Delicious Buttermilk Pancakes

I have been making pancakes from scratch for my kids since they were babies.  Always chocolate chip.....

Recently, I became fascinated with buttermilk as an ingredient.  I've heard about the value of soaking chicken and pork in it, but even though "buttermilk pancakes" have been around forever, I have never made them.  So I decided to take a stab at them this morning.  Even thought the ingredients are very similar to regular pancakes, the "technique" is definitely different and very important.  You start by mixing the dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 Tbs and 1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

In a separate container, mix the milk, eggs, etc.:

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

2 eggs

3 tbs butter, melted

Here's where the technique comes in.   Do not combine the liquid and dry ingredients until you are ready to cook the pancakes.   Mix gently - don't mix too much...there will be some lumps.

Now, as I said, my kids are huge chocolate chip pancake fans, so I made the first batch that way.  After I sprinkle the chips on, I cover them with batter so the chips won't stick to the pan when you flip the pancakes.  

                                    

There is something about this batter that makes the pancakes come out so light and fluffy.

I had quite a bit of batter, and seeing as I don't like chocolate chip pancakes, I decide to make a few banana pancakes for me.  The trick to these is to slice the bananas thin because they remain very moist when the pancake is cooked, and you want the batter around the banana slices to cook thoroughly.  Just as you did for the chocolate chips, cover the banana slices with more batter before flipping.

I think these have to be my favorite.  When they are done, I sprinkle them with a little cinnamon sugar.  That, along with some maple syrup, and every bite just sends you over the edge!

My oldest daughter came to breakfast and couldn't decide which one she wanted, so she decided to have one of each.....

Needless to say, after this breakfast, none of us were hungry until dinner!  These pancakes are unforgettable!

Sausage and Wild Rice Soup

I have a recipe for chicken and wild rice soup that I have shared with you a while ago.  It is so delicious....anyone I have made it for raves about how good it is.  Last night I wondered how it would taste if I made it with something other than chicken.  I decided to try it with sweet Italian sausage.  The other substitution I made was carrots instead of mushrooms, mainly because I had no mushrooms!

So here's what you'll need....(feel free to substitute something if you don't have the exact ingredients)

• A box of your favorite wild rice, all prepared
• carrots
• onion
• garlic 
• sausage
• tarragon
• thyme
• fresh parsley
• salt and pepper
• a can of evaporated milk
• 1 box of chicken broth

All I did was cook the onion and carrots and put aside.  In the same pan, I removed the skins from the sausage and cooked it.  After draining the fat, I add the veggies back in.






Sprinkle about 2 tsps of tarragon, as well as a half tsp of thyme.  You can add salt and pepper to taste after you have added the liquid.  Chop up some fresh parsley and toss that in as well.  Add the chicken broth and evaporated milk.

Now just let it cook over low heat so that all the flavors can meld together.  I like this soup to be slightly thick, so I add a little mixture of cornstarch and water just before serving.  You need to do this when the soup is very hot, otherwise it will not thicken.

.....and believe it or not, it's done!  So delicious and easy, and just as good as the original recipe.

Beer-marinated Grilled Chicken Legs...Yum!

I love eating chicken legs and am always on the look out for new ways to cook them or new flavors I hadn't thought of before.  The other day, I came across an interesting marinade that I decided to try.

It starts out pretty basic, with a base of olive oil, and mixture of a 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, paprika, parsley, cumin, and some salt and pepper. I put about 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper in as well.   I added 3 tbs of chopped onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic.   Now for the interesting ingredient......beer.  I slowly poured a bottle of Harpoon IPA winter lager into the olive oil mixture, slowly being the key word, because it will foam up pretty quickly.  I placed the chicken legs in a zip lock bag and poured the marinade in.  The longer they can marinade for, the better.  I was making these after work, so I probably got about 1 1/2 hours for them to soak.  Let them get to room temperature before grilling.

 The rest is history!  I've to the realization that all meat tastes better when you grill it, so no matter what the weather is, I am out there, either with an umbrella or a winter coat and hat if needed..... 

I actually served these with the acorn squash stuffed with pearl couscous .....it went really well together.

Leftovers reborn.....Stuffed Acorn Squash

    

 

Whenever I cook acorn squash, I either cut it in half and bake upside down in a pan with some water.  Once it is cooked, I turn it over and fill the inside with brown sugar and butter, somehow turning this healthy vegetable into a dessert!  I was curious how it would taste without all that butter and sugar, and came up with the idea of stuffing it.  I was going to use rice as a base, but I had some pearl couscous left over and decided that might just work. This couscous also had pine nuts in it, as well as some Parmesan cheese...perfect!

 

I cut the squash in half, painted them with melted butter and sprinkled some salt and pepper on them.  I baked them in the oven for about 20 minutes, until they were tender.

To make the stuffing, I cooked up some chopped onion.  Just before it was done, I chopped and added a few Bella mushrooms I had in the fridge, as well as two cloves of garlic.  Shut off the heat and add some fresh spinach.

I found about a cup full of leftover roasted green beans, so I cut those up and added them!  I thought some fresh mozzarella would add some interesting texture, so I cut some up and folded that in.  Another leftover I had was lamb shanks.  I diced up what I had and threw that in.  Obviously not everyone has lamb shanks on hand, so you could add possibly bacon bits or some cut up ham if you wanted to.

Spoon the stuffing mixture into the acorn squash, top with some shredded mozzarella cheese and back into the 350 oven for another 15-20 minutes.

 This was a great idea after all!

chicken pot pie lasagna?

 

I have  always wanted to try to make a lasagna that didn't consist of hamburg and tomato sauce!  I wondered what it would taste like if I made something similar to a chicken pot pie?  Well, it came out delicious! I started by cutting up carrots, onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and celery.  When they became tender, I added some thyme and tarragon, along with salt and pepper.  I had a couple of packages of Perdue Short Cuts that I used instead of going to all the trouble to cook and dice chicken breasts.

Now for the filling...which is pretty much the same as a regular lasagna, ricotta cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, fresh parsley, and a little garlic powder.   As for what kind of sauce to use, I decided to make a cream sauce and add spinach and Parmesan cheese.

 

A cream sauce is equal parts of butter and tablespoons of flour, the amount depending on how much sauce you need.  I used 3 tablespoons of each.  Over medium heat, mix the two together until a paste forms.  Let it cook a bit before you start adding your liquid.  For this sauce, I was trying to keep it healthy, so instead of using cream, I used chicken broth.  Use a whisk and stir until thickened.

I added on package of chopped spinach.  After tasting it, I thought it needed salt, pepper, tarragon, and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

And now for the fun part!  Spoon some of the sauce on the bottom...

Spread some ricotta mixture on your pasta...














Add some of your chicken mixture....








Sprinkle some shredded mozzarella cheese.....








I couldn't believe how tall it came out!  I end the top with ricotta and sauce.  If you finish with the pasta, it simply dries out in the oven.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes, until the pasta is cooked.

 

Voila!  I have to say, it came out delicious.  (I couldn't decide which picture to use, so I left both of them!)

The fun part about this dish is you can use whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand.  You could spice it up by using  a pepper jack cheese instead of mozzarella.  Don't be afraid to use your imagination!

Pork Tenderloin with a rice and goat cheese stuffing

This is probably the third or fourth version of stuffed pork tenderloin I have shared with everyone.  As you can tell by now, I really love to cook tenderloins and am constantly striving to come up with a new twist.  Tonight I think I have!  I made use of leftover rice, goat cheese, spinach, and ham this time.  Hopefully I can walk you through how easy this was....

 Sautee about two shallots and a couple of cloves of garlic in a little olive oil.  When they are done, throw in some diced ham (or whatever you might have left over that you think might taste good), just to take the chill off.  Add your fresh spinach and some cut up goat cheese.   This cheese was perfect because it was covered with spiced cranberries.  Gently mix everything together and add some shredded Parmesan cheese and a couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise, which will help hold the stuffing together.  As far as seasons go, I only used a little thyme, salt and pepper...there was plenty of flavor in the ham, goat cheese, onion and garlic.

Take your tenderloin, remove the silver tendon, and butterfly open.  Use a meat mallet to flatten it out.  Spoon the stuffing onto the pork.

Once you get the stuffing stuffed, use some twine, tie the tenderloin up and brown on all sides..

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Pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  The only thing left is to cook a vegetable, and in this case, I had asparagus to broil.  I seasoned them with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, put them on a baking dish and sprinkled them with olive oil and parammesan.  They only took about 15 minutes, give or take.                                                                               

well, there you have it.  Sorry I disappeared for a while...Sometimes it gets really hard to juggle work, home, and my blog..   I really hope you try some sort of rendition of this.  It came out delicious!

I will try to be more diligent....