated pan (over about medium/med. low heat) until bubbles form on top, then flip until golden brown.

A Filling Salad

I like salad, I really do, but I always have a hard time just eating a salad for a meal. This is most likely because I'm a slightly picky eater...I don't like nuts, dried fruit, bell peppers of any color, olives, plain garbanzo beans (I do like hummus though), or raw broccoli. I know, I know, this is really bad. I've tried them all recently but for whatever reason, none of those things taste very good to me. I've had bean salads and those are ok, but they've never really been something I had to have again. The other day I was picking up a few things at Trader Joes and I was blown away by their sample that day. They had a salad made up of baby spinach, black lentils, champagne-pear vinaigrette, and I think raisins (which I avoided). It was delicious! Not only that, it was filling!

While I realize that most people make heartier salads by adding chicken, fish, or tofu, my problem there is that I really just don't eat meat/fake meat that often. I love it, don't get me wrong, but for some reason I just don't buy or prepare it much. I really should, and I'm going to start trying to do that, but it's really nice to have a non-meat/tofu hearty salad option.

Filling Salad (that can be adapted in many exciting ways):
-Baby spinach, or spinach plus one of those spring mixes, I just love spinach
-Feta
-Salt n pepper to taste
-A few spoonfuls cooked black lentils (I just got the kind at TJs that you can microwave)
-A ripe tomato, chopped (I used about half of one, or a little less)
-Chopped red onion, to taste
-Raspberry vinaigrette

-Combine everything in a bowl and enjoy

Wheat Bread

After making those awesome lemon meringue cupcakes, I had leftover egg yolks and didn't know what to do with them. For some reason, in my mind, the best idea was bread. Challah is the obvious choice, but I wanted something I could use for toast AND sandwiches so I finally found two wheat bread recipes that I was able to adapt and make work.

Makes 1 loaf
-1 c wheat flour
-2 c bread flour
-6 tbspns butter, softened
-1/2 c milk, scalded
-1 c water
-2 tsp dry active yeast
-1 1/4 tsp salt
-1 egg yolk
-3 tbspns honey or sugar (I did half and half)

-Scald the milk: In a small saucepan, bring milk nearly to a boil, (little bubbles will begin to form around the edges of pan). Remove immediately from heat and allow to sit without stirring or moving for about 20 minutes. A film will form on the surface of the milk. Skim this protein layer off carefully with an upside-down spoon, removing as much as possible.

-Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in water (in a large bowl), waiting until it gets bubbly
-Combine it with half of the flours, the butter, sugar/homey, and salt
-Add the egg
-Add more of the flours and the milk
-Keep mixing until the mixture is too difficult to stir, adding more flour as needed
-Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8 min, adding flour as needed to make it less sticky
-Knead until it is elastic and smooth
-Let rise in a greased bowl for an hour or two until doubled in size (or so when you poke your finger into it, the indentation stays) in a warm, draft-free room
-deflate the dough and put into a greased loaf pan (9x5)
-let rise for another hour or so
-Preheat the oven to 425
-Reduce the heat to 375 and bake for half an hour or until the crust is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.

*Keeps for about a week wrapped in foil on a counter top (although perhaps I should mention that our apartment is usually fairly chilly)

Lemon Meringue CUPCAKES

A few weeks ago it was my neighbor's birthday. He doesn't really like sweets with the exception of key lime and lemon meringue pie, so I decided to make a lemon meringue pie. I've made this before with my grandma's AWESOME recipe, so I wanted to do something slightly different this time. I found this recipe on Rachel Ray's website for lemon meringue cupcakes, and I was sold.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes (barely adapted from Rachel Ray):
Makes 12-14

-1 1/2 c all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/2 c buttermilk
-1 1/2 tablespn lemon juice (or more to taste)
-1 1/2 sticks butter
-1 c sugar
-2 tablspns lemon zest, finely grated, or however much you like
-2 eggs
-1 small jar lemon curd
For Meringue:
-4 egg whites
-2/3 c sugar

-Preheat oven to 350
-Combine flour, baking powder, salt in medium bowl
-Combine buttermilk and lemon juice in small bowl
-With an electric mixture, mix butter until creamy (about 1 min)
-Add 1 c sugar and lemon peel (and make sure you check your beaters because mine like to steal the zest from the batter and hang on to it) and beat until fluffy (about 5 min)
-Add the eggs one at a time, each time beating until well incorporated
-Alternate adding the dry mixture and the buttermilk/lemon mixture into the butter/sugar lemon until all is incorporated and batter is smooth
-Fill cupcakes about 3/4 of the way full and bake about 20 min or until a toothpick comes out clean

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the meringue...I should also note that this recipe gave me twice as much meringue as I needed, but this is a problem I often have with frosting and I still can't figure out why...
Meringue:
-in a double boiler (with the water NOT TOUCHING the bowl on top) whisk together 2/3 c sugar and the egg whites over barely simmering water
-whisk just until sugar dissolves
-remove from heat and beat on high until stiff, glossy peaks form

Once cupcakes have cooled, spread lemon curd on top and then dollop on the meringue. Place finished cupcakes on a cookie tray and broil until the meringue is golden brown on top (only a few minutes--check them often). Devour.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins

As I mentioned in before, my newest goal is to make quick, healthy breakfast things that I can grab on my way out the door. These muffins are my most successful option and I've been eating them for the last 3 days for multiple meals.

Banana-Scented Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins:
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen here and made healthier!)

Makes maybe 18 or so?

-1 c whole wheat flour
-1 c all purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tablespoon (or several generous shakes*) cinnamon
-generous shake powdered ginger*
-generous shake nutmeg*
-1-2 tablespoons butter
-1/4-1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
-1/4 c white sugar
-1/4 c brown sugar (loosely packed)...I think you could use less of both sugars but I added those before I thought about adding the banana
-1 egg
-1 c buttermilk
-1 (or 2 if you have them, and if you have 2, dial back the sugar even more) very ripe banana, mashed
-blueberries to taste (I used at least 1/2 a bag of frozen ones)

Preheat the oven to 450
-Mix the dry ingredients (flours, sugars, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl and set aside
-Mix the butter, applesauce, and egg in a smaller bowl until well mixed
-Add the buttermilk into the egg etc mixture and mix until just combined (don't overmix)
-Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just mixed
-Add in the mashed banana(s) and blueberries
-Fill muffin tins
-Bake for 10-15 min...looking at the recipe again, she suggests that you cook at 450 for 10 min, reduce heat to 400 and continue to cook 5-10 more min until a toothpick comes out dry. Woops! This is what happens when people come over when I'm cooking

*I'm too lazy to really measure out my spices since most are in little jars with small holes (meaning to measure I would have to take the plastic tops off or get spices all over my counter...wayyy too much effort all around) so I just shake some into the batter.

Banana-Blueberry Breakfast Bread!

Hello!

I have been slacking off like ca-raayy-zzayyy as my neighbor says and must catch up! I got a lovely loaf pan for Christmas, along with some other fabulous cooking items, and finally figured out what to make with it tonight!

Since I now have a sweet volunteer job (I help out at an awesome nonprofit called Playworks and get to do cool writing projects) that starts at a decent hour (9 or 9:30 am) and goes until lunchtime, I need something more substantial, but still easy, for breakfast. Cereal is great, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to have something more exciting to start off the day. Additionally, while I do love my fried eggs on toast, I don't always have time to do that (in other words, I like to sleep in as long as I can). I've been meaning to make some sort of healthy blueberry muffin, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, and in one of my more recent goals to eat everything I have before buying more, I investigated my fridge and freezer.

Well, more to be fair, my dad also suggested banana bread. I then realized I'd frozen really ripe bananas a few months ago (with the hopes of making banana dumplings that I haven't made yet...woops) and also found blueberries. Now combine this with my burning need to use my new presents and hello, you have banana-blueberry bread! I got the idea of adding blueberries both from the fact that I had them on hand, as well as with the idea of substituting them for chocolate chips to be more breakfast-y.

So here you have it: banana bread as adapted from the one on Smitten Kitchen:
-3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
-1/4 c-butter, melted
-3/4 c (or a little less) brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp (or a little less...I eyeballed it) vanilla
-1 large tablespoon bourbon (yummm)
-1 tsp baking soda
-large pinch of salt (or since I have a salt grinder--yayyy Costco!, a few grinds of salt)
-a few grinds/large pinch of black pepper
-1 large tsp cinnamon + more for drizzling on top at the end if you feel so inclined
-1/2 tsp (or a few shakes since I was getting lazy) nutmeg
-1 pinch ground cloves
-1 c flour
-1/2 c dry/uncooked oatmeal
-maybe 1/2 c frozen blueberries-->I just shook them in at the end and put in the amount I wanted...

*PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES*
1. Smash up bananas (or thaw frozen ones in the microwave and then smash) with the melted butter in a big bowl with a wooden spoon
2. Add the sugar, egg, vanilla, and bourbon to the above mixture and stir together
3. Add spices
4. Sprinkle salt and baking soda on top and mix (or do this all with the spices like I did...it tasted just fine)
5. Add the oatmeal and flour and mix
6. Add blueberries to taste
7 . Pour/scrape it into a buttered loaf pan (at least 4x8...mine is bigger and that's just fine)
8. Bake for about 45 min or until a tester comes out clean (also my oven runs hot)
9. Cool on a plate or a rack if you're cool enough to have one (I, alas, do not)

*I realize that this is not the healthiest thing ever considering the butter and sugar, HOWEVER, if I had not forgotten to get applesauce at the store, I would have switched out more of the butter for that and maybe more sugar...

**Also: this reheats best in the oven...if you use the microwave or if you just eat it cold, it gets soggy fairly quickly (probably due to the amount of fruit in it...)

Chocolate cookies

These cookies are looovely and are fabulous dipped in coffee and I would think might be so so excellent dipped into coffee...if you like coffee that is...I don't (I know, I know, I don't like coffee and am not a bacon fanatic? You must think I'm crAAAzy). Well anyway, they weren't as spicy as I was expecting (the recipe called them Cinnamon-Spiced Hot Chocolate Cookies). I added more cinnamon, which helped, but I would add more next time. Instead of the dulce de leche, I made cinnamon-and-cayenne caramel and drizzled that on top.

Cinnamon-Spiced Hot Chocolate Cookies:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Mexican cocoa powder (or substitute by adding 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons sweet butter, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons margarine* I didn't have this so instead I used more butter and a little bit of canola oil...I think it was about 2 more tblspns butter and then drizzled in the oil at the end of mixing everything together to get the dough to stay together more...
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Generous pinch ground black pepper
• Generous pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup caramel drizzle (recipe follows)
  

Directions

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly with a whisk and set aside. Combine the sugars in a small bowl and mix well with your fingers pressing out any lumps.

In a medium mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the butter and margarine until creamy. Add sugar mixture, cinnamon, peppers, and vanilla. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute. Beat in the egg white and until the mixture is smooth. Stop the mixer. Add the flour mixture, beating on the lowest speed, just until incorporated *Add oil in here as needed for the dough to stick together. Put waxed paper or plastic wrap down on your counter or table and dump the dough out on it. Gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a neat log, 9 to 10 inches long by 1 1/2 inches in diameter (or you know, just long and thin). Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap (you can use the plastic wrap/waxed paper to help get all the dough to come together, since mine was a little dry. Fold or twist ends of the paper without pinching or flatting the log. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes, or until needed.

Put the oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven (I just used the middle ones and didn't switch them half way through...) and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Use a sharp knife to slice rounds of chilled dough, a scant 1/4-inch thick. Arrange the cookies, 1-inch apart (or so), on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through. Cookies will puff and crackle on top, and then begin to settle down slightly when done.Check carefully to make sure then don't burn--use your nose--because they're really dark and it's hard to tell.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing or stacking. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 2 months.

Caramel Sauce
-1/2 c white sugar
-3 tblspns butter
-1/4 c heavy whipping cream
-tsp of cinnamon
-shake or large pinch of cayenne
-salt n peppa
*water as needed

-Heat sugar in a tall, heavy sauce pan and stir only until it starts to boil and then stop stirring (you can still swirl the pan around though)
-Once the sugar is golden, add the butter and immediately whisk until the butter is melted
-Once the butter is totally melted, remove from the heat, count to 3 and then add the cream
-Whisk until smooth
-Add in the spices and whisk
-Add salt and pepper to taste/a few shakes of salt and grinds of pepper
-Let cool a little bit and then drizzle onto the cookies and eat everything.
*If you suck at making caramel, add a 1/4-1/2 c of water to the sugar before it boils. The water has to boil off before the sugar can caramelize, so the sugar gets cooked more evenly and is less likely to burn. This does take longer, but since I always burn my caramel, I think it's worth it.
**The sauce is a little spicy but in the most addictive way.