Sunday, September 26, 2010

Pancakes! Soft Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes


I made these pancakes this morning for my little cousin. I've been wanting to use up this whole wheat pastry flour (WWPF) that has been unopened for a whole year. Initially I bought it because I watched Ellie Kreiger's Healthy Appetite on Food Network and for most of her baked goods she uses this flour. Well there have been no new episodes since March/April of 2009.

I love pancakes with scrambled eggs! That right balance of sweet and salty..yum!  I've always loved pancakes since I was a little girl, I ate them morning noon and night. A family member told me that they called me pancakes and syrup until I was 8 or 9 because I always smelled like syrup. LOL

I've nixed making boxed pancake mix a while ago. I found and tweaked this awesome old fashion Old fashioined recipe the flavor is spot on. The problems with this recipe was that it used 2 1/2 sticks of butter, 3 whole eggs and it was a little drier then I like.

I've had this buttermilk pancake recipe that I've been wanting to make a wheat version.(No worries there is a sub for the WWPF if you don't have any you will need All-Purpose Flour and Whole Wheat flour.) Well, these pancakes rival pancakes that I've had anywhere. Light, Fluffy and Moist..They are perfect.
One little problem..unless you watch them carefully, they will brown REALLY fast.  I usually make my 'cakes on med-high heat, that was too hot. I lowered the head to medium-low and still you must flip as soon as the edges are firm enough. I don't mind because I like the way darker pancakes taste but I know some people do not.

These are not my pancake recipe..But I'll still pull out the Old fashioned recipe every once in awhile ;)

The recipe is as follows:

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour Buttermilk Pancakes



Ingredients
1 1/2 Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or 3/4  cup  all-purpose flour and 3/4  cup  whole wheat flour) *sift!
3  tablespoons  sugar
1 1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1 1/2  cups  non/low-fat buttermilk (or 3/4c low/non fat sour cream and 3/4c skim milk)
1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
1  large egg
Cooking spray * I found that with my pan the pancakes came out better when I used NO oil in the pan your milage may vary depending how nonstick your pan is.


Directions:
Dry Team:  Combine and mix sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Wet Team:  Combine and mix buttermilk, oil and egg.

Add wet team to dry team and mix with whisk.

Heat pan to medium-low heat.
Add 1/4 cup batter to pan for each pancake. ( I just eyeballed it) Be careful if you make these too big, they get hard to flip..Below is my first pancake out of the batch.

Flip the pancakes as soon as the when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look firm.
Keep pancakes warm in oven on 200 degrees.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Chicken Soup's for Breakfast!



This morning I ditched my usual breakfast fare of Kashi GoLean cereal (the non-crunch kind) and Greek Yogurt for a warm bowl of chicken soup from this batch I made last week.  
   

This picture isn't too much to look at but I think it was one of my best batches of soup yet..I ended up using some baked chicken leftovers that I froze, the baked chicken was marinated in white wine, vinegar, EVOO and spices. Also, I added one carton of organic vegetable soup broth, I'm sure any vegetable soup broth would do but was on sale/clearance at a better price then the non-organic broth. After I thawed the chicken out I browned it on both sides, chopped it and added it to the soup.

  I didn't have any chicken stock or bullion cubes on hand, so the soup needed some more chicken-y flavor, so I tasted the leftover marinade, realized it was very chicken-y and added it to the soup base. It was almost perfect because it was a little too salty.. I added some more water and the end result was a hearty soup with really well developed flavor with little effort on my part. This was also the first time that I used butter in my soup. It turned out to add a slight buttery flavor that made the soup taste more flavorful.

Below is the recipe that I used that day but I will also include my original go to chicken noodle soup that I based my other chicken soup recipes from. 

Recipe.
Chicken Soup 10.10.2010

1 bone-in chicken breast (slow roasted in oven for at least an hour and chopped) OR chopped
boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked OR 2-3 medium boneless/skinless chicken thighs (or
boned and skin on)
Precooked Whole Wheat pasta
1 small onion chopped
1tsp of sage
1c  chopped red bell pepper
2 stalks of celery chopped
1/4 tsp of butter or 1 tsp EVOO
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic pressed (or chopped)
1c carrots chopped **optional (I had none on hand but it is a nice addition to any soup)
1tsp of black pepper and cayenne pepper **optional I like my soup spicy
3 chicken bouillon cubes plus 6-8 cups water 
Vegetable broth (1-3 cups) *optional 
1-2 bay leaves
On med low heat add butter/oil to the stock pot. Add onions and celery and cook until onions are almost clear, then add garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
-Add water, chicken cubes (and/or all broths you are using) sage, bay leaves, black pepper and celery (and carrot if you are using) cook on high for 10 minutes to soften the carrots and celery.
Add chopped chicken and let simmer for 10 min.
Then taste, add salt to taste and add noodles 

-chicken prep for boneless skinless thighs season each side with salt, pepper and rosemary and
saute until done
-for skinned and bone in chicken I boil the thighs in chicken broth for 10-20 min, cool, remove
meat from skin and bone then chop to prep for soup.

That's it easy peasy the most time consuming part is the chicken prep and chopping everything. 



My finished cup of soup..yum!

My original recipe:

Kemi’s Chicken & Soybean Soba Noodle soup
a really yummy chicken soup with soybeans  and smooth soba noodles (made with
buckwheat) instead of traditional noodles 

1 bone-in chicken breast (slow roasted in oven for at least an hour and chopped) OR chopped
boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked OR 2-3 medium boneless/skinless chicken thighs (or
boned and skin on)
Precooked Soba noodles (or you can use 1-2 cups of any type of precooked pasta)
1tsp of rosemary & sweet basil
2-3 bay leaves
1c chopped carrot
1c of frozen or fresh unshelled soybeans
2 stalks of celery chopped

1tsp of EVOO
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic pressed (or chopped)
1tsp of black pepper and cayenne pepper
6-8 cups of water
3 chicken bouillon cubes

On med low heat add oil to the stock pot. Add onions and cook until almost clear, then add garlic
and cook for 2-3 minutes.
-Add water, chicken cubes, rosemary, basil, bay leaves, black pepper, carrot and celery cook on
high for 10 minutes to soften the carrots and celery.
Add chopped chicken and soybeans and let simmer for 10 min.
Then taste, add salt to taste and add noodles (soba noodles are added last because they will tear
and break up if overcooked)
-chicken prep for boneless skinless thighs season each side with salt, pepper and rosemary and
saute until done
-for skinned and bone in chicken I boil the thighs in chicken broth for 10-20 min, cool, remove
meat from skin and bone then chop to prep for soup.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

First Post!


Welcome to my food blog!

I hope to document and share recipes that I like, love and find across the internets. Recipes will mostly be on the healthier side of things and my (light) use of REAL butter for cooking plus a few indulging recipes such as birthday cake from scratch and my never-ending search for the perfect cake recipe even though I rarely bakes.

I use real butter instead of cooking oil spray whenever I can. I'm not big on this organic or "natural" food movement but  using butter to very lightly coat a fry pan instead of an cooking oil spray that may have all sort of additives (such as propellant) makes more sense to me and it adds a nice flavor! Also, a stick of butter lasts for about six weeks in my kitchen..so it's less expensive, too!

I'm looking forward to sharing recipes on this blog. Here are some of my favorite recipes from my other blog

Lemon Chickpea Pasta


Food Addicts Toscana soup (their version)
Kemi's remixed Toscana Soup
-Even with my lightening mojo, it is still a hearty soup with ~170 calories per cup. You can cut down even more by lowering the number of sausages from 5 links to 2 and decreaseing the potatoes to one and cut the sausages and potato up finer to still get the same taste, but less calories.

  • 1 lb. spicy turkey Italian sausage
  • 2 medium potatoes (skin on), sliced ¼’
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp. soy bacon bits (or real bacon bits or chopped turkey bacon) 
  • **using a dash of smoked salt can also give a smokey flavor without the bacon
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 c., fresh spinach (or kale)
  • 8 ¾ c. chicken stock (I used 9 cups of water with powdered broth to taste after simmering)
  • 1 c.  skim milk (they used fat free, half and half)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Dash of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (i like my soups spicy!)
  • I added ~1 tablespoon of roux for more complex flavor and a thicker, richer broth without using the half/half

Directions

1. Cook Italian sausage in a large pot and drain the fat (if there is any) ( I like boiling the sausages and getting rid of the water/salt/fat all together)
2. Add onions and garlic in same pot and cook until aromatics are released from the garlic about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
3. Add chicken stock and potatoes and cook over medium heat until potatoes are soft.
4. Add soy bacon bits, kale* (if using spinach add at very end) and half-and-half (or skim milk) and cook another 10 minutes over a low simmer.
5. If you are using spinach add it at the end, or if using kale--when kale is soft, remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Serving size: 1 cup
Calories: 171.8
Total Fat: 5.6
Sat. Fat: 1.7 
Carbs: 20g 
Protein: 11.5g



Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
*my version inspired my TGI Friday’s red pepper pasta with sausage and chicken. I usually serve this as a side dish, but it can be made into a main dish by adding italian turkey and chicken breast.

1 container of good Alfredo Sauce
3-4 medium slices of Roasted Red Pepper
½ red onion
Some oil for sautéing
1 box of prepared Whole Wheat pasta
Parmesan cheese (for flavor/garnish)

Slice the onion and sauté for 1-2 minutes and set aside.
Heat the alfredo sauce and red peppers use a stick blender to combine. Add onions to this sauce.
Pour this over prepared pasta and mix and top with parmesan cheese.
Can be served immediately or saved for later.



Black Bean Vegetable Soup (from Allrecipes)
This is a spicy, flavorful and very versatile bean soup. I like to add one tortilla chip on top sometimes. 
I personally do not puree the beans as directed in the recipe. I keep everything whole my changes are
that I only use two cans of black beans and no pinto/kidney beans.
I add 1 tsp adobo, flour/starch to thicken, a dash of smoked salt