Weekly Recipe - Heidi Swanson's Multigrain Waffles

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum... that pretty much sums up these waffles. We eat these whenever we have the time for a leisurely breakfast. The batter comes together in a snap. I received this recipe in my inbox, right about the time I had started lamenting that our white flour waffles were good but not good for us. I know that this recipe is a keeper because my kids and husband like it BETTER than our white flour waffles. It is by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks where you can find TONS of healthy recipes. She has also written her own cookbooks, Super Natural which is amazing and Super Natural Everyday will be released soon. Since I have not received permission to repost Heidi's waffle recipe here on my site, I am going to just give you the link to the recipe on her site. Here it is... I just want to make note that if you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute by adding 1 T lemon juice per cup of milk. The hint of lemon flavor is lovely! Enjoy :)

Weekly Recipe - My Swedish Pancakes (Using Whole Wheat Pastry & Barley Flours)

Have you ever bought something at a yard sale or thrift shop that you could not identify? I have a thing for cast iron pans. I love them, I use them, I give them to others and hope that they will love them. At this point, I have as many cast iron pans as one household could need, a 12", a 10", a square one with ridges for grilling, and a 9" crepe pan that is thin and super light for swirling around batter in the pan. I really didn't need anymore... then one day, I came across a cast iron pan with seven recessed circles in it. And when I flipped it over, a ribbed flower pattern on the bottom (I should take a picture of the bottom...). I had no idea what it was for. I thought maybe for eggs, but thinking of my egg poaching pan I knew the wells were too shallow. I am a bit of a kitchen gadget and equipment nerd but have been stumped before. Anyway, whatever it was for, I knew it was a specialty pan like my madeleine pan and my Nordic Ware mini bundt pan. I knew I would one day figure out what it was for and kick myself for not buying it. Especially since it was $3! Plus I thought to myself, it is so flat that I can store it under the lazy Susan in the corner cabinet where I store my pots and pans...

... which is exactly where it stayed until my birthday this past November. That is the morning that I woke up thinking I wanted to make a pannekoeken, a traditional Dutch pancake that is cooked in a skillet in the oven. I have eaten them, have a great Dutch cookbook series, but have never made them. And yes, my idea of fun, on my own birthday, is to cook something I have never made first thing in the morning. I am not a morning person, but I am skilled at breakfast making, and the thought of a hot pannekoeken was all the inspiration I needed. My daughters agreed and I jumped online to find a recipe for Swedish pancakes, BECAUSE the whole time I had been thinking about making a pannekoeken, I had been calling it a Swedish pancake. I had my countries and breakfast foods mixed up, hence the reason I didn't go and look the recipe up in my Dutch cookbooks! And am I ever glad I got mixed up. In fact, I believe that my Great Grandma Gerda, from Sweden, was looking down on me that day, because as I looked at the first image that popped up from my search for "Swedish pancake" I SAW MY CAST IRON PAN!! And, I started dancing around the kitchen with my wee ones, laughing, and brandishing the pan that I NOW knew was a Swedish pancake pan! HAHAHAHA. The reason that I had never know about this pan, since my grandmother, Harriett, daughter of Gerda, did make pancakes for me, is because she just made them in a regular pan. Which you can totally do. So, no worries if you don't have a "special" pan like me, you will be a-ok, and very happy that you followed the recipe for Swedish pancakes below. I have tweaked this recipe to fit our tastes and these pancakes are different than crepes, pancakes, and pannekoeken. They are richer, thinner, but moister than a traditional pancake. Give them a whirl. They made my birthday extra special and when I spoke with my grandmother Harriett on the phone, while I was making them, they made her happy as well. She has been losing her short term memory but when I told her I was making Swedish pancakes I could hear her voice change and it was like she was back on the farm as a kid. She was excited and it touched my heart because since my grandfather died she is never very excited. As I hung up the phone I felt happy to have made her day and happy to know we can now make pancakes that will always remind me of her.

Swedish Pancakes
By Tiffany Teske
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
I use organic ingredients whenever possible.

~ 3 eggs
~ 2 T sugar
~ 1 cup milk
~ 1 cup half and half OR buttermilk (you can use all milk but they will not taste as rich)
~ 3 T melted butter
~ 1/2 tsp sea salt
~ 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
~ 1/4 cup barley flour

Directions

1. Using a wire whisk beat the eggs, sugar, milk, half & half or buttermilk, and the melted butter for one minute.
2. Slowly add the flour while continuing to mix. When the flour is completely added blend for an additional 30 seconds.

3. Heat griddle or pan. When griddle or pan is hot, grease with butter or cooking spray. Pour pancake batter in a large circle for crepe size pancakes or small silver dollar size pancakes. They will cook quickly.

Flip when the underside is golden brown and the upper side has an opaque look. They are done when both sides are a golden brown.

4. Serve hot with maple or fruit syrup, powdered sugar, applesauce or, with Lignonberries.

A Week of Birthday Posts - #1 - My Strawberry Banana Baby's First Birthday Cake

"A whole cake?! What is going on here? Do you REALLY want me to eat this?!"

Both of my daughters and my husband have birthdays in the same week (lucky me, I am in November). This means there was a lot of cooking, baking, crafting, and party throwing going on last week. I will be posting some photos, how-tos, and recipes to share with you during the coming week.

Emmanuelle, our baby, turned ONE last week! A very exciting time which has included three new teeth (bringing the total to 7), walking her first steps, and surprising us with new skills every time we turn around. For her first birthday cake, I wanted something that was healthy or at least healthier than something from a big store. Our oldest daughter was given a super sugary, very blue frostinged cake for her first, by my mother, and Andre and I were smuggly thrilled when she wouldn't eat it. For Emmanuelle, who is a big eater, I wanted something delicious and free from colorings. I decided that a strawberry banana cake would be awesome. I searched the internet and was surprised that I could find reference to a couple of them, but no recipes... I decided to cobble together several recipes and try to make my own. I decided to make a banana honey cake and to frost it with a cream cheese butter strawberry frosting. It was a hit! ESPECIALLY with ME. YUM YUM... This cake is amazingly moist and soooooo delicious.


Banana Honey Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting - Baby's First Birthday Cake
by Tiffany Teske

Banana Honey Cake

Makes 2 8" square cakes

Ingredients
~ 1 c honey
~ 1 tsp soda
~ 1 c organic oatmeal, uncooked (quick or old-fashioned)
~ 3/4 c organic unsalted butter (omit sea sale below if using salted butter)
~ 1/2 c natural sugar
~ 2 organic eggs
~ 1 c mashed bananas (I used 4, three that were pretty ripe, one frozen one that was thawed, the riper the better)
~ 1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
~ 3/4 tsp baking powder
~ 3/4 tsp sea salt

Directions
1. Bring honey to a boil in medium-sized saucepan. Add oats, the pour 1/2 teaspoon
of the soda over oats and stir to combine. Cover and let stand 10
minutes.

2. Beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.
Blend in eggs. Add oats mixture and bananas then blend well. Sift together
flour, remaining 1/2 teaspoon soda, baking powder and salt. Add to
creamed mixture and blend well.

3. Pour batter into 2 greased 8-inch square cake pans. Bake in preheated 350 F degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack about 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool. Frost.


Quin blowing out her sister's birthday candles...


Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Approx 2 cups

Ingredients
~ 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
~ 1/4 cup organic butter, unsalted, softened
~ 1 cup icing sugar (For the baby cake I only used 1/4 c icing sugar)
~ 1/2 cup mashed drained fresh strawberries

Directions
1. Blend together the cream cheese and butter using an electric mixer on low speed until combined.
2. Add sugar, gradually, and the mashed strawberries; blend frosting again on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute.
3. Increase mixer speed to medium and blend frosting until fluffy, 30-45 seconds more. You can add as much sugar as you like for the spreading consistency you want.


Emmanuelle, loving her first birthday cake... (No, she didn't eat it all, she ate less than 1/4 of it, which is a lot for a babe!

My Aunt Helen's Salmon Frittata - Get Ready to Be WOWED!

Thanks to a friend, I recently participated in an email recipe exchange. It did not go as hoped. I was supposed to receive 32 recipes. I think I may have gotten 12. And once I had deleted the ones with meat and those with processed products like, eh hem, Cheez Whiz (I am sorry, as a lover of cheese I can not give this plastic in a container that is colored like no cheese I know, the time of day. The cutesy name doesn't help the cause either.) there were only a couple left worth trying. I will post those here as I make them. I sent the swap to my aunt, who is a gourmet cook, and who has greatly influenced my life since I was a child in all manner of creative pursuits. She sent me the selection she had passed along. I made it the next day and have added it to our regular repertoire. I love breakfast foods for dinner and this is also great for brunch. It is very good reheated, as my friend, Kim, will attest two. She came over for the lunch the day after I made it. And it is just as simple as something you would make with Cheez Whiz.... I recommend using fresh dill, so yummy!

Smoked Salmon Frittata
By Aunt Helen

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. hot sauce (tabasco)
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 –1/2 lb. good smoked salmon (can use lox)
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
3-5 green onions chopped (depends on size)
2 tbsp. fresh dill or 2 tsp dried
1 tbsp. butter

Optional garnish; dill sprigs or sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine eggs, sourcream salt, and tobasco in a medium bowl. Add flour and whisk to blend. Stir in salmon, cheese, green onions and dill
3. Using a 10 inch oven proof skillet, set pan over medium heat, and butter and heat until butter sizzles. Turn off heat and pour in egg mixture. Transfer to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until eggs are set and the top is brown. Cut into wedges and garnish with sour cream and/or dill.
serves 6-8

Pick-Your-Own Berries

One of the activities I looked forward to each year, while living in Western Maine, was the opportunity to pick my own seasonal produce. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples, pumpkins... sometimes I picked at a farm, other things, such as fiddle head ferns, I could just pick in the woods. Daily, I could drive by small farms that had stands at the end of their driveways with corn, potatoes, whatever was the current crop. Plus, one of my best friends would give me the eggs her chickens laid. At one point I even had vegetable garden and completed the Master Gardener course...

Our daughter has spent most of her three years in Banff where we are lucky to have two local farmers markets but what they sell is not terribly local, it mostly comes from British Columbia. Alberta is rancher country but in Banff there are not any local pick-your-own farms (what I wouldn't do for farm fresh eggs!) so aside from an annual stop at a farm that makes ice cream on the way to Kelowna, my child only knows what she reads in books, from playtime with her wooden barn, and what we tell her about farms. She thinks strawberries and the like come from the grocery store. So, while visiting my in laws in Ottawa, I was thrilled that it was strawberry season. I knew we just had to take her picking. We drive less than 10 minutes away to the Prouxl farm. We met a school bus coming down the drive which I imagined was full of children fresh from picking. Once we got there the stand was open but the fields were closed. My father in law explained that we had a little one who really wanted to pick strawberries and the generous family gave us baskets, had their son walk us to the field, and QQ was thrilled to spend a small part of a sunshiny afternoon filling her basket with berries. It is a lovely memory...


Walking through the patch with Grandma.


Look at what I have! Strawberries!!


Gobbling up the rewards of the pickings... Yum!


If you are lucky enough to pick some fresh berries I suggest you make these (you can make them with store bought berries, too).

Strawberry Corn Muffins
Recipe by Vegetarian Times

Ingredient List
Makes 12 muffins

* 1 cup cornmeal
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 Tbs. baking powder
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
* 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
* 1 cup sliced strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Whisk together eggs and buttermilk in separate bowl. Stir cornmeal mixture into egg mixture. Fold in melted butter and strawberries. Scoop batter into muffin pan.
3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops are brown. Cool 10 minutes in pan; cool completely on baking rack.

Nutritional Information

Per SERVING: Calories: 160, Protein: 4g, Total fat: 3g, Saturated fat: 1g, Carbs: 28g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 270mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugars: 10g

All Photos by Tiffany Teske

Yummy, Pumpkin Pancakes!

We make a lot of fun breakfast foods in this house. Crepes, waffles, and pancakes top the list. I am always game to try new recipes. This time I was inspired by a can of organic pumpkin that has been in the cupboard for awhile. I LOVE Vegetarian Times Magazine, so I flipped to the back of some in my stack, because they have all the recipes for that issue on a page, according to which meal or category it falls into. I was excited to find this recipe. I didn't make the yummy Honey Raspberry Syrup that goes with them, but plan to next time. If you don't received Vegetarian Times, fear not, they have a great website, where you will find this recipe, along with the syrup recipe. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey-Raspberry Syrup



Ingredient List

Serves 6
Honey-raspberry syrup
1 lb. frozen raspberries, divided (4 cups)
½ cup honey

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. salt
3 large eggs
¹⁄3 cup honey
1½ cups low-fat milk
1 cup pumpkin purée or canned pumpkin
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
1. To make Honey-Raspberry Syrup: Place 3 cups frozen raspberries and 1/2 cup water in saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 5 minutes, or until berries are soft. Mash in pan until smooth. Strain berry mixture through sieve into separate saucepan. (You should have 1 to 1 1/4 cups.) Stir in honey, and return mixture to a boil. Remove from heat, add remaining 1 cup frozen raspberries, and cover to steam and thaw whole raspberries. Set aside.
2. To make Pumpkin Pancakes: Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in bowl.
3. Beat eggs and honey in separate bowl. Whisk in milk, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture with spatula or wooden spoon.
4. Coat nonstick skillet or griddle with cooking spray, and heat over medium-high heat. Ladle 2/3 cup batter onto skillet for each pancake. Cook 3 minutes, or until bubbles begin to form in center of pancakes. Flip, and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, or until pancakes are browned on both sides. Serve warm with Honey-Raspberry Syrup.
Nutritional Information

Per : Calories: 413, Protein: 11g, Total fat: 4.5g, Saturated fat: 1.5g, Carbs: 87g, Cholesterol: 109mg, Sodium: 407mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugars: 49g

Onion Skin Dyed Easter Eggs

My fellow blogging friend, Sheasy, blogged about this natural egg dying project last year. I have been dying to do it ever since. The project came from Craftster.

I was supposed to do this on Tuesday with the seniors (see post below), but since we didn't have access to boiling water, and the skins need to be boiling with the eggs in the pot for several minutes, we scrapped the plan. Quin and I decided to give it a shot today during a leisurely day at the homestead. I learned enough to write a little tutorial, and to know what I will do differently next time, AKA helpful tips. I want to make a couple dozen eggs over time, using different plants, to keep and bring out each year to decorate. They are durable enough to do this. I have always wanted to work with natural dyes, mostly in a photography capacity, and this was a good way to get started.

Dying Eggs with Onion Skins Tutorial
By Tiffany Teske

You will need:
- Onion Skins
- Eggs
- Push pin
- Leaves, herbs, flowers, etc
- Nylons or cheesecloth
- Rubber bands
- Ribbon


1) Collect your onions skins. You can do this each time you use an onion, but you can also go to a local grocery store and ask for them. In our town, on Monday, the onions come in, and they peel them down to the last layer, so they have tons of skins. I mixed red, brown, and white.



2) Using a pin of any kind, I used a push pin, make a hole in the top and bottom of an egg. This was a bit tough at first, since I was afraid to hold the egg too tightly, or to push on the top of the egg too hard but they really are pretty resilient. Once you get the hang of the pressure you need, it is easy. I made a smaller hole in the bottom and a larger one in the top, based on how I wanted to egg to be hung.


3) Now, you need to blow the egg out of the shell. I think I put off this project because I really thought this would be difficult. Not so. If you make a good seal with your mouth, and blow into the small hole, allowing the egg to come out the larger hole, this is quite simple.


4) Once you have gotten all of the eggs out of their shells, you can suck water up into the egg, swish it around, then blow it out, to clean them.


5) Now, you can place your herbs, petals, leaves, whatever you wish to use on your egg. I want to make a set of botanical eggs, with fern, clover, etc, but since it is still pretty much winter here, I had to use flat leaf parsley and spring mix lettuce. I used a bit of water to make the leaves stick.



6) Ideally, I would have had nylons to use for this project, but I don't wear them. I put out a call on FreeCycle, at the last minute, and have gotten some offers since, but also had someone email to say that I could use cheesecloth, which I keep in my kitchen. With nylons, you cut them in tubes, insert an egg, and then use rubber bands on each end. The cheesecloth needed to be wrapped, and it proved kind of tricky to wrap and then rubber band, while holding the leaf in place. I think nylons would be easier and tighter, which is important. Before wrapping them, you can suck some water into the eggs to keep them from floating in the next step, but I did this, and they floated anyway. It didn't seem to matter. I also wrapped one egg with raffia, just to see the effect. The sky is the limit.


7) Put the onion skins, just dump a bunch, along with the eggs, in a pot of boiling water. On Craftster, it just said to boil for several minutes. I wanted good deep color, so mine were probably in for 10 minutes, which may have been too long. I am not sure if it was the materials, the cheesecloth instead of nylon, or the boiling time, that made some of my eggs completely brown, instead if leaving the imprint of the leaves. Others worked fine. I really just wanted to experiment, so even the totally brown ones I will do something with, maybe collage some images on them...



8) Take eggs out of water. Let them cool enough to take off the cheesecloth, and shake or blow the water out of them. They do not need to cool completely.


9) You are now pretty much done, unless you want to hang the eggs. To do this, cut a toothpick in at least half, knot one end of ribbon around it, and push it to the middle of the stick.


10) Insert the toothpick and knot into the top hole in the egg. Then, tie the other end in a loop. Ta Da! You now have beautiful egg ornaments. This really is a fun and simple project. If you want the eggs to shine, you can lacquer them. If you want to make a tree to hang your eggs on, you can put a pussy willow branch in a flower pot filled with rice, which will hold it in place.


What to do with all those eggs? I made crepes for breakfast using 4 of the eggs, then my mother in law had scrambled eggs with Quin for dinner, which used up 3 more. Good thing we love eggs around here. For our "famous" crepe recipe, see this post.

Breakfast Couscous

Today's creating started early. I cooked a delicious breakfast, with enough to spare for a couple of days. Lately, I have been loving the recipes in Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts: An International Selection of Appetizing Recipes for All Occcasions by Martha Rose Shulman. Shulman is a former food editor for Cosmopolitan and winner of The Tastemaker Award. This book is from 1990, and I am not sure where I bought it but I LOVE it. It has simple gourmet recipes that taste delicious without having to slave or learn a whole new set of skills before even beginning. I will be sharing more from this cookbook in the future.


This morning I made Couscous with Honey and Fruit. This recipe can easily be adapted to be vegan if you replace or omit the butter, honey(use maple syrup, agave nectar, or brown rice syrup), and yogurt. I made a few adaptations from the original recipe while I have noted with a * and paranthesis. I try to use organic whenever possible.

Couscous with Honey and Fruit
By Martha Rose Shulman
Serves 4

1 cup couscous* (I used a mix of organic white and whole wheat couscous)
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon butter
1 apple, cored & chopped
1 pear, cored & chopped
3 Tablespoons water or apple juice* (I didn't have apple juice so I used 2 T water & 1 T applesauce)
1 Tablespoon honey* (I used buckwheat honey)
4 Tablespoon raisins* (I used golden raisins)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg* (I had to use regular nutmeg from the bulk store)
Plain low fat yogurt & additional honey for topping


1) place couscous in a bowl and pour on the water. Let sit 10-15 minutes or until soft.


2)Heat the butter in a frying pan (I use cast iron) and add apple and pear. Saute a few minutes, then add water or apple juice, honey, raisins, and spices. Cook, stirring over medium heat, 3 to 5 minutes.


3) Stir in couscous and heat throughly, stirring. Remove from heat and serve, topping with yogurt, and if you wish, additional honey.

This is delicious, and easy to make ahead and reheat again, which is always nice for a fast but healthy breakfast.

MMMMMMM, Waffles!

Today I had grandiose plans to make art but a spontaneous opportunity to tag along with the hubby for a trip to the city shot those plans to hell. Quin & I hopped in Daddy's truck to accompany him on an excursion to pick up building materials for the ski hill. We did get a bit of recreational shopping in as well (more on this tomorrow) but we were all feeling a bit under the weather so came home in a reasonable amount of time.

It was about 8 PM once we were home and settled, and we had done a fair bit of snacking on almonds, apples, dried mango, pistachios, and granola bars in the car, so we were not in need of a huge meal. I offered to make Belgian waffles, a family favorite, which was met with immediate approval from both husband and child. So, a meal of locally produce bacon for the meat eaters, OJ, and waffles with real Canadian maple syrup and strawberries was born. Breakfast for dinner is ALWAYS a good idea! Yum!

I like to mix it up when we make waffles, so I don't turn to one tried and true recipe. Tonight's recipe came from a lovely little site called Mr. Breakfast, whose motto is "All Breakfast All the Time". Ahhh that Mr. Breakfast, a man after my own heart. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it:

Best Waffles Ever(5 servings)

* 1 and 3/4 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 Tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 beaten egg yolks
* 1 and 3/4 cups milk
* 1/2 cup vegtable oil
* 3 egg whites - beaten stiffly

Mix all dry ingredients. Combine yolks and milk. Stir into dry ingredients. Stir in oil and mix. GENTLY fold in beaten egg whites, do not over mix. Pour about 1/2 cup at a time into waffle iron.
So light and so fluffy!


Mr Breakfast would like to thank kejensen83 for this recipe. And so would we!

French Toast Casserole...

BEFORE

...a new addition to our breakfast repertoire. It is soooooo easy, and a new favorite. I got the recipe for French Toast Casserole from a link on Treehugger. I used pecans and Ryan's Irish Cream (since it is a poor substitute for Bailey's if you like to sip it as a liqueur so I had to use it somehow, live and learn). This is a great food for brunch or actually every day (we have tested this three days in a row, just for you, and it actually get better everyday!!). Enjoy!


AFTER

URGH!

So, I learned a lesson... the internet is a big place! Especially when it comes to recipes. I made waffles a couple of weeks ago, using a recipe my husband found that I made while viewing his laptop. THEY WERE THE BEST DAMN WAFFLES WE HAVE EVER MADE AT HOME, which is saying something considering my record with waffles. I have tried several recipes but they are always dense, not light and fluffy. I have high standards when it comes to waffles. Mike, at Riverside, in Kingfield, Maine, where I lived for years, made the most incredible waffles and I had at least one a week. Anyway, to make a long story short as to why I am going on and on, we found a recipe for chewy on the inside, light and crispy on the outside waffles. And we were carving them again the other day. Well, neither one of us had saved the recipe to favorites, something so easy to do. I had even thought about it when making them, then forgot, DOGH! So, we spent hours looking for a new reipe and in the end it was ok, but not like the other one. Although maybe we have just idealized those first ones to the point that nothing will measure up... Hard to say, but I do believe the butter vs cooking spray on the iron for the first batch made a lot of difference. Lesson learned... and if you know of the perfect waffle recipe, please post a link!!