Gleanings of the Week Ending December 8, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Quinoa Craze Inspires North America to Start Growing Its Own - I use quinoa in the place of rice almost all the time now

Exploring Crabtree Falls In The Blue Ridge Parkway - One of those potential places to fit in a spring road trip

Exploring The Parks: Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail - another destination to add to the list for a spring road trip

Cannibal Lobsters - behavior noted in captivity is observed in the wild too

Top 25 Photographs from the Wilderness #1 - from Africa - my favorite photo is the elephants and the setting sun

3-for-1 Match for Internet Archive Donations - since I enjoy so many books the Internet Archive has made available online, it is something I support with a donation

12 Healthy Holiday Recipes - from Marlo Thomas

Boucher’s Birding Blog: Winter Birding – The Irruption Begins! - this year is an irruptive year for  birds that are normally in Canada and northerly states in the winter. That means there are already sightings of these in the mid-Atlantic and even some southern states....and a continuation of interesting bird watching through the coming winter

Environmental First Lady Honored by USPS with Forever Stamps - we are still benefiting from her efforts to clean up cities and highways

Stained Glass Cookies - looking for a holiday craft project? These look beautiful

How (Not) to Photograph Prairie Dogs – Part 2 - narrative and photos from The Prairie Ecologist

Butternut Squash, Kale, and Pomegranate

Butternut squash, kale and pomegranates are foods of the season. This year I am making the effort to enjoy them more frequently.

My grocery store has tubs of chunked butternut squash that makes it very easy to cook just the amount I want. I buy the largest they have and freeze what I am not cooking immediately. Butternut squash cooked in broth - mashed when it is tender - makes a great base for a hearty soup. Adding some dried onion, pepper, basic and bacon bits is delicious. One time I added a few spoonfuls of cranberry orange relish and dried parsley just before pouring it into the soup bowl; the tartness of the cranberries and orange contrasted with the squash (and the red flecks of cranberry made the orange soup even more colorful. Another cooking method is to coat the chunks with olive oil and cinnamon then bake in the over. Since the chunks are relatively small - it takes less time than a potato or whole squash.

Kale is a new vegetable for me. It is a hardy plant that thrives as the temperatures get cooler. This is my first year to experiment with kale chips. They are tasty and easy to make; simply cut up the leaves (discard the tough central stem), coat/spray with oil, season, cook for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I’m still experimenting with ways to avoid getting them too oily (spraying is probably better than putting the leaves in a gallon Ziploc with the oil and seasoning)….and trying different seasonings.

And finally -- the pomegranate. I simply cut the fruit in quarters and enjoy every red-jewel seed. They are a food that is beautiful and tastes good too - a worthy fruit to enjoy fresh and celebrate the bounty of the season!

Thanksgiving Day Past and Present

Food and family are the essential elements of Thanksgiving for me. That does not mean that they are the same every year - far from it. Some years it has 10-20 people in my parents’ house. Other years only 2 or 3 were together and myriad telephone calls were part of the day.

From a food perspective, there have been some changes over the past 40 years as well.

Past	Present
Turkey or roast	Roast
Mashed potatoes	Baked potato
Candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top	Baked butternut squash
Cranberry sauce or jelly	Fresh cranberry orange relish
Orange jello salad with carrot and apple slivers	-----
Yeast rolls, plain or with raisin filling	Spice muffins
Green bean/mushroom soup/fried onions casserole	Caesar salad
Iced tea	Iced tea
Mincemeat or pecan pie	Apple chunks baked with mincemeat
Pumpkin pie	Pumpkin custard
Kolache and cinnamon rolls	----

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 10, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Genetic Roulette - The Gamble of our Lives - 1.5 hour video about GMOs….even if you want to dismiss the issue as unimportant to you, you should understand why many people and countries are not.

Non-GMO Shopping Guide - Even without labels…you can

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #26 - Which one is your favorite? I like the painted sandgrouse this week although the great blue heron is always a favorite too.

Eight National Park Lodges Join Historic Hotels of America - Don’t all of the sound inviting…for themselves and where they are located.

Are Facebook and Internet Addictions Affecting Our Minds? - infographic

Golden stollen - wonder how one could make a gluten-free version of this

9 New Tree-Loving and Endangered Tarantula Species Discovered in Brazil - includes pictures of 6

Five Parks Where Winter Is Anything But Off-Season - Acadia, Biscayne, Channel Islands, Joshua Tree, and Yosemite

The most important education technology in 200 years - What will the surge in free instruction online do to the education business?

9 Varieties of Nutrient-Rich Winter Squash

Sandy Superstorm Development Animation - From University of Delaware using 800 infrared images from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

Recipe of the Week: Chili

Cooling outdoor temperatures prompt thoughts of foods that are warming. Chili is one of my favorites. There are many good chili seasoning kits on the market; the Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm is my favorite. Of course - I make my own modifications:

• Add 1 can of pinto beans or the equivalent of home cooked pinto beans
• Only half the salt packet
• Entire red pepper packet
• No Masa flour 

I like to serve chili over multi-grain rice or egg noodles rather than with crackers. My husband eats his in carb balance tortillas - again without crackers.

Chili also can be dipped with wedges of pepper or celery.

And what about toppings: cheese or chives or diced tomato/onion (salsa!) or guacamole.

Chili is a hearty meal in a bowl (or tortilla) that warms a cool or cold day!

Recipe of the Week: Baked Apples

Apples are in season again…..and there are so many ways to enjoy them. One of my favorite and simplest recipes is for baked apples:

Cut apple into chunks and place in a microwavable dish. (The apple - at the left - I chose for my treat was a Ginger Gold.)

Microwave for 1 minute.

Sprinkle with cinnamon. Add some butter. Decide if the apples need extra sweetening; if so drizzle with molasses or honey. (I used cinnamon, ginger, butter and honey on mine - at the right.)

Microwave for 1 minute.

Stir the apples. They may already be soft enough to eat. I tend to want my baked apples to be hot and just beginning to soften - not turned to mush.

This works very well for one serving. If you are making baked apples for a crowd - use a conventional oven, a larger baking dish, put all the ingredients in the pan at the beginning. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the softness you prefer.

Some other apple recipes I’ve posted are:

Sautéed apples as a pancake topping

Apple Crisp

Recipe of the Week: French Toast Bread Pudding

Want the smell and taste of French toast but need it for a crowd? Try this baked version.

For each serving: 

• 2 slices of bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Cinnamon and other spices to taste 

Spray the baking dish with cooking spray. The dish must be large enough to not boil over if the liquid bubbles while cooking; place it on a large cookie sheet if there is any doubt. Cut the bread into pieces. Whisk the other ingredients then pour the mixture over the bread. This can all be done the night before and the whole thing put in the refrigerator overnight. Put in the oven then turn it on to 350. Cook for about an hour. Serve hot drizzled with maple syrup.

Some modifications to try: 

• Use flavored coffee creamer in place of milk (skip the sugar, vanilla and spices).
• Substitute 1 tablespoon chia seeds for 1 of the eggs.
• Use sweetened almond milk to replace the milk and sugar.
• Use molasses or honey to replace the sugar.
• Make individual servings and let people add their own spices, dried fruit, or sugar. Note - as pictured above made in a Corningware grabit (I used molasses for half the sugar, added raisins and orange peel, replaced one of the eggs with chia seeds….yummy). 

New Foods

Usually when I do my grocery shopping, I focus just on what is on my list and, since I am very familiar with the grocery store I go to every week, I don’t look at anything else. Just this past week I was distracted in the aisle where the nut spreads (like peanut butter) were displayed and found a lot of spreads I didn’t recognize. I decided to try one with the very long description: “Lemony Flaxseed Spread with Ginger and Honey.” It sounded like it would be good on toast or pancakes.

I got home and decided to slather some on the last of the sweet potato bread.

Wow - it had more kick than I anticipated!

Maybe the combination of ginger and chile pepper is even greater that the spices individually?

Whatever the case - this is a successful experiment in the sense that I am using less butter on toast (i.e. this replaces the butter) and I’ve also used it instead of maple syrup and butter on pancakes.

Maybe one of the keys to eat less fat and sugar is to lean toward more ‘spice’!

Recipe of the Week: Sourdough Adventure - Sweet Potato Bread

This recipe takes time…but the results are luscious. I’ll make a larger batch next time. The combination of the sweet potato, buckwheat, and drizzle of molasses makes it good by itself or as an accompaniment to a special meal. I enjoy toasting slices of it for open faced sandwiches with deli smoked turkey or ham for lunch….or slathering it with butter for mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack.

In a food processor with the dough blade - combine: 

• 1/2 cup whole wheat sourdough starter
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour 

Mix thoroughly. Let sit 2-4 hours (or more) to mature. 

• 1 medium sweet potato, cooked in the microwave until soft, peeled
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or half whole wheat/half buckwheat)
• Drizzle of molasses 

Add all ingredients to the sourdough starter already in the food processor. Process until all ingredients are well mixed and the dough is smooth. It should begin to pull away from the sides of the processor (if not add a little more flour). Spray ovenproof pan or baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the dough evenly and let rise for 2-4 hours until double in bulk. I like to use my oven with just the oven light on (otherwise no heat); it’s out of the way and there are no drafts.

Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes or until the top begins to brown. Remove from oven. Brush with olive oil (optional).

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 15, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

Decoding the Black Death: Anthropologist Finds Clues in Medieval Skeletons - how ‘health at death’ can be determined from skeletons…the impact of disease (like the Black Death) on populations (health of survivors, genetic diversity)

Hadley Crater Provides Deep Insight into Martian Geology - craters within Hadley….there is still a lot to learn about Mars

Fungi Need Some Love, Too - Why? They are nature’s recyclers, food, and source of drugs such as antibiotics. We need them.

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER “TRUFFLES” - these sound decadant but 'healthy' too - put on the list for upcoming holidays if you don’t make them this week!

15 Things I Never Knew About Health & Fitness - from Marlo Thomas

7-Point Action Plan for Repowering U.S. - If the US wants to remain a leader rather than become a follower in the world - we are going to have to start down this path to ‘energy independence’ rather than reverting to the strategy of the 20th century (i.e. heavy dependence on oil and coal)

Pumpkin donuts - these are baked….and sound yummy. I’m going to make them in mini-Bundt pans

Good Food on a Tight Budget - The guide includes a food list (by food group), tips, recipes…and more.

British Health Open for Research - Giving researchers access to the health records of 52 million people in England could prove invaluable for studying disease. Finally - some truly large scale analysis will be done. How many drugs and procedures that are widely utilized now will withstand the analysis?

Eyes: a Window to Diagnosis - A possible quick and easy screening for Parkinson’s, ADHD and FASD…maybe other neurological functional differences.

Recipe of the Week: Sourdough Adventure: Buckwheat Pancakes

My first ‘sourdough adventure’ post was about pancakes. It’s a very dependable recipe. Now I’m modifying it to experiment with other grains. The buckwheat experiment was a wonderful success! The change is to feed the starter with buckwheat flour instead of whole wheat flour starter at least 4 hours before making the pancakes! The organisms seem to like the buckwheat as well as the wheat and the pancakes some out with a wonderful airy texture. They are half wheat/half buckwheat which provides a wider variety of nutrients and reduces the amount of gluten.

Note: We eat pancakes as part of a ‘breakfast at dinner’ because we tend to eat together for dinner more than we do for breakfast. They do require cooking but they are a quick addition to any meal - any time.

My basic recipe is -

1 1/2 cups mature sourdough starter (i.e. feed whole wheat starter with buckwheat flour in the container you will make the batter in, cover, leave at room temperature 4-8 hours)

1 egg

2 tablespoons sweetener (sugar or honey…something sweet)

4 tablespoons olive oil

Dash salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon (or other seasonigs)

~~~~~

1 teaspoon soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon of warm water 

In a large bowl or measuring cup with a spout (to make it easy to pour out the batter), mix sugar, egg, salt, cinnamon (or other seasonings) and olive oil with the sourdough starter. Add warm water to get the right consistency for pancake batter. Set aside.

In a small bowl, dilute 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 tablespoon of warm water. 

When ready to cook the sourdough pancakes, fold the baking soda/water mixture gently into the prepared pancake batter (do not beat). This will cause a gentle foaming and rising action in the batter. Let the mixture bubble and foam for a minute or so to give the acid (in the starter) and the base (soda) time to react; this makes the air bubbles that produce pancakes with air bubbles rather than densely packed flour.

Cook on a hot griddle or use an electric skillet as other types of pancakes.

Enjoy with your favorite topping!

Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Granola

The scent of pumpkin pie wafting through the house is probably one of the most enticing aromas of fall. That’s what gave me the impetus to try this pumpkin granola….and I wanted something that would travel well for our fall outings. Size the recipe for the amount of pumpkin you have; the 15 ounce can I had was 1 1/2 cups of puree.  

The goo: 

• 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 

10 cups old fashioned oatmeal

2 cups whole almonds

2 cups raisins (or dried cranberries)

~~~~~

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit.

Combine the ‘goo’ ingredients in a large measuring cup.

Combine the oats and almonds in a very large bowl.

Pour the ‘goo’ on to the oats and almonds. Mix thoroughly. I find it easiest to just use my hands.

Put in one very large pan or two smaller ones. You will need to stir the pans to don’t fill them too full.

Cook for 15 minutes and then stir. Then repeat until it has cooked for about an hour and a half. Add the raisins for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Let cool.

Store in closed containers. Freeze any that your household will not eat within a few weeks….or give it as a gift to celebrate the coming of fall.

Recipe of the Week: Apple Crisp

This is a great fall recipe but I got it out early this year because I had a bag of Granny Smith apples that were not as tasty as usual for eating fresh. Maybe they were last year’s apples and storage had taken some of their usual flavor; apple crisp is more forgiving because of the added sugar and spices. It sometimes takes some extra effort to utilize food effectively...getting as much value as possible from every $1 spent for groceries.  I turned it into a celebration by making a favorite fall recipe!

• 4 cups apples, diced (peel if you must, I like the texture the skin provides...and it has nutritional value too)
• Cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)
• Lemon juice (optional)
• Molasses (optional)

 Topping: 

• 1/3 cup soft butter
• 2/3 cup apple juice concentrate
• 1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
• Molasses (for drizzling on top)

~~~~~

Preheat oven to 375F.

Place apples in pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cinnamon and lemon juice if desired. Drizzle with molasses.

Blend remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Spread over apples. Drizzle with molasses.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown.

Apple crisp is good warm or cold….I always have a first serving as soon as it comes from the oven.

Little Celebrations of Each Day

Finding a way to be happy about life is easier if we celebrate - even in a small way - each day. Sure - there will still be the more substantial celebrations that happen less often but, for me, the little celebrations are more closely linked to feeling happy.

I am starting a project to write down one thing I celebrated at the end of each day to become more overt about recognizing and acknowledging the little celebrations. I’ve looked back over my notes for the past few days and picked one thing that stood out. Basically - I have a lot to celebrate so picking only one thing may be the challenge rather that searching for something.

Yesterday the little celebration was seeing one of the heron chicks from Sapsucker Woods on the heron cam. It was such a short few months ago that the chicks were just hatched and looking very fragile in their high nest…with owl attacks.

On Friday, I celebrated being able to eat banana. This may not be a celebration for many people but bananas made me violently ill for many years and I only recently discovered that I can eat them again. They are a great ingredient in smoothies.

On Thursday, I celebrated because there were a lot more iris rhizomes in my garden than I thought there were. They had not bloomed very well in the weed clogged and shady location but they were still making rhizomes every effectively. They will make a beautiful display next spring/early summer in their new location.

On Wednesday, I finally got around to asking my husband here the converted videos from our daughter’s babyhood were located on his computer and did some early celebrating of her 23rd birthday by watching some video of her 1st.

What have you celebrated today?

Recipe of the Week: Brisket

Brisket is something to enjoy for several meals or to feed a crowd. I always buy a cut that just fits in my crock pot and cook it for the whole day. Start in the morning to cook: 

• Line the crockpot with a slow cooker liner
• Place the brisket in the slow cooker.
• Sprinkle with cracked pepper and onion flakes.
• Cook on high for an hour or two and then on low for the rest of the day.
• Serve with salad/vegetables. My favorites are baked sweet potatoes and Caesar salad. 

For any leftover meat - cut off fat and discard. Cut meat into bite size piece. Strain juice over meat. Store in refrigerator. 

There are many ways to enjoy the left overs. For all of them, remove any white fat that has accumulated on top of the juice and discard. My two favorite meals with leftover brisket are: 

• Reheat and eat as straight from the crockpot.
• Make barbeque. Put meat and juice in a sauce pan. Add bottled barbeque sauce and enough water to cook down in about 30 minutes (this gives the barbeque sauce spices enough time to penetrate the meat). Eat on a bun, over noodles/quinoa, or alone. Note: Bottled barbeque sauce sometimes has a lot of sugar. I tend to choose the ones that have the lowest carbohydrate amount (i.e. less sugar). 

If you cannot eat all the brisket within about a week after you cook it, freeze and save it for later. 

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 4, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

How to store produce without plastic - a good reference

Museum of Food Anomalies - Some natural…some contrived

Nadya Andreeva: A healthy lifestyle you can stomach - A tummy exercise for everyone

Visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park With Insider Tips From Friends Of The Smokies -  - This is a recent post about Great Smoky Mountains but the site includes posts on all the parks. One for Theodore Roosevelt National Park has just been posted…check it out as you plan a visit to one of them

What’s the Most Important Thing We Can Do To Take Control Of Our Final Days? - A collection of recommendations from healthcare professionals….also A Discussion of How Doctors - and the rest of us - Prepare for the End

Bedtime Math - making math a fun part of kid’s everyday lives

Rym Baouendi: Learning ecodesign from ancient civilizations - TED video

The Ghostly Grandeur Of A Desert Graveyard - El Paso’s Concordia Cemetery

Making Green More Macho - Apply the lessons from the “Don’t Mess with Texas” anti-littering campaign more broadly

Three wonderlands of the American West: Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River…in 1912 - read it - or just look at the pictures online at the Internet Archive (see last week’s gleanings for a graphic on how to use the interface to read online). To view the book in a different format, start with the main entry for the book here.

Recipe of the Week: Smoothies

Summer is a great time for ice cold smoothies. All they take is a blender that is strong enough to process ice and some creativity with things you probably already have in your refrigerator. The basics are easy: 

• Choose your ice. It can be water ice or a frozen form of one of the ingredients. Frozen bananas are my favorite for fruit smoothies. Frozen cherry tomatoes work well for veggie smoothies.
• Choose your other ‘solid’ ingredients. Most blenders have a ‘fill’ line for non-liquids and it can get messy if you fill beyond that point. Seasonal fruits and veggies are all good choices.
• Choose your ‘liquid’ to enable smooth blending. I almost always use a bit of lemon juice then add water or tea or juice. Again - do not overfill the blender.
• Blend the ingredients first using pulses until the icy part is beginning to break up. Then run the blender on medium and then high. The smoothie should be thoroughly mixed, smooth, and frothy.  
• Enjoy your smoothie. 

Remember serving size and avoid adding ingredients that will add a lot of calories. For this reason - I rarely use fruit juice for the liquid to get to the fill line in my smoothies.

My favorite fruit smoothie right now is a frozen banana, blueberries, a splash of lemon with water. I may add some fresh mint to my next one.

The pictures show my favorite veggie smoothie: frozen tomatoes, green onion, a splash of lemon juice, 4 drops of hot sauce, garlic and herb Mrs. Dash and water. This veggie smoothie is essentially a lunch salad in a glass! Next time I’ll try to remember to add a couple of fresh basil leaves.

Recipe of the Week: Sourdough Adventure: Cornbread Muffins

Continuing the sourdough adventure - cornbread is one of my favorite muffins to have at lunch or dinner although it is a great leftover for breakfast as well. This recipe makes about 24 muffins. 

1 1/2 cups mature whole wheat sourdough starter

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal

1 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Assemble all ingredients and utensils. Allow all ingredients to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine starter, cornmeal and milk.

Beat eggs with sugar. Add to batter and stir. Note: Add warm water if the batter is too thick. Starters vary significantly in thickness.

Combine salt and baking soda into the butter. Fold into the batter.

Fill each tin 2/3 full.

Bake until golden brown on top. Serve hot.

The original sourdough adventure post (click on the green text to go to the post) includes a link to how to initiate your own sourdough starter. That original post also includes a recipe for sourdough pancakes and it is still the recipe I am using the most - almost every week.

Grocery Store Strategies

Eating at home - and eating exactly what you intend - is one of the pleasures of life. Of course - savvy shopping at the grocery store makes it a lot easier. Here are a few strategies for achieving the most bang for your time (one trip to the grocery store a week should be the goal) and your money (no wasted food, coupons when applicable, bulk items when possible): 

• Make a list of meals for the week. This is required unless you want to make multiple trips to the grocery store to get ingredients you don’t have on hand. Base your list on the meals you plan.
• Always go to the store with a list. I use an app called OurGroceries that makes it easy for both my husband and I to add items to the list from a PC, iPad, Android phones, and Kindle. When I’m in the store, I use the Kindle to mark items off as I shop.
• Take your own bags. Reusable bags are sturdier and can be loaded with more items (see my bag of bags at right). You’ll make fewer trips to get your groceries unloaded when you get home. And it is much better for the environment. Some stores are even giving cents back for using your own bags.
• Group items for the checker so that items are bagged together that will end up stored together. I usually group items into the following bags: veggies/fruit, meat, other refrigerator, pantry, and other.
• Coupons. Take advantage of coupons for things you are going to buy anyway or an item you want to try. The down side with coupons is they are often for poor food choices (highly processed, very sweet, or non-food masquerading as food) so never buy something simply because there is a coupon.
• Familiarize yourself with the store. Larger stores have a lot of choices and may have similar items in two different places. For example - many times stores separate organic products from nonorganic ones. Make sure you understand what you are buying.
• Freeze produce before it goes bad (i.e. if you find you cannot us it up before it spoils). Use it later to make smoothies, muffins, or soup. A banana that is about to be overripe can be peeled and frozen…and become an excellent addition to a smoothie or make banana muffins later! A frozen tomato will split but that is fine for use in a soup or smoothie. You should always strive to eat all the food you buy rather than throwing it away and buying more.
• Educate yourself on the most important produce to buy organic. Get the Environmental Working Group’s guide.
• Whole grains in the refrigerator. Whole grains can become rancid. Store them in the refrigerator rather than the pantry.
• Buy in bulk only if:
  • It costs less (most of the time sit does…but not always)
  • You will use all of it in a reasonable period of time
  • There is storage space in your home

And enjoy your grocery shopping.

Recipe of the Week: Pancake Toppings

Pancakes are a quick meal - and not just for breakfast. My husband and I enjoy them as a ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ at least once a week.

I try a different topping for my pancakes almost every week. Here are 5 favorites: 

• Butter and maple syrup - This is the traditional topping in our household.
• Sour cream (or plain yogurt) and orange marmalade - A dollop of each. I dip the pancake in each on its way to my mouth.
• Sautéed apple and raisins in butter. Cut up the apple and start cooking it and the raisins before you start the pancakes. For an extra kick soak the raisins in apricot flavored brandy beforehand. Everything cooks quite rapidly. Sprinkling cinnamon in the pancake batter and the cooking apple adds to the flavor (and the kitchen smells wonderful too).
• Warmed applesauce and molasses for a stronger flavor.
• Strawberry chunks with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Or try whatever fruit is in season with the powdered sugar.
• Banana pureed with honey in the food processor (add a little water or sweet almond oil to create the consistency you want for the topping). 

Just writing this has made me hungry for pancakes!