Brekky! Gluten Free Brown Sugar Oat Pancakes

This morning I made one of mine (and Ryan's?) favorites: Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes (ya know, like the title says).  They are a recipe from my trusty taste of home cookbook. 

there's a more recent version (or a few) i got mine from my mom when i got married in 2006



I make this recipe and the regular pancake recipe on the opposite page so often, the whole page is falling apart (it may have gotten stuck together at some point).  Like my crafty reinforced holes?



The recipe calls for 1/2 c. all purpose flour, and 1/2 c. wheat flour.  Because Ryan is gluten free, I used all gluten free flour.  Obviously, wheat flour is a little thicker, so these pancakes turned out a little thinner than usual.  I tripled the recipe because a single batch usually isn't that much, but this time I ended up with a ton!  (oops)

Here's the recipe:

(submitted by Sharon Wilson Bickett from South Carolina)

1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. oats (used gluten free ones, too, of course)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. packed brown sugar (i always try to use a little less)
1 egg
2 tbsp. vegetable oil (i use applesauce instead- i know the suggested substitution is 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce, but i just use applesauce)
1 c. buttermilk (which i, of course, NEVER have on hand.  i use the handy substitution guide in the cookbook and use 1 tbsp. lemon juice plus enough milk to make 1 c. let sit 5 minutes)

mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients separately, add together, mix until just moist, cook it up.  i used ghee to keep the pan non sticky.  i also generally just use a 1/4c. measuring cup to pour out the batter.  makes a nice not huge, not tiny pancake.  flip when they start to bubble, cook about 1 minute more.  That's that.  Yummy!  if you want to try some, i have a giant freezer bag full left over.

Din Din Tuesday: New (to us) Pork Chop Recipe

Oh, good old pinterest.  Thank goodness there's one place to find 12,000,000,000,000,000,001 amazing ideas that you'll never end up doing!  After being like, WHYYYYY do I have 5,000 things pinned that I've never done?! I decided to make 2 new boards: Done it! and Recipe's This Week.  It's helped inspire me a little to actually try some of the amazing things I see on pinterest.  Check out my boards here: http://www.pinterest.com/alexschell727/

Ryan is nice enough to do the grocery shopping on Mondays, but his idea of staples and mine are a little different.  He also likes to buy things I wouldn't even think to buy, like... pork chops.  A lot.  Don't get me wrong, they're OK.  But, I think they're usually just ok.  And easy to overcook.  And hard to think of creative ways to make (especially since the stuffed variety make me want to barf).  So, good old pinterest to the rescue, and I found this recipe, which sounded yummy (and EASY- yay)!  http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2012/11/easy-crock-pot-pork-chops.html  (Ryan and Trent don't like ranch dressing, so make sure you keep the ranch mix ingredient a secret from them, please)! (insert sneaky laugh). 

The recipe also calls for cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup.  I don't care for mushrooms, so I just doubled the cream of chicken.  And, since I mentioned staples before, let me tell you about one of my favorites.  I USED to consider canned cream of chicken soup a staple, but found a fantastic recipe for it.  (guess where)?  It's quick, easy, healthy, and can be make gluten free, if that's an issue your household has (as mine does)  http://www.milehimama.com/how-to-make-cream-of-chicken-soup/
Know this recipe, do it, love it.  Just don't make a big batch and try to freeze it.  It'll be lumpy and weird when you try to use it. 

Anyway, back to the pork chops.  The ones we had were SUPER thick, so I let them cook awhile and then cut them in half.  They ended up being incredibly tender (didn't even need a knife) and very tasty.  Trent was disappointed there weren't seconds available (and didn't even notice the ranch flavor that he doesn't like).  I served them with some giant "baked" (microwaved) potatoes (dinner prep time was cut short by the arrival and overstay of some vacuum salesmen- no I don't want a $1300 vacuum, but come on in and waste an hour + of my day, won't you?  They were nice kids, but I wish I had just not opened the door.  I'll be putting up a no soliciting sign soon)!  As far as pork chops go, they were pretty darn good, definitely better than just ok!  And, of course, who doesn't love a nice, toss it in the crock pot and forget it recipe.  The only thing was that, due to my soup being frozen prior to using (I did heat it up in a saucepan, but it was chunky and weird), the sauce wasn't usable as a gravy as the recipe suggests.  I'll make it with fresh soup next time and update how it turns out.

Din Din Monday: Breakky for Din Din, Omelet's

Omelet's are my breakfast specialty.  I figured out how to make them by myself when I was 10 to surprise my mom on mother's day.  Over the years, I have fine tuned the process so that I do make a pretty darn good, fluffy omelets, if I do say so myself.  For dinner on Monday, I decided to make omelet's since they are quick and easy, and I was feeling kind of lazy (again)

seriously, WHAT is wrong with me?

There are a few secrets I like to use to make sure the omelet's turn out fluffy and delicious.  The first is to make sure the pan is not too hot.  I like them well done, but not burned.  If you cook them longer on slightly lower heat, they become solid without becoming dry and overdone.  Secondly, mix plenty of milk in with the eggs.  You don't want to use too much, but definitely more than just a little splash.  Next, you gotta whisk the eggs and milk like crazy.  If you mix the eggs really well, you'll work up a nice hearty, creamy consistency.  The forth tip is to stir up the eggs- gently- when you first poor them into the pan.  Be careful to avoid the edges, because they cook up first and you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs. 

it still happens to me sometimes...

But if you stir them around gently for the first minute or so, they cook up very nicely.  Next, I know many people just cook their omelet's on one side, and that is fine, but can run the risk of being raw in the middle.  I like to flip mine.  This can be tricky, especially if you are using a big pan or making a couple in the pan so the egg mixture is thick.  On Monday,  I was using a large pan with 8 eggs (2 for each of the 4 of us), so I had to wait until the eggs were pretty solid, then cut the egg mix into 4 pieces and flipped separately.  Lastly, you have to have to baste your omelet's to make them super fluffy (and to make the cheese melty and delicious).  I just splash some water in, put on a well fitting lid, and let them be for a couple of minutes.  If you overdo it during the basting process, your eggs can take on a greenish hue, so keep an eye on them.  Once they start rising and looking fluffy, they should be perfect.  The only other tip I have is that if you're using meat or veggies in your omelet, to sautee them up first until they're nice and brown.  I used ham in ours and browned it up in the pan first, it made the meat less slimy and uncooked seeming and gave a nice flavor to the pan before I added the eggs.

not my pic, but looks very similar

spinach dip twice baked potatoes

Last night for dinner I made twice baked potatoes. 

They were AMAZING.  Because they are so time consuming, I made up a bunch, hoping there would be leftovers, but we only had 2 left over (And SO WHAT if I ate one today for breakfast)???  When you have teenaged(ish) kids in the house, triple batches of food frequently end up NOT providing left overs.  Oh, well, at the least the kids liked them.  They are not difficult to make but they do take about 2 hours total- 90 minutes for baking; who knows how long to scoop out the potato guts and blend with cheese, milk, salt, pepper, and sour cream, then refill.  Once again, because I did not plan my menu ahead for the week, I didn't have everything I needed for them.  (I swear this is not typically how dinner time goes)!  Instead of using sour cream for the filling, I used cream cheese because it's all I had on hand.  Then, a BRILLIANT idea came to me!

soooo smart!

What ALSO contains cream cheese and is one of my favorite things EVER?!  That's right, spinach artichoke dip!  (see below for my favorite recipe).  I CANNOT wait to try making spinach dip twice baked potatoes.  That's right, spinach dip twice baked potatoes.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  (Yes, I'm sure it's probably been done before, but I'm sure mine will be the best).  The recipe I am going to try first will be to mix the potato guts with a hearty portion of spin dip, refill, and then top with tons of parmesan cheese, warming until the tops are golden brown and delicious.  You can expect an update next week on how it goes, I know you have to be almost as excited as I am for this one.  They're gonna be soooooo gooooooooooooooooood.



Alex's Favorite Spin Dip Recipe:

In a food processor, mix the following:

* 1/2 jar roasted red peppers, drained (optional, but better with)
* 1 8oz package cream cheese (not fat free, but 1/3 less fat turns out fine)
* 1 8oz container sour cream
* 1 15oz can small artichoke hearts, mostly drained.  I add in about 1/3 of the juice
* 1 tbsp. brown mustard or 1 tsp dry mustard
* 2 heaping handfuls finely chopped FRESH spinach
* at least 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I'm not really an exact measurement kind of cook, most recipes call for only 1/4 cup, I like to be nice and liberal with the cheese)

blend up until well mixed, transfer to glass baking dish, bake uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through, until top begins to brown

it's delicious.  serve with crackers or bread (or in a bread bowl, my favorite) if you want to be sheerly indulgent or with veggies for a healthy(ish) option.

most favorite



 

deviled eggs

ANOTHER lazy dinner, this time of brats and canned baked beans.  Yeeesh.  I promise one of these first days (tomorrow, perhaps???) I'll actually make something delicious, nutritious, and/or creative.  Hopefully all of the above.  Today, however, I was in an uninspired, nothing sounds good type of mood, so I went with quick and easy.  I did, however, also prepare some deviled eggs to go along with our easy, boring meal.  How come I always forget that making deviled eggs is way more complicated time consuming than I think it will be?  And WHAT is with peeling the stupid things?  I even put plenty of salt in the water because that's supposed to make the process easy.  Whoever put that advice on pinterest was wrong (or else I screwed up, which simply can't be the best explanation).  After literally demolishing 3 eggs, I FINALLY figured out that if you just give the egg one good whack on the bottom, the rest of the shell comes off relatively easily.  So the next 3 came out pretty ok, except they were dyed easter eggs, so they ended up making my fingers blue and pink and some of the white of the egg actually was dyed, but that's ok.  I found it preferable to cutting my fingertips on tiny shards of eggshell that also took chunks of white with it.  After I got the yolks scooped out and set aside, I remembered I didn't have mayo because I hate it and don't usually keep it on hand.  Oops.  I substituted a hearty squirt of ranch dressing, and no one was the wiser.  A sprinkle of paprika (not chili powder, which is what I almost used by mistake), and they turned out pretty tasty.

Normally, I'd use a frosting bag and fancy tip if I were taking the eggs to a party or family gathering, but since it was just for the kids and me, I went with the ultra unfancy method of using a spoon and my finger to refill the yolk mixture. 

Didn't our Easter eggs turn out pretty?  The kids had a competition over who could make the more pink egg, looks like a tie to me.  What do you think?

lazy burgers

In an effort to be  simple lazy, I made very basic hamburgers tonight. I took my little square package of hamburger, cut the whole thing into 4 squares, smooshed em down, and that was that. No burger is complete without garlic salt and pepper, so I sprinkled some on and let them be.

I've been trying to eat well but we had fries in the freezer so you know that's what I made to go along with the burgers.  They're healthy if you pan fry them in ghee, right? RIGHT?? Since I started them from frozen after I started the burgers, I needed a lid for them, but OF COURSE I didn't have one to fit the pan I was using. I was just talking yesterday about how I never use my wok, but today the lid came in handy, if too big.

i toasted some bread (because why would i have buns)? And dinner was pretty delish. The dog REALLY wanted me to share!

The smallest eater ended up with the biggest burger because she "had the biggest appetite".

Makes me wish i was still young and skinny with a big appetite! All in all a yummy meal.