Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Sauce

Sep18

These are lemony, light and airy pancakes. The egg whites give a slightly soufflé like texture and the ricotta gives extra protein. The sauce is quick to make while the pancakes are cooking, just maple syrup, seedless raspberry jam and frozen blueberries simmered to make a sauce.

Start off by seating a lemon, you will need 1 heaping TBSP of the zest.

In a large bowl whisk two egg yolks (save the whites), 1cup ricotta, 3tbsp sugar, 1/2 cup all purpose flour and zest

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until glossy peaks form.

Gently fold the ricotta mixture, a bit at a time, into the egg whites. Then slowly mix in 2tbsp melted butter.

Cook in hot fry pan or griddle

For the sauce I placed 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, 1/3 cup frozen wild blueberries and 1/3 cup maple syrup in a small saucepan and let simmer gently for a few minutes and then keep warm until ready to pour over pancakes.

Too with the blueberry maple sauce
Very light and fluffy and sooo good!

Mug Brownies

May15

Did you ever need a quick desert for just 2 or 3 people…or yourself? Sometimes a large cake or full pan of brownies is just too much and ~~I can’t control myself and will eat half the pan~~ there will be leftovers. This is your quick fix.

Into a mug add:

4tbsp flour

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp water

Mix well with a fork.

Cook on high in microwave for about 75 seconds (depending on the strength of your microwave).

Be very careful when out take it out, i~~t looks like brown play doh~~ it is extremely hot!

Best served with vanilla ice cream on top. Actually, only serve with vanilla ice cream on top. It gets all melty and chocolately….mmmmm.

There you have it.

Dig right in.

Toddler Banana Bread

Apr25

We were very excited when we found this recipe which we had lost! It is a recipe that was on a sheet of paper and it had gotten tucked inside another recipe book and when leafing through it the other day there it was. This recipe came from Evie’s daycare when she was a toddler, her caregivers were a wonderful group of young ladies at a Reggio Centre and they really were special. This is a recipe that they made regularly with the toddlers, each child had a part, one measured the flour, one mixed etc. The children loved taking part and they loved to have their banana bread for a snack afterwards.

Here is the toddler banana bread! (that is Evie’s note)

There you have it, a very simple easy banana bread. It is perfect for breakfast and snacks.

Dog Biscuits

Dec13

We haven’t made any Christmas cookies for humans yet, but yesterday Evie was with a friend to her decorate her tree and they made dog biscuits!

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Here is the recipe (sorry took the picture with my phone and had a little trouble with the orientation:

They used lean ground chicken instead of beef.

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The taste testing. Max (my Westie) is very picky when it comes to treats and will not eat a dog biscuit to save his life, but he did like these. Especially since they were still a little warm when they tested them. He did eat a piece the today also, so he does like them. It was Lily’s birthday, she loves treats of any kind and gobbled hers up before Max had eaten half of his.

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After the excitement of a car ride and a treat he needed a nap before going home.

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Today we are making human cookies.

Mell’s Wheat Germ Muffins

Jan17

I really like these muffins, but we haven’t had them in quite awhile. The recipe is from my cousin, not sure of the original source, but we have had the recipe for many years. I ate a lot of these in the days after Evie was born, it was one of my sources of sustenance. I kind of needed a break after that, but I thought of them the other day and voila.

In a bowl mix together the following dry ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/8 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl mix together the following wet ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and let sit for 1-2 minutes.

This is what it looks like after sitting, sort of foamy

Fill greased muffin tins, or use liners, 3/4 full. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes until done.

*Note: You can add in 1/2 cup of berries if you would like to make them into berry muffins.

I was given a large bag of frozen blueberries by my neighbour, who received a large amount from a friend who is a farmer and picked them fresh and then froze them. I did a split batch here, filled half the cups with non-berry batter and then added a couple of handfuls of berries to the rest of the batter and finished filling the cups.

These didn’t last long!

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sep2

Tomorrow is back to school, so we have been baking and cooking to have breakfast and other meals ready to make the school week a little easier. This is a muffin recipe that we make regularly and adapt it all the time to add different ingredients. Here is what we usually do:

In a large bowl add 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup of rolled oats, 1/2 cup sugar, 2tsp baking powder, 1tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. I also add 2-3 tbsp of flax meal. Mix well.

In another bowl whisk 2 eggs until frothy, 1/4 cup cooking oil, 1/4 cup milk, 3 medium overripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup and a bit).

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients along with half a bag of chocolate chips. Stir with a wooden spoon just until moistened. Do not over mix (batter will be lumpy) or your muffins will be tough.

Bake at 350F for about 18-20 minutes.

These freeze well also. We wrapped some individually in clingwrap and then placed in a container, so we can pull them out as we need them for breakfast or lunchbox.

Wild Blueberry Cake with Brown Sugar Sauce

Aug12

We went to pick some blueberries, they just grow on a little hill right next to the house. We probably picked about 4 cups, the blueberries here are wild and plentiful, extra sweet and tasty too. We wanted to make something out of them, but not muffins. We chose this recipe because I haven’t had it in a long time and Evie really likes it. This is a traditional Newfoundland recipe.

we used about 1 and 1/2cups blueberries

mix together 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar

add 1 egg and mix then add about 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder and mix until combined

add milk (about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup) while mixing so it is thick and creamy like cake batter.

then add the blueberries and fold in

then place in an 8 inch square baking pan and bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes until dark golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

While the cake is baking you can make the brown sugar sauce.

place 2 tbsp butter melted and 2 tbsp flour in a small pot and whisk while heating

Whisk in 1 cup brown sugar (it will be dry and thick)

then add 1 cup of boiling water and 1 tsp vanilla whisking and heating bring to boil and whisk until it thickens to a syrupy brown sauce

Serve the warm sauce drizzled over a piece of the cake

Arrived in Newfoundland…a little late

Aug9

We left on Tuesday afternoon to catch our flight, everything was going fine until we boarded the plane, then a power surge blew the computer and the navigational software was lost, over 2 hours later we took off, but missed our connecting flight. We ended up landing in St. John’s at 4am. Evie was a trooper slept on the plane then went back to bed at 4:30am and woke up ready to go at 8am. After a small breakfast and a visit with her cousin we went to get her “Kitty Cat Pizza”, she has been waiting almost 3 years to have this pizza again. Raye and I had “East Coast Donairs”. This isn’t our favourite place for donairs, but our old university haunts will be visited when we are back in the city.

We made it “around the bay” mid afternoon and then we has fresh cod and chips for supper. My Mom’s batter recipe is below also. After all of that eating we had to go for a walk and picked a few handfuls of blueberries. The next day was going to be busy we had a local museum to visit, going jigging for cod, and supper at Nan’s.