Note to Self/Everyone: Make Pancakes

Every weekend, I make pancakes. Or my roommate makes them. Either way, there’s pancakes to be had. For me, they are one of the all time comfort foods. For every place Sam would not eat green eggs and ham, I would eat pancakes at 5 other places. I’ve had them for breakfast – no brainer. I’ve had them for dinner, with coffee, because when it’s been raining all day hot pancakes and coffee can kick some serious Humboldt weather ass. I’ve even had them for lunch, using them as bread replacement for an amazing PB&J. Try it sometime, cold, with some Peanut Butter and Jelly, you can thank me later.

I also eat them when the pancakes themselves are plain, with peanut butter and maple syrup. It’s perfectly normal, regardless of what people say. Pancakes are incredible, and can be made so many ways. Today I opted with the same variation I made last week: chocolate chip cookie pancakes.

Before we go any further, go ahead and wipe that drool off your chin.

What makes these chocolate chip cookie pancakes? Chocolate chips – I kid you not, walnuts, and a little bit of cinnamon. They don’t taste like the actual thing, but they’re pretty darn close, plus they make that PB&J even more amazing.

 I start off with the basic pancake recipe, and add 1/2 c chopped walnuts and a little bit of cinnamon, then right after I add the 1/4 c of batter for each pancake into the pan, add some mini semisweet chocolate chips to the top. Once flipped the other side cooks up and the chocolate chips sort of hide away, but make some sweet nooks for that maple syrup.

On another note, since I haven’t written about him at all, this is the hot mess that puts up with me and my antics. His name is Mose, he’s not a girl, he’s almost 2, and he loves carbs. He hardly ever gets people food, and when he does it’s usually in the form of a carb, like bread. He knows the sound the different bread bags make and comes bolting in whenever they’re opened. He always gets at least one pancakes and like a vacuum, swallows them whole without chewing. Today however he chewed a little bit, dropped it on the kitchen floor and then ate them up. He got a special no chocolate chip pancake and then I realized after I gave him one that maybe he couldn’t have walnuts. Sure enough, they’re poisonous. But so are grapes and one time I fed him an entire bag of those because he played with them before he at them and it was fairly entertaining. And then I found out they were poisonous and the cute dial was turned down a bit. So now he lays on the floor, with the usual amount of gas, dreaming and having somewhat of an epileptic fit, but I know this isn’t the walnuts, as he does this randomly right when he falls asleep and sometimes decides to punch me in the face.

Back to the pancakes. Make them, even if you don’t jazz ’em up, make them for dinner and/or breakfast tomorrow, and enjoy them with a nice hot cup of coffee, and if you don’t jazz ’em up eat them with peanut butter and maple syrup. They don’t come from a box mix, which means zero, zilch, nada additives.

Pancakes

Makes 18 medium size pancakes, or enough to feed a small army

2 c unbleached all purpose flour
4 t baking powder*

1/4 c sugar
1/4 t salt

1 1/2 c milk, I use 1%, I would maybe use 2 c if you used buttermilk or whole milk
2 eggs
1/4 c canola oil
1 t vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and the wet ingredients in a large bowl or measuring cup if you have one that can fit it all.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix just until combined. Do not overmix

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of ease and homemade pancakes throwing out the box of additives you have in the cupboard.

Heat up a skillet and add a small pat of butter. Use a 1/4 dry measurement to add even amounts of batter for the pancakes. Look for slight bubbles and divots in the uncooked side and then flip. You might need to peek to make sure that the first side is cooked. It’s all a matter of the pan you’re using and the stove top you cook on.

Flip away until all the cakes are done then devour them with butter, or peanut butter, and warm maple syrup.

*fresh baking powder makes all the difference. Believe me, if it’s been sitting too long, then toss it out and buy another, then look for the recommended shelf life on the container and write the date it expires somewhere on the can, because you won’t remember when you bought it in a few months.

For chocolate chip cookie pancakes add 1/4 c chopped walnuts to the batter, along with a little cinnamon and then sprinkle chocolate chips on the pancakes when they first go into the pan.

Get Dressed

I want to start this post with the best salad dressing quote, from quite possibly the best. show. ever. Arrested Developement.

Michael: What do you think of when you hear the word, “Sudden Valley”?
George Michael Bluth: Salad dressing, I think. But for some reason I don’t want to eat it.
Michael: Right. But, “Paradise Gardens”?
George Michael Bluth: Yeah… Okay, I can… I can see marinating a chicken in that. 
If you haven’t seen this show then you need to get on that. Right after you make this dressing. Like, right now. I’m serious, it kind of bullies other ranch dressings into corners and beats them up, and then takes their lunch money, because they’re gross, and filled with chemicals. That’s a good reason to beat up a food item and steal their lunch money, right? They deserve it after charging an arm and a leg for a small bottle of dressing. All the dressings are extremely unhealthy and most of the ones that aren’t taste like crap. I actually don’t mind the Hidden Valley brand of light ranch made with sour cream. It actually tastes pretty good for a light dressing, it’s just that the other day I went to go grab one and it was $3.60 for a small bottle. I told my roommate, let me try and make some first. We’ll see what happens. Well, mission accomplished, with a couple snags.
I eat salads for dinner, quite a bit actually.  They’re good, and when made correctly can be very filling. I use a bowl the size of my head, but it’s mostly veggies and a light dressing so I have no fear. Most people dismiss salads as an accompaniment to a meal or when it is an entree itself it’s usually smothered in a chicken breast and an incredible amount of dressing. There’s no need for that, you hear me? If there is a large amount of chicken then it is chicken salad, and there is no lettuce. Different subject, for another post.
So when I make my salads I cram ’em full of veggies and add meat on occasion, and I always try to have homemade croutons or some sort of crunchy carb, like tortilla chips or the guilty pleasure of Doritos. In a salad. With steak. Ya I went there. Not my proudest moment. But a moment nonetheless.
Back to the dressing. Originally I had tried a recipe from a site that I love but in the end it just ended up tasting like no bueno mayonnaise. I was sad, but not for long. I told myself, I have the things to make another batch, my way, whipping up something fierce. I icksnayed (is that a word?) almost all the mayo and boosted up the sour cream. I took out some herbs and replace the fresh garlic with the powder, which is garlic, using an alias. I added a couple things and it was fantastic, tangy and rich with good ranch flavor. I’m almost convinced that the fresh herbs added to the dressing are added to make little green flecks, but I don’t know, I’m still investigating. Anyways – this salad dressing is awesome. It’s a ranch with an awesome flavor, and is crazy easy to make. It’s nice and tangy from the sour cream and buttermilk and it’s got a KICK IT! from the Tapatio. And it’s not half bad for you, so you can take shots of it, because it’s that good. 

When it comes to the crunchy carb part of the salad, which is extremely important, you need to make some homemade croutons, for real. I use a 5 seed bread and it makes the most amazing croutons. I take a few slices of bread, cut them up into crouton sizes, toss them in a couple Tablespoons of olive oil, and bake them at 350 for 10 min. Done. Another word for BAM should be inserted here. Maybe KICK IT!?

For tonight’s salad I chose a head of Romaine, fresh corn, raw zucchini, black olives, mushrooms, and cannelini beans. In retrospect, red pepper and red onion would have been a very very nice addition.

The main base for the dressing is sour cream and buttermilk, but I found out earlier today from Jen over at the Renaissance Kitchen you can use non fat greek yogurt for sour cream in certain recipes or as the garnish and it tastes the same, so, knock yourselves out.

Ranch Dressing
1/2 c sour cream, I used light
2-3 T mayo, I used olive oil mayo
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t kosher salt
1 T fresh chopped parsley
a decent amount of fresh black pepper
same with the Tapatio, depending on how zesty you like your dressing
3/4 c buttermilk –  more or less depending on desired consistency

Another option? leave out the tapatio and throw in a blender with a seeded jalapeno or mince the jalapeno and add it in the next time you make taco salad.

Congratulations

This past week I left the comforts of my 60 degree high and headed for the hell known as the central valley. My brother graduated from High School. Congrats John! The trip is a long one. about 7 hours from Fort Bragg, which for me is a 3 hour drive that I decided to take at 10pm after work. The next morning we picked up the rental car, made a gallon of iced tea, packed up our things and headed out. We were supposed to get an SUV to help with the transport of things my mom had stored back in Oakhurst. Of course the SUV was not returned, so we got a brand new town and country. This meant we had to leave later, and with my mom’s navigational skills got lost and ended up turning the 7 hour trip into a 12 hour one. Of course, we stopped at the vortex known as IKEA. Overall the trip was really great. My mom and I had a blast driving down there, even though we got lost a couple of times, she’s an incredible form of entertainment. I got to see my 2 year old nephew that I haven’t seen since he was a couple months old, along with my sisters and a good friend that I’ve known forever. I had some good food and some not so good food, and had a somewhat relaxing time even though it was nonstop driving and sleeping in 4 different beds over a span of 6 days. Now I’ve been back in Humboldt for a few days, and I feel a little wiser. I learned a thing or two on this trip:

My pizza dough can be frozen

and carried 12 hours to another location to make enough pizza for 10 people, but the dough balls will inevitably explode and make a mess.

When the dough sits for a couple days it gets a sweeter flavor and a definite yeasty aroma.

Even though I’ve been to IKEA 3 times, I still get sucked into the vortex and get a little overwhelmed.

IKEA has a nice As-Is section, with a lot of fabric remnants, duvet covers, and curtains for a fraction of the cost, like a quarter of the cost, just because it has a small hole in it.

A breakfast place can make crappy pancakes, that upset you because for the amount you payed could have made 4 times as much that would have blown your socks off.

Handy Manny is the new Dora the Explorer.

My nephew is officially the cutest 2 year old ever.

Automatic doors on a vehicle are cool only for a little bit but get annoying after a while.

I will never pay for Sirius Radio.

New minivans drive like mid size cars.

1 gallon of iced tea will last my mom and I four hours. I kid you not.

Waitresses question your motive at Red Robin if you order a gardenburger and don’t renew your basket of bottomless steak fries.

I should have questioned her motives for serving me such a crappy burger.

Panera Bread has some tasty cinnamon rolls and coffee.

The Chevy’s in Fresno took out their El Machino and do it all by hand now, but they never bothered to paint over the sign on the wall.

Chevy’s still has some of the best freakin’ salsa. not so good chips.

If there were a Dairy Queen anywhere in Humboldt I’d be there every day and be 20 pounds heavier. Seriously, their new strawberry and golden oreo blizard kicks some ass.

That’s all I can think of right now, and for food for thought, I leave you with BATA’s to eat some of those crazy delicious tomatoes, with bacon, avocado, and alfalfa sprouts. And to accompany, some fruit salad consisting of fresh Pineapple and Strawberries. The ratio of 1 pineapple to 1 pound of strawberries is incredibly amazing. I’m not joking. Go out right now and buy a pineapple, Costco usually has them for a good deal, and a pound of juicy strawberries.

When preparing bacon, try cooking it in the oven.  Line a baking sheet with foil, pop on a cooling rack and lay out the bacon. I like crispy bacon so I go for 20-25 min at 400 degrees. Cleanup is easy and you need to make sure you use good quality, thick cut (pepper) bacon from the deli.

When it comes to pineapple, I usually cut off the top and bottom, and then peel sort of like a grapefruit or orange, with a knife then I cut into 4 and then remove the core like an apple, then into small cubes or giant chunks if you think that will slow you down when attempting to eat the entire thing by yourself.

Also, steak on a salad is fantastic, hot fudge sundaes with mint chocolate chip ice cream make any day better, and iced coffee can cool you off like nobody’s business.

Pizza Tuesday

Every Tuesday my roommate and I have pizza. I’m not going to mention the exact accompaniment of guilty pleasure entertainment because of slight embarrassment, but it happens every Tuesday. We started this a while back and have made sure that it’s been carried through. Every week we try some new toppings. We used to buy our dough at the store pre-made in the deli section, just because of a few failed attempts at dough, and our schedules. Then the dough started having a weird chemical taste, like the cheap Pillsbury biscuits do. I said thanks but no thanks, and searched for a pizza dough recipe. I stumbled upon this one from the awesome Pioneer Woman. I made it – and was really excited. I only used 1/4 cup of olive oil the first time, then the full third cup, then found the exact recipe on The Kitchn minus the olive oil, so last night I only used a couple of Tablespoons. I like number 3 the best. The dough is super easy and it really only needs about an hour to rise, but I’ve given it two every time I’ve made it. The recipe gives enough to make 2 large pizzas, on 10×15 baking sheets of course, because it’s cool to eat squareish pizza

I think the best part of Pizza Tuesday is getting to experiment with different toppings every week and not having to pay 2 bucks a piece. Making your own pizza is so easy and much cheaper than even most frozen options, it’s natural and it tastes great. We each make our own to share, and have enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day and then some. So, it’s enough to make it through Wednesday.

 Last night, we agreed that it was some of the best pizza we had made to date. I’ve been on the hunt for pepperoni alternatives because pepperoni is gross and greasy and it gives me heartburn, so there. I have found so far that nothing really tops bacon, which is an amazing topping and lasted a couple of weeks on our list of pizza toppings, but I have branched out. Last night I opted for some red sauce – store bought, another thing I’m working on – along with some black forest ham, spinach*, black olives, mushrooms, and the cheese mixture of parmesan and mozzarella. Pizza number 2 consisted of alfredo sauce, black olives, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts with mozzarella. Both were amazing and the ham, which was chopped up, was better than canadian bacon, and cheaper too. Does anyone have other ideas for pepperoni alternatives or pizza toppings?

Also – best way to reheat a slice of pizza – on the stove. I believe I saw Tyler Florence doing this and I tried it to reheat the slices in the photo and then devour them.  Just take a small saute or frying pan, probably even a cast iron and put on medium heat with the pizza alone in the pan, covered to help melt the cheese. It’s nice and crispy and not soggy like pizza reheated in a microwave.

*the spinach is 5 oz chopped frozen spinach that I thawed and squeezed dry

Basic Pizza Crust
love child adaptation of The Pioneer Woman’s and The Kitchn’s
 makes enough for 2 10×15 pizzas

1 1/2 c warm water, hottest from my tap works for me
1 t active, not instant, yeast

4 c unbleached all purpouse flour
1 t salt
2-3 T olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand for 5-10 min.
While this is happening, mix the flour salt and olive oil in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, and put about a teaspoon of oil in a medium size bowl for the dough.
Once the yeast mixture has “stood”, mix in with the flour mixture and mix for 1-2 min. Take out with hands, dough will be slightly sticky, form into a ball and roll around in the olive oil you placed in that bowl.
Cover with some plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours or longer if you like.
Divide into 2 and carefully stretch onto baking foil lined, greased baking sheet
Add toppings and bake at 500 degrees for 10-12 min.

Enjoy.

Ain’t Got Nothin’ On Me

Move over Jif, Skippy and that expensive all natural stuff that you have to stir, papa’s got a brand new peanut butter. I’ve had issues with homemade peanut butter in the past. It would just clump up, and never turn to a good consistency. I always added extra oil because that’s what recipes said to do. Not anymore. The only ingredient needed? PEANUTS. Really? In PEANUT Butter? No, it can’t be true. Oh but it is. When you make your own, you will have the same argument with yourself. If you have a bulk section in your grocery store then it will not only be super easy to make, but super affordable as well. There is one catch, you need a food processor and 2-3 minutes to spare.

I know there are other possibilities in the realm of nut butters. Cashew perhaps? or maybe walnut? Possibly homemade nutella? I know there will also be the experimentation of flavor additions, enter this beautiful mess. A store that sells only peanut butter sandwiches. Watch out. They also have a bunch of flavored peanut butters like white chocolate, dark chocolate and cinnamon raisin swirl. Whoa.

Obviously when you make your own peanut butter it doesn’t taste the same as the commercial brands, it tastes better. So much more rich and ammaaazing. Using dry roasted peanuts ensures a nice nutty flavor, without any added fat or oils, and it’s so easy to make that you can have super fresh peanut butter all the time. It literally takes just 3 minutes for me to whir some together. So there’s no recipe, just a couple minutes and couple of cups of roasted peanuts. There will however be an update soon that will include some flavors. The batch I have now is peanuts with a pinch of kosher salt and a little brown sugar because honey was absent, but I’m guessing honey and cinnamon peanut butter would make anyone slap their mom across the face. On top of all the flavor reasons and possibilities, there’s also the deal with the gross additive that commercial brands use – hydrogenated oils.

PS, While searching foodgawker, I ran across this gem that I will be trying this weekend, with my homemade peanut butter of course.

Also I am not dead for the very few people that read this blog. School has been a little intense with finals and photo projects and moving. But alas, summer has finally begun, even though the mini Humboldt Hurricane would beg to differ.

View from my new Kitchen window into my backyard/jungle with the rain and wind.

I’m Baaack

I’m not dead r injured for the few people that read this blog. I had an illness called College.