Chocolate Pancakes

That's right-another pancake recipe! 


Believe me, you will want to try this one.  They are not too sweet, so are perfect with the traditional butter and syrup, but would also be wonderful with strawberries and whipped cream. 


I found the recipe here. My family devoured them and I think yours will to!

Chocolate Pancakes



1 cup milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk milk, egg, and butter together and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combined, batter will be a little lumpy.

Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat until hot.

Ladle 1/3 cup batter per pancake on to hot griddle. Cook until edges are dry and batter begins to bubble. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Serve with favorite toppings.

Toasted Sub Sandwiches

Growing up in a small town in Oklahoma, we didn't have a lot of dining options.  We had a few fast food places and a few little local diners, but THE place to eat, was Pizza Hut. It was the place to go after church on Sundays or after a long day on the lake, and especially after Friday night football games. 


The thing about our Pizza Hut, is they had some options that I guess you can't find everywhere.  When we moved to Kansas City, I was very disappointed to find out I couldn't get Pan Bread(deep pan crust, smothered in garlic butter and melted mozzarella, served with marinara on the side!) or a Supreme Sandwich, which was a toasty, melty sub sandwich with ham, salami and mozzarella cheese, drenched in creamy Italian salad dressing. So, after a few years without, I decided could make them at home.  


We have changed up the meats and cheeses a little, and instead of individual loaves, I use a big loaf of bread and cut it up into individual servings(just because it's easier), but the over-all result is still very close. My family LOVES them!

Toasted Sub Sandwiches


1 large loaf of bread(french or italian)
1/2-1 lb deli ham of choice
1/2 lb deli hard salami
1/4 lb cheese (mozzarella or we used jalapeño    
                       colby/jack)
shredded lettuce
sliced tomatoes
sliced purple onion
creamy Italian salad dressing(we prefer kraft)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Slice bread lengthwise and place on a cookie sheet.
Cover one side of bread with desired amount of ham, then top with salami(I also had some left-over pepperoni that I used this time).


Cover the other slice of bread with cheese.


Place in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes, then turn oven to broil.  Watch the sandwich very closely until the bread and meat are toasted and the cheese is melted.


Remove from oven, top with lettuce, tomatoes and onion. Drizzle dressing over the top and very carefully, assemble the sandwich.


Slice into servings and serve with Ruffle's potato chips, a pickle and extra dressing for dipping.

French Dip Sandwiches

 I started working full-time last fall and have been in a constant search for easy(but still tasty) recipes ever since.  I love the idea of using my slow cooker for during the week. Throwing it in in the morning and having it ready when I get home is wonderful, but I'm somewhat anti cream-of-anything soup, so that limits me a lot! 


Well, I've been looking at various recipes for french dip and decided to give it a try.  Now, I'm also not usually a big fan of roast. I know, it's kind of un-American, but I have never been real crazy about it.  Even still, I was willing to give it a try.


It was great!


I spruced the sandwiches up a little, by adding sautéed onions and cheese, and we devoured them.


Easy AND yummy! This will definitely be a regular weeknight favorite for us. 

French Dip Sandwiches


For the beef
1 beef rump roast (mine was about 4 lbs)
2 Tbls beef bouillon granules
2 Tbls dried rosemary
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 pkg dried french onion soup mix
2 Tbls soy sauce
1(12 oz) bottle of beer (you could use wine or beef 
                                    stock as a substitute)
water


Trim excess fat from roast and place in slow cooker.  Sprinkle bouillon, rosemary, sugar, and soup mix over roast. Pour in soy sauce and beer(or beef stock) and add water to just short of covering the beef.
Cook on low 6-8 hours or until beef falls apart.
Reserve juices or "au jus" for dipping.


For Sandiches
French dip beef, shredded
provolone cheese
sautéed onions
French rolls (or any "sturdy" bread that can stand up to the au jus)


Toast rolls if desired and top with beef, onions and cheese. Serve with au jus dip on the side. 

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

One of my favorite things to cook from, is my Southern Living cookbook. Pretty much everything I've made out of it has been a hit.


This is one of my favorite desserts from the book.  It's always a crowd pleaser and is just wonderful.  Plus, you can make as-is, or add lemon, or other flavoring to "jazz" it up a bit.  Add a little whipped cream and berries to the finished product, and oh-my-goodness, it is like summer on a plate.


The one pictured, has some lemon juice added to the batter and topped with a lemon glaze. Makes my mouth water, just thinking about it.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake


1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

(1/4 cup lemon juice if you want to make a lemon cake)

Preheat oven to 300°F.  Use an electric mixer to mix both butter and cream cheese until creamy.  Gradually add sugar and beat for 5 minutes, then add eggs one at a time, allowing each to incorporate before adding more.  Stir in lemon and vanilla.  Sift flour and salt and add gradually to the mixer, beating until well blended.  Pour batter into a well greased and floured bundt pan or tube cake pan.  Bake cake at 300 for an hour and 45 minutes, or until a toothpick can be removed cleanly.  Place pan on a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and complete cooling on the wire rack.

Lemon Glaze

1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind

In a small bowl, whisk ingredients together until smooth. Add sugar or lemon juice for desired consistency. Drizzle over cake.

Pizza Night

I've done a couple of posts on pizza already, so this isn't some major, new thing, but I thought it was really good and wanted to share it.


One of our favorite pizza places on the planet is Hideaway Pizza, in Tulsa, Ok.  We love the "Tulsa Hurricane" pizza, which is loaded with canadian bacon, bacon, onion, bell pepper, pineapple and jalapeños. I just love the combination of sweet with savory and a little bit of heat.  


Sadly, we don't make it back to Tulsa very often, but we do our best to recreate our favorite pizza whenever we can.  Usually, we just order that combination on our pizza at our local pizza places, but that can get really pricey, really fast.  So we took a shot at making it a home.


I just used my super-easy beer crust and a simple sauce recipe and substituted pepperoni for the canadian bacon.  Not quite the same as Hideaway, but it was pretty easy and gave us a little taste of what we were missing. 


I also made another crust, topped it with a little butter, sugar and cinnamon, and had a great little dessert to have after dinner.

I really need to remember to make pizza more often. It is so much easier than I want to think it is! It's also so much cheeper than ordering out, and doesn't taste too bad either.






   Here's the recipe...


Pizza


1/2 of my beer crust dough
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella 
15-20 slices pepperoni
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup pineapple pieces
1/8-1/4 cup jarred jalapeño slices, chopped
olive oil


Lightly grease a pizza pan or cookie sheet with olive oil.  Spread the dough out with fingers to desired thickness (remember that the dough will rise a bit while cooking). Spread sauce over pizza, layer with the remaining ingredients and bake at 400 degrees for 20 min.


Cinnamon Sticks


1/2 beer crust dough
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
icing (recipe follows)


Spread dough out onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Spread butter onto crust. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake in 400 degree oven for 10-15 min.
Remove from oven, cool for 5 minutes and drizzle with icing.


Icing for Cinnamon Sticks


1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
small splash of vanilla extract


Whisk ingredients until smooth. Add more sugar or milk to get desired consistency. 

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

It's been awhile! I somehow have misplaced the battery charger for my camera, and since I can't charge my camera, I can't take pics. So, I basically haven't been posting recipes because of that.  Well, I'm about to order another charger online, but in the meantime I'll just have to use the camera on my phone.  It's just really frustrating because I'm a lousy photographer with a good camera, much less with a crappy camera! Hopefully I can still make the food look edible.

Anyway, I made these wonderful pancakes for "brinner" the other night. They are the perfect way to celebrate fall. Bursting with pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, they are delicious and have become a fall tradition in my house.  Add chocolate chips and toasted pecans and they are heavenly!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
(adapted from Pinch My Salt)



3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons brown sugar

*chocolate chips (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the first eight ingredients (whole wheat flour through nutmeg). In a separate bowl, whisk together the last six ingredients (buttermilk through brown sugar).

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Small lumps are ok. If batter seems too thick to pour, you can gently stir in a little more buttermilk.

Drop pancakes by 1/4 measuring cup onto a hot griddle. If you want to add chocolate chips, sprinkle a few over the cooking pancake. Pancakes are ready to turn when the edges start to look a little dry and you can see small bubbles forming on the surface. Flip and cook until golden brown.

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

I hope everyone is enjoying these precious last days of summer. My boys went back to school today, and my preschool started yesterday, so ours is somewhat over, but I am hanging on to the official season for dear life.

I decided to make a little treat for the preschool staff yesterday, to kick off the start of the school year.  I had some blueberries and some buttermilk that needed to be used, so I searched the web and found this recipe. 


The beauty of this recipe is you can use any berries you like and you can change up the citrus zest to create some yummy combinations.  They are moist and fluffy and were wonderful with my iced coffee!

Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins
(adapted from Joy of Baking. Original recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly Best Food Cookbook)



Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange or lemon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh or frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Position rack in center of oven. Line with paper liners, or grease,  12 - 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 inch muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.

In another large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and zest. Gently fold in the berries. With a rubber spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be tough.

Fill each muffin cup almost full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rackand let cool for about 5 - 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Note: If using frozen berries you may have to bake the muffins a little longer than the stated time.