Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

MMMMMmmmmm...I love pancakes. Any and all pancakes.
I made these on sunday as my last hurrah of pancakes for the holidays. I was looking for something different and came across these. I've never made them before, but they are indeed now my new favourite pancake. Given that I have over 20 pancake recipes that is saying something...they even trump blueberry buttermilk cornmeal pancakes. I *know*. I thought that could not happen.

They are heavenly. You MUST try them. This makes enough pancakes for 2 ravenous people...or 4 normal if you toss in some bacon and show any kind of restraint. As for us, the gluttons that we are, there was not a crumb left after...

3/4 c milk
1 T vinegar
1 T lemon juice
1 egg
2 T butter, melted
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour
2 T white sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
~1 t poppy seeds (I added a bit more as I like them)
1 t lemon zest (about 1/2 a lemon)

Stir the milk, vinegar, and lemon juice together in a small bowl and let stand 10 minutes to curdle. Then whisk an egg and add in the egg, butter, lemon zest and vanilla. In a separate larger bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds. Pour the wet into the dry and whisk a few times until the batter is free of lumps. Don't overmix. The batter will be nice and thick.
Bring the pan to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 c of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, and flip to brown the other side. Serve with syrup.

Spiced Ale? Yes please!

This isn't too foody, but I wanted to pop in and make a plug for the seasonal brew put out by Big Rock breweries this year: McNally's Winter Spice Strong Ale.
It is a yummy full bodied ale brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and a hint of ginger.
I tried some at the LB and picked some up on the spot.
It is delish.
If you get the chance, try some before it goes away...

Christmas Cookies

Been a while since I posted anywhere, but I thought I would share my Mum's recipe for vanillekipfl. These are amongst my favourite things about Christmas time. These are an Austrian tradition which she picked up from my godparents. Enjoy.

- Magnus

Vanillekipfl

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add remaining ingredients and continue beating until mixture is slightly stiff.
Form into crescents and bake @ 350 about 15 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Remove from oven to racks. Cool 5 minutes, dust with icing sugar and cool again for 15 min.

Eggnog waffles

It's eggnog season again.
Giggedy.

This weekend we started into the eggnog craze with something new: eggnog waffles.
They were very good. We had them with some maple syrup and some bananas...you probably could have thrown in some nuts too. These were yummy just as they were, although I wish I had a Belgian waffle maker so they could be extra thick and fluffy:
This makes enough for 4 hungry people, so feel free to scale it down a bit. They do freeze well though and make awesome emergency toaster breakfasts. Just saying...

2 c flour
2 c eggnog
2 large eggs - beaten
6 T vegetable oil
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

In a large bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together eggnog, eggs and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix until smooth. Cook waffles in well-greased preheated waffle iron.

I also had my first persimmon this weekend. YUM! I am trying to find an awesome persimmon recipe...I'll be back with it soon, I promise.

Enjoy!

Roasted root veggies and baked fish

Last night I had lots of work to do (what a surprise), so I made a meal that took long to bake, but required very little work from me and could be ignored...and it was SO GOOD.
In a mixing bowl I thinly sliced a few potatoes, a yam, and part of a butternut squash (cubed it because it cooks faster) and some onion. I drizzled on some olive oil and some Organic natural herb seasoning (from costco) and a bit of pepper on this, tossed it to coat and spread it out on a foil covered cookie pan and baked it for 45 minutes at 375, turning things halfway. Along with it I put a trout fillet on top of some sliced lemon and onion and sprinkled some dill and garlic on top and wrapped it in a tinfoil pouch and stuck that in the oven too.
The results was very healthy and insanely delicious - easy cleanup too. Maybe it's all the snow lately, but nothing says yum like baked squash and yams. And i love baked trout - the foil pouch kept it moist and lemony.

Mmmm...and there was more for lunch today. Bwaha!

Pirate Bakery #1: Apple Oat Muffins

In my attempt to avoid my endless assignment work (yes it really is endless) I took a muffin break. I’m really been working on healthifying some of my favourite muffins recipes. I have become a healthy pirate on the seas of deliciousness - stealing my favourite recipes and making them healthier and dare I say better than they were before. My muffiny skull and crossed wooden spoon Jolly Roger warns on comers that tasty things are coming. (yes I have been working too much...humour me).

I have done it again - scrumptious moist muffins and they're about 135 calories each…really low in fat and full of good things. A perfect snack. The only way I could improve these even more would be to swap out sugar for maple syrup, but I have no maple syrup around what can ya do…and the banana was just because I had a ripe banana…you could leave it out if you don't have one. I think it helped.

We are the Pirate Bakery. These are our muffins. Enjoy.

1 small apple peeled and chopped up

2 L brown eggs

1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce

~2T oil (a "glodge" worth. You could leave it out but it seems to add a real richness)

1 ripe banana mashed up smooth

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c white flour

2/3 c brown sugar (could cut to 1/2 if you like. I like this amount)

1 ¼ c 1% milk

1 T vanilla

1 T cinnamin

½ c wild oatmeal

1 well rounded T baking powder

½ t salt

Put oats and milk in a bowl and let sit 5 minutes. Then add everything except the flour and baking powder and mix up well with a whisk. Mix flour and b.powder together and sprinkle over top evenly, then mix until just mixed (Don't overmix or you get chewy muffins) and fill up muffin papers in the pan to the top…these don't rise too much so don't worry about overflow. I had enough for probably 13 muffins, but what can ya do? J just ate the rest of the batter. Problem solved :)

Bake for ~18-20 minutes at 375, until the tops bounce back when you tap them. Do not overbake them or you will be sad. Noone wants to be sad. Use a toothpick to check if they're done if you aren't sure - it will come out clean. And lately I usually don't do muffin papers, but for low fat muffins like this break down, swallow your environmentyness and use muffin papers…otherwise they're a real bitch to get out of the pan whole…

There you go - enjoy. I did.

Delish and good for ya.

quinoa

In my recent beginnings of Operation Uberfrau, I've also been trying to find healthier "cleaner" and more nutrition filled foods. I've read a lot of how quinoa is one of those "wonder foods". It contains a balanced set of essential amino acids and is a complete protein source for a plant food. It's higher in protein than rice and is a good source of dietary fiber,phosphorus, magnesium and iron. And it's fun to say (it's pronounced "keeenwah!!") :)
I've had quinoa for a while but never gotten around to it. I can screw up any kind of rice so I was nervous...but I finally made some up: I went to the Savvy Vegetarian and followed their instructions for quinoa and it worked perfectly: I soaked 1 cup of quinoa in hot water for 5 minutes and then drained it. I then brought it to a boil in 1 1/2 c water with a spash of olive oil and salt. I put on a lid and turned down the heat so it simmered for 15 minutes, then took it off the heat for another 5 and voila! Fluffy slightly nutty flavoured quinoa. And I must say - I love it. It's easy to cook, has a unique texture and flavour and can take the place of potatoes, rice or couscous in a lot of meals. We had it with some curried lentils and it was yummy.
I had some more last night and made up a salad with it:

1 c quinoa, cooked (ends up as about 2-3 c cooked)
1 c black beans
1 c corn
1 tomato diced
1/4 c red onion (would do with a bit less next time)
I added a dressing from 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil, some cayenne, salt, basil and pepper, as well as 2 T lemon juice, 1 t lime juice and a few splashes of rice vinegar whisked together.
Stirred that all up and had it with a homemade burger. Yum. That salad could be a meal on it's own really with some more beans tossed in.

Mmm. Quinoa.